To what extent had Liberal Italy satisfied the needs of Italians by 1914?

Fiona Henderson 127

To what extent had Liberal Italy satisfied the needs of Italians by 1914?

Liberal Italy came about with the unification of Italy in 1870. To make a successful country you need a good political system, economic and social stability, a successful foreign policy as well as support from leading groups in society, which in Italy’s case was the Catholic Church. It is also very important not to create new enemies within the country, as they can hinder the successful development of a country purely by influence alone. To ask how and to what extent Liberal Italy satisfied the needs of Italians all these points need to be addressed in order to build up a picture of what the Liberal government did and did not do in order to improve the Italians lives up until 1914.

The political system in Liberal Italy was not really a ‘part of Italy.’ There was ‘legal Italy’ (Parliament and political class) and ‘real Italy’ (the masses, ordinary people) and each side had little to do with the other. The Liberal Political system did not include everyone, in fact only a 2% minority of the Italian population were able to vote. This meant that ordinary people, such as industrial and farm workers were not able to get their voices heard and the Government remained in the hands of the wealthy elite, whose priorities lay not with the ordinary people, but instead with balancing the budget and building up the military. While the budget is important to avoid inflation within the country and the military are important to the country, the government were not addressing the needs of the population therefore giving a chance for unrest to occur. The political parties did not reflect popular wishes, but instead did deals amongst themselves to form governments, this was seen as being very corrupt as bribery and inefficiency were widespread and would cause people to lose faith in their government. This system was known as Trasformismo and would have excluded the masses even further. The masses within Italy felt alienated because of lack of political input, high taxes and conscription into the military. The gulf grew between ‘legal’ and ‘real’ Italy, and few people knew what was going on outside their own villages.

Economic and social development was not great after the time of the unification. The new united Italy had inherited large debts caused by the wars of unification. Taxes were raised to pay of the debts, however taxes fell mainly on the poor, and by 1900 Italians were estimated to be the most taxed people in Europe. Workers tried to strike for higher wages, but the government supported the employers, who rejected such demands. However the government tried to unify Italy economically in other ways. International tariffs were abolished and a single Italian market was made. Nevertheless, the abolishment of tariffs hindered the South, which could not compete with the more advanced North. This reinforced the economic divide between the North and South. The North was much more industrialised, it had large factories and a ready - made workforce, this was very much unlike the South, which was a far more rural part of the country. However despite the North being more industrialised than the South, Italy’s industrial development was limited by lack of key resources, such as iron and coal. Governments wanted to create a greater sense of nationalism and considered education an important issue, as illiteracy was very high, especially in the South. Improving education in Italy was also a step towards improving Italy economically, as future workers would be more skilled.

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The Liberal Government saw the Catholic Church as a problem. The Catholic Church had a great influence on Italy at the time. The Pope as well as being head of the Catholic Church had been the ruler of the Papal States covering central Italy. But, between 1861 and 1870 when unification took place most of the land that the Pope was in control of was taken away from him, he was left with just the Vatican City. The Pope was very upset about this, and it can be seen that the Pope was against Liberalism for revenge against his land. The Pope denounced the new Italian state and considered Liberalism as a sin as it allowed religious freedom, and he believed that Catholicism was the only true religion. The rift between the Church and the State was a huge problem facing the new Kingdom. In 1874, the Pope instructed Catholics not to participate in the new state, for example, by not voting. Bishops and Priests reinforced this message. This was such a major problem because such a large portion of the population were Catholics, and influenced by the Church. However, in the early twentieth century the Pope became worried at the advance of Socialism. The Marxist Socialists criticised the power of the church, and also rejected religion itself. The Pope still didn’t agree with Liberalism, but had to choose it over Socialism. In 1904, the Pope authorised Bishops and Priests to advise Catholics to vote in elections it helped defeat the Socialists. Without the Church’s eventual support of Liberalism, the Socialists would have grown very powerful in Parliament.

During the 1890s the Liberal state faced major challenges from both Left and Right wings. The Left presented mass peasant unrest in the South, which was put down by 40,000 troops. While the Right, attempted to set up a more authoritarian government, and this was seen as a forerunner to Fascism. But there was a resurgence or support for the Liberal candidates in the 1900 election and this helped to re – establish the dominance of Parliament. The Liberal state survived, but the challenges that it had faced made politicians realise that it could not rely on repression alone. It was necessary for fundamental changes to take place in order to reduce the gap between ‘real’ and ‘legal’ Italy.

Liberal Italy’s major challenge up until this point had been the Catholic Church, however the beginning of the twentieth century saw the rise of Socialism. The development of the industry in the North in the 1880s and 1890s was corresponded to the founding of trade unions and co-operative organisations. Many of these groups became involved in the Socialist-controlled General Confederation of Labour (CGL). This movement developed, and by 1900 there was an organised Socialist party, the PSI (Italian Socialist Party). The Socialists held the belief in country where the good of the people as a whole is stressed over individual rights, and in some forms is seen as a step on the way to communism. The Socialist party began winning seats in Parliament, and by 1913 he PSI was winning over twenty percent of the total vote. Within the political (PSI) and the industrial (CGL) wings of the labour movement, there were splits between moderates and revolutionaries. The moderates argued that peaceful pressure could gain reforms, while the revolutionaries argued that the PSI should strive to achieve its full programme. There was another group known as the Syndicalists, who believed that unions should organise strike to overthrow the system, some of their ideas would later contribute to Fascism. The development of the Socialists frightened people in Italy, especially because of it being associated in communism, which is the belief in a society where all are equal and there is no private property. It’s development frightened many of the existing elites because it would mean the abolition of private ownership (capitalism), which would mean the loss of capital, land and status. The Catholic Church was afraid because the Socialists spoke out against the Church and all religions. Socialists believed in freedom of worship or religion, and most Socialists would be atheist.

Liberal Italy faced other problems in 1911, when the Italian National Association was set up. The Italian nationalists saw Liberal Italy as weak and wanted a stronger government, they wanted an authoritarian government to inspire the masses. The association was hostile to Socialist and class warfare, and believed in National greatness and foreign policy success. Their slogan was ‘Our country is nothing without conquest.’ Italy did not have a strong foreign policy nor did it have a successful empire, like many other European countries. A mixture of business types, journalists, poets and painters supported the Italian nationalists. Futurists were strong supporters of nationalism and imperialism. Futurism was a cultural movement of the early twentieth century and it too rejected the Liberal state. It was a movement fascinated by the industrial age, action, dynamism and modern technology.

From 1903-1914 Giovanni Giolitti dominated Italian politics, either as Prime Minister of from behind the scenes. Giolitti was a master politician, and very skilful at winning majorities in the assembly, and using the prefect system to enhance his power. The period of 1903-1914 is known as the ‘Giolitti era’, because Giolitti passed a series of reforms during this time. Giolitti tried to achieve greater unity. However in trying to please the church or workers he upset Liberals who feared the growing influence of both the church and the workers.

Giolitti hoped that increasing the country’s wealth and prosperity would make the Liberal establishments more acceptable and secure. From 1900, in the North of Italy, industry grew, ordinary or ‘real’ Italy gained from this, as more jobs were made available. Wages also increased by 25% during the years from 1890 to 1913. Giolitti tried to be neutral in industrial disputes; this led to unsatisfied workers and businesses because each wanted him to choose a side. Industrialists in some ways feared Giolitti’s reforms, as they were afraid that he was giving in to increased pay demands. However, workers were encouraged by Giolitti’s policies as they were helping to improve their working conditions. Giolitti also passed social reforms, allowing all men over the age of thirty to vote, and introducing laws controlling female and child labour. However, Giolitti’s attempts at social reforms were undermined by his use of trasformismo. He appeared to be just another politician using corrupt methods.

With the growing role of the state an increase came about with the number of civil servants and other professional groups. Many of these joined the Petty Bourgeoisie, which consisted of the lower middle classes, especially shopkeepers, artisans, teachers and others of the type. They are aspiring to a higher social status. This group was concerned about the Liberal government, as well as being hostile to government interference and taxation. They have a fear of big businesses and of Socialism, as both posed a threat to them.

As part of Giolitti’s attempt to win over all the key groups in Italy, he attempted to create a foreign expansion. Giolitti tried to unite the Italians by having a successful war, which is why, in 1911 he gave way to nationalist pressure and attacked Libya, which was then ruled by Turkey. This was known as the Tripolitanian War. The Italians bombed and used poisonous gas against the Libyans and invaded many Turkish islands. Many Italians did not understand why they were fighting, but nevertheless they were still conscripted. The war cost Italy a lot of money and as a result taxes were increased. There was a lot of opposition to the war from Socialists, which would have presented a problem in Liberal Italy because the Socialist party, at this time was growing rapidly and winning seats in Parliament; therefore they would have a fair bit of influence on the Italians. The Socialists did not believe, and disliked empire.

Despite Giolitti’s reforms, the Italians were still not happy and this was shown in June 1914, when there was the worst outbreak of mass unrest since 1898, this period was known as ‘Red Week’. Some parts of Italy were declared republics, for example, ‘Red Romagna’, and government buildings were occupied. An attempt at a general strike failed, the reasons for this are; poor communication, not a very large working class, especially in the South so the strike was really confined to the North.

Looking at all the evidence and events that occurred after the unification of Italy in 1890 I conclude that Liberal Italy did satisfy Italians, but only to a certain extent, as there were many unresolved issues by 1914. I think that the fact that ‘Red Week’ took place in June 1914 highlights that there are a number of issues that the Liberal government failed to satisfy. There were many opposition groups to the Liberal government, including the Catholic Church and Socialists. The Catholic Church was particularly important because it held such a major influence over the Italian population. The Socialists were gradually becoming more of a problem, because of the growth of the party, especially towards 1914. Many people would have looked to the Socialists after finding little satisfaction with the Liberal government. Besides the fact that there was a certain degree of dissatisfaction amongst Italy’s population, the Liberal government was not all bad and did improve some areas of people’s lives, and it was Giolitti in particular that made the most changes with his reforms. So it is not fair to say that Liberal Italy did not satisfy the needs of Italians, but nor is it correct to say that Liberal Italy did satisfy the needs of Italians. Liberal Italy satisfied some of the needs of Italians, but it could have done a lot more to improve their lives up until the year of 1914.