Thread by @Timotero2

Fascist Italy - Thread 3/3

State Socialism (1943-1945)

"It is therefore absolutely superfluous for Italians of fleeting memory to have the air of falling from the clouds in the throes of the most authentic of surprises in the face of the fundamental provision of socialization."

A heated discussion among Fascists usually takes place when the topic of Private Property appears. Some believe there should be oversight, others believe in direct/indirect control, whereas other may make the case against class cooperation (as weird as that may sound).

Albeit repetitive, and foreign to the concerns of the Philosophy of Fascism, many usually refer to Mussolini's Italy as the ideal conception of the Economics of Fascism... but to what degree do they want to apply the economics of the Italian Regime?

Is it that Fascist Economics were realized during the 20s through the liberal policies, was it the Corporate State, or... perhaps, was it the Socialization of the Italian Social Republic? To many, the last claim is wrong, since after all...

it has been exposed by authors like Erik Norling that the events of the RSI were merely a retvrn to the initial values of Fascism, and it was nothing else but Mussolini trying to save face in his last days as a way to appeal to the working class.

Although there's some validity to these claims, reality of the matter is that, as studied by authors like A. James Gregor, Rutilio Sermonti, Stanley Payne, etc. It is clear that the regime was, to put it in fewer words, heading torwards Socialization from the very beginning.

But what does "State Socialism" mean to Fascism? Did the RSI even put into practice what it preached? Well, the answer is more complex than what it may seem. Even though Mussolini's regime never got to fully implement the socialization bill of law, it doesn't mean...

that socialization didn't happen. To the contrary, there were a certain amount of enterprises that experienced the laws, and, actually worked quite well throughout the war. We must not forget that Mussolini was also under German Command during those times, so his hands were...

often times tied to his back in what he could/couldn't do. Regardless of this, the reality of Mussolini's Italy is that the Ethical Totalitarian State was meant to be achieved through the State Socialism of the RSI. That was the goal from start to finish of the regime.

One figure that has been obscured by History in regards to Fascist Economics, has to be Ugo Spirito. His works and proposals influenced the ideals of Socialization, and not only that, they were fundamental on Fascist Praxis. As a faithful student of Giovanni Gentile...

for him, one of the results of Fascist Philosophy in Politics, would be the end of the dualism between Capital and Labor. For him, the Totalitarian State had to reach the entirety of Society, including economics. This wasnt done for Material goals unlike other forms of Socialism.

Socialization was pointless if it didn't have a Fascist Focus. The full point of the Fascist Revolution was to reach the Spiritual Union of the Nation in a total manner, through institutions and gradual reforms.

It is in this way, that the economy had no way to escape the Integralism of the Corporate State, which sought to integrate all sectors of society under the Totalitarian State, which, beyond a material reality, was an ideal one.

This is the reason as to why, once the State had the chance, a massive amount of Nationalizations happened, and the Industry that was still not at the hands of the State, remained to be under indirect control through several means.

In this regard, main academics on Mussolini have agreed that regardless of the coup of 1943, the regime already had on its intentions the idea of Socialization as a means to achieve the idea of the Totalitarian State, and this has been tracked beforehand by authors like Sermonti.

Despite the absolute collapse of the Italian Army during the war, when Mussolini returns to Italy, he starts the a process of purification, and reenactment of Fascist Domestic policy that would pretty much resemble what Fascist Italy would have been, war or not.

The Republican Fascist Party would gather in the span of two months, 250,000 members, and by 1944 it would have almost half a million. Not only that, but the RPF would had 3% of the population on its lines, compared to the NSDAP that in 1933 (when it got to power) only had 0.9%.

Among the proclaims of the Socialization Bill of Law, large scale nationalizations, cracking down on profits, elimination of wage labor, organizing labor in self management councils, and overall, progressive state control depending on the scale of the company, was to be found.

In the span of a few months, 80 enterprises were socialized, that together employed over 150,000 workers. The processes established by the Socialization Bill of Law would be employed, mostly with success, though with certain rejection from workers.

Most of the enterprises belonged to the Media sector. Ironically, the same day in which the Allies launched their final offensive upon Italy, was the day where large scale Socializations in all industry would have had place (April 25, 1945).

Mussolini would often times get disappointed and even desperate due to this rejection, since at his view, this was the last love letter he was delivering to Italy. This was not a mere appeal to the population, but the true representation of a Fascist Economy.

To believe that Mussolini was just trying to get mass support is at most an ignorant claim, given the fact that he would try to get Anti-Fascists to defend the Socialization of the regime. Whether he was killed or not, the social conquests of Fascism had to remain.

The opposition to the Socialization Bill of Law came from many places, be it Industrialists, Partisans (That would receive financial support by the Industrialists), Germans, and even Workers. The latter were mostly disappointed by the War Performance.

The situation of the war, internal opposition, top it all off with the Civil War, made it impossible for a full realization of the program to happen. Nevertheless, to claim that this was just Fascism trying to adopt a socialist discourse only for support...

is far from reality. We can trace back statements by Italian Hierarchs, Policies, and even War Time articles that clearly display the fact that what takes place during the RSI, was at the end of the day, the logical development of Fascist Economics.

Which leads back to figures like Ugo Spirito that, through the study of Gentilian Actualism, figured out that the logical conclusion of Italian Fascism was not the Corporate State itself, but an Integral Corporate State (Socialization).

Mussolini would once say, way back in 1933 that "Corporatism is a starting point not an arrival one.", which precisely display that what we see during the 30s was merely the beginning of Fascist Economics, not the end goal of them.

We can also top it off with the proclamation of Heroic Capitalism, and the constant comparisons the regime made between 1920s Italy and Lenin's NEP. The cathegorization of Fascist Italy as a developmental dictatorship is indeed correct.

But away from being one that didn't care if citizens liked Fascism or Not, the regime worked throughout 20 years to make it so Italians enjoyed Fascism. Even during the last 2 years, it still did so. At the face of Partisan Terror, many Italians still supported Fascism.

Mussolini was certainly a flawed man, and the purpose of these threads is not to glorify him, but if anything to display the course of history that his actions led to. As Anti-Fascists have said, he was clever in domestic policy, but not as much when it came to foreign policy.

The Triumph of Labor was certainly always in his mind up until his last days, he still considered himself a Socialist and believed he had brought true socialism to reality. The only feasible one, being a form of Italian Socialism, AKA Fascism.

As Perón pointed out, what we saw in Italy was a form of National Socialism, an Italian Socialism adapted to the realities and requirements of its Society. The regime embarked itself in developmental policies to bring about its dream, the Ethical Totalitarian State.

https://twitter.com/Timotero2/status/1420845370804932611?s=20

Mussolini would be eventually captured while trying to reach a location where he would have had a last battle.

It was obvious that his death was nearby, regardless, he would get a decent treatment from the part of partisans before his execution (interviews, food, etc).

His last words would be "Aim at my Heart!". His corpse would be taken to the famous Milan plaza where his corpse gets mistreaten by the crowd (keep in mind the people that did this were always anti-fascists and not random italians).

It's ironic to consider that what happened to his corpse is something that Mussolini himself predicted, yet, didn't care. If anything, it proved him correct, and displays the lack of virtue from the people that hated/hate him to this day.

Urbano Lazzaro, the partisan that captured Mussolini would regret this throughout his life, to the point where he would give interviews and collaborate with Fascist Organizations, and constantly compliment Mussolini, while criticizing the Capitalism that appeared after Fascism.

It is not to Modern Day Fascists to fully agree with Mussolini, let alone defend every single aspect of him. If anything, as many Fascists said before the end of the war, it is from within Fascism that criticism will have to come from.

At the end of the day, Fascist Italy is the most complex system one can come across when studying Fascism in the political world. I strongly suggest reading through the works of authors like Gregor, Farrell, Payne, Sternhell, etc. to anyone trying to go study the regime.

Mussolini would regret to the end of his days, the fact that Fascism had associated itself with Capitalists and Traditionalists. Before and after 1943, he constantly said that they had slowed down Fascism on its natural progression torwards its goals.

Use the information in the thread however you like. This is a drive with the sources I used for it, not all books had PDFs (some are paraphrased, others are directly quoted):

drive.google.com/drive/folders/…

"As the natural development of society proved more and more of Marx's predictions to be wrong, true socialism retreated from the possible to the probable. The only feasible socialism that can be truly implemented is Corporativism."

Benito Mussolini

The End