Fascism in Italy

Fascism in Italy

Mussoliny Policies in Italy

In 1922 Mussolini seized control of the Italian government and established a dictatorship. All political parties except the Fascist Party, were banned, and Mussolini became Il Duce—the leader of the party. Labor unions were abolished, strikes were forbidden, and political opponents were silenced.

Lowered Living Standard

Once in power, Mussolini had no immediate program for solving Italy’s social and economic problems other than giving free rein to big business (both urban and rural), being “pragmatic,”and preaching the need for discipline. The result was that Italian workers lost (1926) the protection of the eight-hour-day law, and a general wage reduction was decreed by the government. Between 1928 and 1932 real wages in Italy were reduced by almost half; by 1930 they were already the lowest in Western Europe. Between 1926 and 1934 the purchasing power of farm workers declined by 50 to 70 percent, partly as a result of a government policy that restricted migration to the cities—a policy that pleased landowners, who thereby could keep farm wages low. Mussolini acknowledged (1930) that under his regime the standard of living had indeed fallen, but he also stated that “fortunately, the Italian people were not accustomed to eat much and therefore feel the privation less acutely than others.”

Deficient Social Services

Foreign tourists were impressed by the way Mussolini made the trains run on time, ended public begging, and offered well-publicized social services to his people. What they ignored was the decline in the nutrition of the lower class, the increase in child labor, and the fact that a smaller share of the national income was spent on social services than in most other European countries. Despite the land hunger of the peasantry, Mussolini did nothing to divide up the large estates, the latifondi; some 15 noble families held among them more than 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) of land. Infant mortality in Mussolini’s Italy was more than twice as high as that in Scandinavia.

Role of Women

Despite the decline in food consumption, Mussolini launched a campaign to increase the birth rate (“battle for births”). This, he felt, was needed to demonstrate national “virility” and provide future personnel for the Italian armed forces, for by 1936 the conquest of foreign lands had become Mussolini’s final solution to the economic problem.

Women’s role in this plan was to bear as many babies as possible. In 1940 Mussolini reviewed a parade of 180 married couples, who had produced 1544 children (an average of eight children per couple), and gave the mothers gold medals for their service to the nation. The regime made a concerted effort to exclude women from the white-collar professions and higher education so they could stay home and care for their children. All education regarding birth control was banned by a law of 1927. Feminists were condemned for diverting women from their assigned role of breeding—a role that included obedience to male authority. “Woman,”wrote the Italian Fascist Ferdinando Loffredo, “must return under the subjection of man—father or husband—and must recognize therefore her own spiritual, cultural, and economic inferiority.”

Sexism in France

French Fascists echoed the same sexism. Associating militant feminism with Marxism and class struggle, they called for conciliation between the sexes as well as between economic classes—but on male terms. Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, a novelist who later became an apologist for the Nazi occupation, damned feminism as a “pernicious doctrine”and claimed that women, lacking the spiritual qualities of men, were a source of decadence.

More about Fascism

Fascism emphasized nationalism, but its appeal was international. It flourished between 1919 and 1945 in several countries, mainly Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan. Fascist regimes also existed for varying lengths of time in Austria, Poland, Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal, Romania, Hungary, Finland, Norway, and Argentina. Even such liberal democracies as France and England had important Fascist movements. See about Fascism in general here.

Source: “Fascism”Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia

See Also

Absolutism
Aristocracy
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
Guide to Legal Assistance for Women
Oligarchy
Plebiscite
Nationalism
List of Law Reviews in Italy
Enciclopedia Giuridica
History of the Church and State Relationship


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