Autarky & The Corporate State

1. Autarky & The Corporate State Ms. NiginaMirbabaeva & Ms. Jasmine Montebon

2. “Self-Sufficient State” What is Autarky?

3. First, Mussolini set out to relinquish Italy's dependence on foreign grain imports by putting forth a mass production of grain. • Battle for Grain. • Mussolini hoped to reduce the balance of trade deficit and make Italy less dependent on imports during war. • Italy's grain production rose dramatically and imports of it fell. • Cereal production doubled. • Problem = grain production rose farmers forgot about the harvesting of other crops (meat, dairy, etc.) and while grain imports dropped by 75% every other crop and animal product's import rose. Subsequently the Italian diet suffered. • Italy did become nearly self sufficient in cereals, but not in fertilizers.

4. Mussolini’s next battle was known as the Battle for the Lira. • Battle for the Lira helped industries, such as chemical and steel, which were dependent on imports and caused deflation. • Pronounce Italy's currency, the Lira, automatically worth more than its value in relation to world markets. • hoped this would reduce inflation, show that Fascism would bring stability and to show that Italy had a strong currency because of its strong nation. • Not work out for very long at all, as other countries deemed Italy's currency decree invalid and refused to honor it. • The move did show the authority of the regime and boost prestige. • On the other hand, it harmed the economy by hitting exports as now Italian goods cost more money abroad. This policy also undermined smaller firms, which were taken over by larger ones. • Government imposed a 20% cut in wages and in 1936 to devalue the Lira. Although this policy seems like a failure, it forced Italy into autarky and helped to centralize Italian industry and thereby the Italian economy.

5. Mussolini’s economic policies did fail to create the elusive autarky that he was looking for. Italy was an agricultural economy before Mussolini and he did little to change that. However, a economy that will continue to grow and remain strong and therefore be more likely to support an autarky needs to have a balance of industry and agriculture. However, since Italy was mostly agricultural it allowed Italy to absorb the stock market crash and then recover from the crash faster then those nations that were industry based. This also allowed for the Lira to stay much stronger (comparatively speaking) then most other currency. Although some of Mussolini’s economic policies failed, his overall economic plan worked well for Italy and allowed for some economic growth despite the world wide depression. Not to mention that by 1940 Italy was the most productive in terms of raw materials in Europe, especially in pig iron.

6. “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.”-Mussolini? (Unsure…)

7. It took elements from both capitalism and socialism, the 'best parts'. The Duce wanted to create a vibrant model state, and thus Italy needed to emerge with new confident economic strategies in order to survive, and then wage war and create an empire. What is Mussolini’s corporate state?

8. Communism? Similar to communism, the idea of the Corporate state was for every Italian, no matter what race, to contribute themselves to the state, rather than themselves. Even the Catholic Church, which had opposed Italian democracy for so long, had to accept this. However, he believed that both capitalist and communist approaches to economic strategy were flawedand both led to civil unrest.

9. divided work into seven sections, and each section would have a workers or boss, which would be in the corporate. • Within this, companies would be privately owned, allowing for competition - however the Corporation would be state controlled. Workers and bosses would resolve debates, and in theory this had both advantages of Capitalism (profit and private enterprise) and Socialism (the state overseeing everything) How did the Corporate State work?

10. WHY DID THE CORPORATE STATE FAIL? • It was never going to work. Even Stalin's Five Year Plans, and Roosevelt New Deal only had limited results. Economic growth comes naturally; it cannot be hurried along by the state. • too many Italians were bitterly opposed to Mussolini, and were not going to work hard to ensure him success • . Italians had not forgotten Matteotti, the socialist leader kidnapped and murdered by the Blackshirts, or the beatings-up so many of them had received on the street. Socialists bitterly resented losing their trade unions; the south of Italy still resented the wealth concentrated in the North; in short - Mussolini was not popular enough in Italy, and this was why his scheme collapsed.

11. Grazie!