Economic Policies (Agricultural and Industrial)

Question 1

agriculture
what was the ‘battle for grain’?

Answer 1

1925
* grow more cereals and reduce dependence on foreign imports
* import controls
* plough pasture land, vineyards and orchards for growing grain
* medals awarded to productive farmers
* increase tractors and fertilisers in the North

Question 2

agriculture
how successful was the ‘Battle for Grain’?

Answer 2

**successes: **
* by 1939: doubled cereal production (achieved self-sufficiency)
* grain imports reduced by 75% within 10 years
* Mussolini photographed getting ‘hands dirty’ during harvest

**failures: **
* misallocation of resources
* Italy has to import olive oil
* fruit and wine exports dropped
* cattle and sheep numbers dropped

Question 3

agriculture
what was the ‘Battle for Land’?

Answer 3

1926
* increase farmland
* drain marshes and swamps
* establsihed many small farms financed by public funds to create work for the unemployed

Question 4

agriculture
how successful was the ‘Battle for Land’?

Answer 4

successes:
- provided thousands of jobs
- improved public healthcare

**failures: **
- only reclaimed one significant area (the Pontine Marshes)

Question 5

agriculture
how were agricultural workers negatively impacted under Mussolini?

Answer 5

• suffered significant wage cuts
• 1920s USA immigration restrictions closed traditional escape route
• **500 000 **migrate to cities in search of work
• only benefitted rich landowners
• 1922 land distribution law never implemeneted as regime did not want to alienate landowners
• north and south inequality continued to grow

Question 6

industrial
What was the Battle for the Lira?

Answer 6

1926
* restore Lira value abroad
* increase italian prestige
* Lira revalued

Question 7

industrial
how successful was the ‘Battle for the Lira’?

Answer 7

successes:
* allowed continuation of importing coal and iron for armaments and shipbuilding
* heavy industry imported cheaper raw materials
* boosted Mussolini’s prestige

**failures: **
* declining exports and increased unemployment
* Italian goods became more expensive
* car exports badly hit
* began recession in Italy, worsened by Great Depression

Question 8

industrial
why did Mussolini initially try to gain support from influential groups and how did he do this?

Answer 8

garner support from big businessmen

• 1922-25: car, textile and agricultural good exports doubled
• appointed Alberto De Stefani as treasury minister
• outlawed socialist and communist trade unions

Question 9

industrial
what was the Corporate State?

Answer 9

1926 onwards
* each industry has corporation with employers and fascist trade unions
* disputes would be settled in labour court
* employers and workers working together would maximise productivity for the nation

Question 10

industrial
how did the Corporate State benefit employers more than workers?

Answer 10

• fascist trade union power continued to diminish
• employers could change working hours without consultation
• workers could not choose own union representatives (those given to them would often side with employers)
• workers interests regarding pay and conditions unmet

Question 11

industrial
what was the IRI?

Answer 11

1933
* Institute per la Reconstruzione Industriale (Institute of Industrial Reconstruction)
* built to combat great depression
* by 1939: massive state company that controlled most iron and steel industries, merchant shipping, electrical industry and telephone system

Question 12

industrial
how did the great depression alter mussolini’s economic policy and why?

Answer 12

• switch from corporatist economics to job creation schemes
• key industries collapsed
• car manufacturing reduced by 50%
• 1933: 2 million unemployed