2021-12-25
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Mussolini's economic policy in the interests of the oligarchs was so obvious that fascism began to lose many of its supporters: pro-fascist-minded workers, middle and poor peasants, intellectuals, small and even medium-sized businesses. Conflicts broke out within the fascist party time and again.
Finally, when the socialist deputy Matteotti was assassinated in June 1924, an acute political crisis ensued in the country. A parliamentary opposition, the so-called Aventine bloc, was created by the forces of the Socialist Party, the Liberal Party, the People's Party and the Communists.
Perhaps the most interesting thing in all this is the position of the liberals. Until recently, they were on the same side with the Nazis. But after the labor movement was defeated, the liberals no longer needed them. At the same time, the liberals were mainly backed by light industry, rural entrepreneurship and middle-income banks. And behind the fascists are large-scale industry, large agrarians and large banks.
And yet, a situation arose when the fascist regime could be overthrown. To do this, the liberals had to side with the workers and act in concert with them. This was the only way to get rid of the Italian oligarchs. But, hell, an alliance with the workers means an alliance with the socialists and communists. And if with the former liberals could, at least after a fashion, agree on something, then they did not, definitely, had no relations with the ideas of the communists. The fact is that the communists proposed to mobilize the people to fight the fascists, first of all, with the help of strikes. And the liberals remember that not long ago strikes almost led to a socialist revolution. No, thanks.
The liberals wanted to get Mussolini removed in their favorite way - to negotiate. It was only necessary to persuade the king to remove the fascist government, for he still had the authority to do this. But given that the king did not have real power, and the Nazis controlled the entire power apparatus, they, of course, did not succeed. The ideas of the communists were discarded. The Aventine bloc fell apart without doing anything.
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On January 3, 1925, Mussolini speaks to parliament, where he declares that the struggle between the government and the opposition will be resolved by force. Within two years, a series of punitive laws were adopted in the country and an open fascist dictatorship was established. The government became exclusively fascist in composition, purges were carried out in the fascist party, executive and legislative power passed into the hands of Mussolini, all non-fascist parties and the media were banned, a political police ala the Gestapo appeared, mass arrests of anti-fascists began, and, finally, a special military tribunal was created in peacetime and the death penalty was introduced.
All this was a small introduction on the way to the story about the corporate state.
The foundations of the corporate system were laid in 1926, when the law on "the legal organization of collective labor relations" was passed. This law had four cornerstones:
The First. Strikes and lockouts were prohibited, criminalized and were subject to criminal proceedings.
The Second. For the peaceful settlement of all labor conflicts, the so-called Labor Court was created.
The Third. Six confederations were created to represent the interests of employers: industry, agriculture, etc. Six confederations representing the interests of workers: industry, agriculture, etc. and one for the self-employed. Confederations were divided into federations, further into territorial units, and finally into primary organizations. The state rises above all this business. Thus, the union of employers 'and workers' organizations under one roof in the form of the state was called the Corporate System.
These, so to speak, committees received the unique right to conclude collective agreements, the terms of which became binding on the entire industry. Those. even if the worker and the employer were not members of any of these organizations, then they were obliged to conclude an employment contract on the terms reached within the framework of the Corporate System.
And finally, the fourth and most important thing. The fascists were faced with the question of who to fill the Corporate System: individuals or officials. Those. what to do with the already existing unions of employers and workers - who to take into the system and who not. Such entrepreneurial organizations as Confindustria, Agriculture Confederation and others received official state recognition, added “fascist” to their name and took the place of the corresponding confederation. Those. in these confederations there were private entrepreneurs. For example, the heads of Confindustria during the period of fascism were Stefano Benni, Alberto Pirelli, Giuseppe Volpi and Giuseppe Mazzini. All four are big businessmen and prominent fascists. Moreover, at least two of them helped Mussolini to seize power.
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Workers' confederations were another matter. No independent trade unions of workers received state recognition. Confederations representing workers' interests were occupied by fascist trade unions. Those. by fascist officials appointed from the government. Why is that? Let's listen to Mussolini:
Fascist syndicalism differs from red in one fundamental feature: it does not set itself the task of causing any damage to private property. When an entrepreneur is in the face of the red trade union, he has before him
a trade union that is only directly fighting for higher wages, for its ultimate goal is to fight for a general change in the existing situation, that is, the abolition of the right to property. Our syndicalism, on the other hand, seeks only to improve the position of those groups and classes that gather under our banner, and has no ultimate goals. Our syndicalism is based on collaboration at all stages of the production process...
In other words, entrepreneurs should represent their interests on their own, because the fascists do not seek to harm private property. But the workers should be represented by the fascist bureaucracy, because the independent trade unions are the red trade unions of national traitors who dream to disturb the entrepreneurs. Otherwise, you cannot achieve any class cooperation, and so – you cannot build a corporate system.
To manage all these organizations in the summer of 1926, the Ministry of Corporations was created, which was entrusted with:
- management of fascist trade unions, approval of their charters and budgets, appointment of leaders, etc.
- supervision over the participants of the Corporate system;
- supervision over the implementation of collective labor agreements;
- pre-trial settlement of labor disputes;
- well, and so on.
Now it is important to recall a very important detail. Earlier it was said that the terror carried out by the fascists was primarily directed against the independent workers' organizations. In return for the defeated trade unions, the fascists offered to join their own trade unions, the fascist ones. Moreover, even if you have never been a member of trade unions at all, then you will also be offered a unique opportunity to join a fascist trade union. Of course, only «voluntarily». Thus, in 1923, thanks to voluntary-terrorist methods, the fascist trade unions numbered 850 thousand people, in 1925 - 2 million, in 1934 - 4 million, and towards the end of the regime in 1939 - 7.5 million. people, 2/3 of the entire labor force of the country, not less.
And here's the picture. Today you can conclude an employment contract with an employer both individually and collectively with the help of your independent trade union. In general, today you build all your relationships with the employer
yourself. And under the Nazis, all the relationship between labor and capital was taken over by the state.
Under the slogan of class cooperation, employers' organizations received legal recognition and were included in the Corporate System, but workers were not. The workers, like cattle, were herded into a corral specially created for them - the fascist trade unions - and they were told that now you do not need to worry about anything, you do not need to negotiate with the employer yourself. The state will do everything for you, it will not give you offense, it will show this evil entrepreneur how to offend defenseless workers. And, by the way, it was the entrepreneurs who brought the fascists to power, therefore [the State owes you nothing].
Oh. Is there something you don't like? Maybe you want to create your own union or go on strike? Ah, felony, prison, death squads. Entrepreneurs also have own interests, don't forget. This is the third way, the class world, and not «the bloody Soviet Union».
The establishment of a ministry of corporations means essentially the following. Italy rejects the extreme solution of the social question by the Russians, who recognize only the labor force the right to legally discipline production relations, but it also rejects the extreme of pseudoscientific American Taylorism, which transfers the right to organize production exclusively to the owners... Meanwhile, fascism puts forward another solution to the issue... the third element, which rises above all class concepts and in which all contradictions are resolved, is the state.
But here's the irony. This third element, the fascist state, prohibits workers from selling their labor force on their own, the state to agree on everything, do not worry, but entrepreneurs do not buy it on their own, bargain as much as you like, but now not with hard workers, but with the fascist government.
In short, the corporate system is a legalized slave trade: the master comes to buy himself a thousand or two souls, and the seller, represented by the state, sells them to him. Of course, the auctions will not always go like clockwork, but this does not make it easier for the slaves - they have no rights here at all.
At the same time, one cannot but mention that small and medium-sized businesses were also partially deprived of the opportunity to choose. But the pressure on them was not the fascist state, but the Italian oligarchs. With such a hierarchy, it immediately became clear that if your interests intersect with the interests of, say, Confindustria, then it will simply lower the
conditions for hiring labor force from above and you cannot do anything. The corporate state is not only a system of coercion of workers in the interests of entrepreneurs, but also a system of coercion of small and medium-sized businesses in the interests of the Italian oligarchs.
In the summer of 1926, the smartest small-scale industrialists tried to circumvent this system and create their own organizations for hiring labor. Confindustry was not long in reaction:
News about the small business association has recently appeared in the press. The Confederation of Industry warns that such a scheme is in direct conflict with government policies. The Fascist Party has clearly established that Confindustria has the exclusive right to represent industrialists of all stripes, and therefore no other organization can be recognized by the government. Thus, the Confederation reminds small industrialists to join their part of the Confederation.
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Nothing to add, brilliant game by Italian oligarchs.
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Finally, on the day of the founding of Rome on April 21, 1927, the beginning of an eternal social peace, based on complete harmony between labor and capital, between workers and entrepreneurs, was announced with great fuss. This day was so great that it was declared a national holiday. With literally a stroke of the pen, Mussolini gave humanity a new era. For on that day, the so-called "Labor Charter" was adopted, which set out the fundamental principles of class cooperation and the corporate system.
The charter declared the Italian nation as much as "a moral, political and economic whole, which found its expression in the fascist state" (Art. 1). For the first time in the history of mankind, through a collective labor agreement, "solidarity between various factors of production finds its concrete expression in the form of reconciliation of opposing interests of employers and workers and in subordination to them to the highest interests of production" (Article 4).
For some reason, they forgot to write in the Labor Charter that entrepreneurs are an advanced class, but “the corporate state considers private initiative in the field of production as the most effective and useful instrument of national interests” (Article 7). The state reserved the right to intervene in
production only as a last resort, "when private initiative turns out to be insufficient, or when the political interests of the state require it."
Translated into our language, this meant that the state would interfere in the economy only if the enterprise is on the verge of bankruptcy and urgently needs to be subsidized from the state budget, in the name of the political interests of the nation, of course.
In general, the Labor Charter is a typical populist program of any business politician. This document, for example, completely bypassed the issue of the length of the working day and holidays, the minimum wage and, most importantly, unemployment. Those, the most important issues for workers are not included in the program of class reconciliation and solidarity. Instead, the employee is required to “strictly and sternly observe working hours” (Article 15), and the employer is given the right to fine and fire without compensation for those responsible for violating discipline and the normal course of the company (Article 19). What is the "normal work of the company" - and this no one knows, it is not specified here, you will figure it out in court, if, of course, you scrape up money for a lawyer.
So, what do we get in the end? The fascists sought:
- ending strikes, lockouts and conflicts over wages through state regulation of relations between labor and capital;
- what should have led to the end of the class struggle, reconciliation and class cooperation;
- but at the same time, private entrepreneurship is the inviolable basis of the economy. The state can intervene, but only as a last resort and only as an assistant.
Know who had the same program? Hitler!
On social issues, Hitler came up with a number of good ideas. He particularly sought to avoid class struggles and eliminate strikes, lockouts, and wage disputes through decisive government intervention in labor relations and economic management. There was no need to abolish private enterprise, but it was necessary to influence its actions.
The fascists, supported by industrialists and landowners, smashed workers' organizations, killed trade unionists, established a terrorist dictatorship and, in fact, enslaved the Italian nation. But all this, of course, is for the good of the people, for the good of the nation and for the good of all of Italy. It was just Duce way to put things in the order in the country to eliminate all social conflicts and establish. At a meeting with entrepreneurs in the summer of 1928, Mussolini said:
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The professional position of Italian industrialists is determined by the Labor Charter, which explicitly makes them responsible for the management of enterprises. You are at the head of the transformation, which is carried out on the basis of the capitalist economy, but which portends, perhaps, not only in Italy, the onset of a new type of economy - the corporate... The capitalist that socialist literature portrays him no longer exists. Thanks to the system of joint-stock companies and the system of shares, capital has spread in breadth, often to the point of being completely dispersed. The co-owners of enterprises that have become such through the acquisition of shares are often innumerable. Thus, capital becomes anonymous, and with it the capitalists also become anonymous. The head of the enterprise - the captain of industry, the creator of wealth - comes to the fore. Wealth creation goes beyond individual goals and becomes a national challenge...
New political and moral obligations follow from this new provision. The current state of the economy requires cooperation in the broadest sense of the word. This cooperation must be open, loyal and unconditional. In the fascist system, workers are no longer exploited, but production workers, whose standard of living must be raised in material and moral terms.
In reality, it was all empty chatter. According to official fascist data, from 1928 to 1933, the Labor Court received over 145 thousand cases on collective and individual disputes. In this regard, the Minister of Corporations was forced to admit:
it is highly doubtful that as corporate ideas spread, the number of disputes will quickly diminish.
In 1933, the official Fascist magazine wrote that the incredible increase in the number of labor disputes:
It is not a positive indicator of the cooperation, discipline and responsibility on which labor relations are built in our regime.
The fascists really had something to worry about - the idea of solidarity and class peace turned out to be absolutely bankrupt. According to all the same official data, in 1932 more than 400 thousand participants in labor conflicts were recorded, and by 1939
a little less than one and a half million. For 10 years, about 9 million people were involved in conflicts. The main grievance is the eternal capitalist grievance - wage disputes. It is followed by layoffs, overtime, grades and qualifications, and so on.
And why it is so? Because: the state owes you nothing.
Where have you ever seen that under capitalism, between employers and workers, the state chooses workers? Business only. From all sources it can be heard: “it is necessary to create conditions for business”, “it is necessary to make the life of businessmen better”, “it is necessary to attract a private investor”, “it is necessary to privatize everything that is possible” and so on and so forth.
The great corporate reform failed to resolve the contradiction between labor and capital. In fact, there was no such calculation. Corporatism and the so-called solidarity are a consequence of the pressure of big businessmen on the fascist government. Investors of the fascist party expected a return on their investments from this reform: the end of strikes, lower wages and other delights of optimizing the work of enterprises at the expense of workers.
And so it was. Corporate reform has made it much easier to cut wages. This law forces to conclude collective agreements and resolve other issues between labor and capital on a single state platform, where equality is supposedly observed in negotiations between entrepreneurs and workers. In fact, workers, unlike entrepreneurs, were deprived of the opportunity to independently defend their rights. Instead of them and on their behalf, all negotiations with the employer are conducted by a fascist official appointed from above. For business, there is nothing easier than just agreeing with such an official on all important issues.
Yes, even without any corruption, there were many opportunities for violating the agreements reached and avoiding responsibility. For example, when formulating the terms of a contract, business lawyers trained in all sorts of legal tricks could easily cheat the fascist bureaucracy. Thus, when the contract described the responsibilities of the workers, everything was unambiguous. One step back, one step aside – they shoot on sight. And when it came to the responsibilities of entrepreneurs, then the devil will break his leg - continuous footnotes-asterisks.
In fact, inequality in rights and responsibilities was so clearly arising from the Labor Charter and the Labor Organization Law that even fascist union bureaucrats were openly displeased:
All collective agreements include a variety of penalties. For whom? For a worker or employee who is guilty of something in the performance of his duties. But there are no sanctions against entrepreneurs who do not fulfill their promises to cooperate loyally.
The great corporate reform, Mussolini's pride, is the best cover so that the Italian oligarchs can rob their nation in the most systematic and consistent way. Therefore, the words "state", "state interests", "national interests" and so on should be understood as "oligarchs" and "interests of oligarchs." It was not for nothing that there were no protests on the part of them against corporate reform. But we, living today, know perfectly well what howl entrepreneurs raise at the slightest threat to their interests:
- United Russia party fears neo-bolshevism, comparing the situation to 1917;
- Victoria Bonia – social-Darwinist from «House 2».
All major Italian entrepreneurs were well aware of how beneficial the corporate state was for them. This is the whole point, the whole point of the great reform.
