NOW COMPLETED

Evening Star, Issue 22382, 4 July 1936, Page 27

NOW COMPLETED

THE CORPORATE STATE MUSSOLINI'S FINAL AIM - GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY When Premier Mussolini, at a meetinn of Fascist corporations recently, announced his intention to effect sv■ e P ing constitutional and economic ref ° r ™ in preparaton for a war he regards as inevitable, he took one more step towards “ co-ordination ” of Italy s econ - within the frenwwork of the totalitarian State (wntes V e ra MDean in tbe New York 4 Times ), t J.ne Government already holds a majority of,shares in a number of key industries controls banking and credit, directs foreign trade, supervises the establishment of new pants and the expansion of old ones, and has established a gold monopoly. . Private economic interests are being rapid!v subordinated to the paramount objectives of the Fascist State, winch jg 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 respurces ■(.of. capital and raw material*. According to II Duoo’s announcement, the “ anachronistic Chamber of Deputies, which had become a mere rubber stamp for Government decisions, is to be discarded’ in favour of the Rational Council of Corporations ~re■- ■ presenting interests; many key industries working directly or indirectly for national defence—a term which "daily becomes more inclusive — are to be nationalised; and a regime of “ higher social justice “ is to bo inaugurated, under which workers will be . regarded ' as collaborators of tbeir employers,, with equal rights and equal . dirties to the State. The Government, focihe present at least, does not plan to .touch agriculture, internal trade, or small and medium-sized _ industries, which are to remain in_ private hands subject to national “ discipline.” These reforms are l in harmony with Piascigt : theory,' which distinguishes between uncontrolled capitalism and ■ capital. The . .former is regarded as a malignant ‘growth on the body of mod- , ern 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 ■. abme 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 employer and unions of workers. Employers’ and workers’ syndicates, are always separate, and mixed . . .organisations are not recognised by the ; State. Local syndicates are grouped into provincial and interprovincial syndicates. which, in turn, are grouped into ■federations. j - Both_ syndicates- and federations are theoretically elective bodies. In prac- . 'tioe, all syndical officials are named_ by the Fascist Party, subject to ratification by the Ministry of Corporations, and may be removed whcn- ' ever their work proves unsatisfactory • to party Tedders. 1 : .The federations are organised. Into nine national confederations, eight of which represent employers and workers respectively 'in _ industry, agriculture, 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, T' ! This system of syndicates is linked ■ bv 22 corporations or guilds composed - ! ;of workers, employers, and technicians ■ . in >: particular categories of production, appointed by their respective organi- ■’ sations subject to Government approheaded 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 to represent economic, not political, interests, is controlled from top Jo bottom by the Fascist dictatorship. Workers and employers are prohibited from resorting to strikes or lockin defence of their interest. The State, through the Ministry of Corporations, and -the labour courts, acts conflicts involving capital. |*houiV And consumers, and dictates both the terms of collective contracts an s , e decisions of labour courts. 1 \ Critics of Facsism contend that the much. -.vaunted corporative' v 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 worid, but to achieve ” social for all the Italian people.” ji the cor P°vative 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 Ot wheat has not kept pace with the F o "™, ° f * he . Population—officially ;« d b t V ! asCl,m - an d the parallel , ln wheat consumption. CurtaiJraent of imports, however, has served ta alleviate the hardships caused by the decline in exports, emigrants’ remittances, and tourist expenditures. . A* , th t sa me time the gains achieved in industry and agriculture during the hrst 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 manufactured 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 onlyof 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 expected in 1922, their losses have not redounded to the benefit of the workers. The industrial crisis has been accompanied by mounting unemployment, 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 25 to 30 per cent, of the unemployed receive unemployment insurance ; the benefit payments are trifling and .take no account of one’s dependents. 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 of objectives which, according to Fascist propaganda, will assure the glory and prosperity of future Italian generations. « A NATION IN ARMS.” H Duce believes that Britain and other great Powers make concessions not to countries with a distinguished artistic past, like that of Italy, but to 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 safeguarded against the onslaught of Communism. When such a formula is evolved it- will probably reveal that Mussplini has grafted an extreme type of nationalism on the Socialism he preached before the''World War.