Issues facing Italy

Question 1

Political system

Answer 1

• Parliament was unrepresentative - primarily drawn from a narrow, northern, professional middle class representing their class interest over the nation and they restricted suffrage by excluding the south and poor in politics.
• Instability and corruption of the Italian govts = only a few formally formalised political parties, and the govt was only created by promising critical positions to other members which often lasted not long (29 PMs from 1870-1922) = success reliant on alliances than attracting votes through popular policies.
• Likewise, the govt swiftly met any protests against them with violent military repression, reinforcing the divide between the ‘‘Real Italy’’ of the people and the ‘‘Legal Italy’’ of the politicians.
• Lastly, the Church further hampered Italy’s political system. Pope Pius XI’s ban on Catholics running for engaging with Politics, refusing to acknowledge the state, possibly robbing Italy of a potentially unifying symbol. Feared challenging the Church as it potentially would alienate the population whilst preventing the creation of a national conservative party.
• The lack of parliamentary challenge to the ruling middle-class could have led to further instability by no popular political opposition and a small electorate.

Question 2

Economic issues

Answer 2

• Debt of 2.4 billion lire, Italy could not modernise by investing in crucial areas like education and public services, so Italy lagged behind other European countries.
• North-south divide created a dualist economy. By 1911 economic expansion and industrialisation of northern cities, it ignored the agricultural South despite calls from Southern politicians for more economic investment and fiscal policies.
• YET industrialisation was significant to modernise the economy to compete with the rest of Europe. For example, the northern provinces of Lombardy, Liguria and Piedmont (the industrial triangle) employed nearly ½ of the 2.2 million industrial workers. However, the northern industries were limited and small, with fewer factories than the rest of Europe.
• Despite a few successes of the economic boom in 1881-87, developing steel and shipbuilding, the boom of 1900 was somewhat disappointing, emphasising delayed economic improvement.
• Italy’s lack of modernisation was because 68% of the population were peasants - only 10% shared or owned the land, whilst the rest were hired labourers for landlords.
• Agriculture was also traditional; 60% of the peasants compared to 10% of Britain were employed and was divided into latifundias.
• Economic stress only partially eased because of emigration to the US, failing to deal with the long-term issues as it was reliant on the other countries’ willingness to accept large influxes of poor, unskilled migrants.

Question 3

Social Issues

Answer 3

• North-south divide was the central barrier to the politicians’ attempts to provide national identity and unity.
• South experienced low literacy levels, poor diet, health and water, and suffered from diseases like malaria or tuberculosis.
• Common to have protests against unemployment, food and high taxation - between 1901 and 1911, there were 1,500 strikes taking place with 350,000 workers. Likewise, other issues like organised crime (the Mafia) and frequent peasant violence dominated Southern Italy.
• Unfortunately, despite the government’s apparent awareness of the severity of the social issues, they appeared unable to solve it or blamed it on the peasants themselves, neglecting the South.
• A united Italy would be difficult as many who saw themselves as Italian still lived outside the boundaries, often in irredenta lands. Correspondingly, many did not speak Italian but had their local dialects intelligible only to local people. Preventing any unity, Italians felt disjointed in their sense of national identity.
• Ban on Catholic involvement in politics robbed Italy of a potential unifying symbol - religious or not. Links with the already small electorate system, causing increased feelings of anarchism or sympathy for socialism.
• People had insufficient living standards and working conditions, with few having the venture to communicate their political opinion as the government restricted the majority’s suffrage.