19th March
‘The primary concern behind Mussolini’s economic policy was public relations and consolidation
with the elites.’ Assess the validity of this view.
Mussolini was no economist and on coming to power he had no coherent programme of reform.
However, he was concerned with consolidating and maintaining his power, quickly realising that if
he was to achieve this, he would need an economic policy. Throughout the 1920s and 30s, Mussolini
crafted an economic policy, with his primary concern, public relations and consolidation with the
elites at the crux of it, with other concerns, including addressing the economic legacy of Liberal Italy
and preparing the Italian economy for war, on the periphery of his policy. Mussolini used his
economic policy as a façade to meet his aims regarding public relations and consolidation with the
elites, explaining why his policy had more success in these areas than in the field of economics.
The primary concern behind Mussolini’s economic policy was public relations and consolidation with
the elites. This is perfectly illustrated through his creation of a ‘Corporate State’, a supposedly
revolutionary method of running the economy. Mussolini set up corporations for each sector of
industry, containing both employers and Fascist trade unions to be the mouthpiece of the workers.
Any disputes between employers and trade unions would be sent to the labour courts, which were
headed by the Ministry of Corporations, where they would (in theory) be solved quickly and
amicably. However, the idea of ‘Corporate State’ was simply a public relations campaign to gain
support of the Italian workers, whilst securing Mussolini’s good relations with the elites within the
Confindustira. The labour courts were set up as an illusion to deceive the workers by making them
think that their issues within the workplace were being dealt with justly, when this was far from the
truth. Cases were not taken seriously as proven by the unfitting representation of the workers. For
example, a philosopher was appointed to represent the interests of grain growers. Mussolini always
sided with the corporations, demonstrating how the ‘Corporate State’ was set up as a ploy to gain
support of the workers so he could in the meantime work on his true goal: consolidating himself
with the powerful elites. These aims are also seen within the 1927 Labour Charter, referred to as
‘The Magna Carta of Fascist Revolution’, which was another public relations campaign that had
Mussolini’s consolidation with the elites at the heart of it. The Labour Charter was concerned with
worker’s rights but was not legally binding, allowing employers to maintain control over issues such
as hours and holidays, meaning that nothing changed and Mussolini thus remained in good favour of
the elites.
Others may argue, however, that the primary concern behind Mussolini’s economic policy was
addressing the economic legacy of Liberal Italy. On coming to power, Mussolini did not inherit a
large surplus and the divide between the urban, industrialised north and the rural, undeveloped
south remained a grave problem. To combat this, Mussolini introduced three economic battles- the
Battle for Lira, Grain and Land. The choice of name ‘battle’ itself presents that public relations aims
were hidden behind the economic aspirations of these policies as by presenting them as something
to fight for, this naturally induced a sense of drive and nationalism in the nation, inadvertently
making them more compliant with Mussolini’s aims. The Battle for Land revalued the lira and the
new exchange rate became 90 lire to the British pound. This depicted the Fascist regime as powerful
and authoritative, but instead of strengthening the Italian currency, it severely harmed the export
market and triggered widespread deflation. In contrast, the Battle for Grain did in fact do what it set
out to do; grain production in Italy increased from 5.5 million tonnes per year to 7.5 million tonnes in
10 years. However, this came at a detriment to other production markets of which Italy had
previously dominated, such as wine and olives, triggering Spain to take over. Furthermore, Italy still
relied on imported fertiliser so could not claim self-sufficiency in grain. The Battle for Land, similar to
the Battle for Lira, did not do as it promised. Of the land promised to peasantry, only 5% was
