NOW COMPLETED

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 145, 20 June 1936, Page 14

NOW COMPLETED

THE CORPORATE STATE | MUSSOLINI'S FINAL AIM GOVERNMENT AND i INDUSTRY I i When Premier Mussolini, at a r.wet-j ing of Fascist > orporatii ns recently, 1 announced his intention to effect i ing constitutional and economic reforms in preparation for a war he re-| gards as inevitable, he took one more I step towards "co-ordination" of Italy's' economic activities within, the framework of the totalitarian State (writes. Vera M. Dean in the "New Yorki Times"). The Government already I holds a majority of shares in a number; of key industries, controls banking and f credit, directs foreign trade, supervises the establishment of new plants, and the expansion of old ones, and has es-j tablished a gold monopoly. Private' economic interests are being rapidly subordinated to the paramount! objectives of the Fascist State, which is- girding the entire population for national expansion. This process has been greatly accelerated by the Ethiopian campaign and the imposition of League sanctions, which have forced Italy to husband her slender resources of capital and raw materials. I According to II Duce's announcement, I the "anachronistic" Chamber of Deputies, which had become a mere rubber stamp for Government decisions, is to be discarded in favour of the National Council of Corporations, representing economic interests; many key industries working directly or indirectly for national defence —aj term which daily becomes more inclu-1 sive—are to be nationalised; and a re-| gime of "higher social justice" is to be inaugurated, under which workers will be regarded as collaborators of their employers ( with equal rights and equal duties to the State. The Government, for the present at least, does not plan to touch agriculture, internal trade, or small and medium-sized industries, j which are to remain in private hands i subject to national "discipline." ] These reforms are in harmony with Fascist theory, which distinguishes between uncontrolled capitalism and ] capital. The former is regarded as a malignant growth on the body of modern society, one that must be ruthlessly destroyed, whereas capital is viewed as the humble fruit of individual or family . labours, and is considered essential to Italy's economic development.. THE CORPORATIVE SYSTEM. Mussolini's new reforms may inject some life into the corporative system, which so far has remained largely on paper. The basic unit of the corporative system is the syndicate—a term which Fascists use to designate both associations of employers and unions of workers. • Employers' and workers' syndicates are i always separate, and mixed organisations are not recognised by the State. Local syndicates are gjouped into provincial and interprovincial syndicates, which, in turn, are grouped into federations. - Both syndicates and federations are theoretically elective bodies. In practice, however, all syndicai officials are named by the Fascist Party, subject to ratification by the Ministry of Corporations, and may be removed whenever their work proves unsatisfactory to party, leaders. The federations are organised into nine national confederations, eight of which represent employers and workers, respectively, in industry, agricul-

ture,; commerce, credit, and insurance, while the ninth represents professional men and artists. The confederations serve as links between the syndicates and the Government, and are regarded as semi-public in character. This system of syndicates is linked by twenty-two corporations or guilds composed of workers, employers, anrl technicians in particular categories of production, appointed by their respective organisations subject to Government approval, and headed by Government and Fascist Party officials representing the consumers. It is crowned by the National Council of Corporations, : .established in 1930, which is destined to supplant the Chamber of Deputies, and by the Ministry of Corporations, of. which Mussolini is head. DICTATORIAL--CONTROL. In practice the corporative system, intended the represent economic, not political, interests, is controlled from top to bottom by the Fascist dictatorship.' Workers and employers are prohibited from resorting to strikes or lockouts in defence of their interests. The State, through the Ministry of Corporations end the labour courts, acts as arbiter in conflicts involving capital, labour, and consumers, and dictates both the terms , of collective contracts and the decisions of labour courts. Critics of Fascism contend that the , much-vaunted corporative _ system merely "freezes" the economic status quo, to the detriment of the workers — who have far less influence with the Government than the employers, and have been deprived of their weapons of strike and free organisation. Mussolini, in reply, argues that the corporative system is designed not only to strengthen Italy for expansion in the world but to achieve "a higher social justice for all the Italian people." While the corporative system, outwardly at least, has eliminated conflicts among capital, labour, and consumers, it has not safeguarded Italy from the economic difficulties which have assailed less regimented countries during the world crisis. The Government's principal economic aim has been to decrease Italy's dependence—especially in time of war—on imports of such indispensable products as wheat and coal by encouraging agriculture and rationalising industry. WHEAT PRODUCTION LAGS. The increase in domestic production of wheat has.not kept pace with the growth of the population—officially fostered by Fascism—and the parallel rise in wheat consumption. Curtailment of imports, however, has served to alleviate ; the hardships caused by the decline in exports, emigrants' remittances, and. tourist expenditures. At the same time the gains achieved in industry and agriculture during the first years of the Fascist regime have been offset since 1927 by the unfavourable effects of revaluation of the lira ■at a point generally regarded as too high for the potentialities of Italian economy. This revaluation precipitated a crisis in Italy which antedated the world depression and was merely aggravated by it. The two crises, national and international, in combination caused sharp reductions in wages and salaries without a corresponding decline in the cost of living; they increased unemployment, which has been only partly relieved by unemployment insurance and public works and more recently by the Ethiopian campaign; and they steadily raised the burden of taxation to a point at which taxes absorb more than a quarter of the average income. The Fascists have encouraged and assisted agriculture with three aims in view: (1) to make Italy self-sufficient in foodstuffs; (2) to develop a rural culture regarded as more in harmony with the Fascist concepts of home and nation than the urban mode of life, and (3) to assist industry by enlarging the domestic market for manufac-

lured goods and reducing the cost of industrial production. The Fascist Government has encouraged the rationalisation of industry in the hope that reduced costs of industrial production would facilitate Italy's competition on world markets and increase the country's self-sufficiency. In 1933, in fighting the depression, the Government intervened to salvage industry by establishing the Industrial Reconstruction Institute. ITS PURPOSE. This body, which corresponds to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in the United States, is designed to reorganise industries which were overcapitalised in the boom period of the Nineteen Twenties or which have otherwise, proved unsound. It provides not only for the liquidation of uneconomical concerns by furnishing State aid to their creditors, but finances and improves sound undertakings by issuing long-term loans. The Government also has authority to guarantee bonds issued by private concerns. As a result of these measures it has gradually acquired control not only of the management in a number of industries but also of the principal sources of industrial investment. The fate which apparently awaits Italian industrialists is to remain at the head of their concerns not as owners but as Government agents. Nor is it clear whether they will ever be compensated for this form of bloodless expropriation. If employers have fared less well under fascism than they had ex-] pected in 1922, their losses have not redounded to the benefit of the workers. The industrial crisis has been accompanied by mounting unem-j ployment, which has steadily risen since 1929 and has shown but a slight' decrease during the past two years, it is estimated that, on the average, only I 25 to 30 per cent, of the unemployeu receive unemployment insurance; the benefit payments are trifling and take no account of one's dependants. The | workers who are still employed have also suffered severely, from the depression. On the whole wages seem to have declined from 16 to 38 per cent, since 1926, while the cost of many necessities of life has either remained stationary or increased. Mussolini, however, is less concerned with the immediate welfare of the people than with the attainment i of objectives which, according to Fascist propaganda, will assure the glory and prosperity of future Italian generations. "A NATION IN ARMS." II Duce believes that Britain and other great Powers make concessions ! not to countries with a distinguished artistic past, like that of Italy, but to j those which can display their superiority by a show of force. While Mussolini. contends that the] corporative system aims, at social .justice, what he has accomplished so far is not to redistribute wealth or raise the living standards of the masses, but to place the nation's economy on a war footing, which he plans to make permanent. The corporative system is merely an-instrument for regulating economic activities,. over which the Fascist Government claims complete control. Mussolini's ultimate goal appears to be a form of militarised. State Capitalism, under which the State will become "the supreme and sole proprietor and administrator of ■ all • the economy of the nation." So far the Premier has not divulged the formula by which he expects to , reconcile State Capitalism with private . initiative and private property—both of which Fascism claims to have safei I guarded against the onslaught of Com- . I munism. When such a formula is ■'evolved it will probably reveal that Mussolini has grafted an extreme type i of nationalism on the Socialism he ! | preached before the World War.