TO WHAT EXTENT WERE THE AIMS OF MUSSOLINIS DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN POLICIES ACHIEVED BETWEEN 1923 AND 1939?

  Furthermore the fascist state was very involved in people’s ordinary lives. Mussolini’s aim to prepare Italy for war, pushed him to interfere even more in many aspects of the social life. In harmony with the Church, Fascism shared the traditional attitude towards birth control and abortion, for its own interests. Mussolini wanted to provide soldiers for the army, beginning the Battle for Births in 1927 and aiming to increase the population by 20 million by 1950.  Bachelors were taxed, loans were given to help families willing to have children, women were denied a higher education or jobs and a  quota was set to limit working females to 10%. However this Battle for Births was lost because by 1950 the population was only 47.5 million, the rate of marriages did not change, women made up 33% of the workforce and the most important the birth rate actually declined from the previous years.

   Reforms were also taken in education because to Mussolini the youth would be able to preserve the regime. The cult of personality was heavily promoted in schools and the books were extremely patriotic.Opera Nazionale Balilla was set up to organize youth movements and membership was compulsory. In the other hand since the youth still had to grow up, something had to be done with the adults. The Dopolavoro was set up in 1925 that provided leisure time and fascist influence. The organization was very successful because it reached 47million members by 1939. However the absence of propaganda was not influencing people in fascist views.

  Even though Mussolini had absolute power over Italy, the public support did not come from the acknowledgement of what Mussolini had achieved. It was mostly the effects of propaganda that the pushed people to encourage the fascist system. In reality most Italians were irritated by the interference of the government in their lives, telling them how many babies to have or what to wear on the streets.

   The social aims were to prepare Italy mentally for the war or to make the public agree with Mussolini – since he was the man that never was wrong – in whatever his decisions were.  But there was another part of the preparation that he had to deal with and that was the economy of Italy. His aims were to have a strong economy especially in the sectors of industry and agriculture. Mussolini came to power just when the Italian industry was booming, the exports had doubled and Italian companies were in a very good situation. Mussolini’s aim in industry was to strengthen as much as possible the military force and for this, a strong economy was required. He wanted to enforce the government intervention, but still keep the capitalist companies. By 1927 the boom had come to an end and Italy was affected afterwards by depression. The lire exchange rate was 150 to a pound, so in 1929 he set the new rate of exchange 90lire to a pound. This helped his image to the foreign bankers but it wasn’t beneficial to the Italian economy because foreign buyers found Italian goods twice as expensive and the exports went in depression. Normally the revaluation of lire should have helped, because the imports would be cheaper. Instead Mussolini set high tariffs on foreign imports.  Only industries such as steel, armaments and shipbuilding – what Mussolini was aiming for – profited. By 1930 companies collapsed, unemployment rates had risen and banks were about to go bankrupt. The wars that Italy started later were very costly and the expenditure was more than their income.  By this time Mussolini started to ignore the seriousness of the economic situation.

    However, in the beginning, Mussolini tried to get the Italian economy back in feet by introducing public work schemes. The schemes put many unemployed back to work and stimulated the circulation of money, therefore creating more jobs. The fascist government helped the banks from going bankrupt by paying their debts. What Mussolini did really helped Italy overcome depression better than her neighbors. Mussolini himself was congratulated from Roosevelt and many financiers for the efficiency of his act. Nevertheless one of the terms of fascism that struggles between employer and employee should be eliminated was not successful. Class conflicts were not forgotten and the conflict employer-employee was just suppressed by having fascists leading trade unions. The workers’ standard livings deteriorated.

   The other sector where Mussolini was concentrated was agriculture. Desiring a self-sufficient Italy, Mussolini began the “Battle for Grain” in 1925. Importing grain was seen as a weakness in times of war. The battle appeared to be very successful because the harvest rose from 5.5 million tons to 7 million tons per year and the imports dropped by 75%.In the other hand citrus fruit, wine and olive oil exports were declined. Bread was more expensive then olive oil to Italian consumers.

    Mussolini’s plans for the foreign policy were based on his ambitions for a dominant Italy in Europe. He wanted to expand Italy’s territories especially in the Balkans, secure a position in Africa and later on a close relationship with Nazi Germany. Mussolini’s desires for overseas colonies pushed him to the wars that followed after he came to power. The Fascist state’s seizure of Corfu, Fiume and Albania were the first signs of the incapability of the League of Nations to deal with Italy, even though after Mussolini Italy lost control over most of the countries in the Balkans. Abyssinia was going to bring the glory of the Roman Empire again, natural resources that Italy lacked and develop export markets like Britain did with its colonies. Italy came out victorious from the war showing to the world the power that it possessed and the incompetence of the League to stop it. However a good image was not what Italy necessary needed. Italy’s budget and military resource after the war were pitiful and all for another 5 years of guerrilla wars until they lost Abyssinia in 1941.

    In the other hand the Locarno Treaty and The Stresa Front really helped Mussolini’s self-importance and his images as a statesman. In the beginning Italy had a very anti-German feeling but when Mussolini saw the power and might of Germany, he decided to join Germany - Rome Berlin axis. Italy committed itself to support Germany. This decision is still argued, if it was the right one or if it brought Mussolini’s downfall.

   “Mussolini’s conduct of Italy’s foreign relations conferred on the country a position of prestige such as it had never enjoyed before. No Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs since Cavour had achieved such success, and never before had Italy been so greatly respected abroad.” Many agree that Mussolini did an extraordinary work in his policies but there are also strong oppositions. “Economically Fascism was a failure. The most serious ideological and constitutional innovation of the regime, the Corporative State, did nothing to reduce class antagonisms or improve economic conditions; in fact it never functioned at all except on paper”.

    In conclusion, since Mussolini never explained his fascist views, it cannot be judged if his domestic and foreign policies were right or wrong. However the impacts on Italy were obvious, whether positive or negative. Mussolini’s domestic policies had their failures such as in agriculture, in many fragile economic situations, in the relationship between employer-employee, increasing the population and in living standards. However the government was very good at coping with depression, giving the youth and adults leisure time, the relationship with the Church and enforcing fascist views by propaganda. Mussolini had a very prestigious image not only in Italy. The foreign policies were successful at showing a stronger Italy to the world and especially the League of Nations. However Italy lost most of the countries it had over control and the expenditures of the Abyssinian War seriously damaged the Italian economy. Mussolini had many failures and successes but for a short period of time it manage to bring together all the Italians and increase patriotism in Italy.

   

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Italy: Liberalism and Fascism 1870-1945, Mark Robson, Hodder Education, London 1992.

Fascist Italy, John Hite and Chris Hinton, Hodder Education, London 1998.

 IB HL History Wiki, last visited Sunday 02/01/2011

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