Thread by @Timotero2

This thread is based off the poll from the other day.

Fascism, Land Reform and Landowners

If one is used to the usual debate of "Fascism is Capitalism in Decay", it is often common to hear that Italian Fascism allied itself with Landowners and it truly never engaged in any sort of land reform. Oh, poor Fascists without sources, we truly are...

the thugs of Capitalism, what is to be done now? The response is simple: Laugh. It's such a lame hill to die on, I'll just go straight to the point in this thread.

In the same way Fascism had the support of landowners, so did it hold the support of a large amount of peasants.

Despite the Modernization that Mussolini wanted to engage in, and the big amount of Fascists praising and wanting the idolatry of the Machine, of Cities, of the Future. Fascists had quite a popularity among peasants, especially due to the fact that many of them were war veterans.

Even though Fascists gave help to landowners against Socialists, this wasnt because they just wanted to defend property. In fact, many Fascists endorsed and carried similar strikes and insurrections across Italy, main difference is they held the Italian Flag...

not that of the International Socialists. The Red Flag was a betrayal, a lack of loyalty against Italy, their movement did not represent the Italian Working Class, but the interest of an Internationalist Movement that was seen as a threat against the existence of Italy.

Funnily enough, it was the Socialists whom had betrayed the Ideal of Socialism, and for Mussolini, figures such as Lenin did not represent true socialism. He believed that reality of the matter is that many "Real Socialists" had been growing tired of marxist dogmatic socialism.

It is in this way that Fascism, although it fights against Socialist Movements, it also sought to establish it's own Revolution. Despite the fact they helped Landowners, they also made it so they had to give land to peasants in exchange for help.

It's truly ironic to actually look at the members that constituted the youthful Fascist movement that would obtain power in Italy. Since it is due to Peasant support that Fascism would easily get power in Italy.

We could also go into the supposed non-existence of Land Reform, given the fact that studies have shown that the number of landless laborers would go down from 2 Million in the 1920s to 700,000 in 1940. Not to mention the country had an ongoing reform in the 1940s as well.

Agrarian Production would increase through the battle of grain as well. And the regime would embark itself in improving the living standards of the rural population. Much of this was due to the fact that Mussolini valued the rural side of Italy...

and wanted to develop it to the point wage labor disappeared and was replaced by land ownership. Peasants would be helped to own land, and in that way, from 1921 to 1938 farm workers without land would go from 44% to 28%. It was after all, the rural aspect of Italy...

which helped the Nation not fall under despair during the Great Depression.

We can only laugh when people pretend that Fascists were just there to defend le Capitalism and Landowners, when reality of the matter is that they wouldn't have had an issue with the occupations of lands or strikes, if they werent made under the banner of Socialism.

Their actions clearly prove, that all they want is to deny Fascism of a gradual development of its own, as they justify their own developmental policies. It's as simple as that, just double standards they are willing to apply to us, but not to themselves.

The End.

International Socialism*