Was the corporate state more Important as Propaganda than in reality?

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Was the corporate state more Important as

Propaganda than in reality?

The strength of post-war Europe seemed to be hazardously balanced against the background of the tension between Capitalism and socialism.

Fascists believed they had the answer in promoting the national interest above different fractions interests. They wanted a society where all people involved in economic activity (i.e. both employers and workers) could all work together in the national interest, which in the end would bring the best result for all. This was to be based on a system of corporations, avoiding conflict of interests.

Mussolini claimed that his Corporative State provided the advantages of both capitalism and Socialism, whilst avoiding each one's weaknesses. It was a 'third way'.

The concept of the Corporative State was not totally new. It brought together a variety of existing ideas and practices about the organization of production.  The Corporation represented all those engaged in a particular area of activity, employers (Federations) and workers (Syndicates) were equally represented, plus experts acted as advisors, and there were three fascist party members. Mussolini put himself as the minister or corporations and he had to approve representatives of workers and employers. The system however had two weaknesses, representatives within corporations were unbalanced, employers represented themselves while workers were represented by fascist party members. Due to this the corporation really only discussed issues Mussolini made the real decisions.

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Initially, Fascist unions were favored. Indeed, the syndicalist leader Rossoni had hopes of establishing powerful Fascist syndicates to improve workers' conditions, and in 1924-25 there was a series of successful strikes. But Mussolini's government would not tolerate such a potential threat to industrialists for long. Existing Socialist and Catholic unions, deprived of negotiating rights and harassed by the authorities, faded out of existence. Alongside this, workers were promised social improvements in the much heralded Labour Charter though this was more impressive on paper than in reality. Fascist syndicates proved unable to protect workers from powerful employers and the state. Rossoni's ...

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