Liberation, national unity, and the politics of limited reform: Part 1: Italy, 1944-1948
Date
1993-08-09
Authors
Stadler, Alfred William
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Abstract
Italy from the mid to late 1940s provides a classic instance of
a massive uprising by the poorest elements in society in support
of fundamental changes in their condition. The efforts of the
Italian industrial working class and the peasantry through strike
action, land seizures and military action in the Resistance, were
supported by the unions and by the Socialist and Communist
parties. But the political project for fundamental reform was
undermined in the post-liberation settlement. The great wave of
mobilisation generated during the mid-1940s subsided for a
variety of reasons. With its subsidence, the hopes of fundamental
change which had inspired many to risk their lives in the revolt
against fascism and the German occupation declined. Italy's
subsequent history was one of economic growth, but it was
purchased at the expense of basic reforms on the land, in
industry and the state.
Of course things did not go back to where they had stood in 1944.
Conservatives opposed to Fascism formed the Christian Democratic
Party in 1943. They enjoyed enough credibility to assume a
leading position in the anti-fascist coalition which assumed
office once the enfeebled Badoglio government had given way to
a more representative provisional government. The Christian
Democrats (DC) used their authority to consolidate an alliance
which stretched across Italian party politics from the
Resistance, Communists, Socialists and Liberals, to unions and
business associations. The effect of Christian Democratic
hegemony was to undermine the most radical elements in the
coalition. But they made sufficient concessions to pressures for
change from the peasantry and the working class to contain them,
and thus to ensure major continuities with the social, economic
and political status quo ante. These concessions were important
in maintaining their hegemony: each time Christian Democratic
policy shifted markedly to the right they experienced rather
rapid deflations in electoral support.
Description
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 9 August 1993
Keywords
Italy. Politics and government, 1943-1947, Italy. History, 1945-1976