Daniel Guerin (1973, 21-25), argues that big business is not just central in Fascism, but also financed fascism. Guerin emphasizes, that while the fight against socialism and the proletariat were important factors in the rise of Fascism, such an argument over-simplifies what gave the rise to Fascism, and that the decline in capitalism must be considered. Prior to WWI, Guerin states that democracy was ideal for capitalism, however, after the war, falling profit caused the bourgeoisie to instead seek to empty the pockets of the people. Guerin uses the term “great penance” a phrase attributed a former finance minister of France Joseph Caillaux, to describe when wages and social expenditures are slashed, and tariffs are raised to protect industry
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Light industry is characterized by finished products, and their customer base is consumers, on the other hand, government and businesses are the consumers in heavy industry. In times of war, steel and metals are perhaps the most important commodity along with oil. Furthermore, Heavy industry has a considerably higher ratio of fixed capital, therefore any disruption in production or crisis can incur incredibly high costs and relatively low production numbers gives firms less ability to spread out the incurred costs of said disruption. This inevitably leads to drastic wage cuts. Trade unions and strikes which were effectively declared illegal under fascism removed the power that workers did have in heavy industry.
Furthermore, as this enquiry evaluated earlier, coming out of World War I, heavy industry such as Ansaldo which produced aircrafts and ships and the steelworks company Ilva, who were better off after World War I, but the end of the war meant that orders stopped arriving and the massive investment in capital then looked unlikely to yield returns. This put not only heavy industry in a precarious situation, but also the banks that had backed …show more content…
Guerin (1976, 217-218), notes that upon gaining power Mussolini issued a 400 million lire subsidy to Ansaldo, to return it to solvency, and ensure that the firm was prepared for future combat. This was the first of many bailouts of struggling banks and heavy industry by the Fascist Regime. The involvement of the state in returning firms and banks to solvency grew considerably in the 1930s when the great depression reached Italy. Three of Italy’s largest banks the Banco di Milano, the Credito Italiano, and Banca Commerciale all were returned to solvency via three supposedly autonomous banking institutions that were financed by the
Light industry is characterized by finished products, and their customer base is consumers, on the other hand, government and businesses are the consumers in heavy industry. In times of war, steel and metals are perhaps the most important commodity along with oil. Furthermore, Heavy industry has a considerably higher ratio of fixed capital, therefore any disruption in production or crisis can incur incredibly high costs and relatively low production numbers gives firms less ability to spread out the incurred costs of said disruption. This inevitably leads to drastic wage cuts. Trade unions and strikes which were effectively declared illegal under fascism removed the power that workers did have in heavy industry.
Furthermore, as this enquiry evaluated earlier, coming out of World War I, heavy industry such as Ansaldo which produced aircrafts and ships and the steelworks company Ilva, who were better off after World War I, but the end of the war meant that orders stopped arriving and the massive investment in capital then looked unlikely to yield returns. This put not only heavy industry in a precarious situation, but also the banks that had backed …show more content…
Guerin (1976, 217-218), notes that upon gaining power Mussolini issued a 400 million lire subsidy to Ansaldo, to return it to solvency, and ensure that the firm was prepared for future combat. This was the first of many bailouts of struggling banks and heavy industry by the Fascist Regime. The involvement of the state in returning firms and banks to solvency grew considerably in the 1930s when the great depression reached Italy. Three of Italy’s largest banks the Banco di Milano, the Credito Italiano, and Banca Commerciale all were returned to solvency via three supposedly autonomous banking institutions that were financed by the