Italian Empire: Difference between revisions

'''The Initial Fascist Reforms and Projects'''

Added to this action was that of the "anonymous letters" which stormed the desks of Mussolini and Justice Minister Alfredo Rocco, warning of the exasperation of the Palermo people and threatening riots if Giampietro's excessively moralistic actions did not moderate. Contextually, Cucco's trial turned out to be a scandal, in which Mori was portrayed by Cucco's lawyers as a political persecutor, and in 1929 Mussolini decided to lay prefect Mori to rest by having him co-opted by the Senate of the Kingdom. Fascist propaganda proudly declared that the Mafia had been defeated: however, the activities of Mori and Giampietro had had drastic effects only on second-ranking figures, leaving the so-called "dome" (composed of notables, landowners and politicians) partly intact, which was able to fight back through the elimination of Cucco, and so even installed itself within the Sicilian fascist federations. Some authors claim that Mussolini removed Mori because he would have gone too far in his investigations, going after interests and collusions between the state and the Mafia. This thesis is flatly rejected by others, such as Alfio Caruso.

==== The "Fascistissime" Laws ====

Between 1925 and 1926 the “fascistissime laws”, inspired by the jurist Alfredo Rocco, were passed. Law No. 2029 of Nov. 26, 1925, stipulated that collective bodies operating in Italy (associations, institutes and corporations) were required, at the request of the public security authority, to declare statutes, deeds of incorporation, internal regulations and lists of members and executives, under penalty, in case of omitted or unfaithful declaration, of dissolution of the body itself, indeterminate prison sentences and fines from a minimum of 2,000 to a maximum of 30,000 liras. In this way, the government came to have a clear map of the type and number of nongovernmental associations present. Law No. 2300 of December 24, 1925, stipulated that all public officials who refused to swear allegiance to the Italian state should be dismissed. Law No. 2263 of December 24, 1925, provided that the term "president of the council" be changed to "head of the government prime minister secretary of state"; the "head of the government" was appointed and dismissed only by the king and was responsible only to him. Ministers became responsible to both the monarch and Mussolini. The Press Law of December 31, 1925, recognized as illegal all newspapers without a person in charge recognized by the prefect (and, therefore, indirectly by Mussolini). Law 100 of January 31, 1926, gave Mussolini, as head of the government, the power to issue legal regulations. By Law No. 237 of February 4, 1926, the municipal council and the mayor were eliminated from the municipal system, the latter being replaced by the figure of the podestà, who exercised the functions of the mayor, the council and the city council and was appointed by royal decree by the executive power. On April 3, 1926, the right to strike was abolished and it was stipulated that collective agreements could only be entered into by trade unions legally recognized by the state; in this context, the Ministry of Corporations was established on July 8, 1926, of which Mussolini assumed the leadership.

==== The later reforms ====

Meanwhile, Mussolini imposed an unofficial form of protectorate on Ahmet Zogu's Albania. In addition, Italy adhered to the Locarno Pact for the guarantee of borders and general security. In April 1926, in a speech in Tripoli, Mussolini advanced the idea of the mare nostrum (i.e., an Italian thalassocracy on the Mediterranean Sea) and pitted fascism and democracy against each other for the first time. Also in 1926, the borders of Libya were redefined in favor of Italy, which acquired, among other things, Fezzan.

Also on April 3, the Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB) was founded, with the task of "reorganizing youth from a moral and physical point of view," that is, to the spiritual and cultural education and pre-military, gymnastic-sporting, professional and technical instruction of young Italians between the ages of 8 and 18. In 1927 all other youth organizations were disbanded by law, with the exception of Gioventù Italiana Cattolica. In 1937 the ONB would be replaced by the Gioventù Italiana del littorio (GIL).

On August 18, the Duce gave a speech in Pesaro in which he proclaimed that, in order to combat devaluation, the lira-sterling exchange rate would be set at the fateful "90 share": in the period following his declaration, the lira continued to fall, touching 150 liras to a pound, but he insisted that the 90 exchange rate had to be won at any cost, for the personal and political prestige he, Fascism and Italy would gain from it; the economic consequences for citizens did not matter to him. Finance Minister Giuseppe Volpi was aware that we had gone too far (and indeed stock market stocks fell while production and living costs rose) but Mussolini held firm and would not admit he had been wrong. A few years later, he was forced to accept a massive devaluation, but no one was allowed to say in public that "quota 90" was a mistake. Meanwhile, Mussolini renounced any form of public remuneration for the government post he held. International newspapers competed for his signature and were prepared to pay handsomely for his articles, which, particularly in the United States of America, were considered of supreme interest. After the war, Mussolini's widow tried to apply for a survivor's pension for her husband's work as head of the government; the postwar social security agencies replied to Rachele Mussolini that she was not entitled to any survivor's pension: not because of any moral judgment on her husband's dictatorial action, but because of the simple technical issue that Mussolini had never accepted any public salary.

On October 8, the Grand Council passed the new statutes of the PNF, by which internal elections of party members were abolished. In addition, on October 12 Mussolini assumed command of the MVSN. On November 5, all parties outside the PNF were dissolved and it was established that the press was subject to censorship. Police confinement and the death penalty were introduced for attacks perpetrated or organized against the highest figures of the state, and the Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State was established. On December 30, the “fascio littorio” was declared the symbol of the state.

On January 15, 1927 Winston Churchill, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, was welcomed in Rome by Mussolini, who in the meantime launched the campaign to support population growth: bachelors were required to pay a special tax, on the occasion of weddings the state bestowed a cash prize to the bride and groom, and loans, economic benefits (including in the field of children's schooling) and tax exemptions for large families (birth premiums) were provided.

By Law No. 2693 of December 9, 1928, the Grand Council of Fascism, or the highest body of the PNF (chaired by the Duce himself), was institutionalized and recognized as the supreme constitutional body of the state. On January 15, 1928, the Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche (EIAR) was founded, a state-owned entity that was exclusively responsible for the management of public radio service throughout the country. In 1944 it would be renamed RAI (Radio Audizioni Italiane).

On March 14 Mussolini presented a reform bill (later approved) to the Chamber of Deputies, by which he proposed reducing the total number of deputies to 400, who would be elected in a single national constituency; the National Confederation of Fascist Trade Unions and the qualified cultural associations would be in charge of submitting nominations.

On February 11, 1929, Mussolini ended the decades-long Roman Question by signing with Cardinal Pietro Gasparri the Lateran Pacts, which were ratified in the House in May.

The elections of March 24, 1929, for the renewal of the Chamber of Deputies resulted in a plebiscite in favor of Mussolini. Voters were asked to vote "yes" or "no" to approve a "slate" of deputies decided by the Grand Council of Fascism. The consultation was held in an intimidating atmosphere; the "yes" ballot was tricolor, and the "no" ballot simply white, thus making the vote cast recognizable. Participation in the vote was 90 percent, and the votes in favor of the "slate" amounted to 98.4 percent.

On April 2 the Duce met with British Foreign Minister Neville Chamberlain, and toward the end of the year the seat of government was moved from Palazzo Chigi to Palazzo Venezia. In 1930 Italy signed a treaty of friendship with Austria. In January 1931 Mussolini, in an interview with the Daily Mail, stated the need for a review of the Great War peace treaties. On July 9 he received U.S. Secretary of State Henry Lewis Stimson, while in December he welcomed Mahatma Gandhi to Palazzo Venezia.

Between March 23 and April 4, 1932, the Duce met several times with Emil Ludwig, who would write about it in Colloqui con Mussolini. After thirteen hours of face-to-face time (one hour each evening) Ludwig, who had interviewed Stalin the previous year, called Mussolini "a great man, much greater than Stalin."

At this time his love affair with Margherita Sarfatti, to whom he nevertheless continued to be linked, began to loosen. On the other hand, in early 1932, he had met Claretta Petacci for the first time.

On April 12, the new FIAT Balilla, which in Mussolini's intentions should have been the car of all Italians, was presented at the International Automobile Salon in Milan; from that year on, in fact, its diffusion was encouraged, which, however, never reached the hoped-for results (a similar initiative was later adopted by Adolf Hitler with Volkswagen).

In June, the entry Fascism, signed by Mussolini and written with the collaboration of Giovanni Gentile, was published in the Treccani Encyclopedia; it explained the doctrine proper to the fascist party. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Fascist revolution, the Via dell'Impero was inaugurated Oct. 28, and membership in the PNF, which had been closed since 1928, was reopened. On Dec. 18 Mussolini inaugurated Littoria, the first of the "new cities" built in the Agro Pontino, reclaimed in previous years.

On March 29, 1933 Mussolini met with German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels in Rome. At Mussolini's initiative, on June 7, a four-party pact was signed in Rome between Italy, France, the United Kingdom and Germany, by which these states assumed responsibility for the maintenance of peace and the reorganization of Europe in accordance with the principles and procedures laid down in the statute of the SdN. The speech delivered by Mussolini to the Senate immediately after reaching an agreement on the signing of the pact (which would be sealed at Palazzo Venezia immediately after the speech to the Senate) was described by historian Francesco Salata and a number of influential diplomats present in the room as the best speech ever delivered by an Italian head of state or minister. Salata also called it the best interpretation of "the feeling and the reasons for the life of others and universality" by a statesman; conscious as Mussolini was of the "ideal and practical feeling and reasons for the life of his own country."

Also in 1933, the Istituto Nazionale Fascista della Previdenza Sociale (INFPS) was created, which assumed the name INPS from 1943, a public law body with legal personality and autonomous management with the purpose of guaranteeing social security for workers. By Royal Decree Dec. 30, 1923, no. 3184, pension insurance against old age had been made compulsory, extended from only public employees (for whom it had the name of pension) to private employees. The various existing Accident Insurance Funds, to which the protection of workers against accidents at work (compulsory since 1898, albeit limited to certain sectors) was deputed, were unified in the National Fascist Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work ("INFAIL"), renamed INAIL in 1943. The purpose of the state agency was to "carry out insurance against accidents at work and occupational diseases (part of which were legally equated with accidents at work), reinsurance of other authorized agencies and assume particular functions and services on their behalf."

Giuseppe Graziosi, Model for the Equestrian Monument to Benito Mussolini, 1929

On February 5, 1934, the 22 corporations were established. The first lictorials of culture and art were also held in 1934, and the Coppa Mussolini, a forerunner prize of the Golden Lion, was established as part of the third edition of the Venice International Film Festival.

On March 14 Mussolini met in Rome with Austrian Chancellor Dollfuß and Hungarian Head of Government Gyula Gömbös to discuss a review of territorial arrangements in the Balkans. On March 17, a "three-way pact" was concluded with Hungary and Austria in an anti-German and anti-French function (Protocols of Rome).

The elections of March 25, 1934, for the renewal of the Chamber of Deputies - held with the same single "listone" scheme already adopted in 1924, with tricolor ballot for "yes" and white for "no" - resulted in a new plebiscite: the number of participants increased and the votes against turned out to be 15,201 (0.15%).

Law No. 654 of March 22, 1934 for the Protection of Maternity of Female Workers and Law No. 653 of April 26, 1934 for the Protection of the Work of Women and Children established the right of pregnant workers to keep their jobs, a period of leave before and after childbirth, and mandatory leave for breastfeeding (for companies with more than 50 female workers there was an obligation to provide a room for this purpose).

Law No. 2316 of December 24, 1934, established the creation of the ONMI (Opera Nazionale per la Protezione della Maternità e dell'Infanzia); the body could also finance private institutions working in the same fields. 1935 saw the establishment of the Fascist Sabbath.

On June 14 and 15, Mussolini and Hitler met in Stra and Venice; the talks focused mainly on the Austrian question (the German chancellor was aiming at the annexation of Austria). However, relations between the two remained strained, partly as a result of the failed coup d'état in Austria (by which National Socialist Germany intended to proceed with the annexation of the country), which led to Dollfuß's death. The situation was resolved after Hitler desisted from his intention. On August 21, Mussolini met with Kurt Alois von Schuschnigg, Dollfuß's successor. On Sept. 6, in Bari, he took a stand against National Socialist foreign policy and Hitler's racist doctrines, proclaiming that "thirty centuries of history enable us to look with sovereign pity upon certain doctrines from beyond the Alps, sustained by progeny of people who ignored writing, with which to hand down the records of their lives, in the time when Rome had Caesar, Virgil and Augustus."