71 c marchmont street, londonDescribe the weaknesses of the Democratic Government in Italy in the years 1919–1922.
One of the main weaknesses of the Italian Democratic Government was the way it was made up and what it consisted of. During the course of time from when the unification of Italy took place through to the end of the First World War, the parliamentary system had established itself only through bribery and corruption. This was called ‘transformismo’. The proportional representation system meant that there were lots of splinter parties, and that coalitions had to be formed in order for there to be any kind of majority. Coalitions themselves do not mean a government is automatically unstable, it depends on the social background of the country and the parties involved.
The main parties in question were Liberals, the Popolari and the Socialists. These parties had completely different ideals; there was no way that a successful alliance could be formed. For example, Socialists hated the church, and wanted to redistribute all the wealth from it, there was no way that they would collaborate with the Catholic Popolari. The Popolari hated the Socialists because they were Atheist. In turn, the Liberals had taken over the Papal States and driven the Pope out, there was no way that the Popolari would be able to get on with them. The Liberals and Socialists would not be able to co-rule successfully as the Liberals were made up of wealthy factory owners and the Socialists were the ones campaigning for a ‘8-hour working day’ and were part of Trade Unions. The Socialists blamed the Liberals for war. A major point to remember is that the Russian Revolution had just taken place in 1917, and many Italians felt the threat of a Communist uprising looming because of the Socialist Party. The consequence of all this was an incredibly unstable government. The Liberals, even though they only obtained 41 votes in the August 1919 elections ended up in power.
