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The PSI being inspired by Bolshevik party’s seizure of power in Russia adopted this policy of revolution and made the decision to join the Comintern (the communist international, a Moscow-based organisation, its aims were to co-ordinate and control the activities of national communist parties). Now not committed to a socialist republic and the dictatorship of the proletariat, the socialist party organised numerous strikes, protests and demonstrations in Italy. It attracted massive publicity too, with membership increasing from 50,000 to 200,000 in the years 1913 and 1914.
However, Giolitti’s government were not extreme failures after all. They gave concessions to trade unions. He promised social reform, therefore gaining limited support from the Papacy, which was support none the less. Giolitti’s government promoted economic and financial development with the greatest growth and development occurring in northern Italy, especially in the motor car industry. Giolitti attempted to develop the economy of the south; on the other hand they did not want to be helped as …show more content…
Economic growth had been slowed by massive state spending on war related items. By the end of the war Italy faced a serious budget deficit. The war deepened the North-South divide. With the more industrialized northern economy, the southern peasants increased their demands for land and the criticism of the liberal political system were ever more growing. More than 2.5 million peasants and laborer’s from the countryside served in the army, meaning that most were unskilled and unfit for service, most had to be …show more content…
The First World War had split the traditional ruling elite into separate factions. So many divisions existed that, everyone was opposing someone else one way or another for example, interventionists opposed neutralists. The liberal state made changes to the electoral system, there was the introduction of the universal male suffrage and then there was the bringing around of the party list system, were under the proportional representation system, voters choose parties not candidates.
This shift towards mass democracy and proportional representation meant that the importance of the traditional link between the liberal politicians and the elite who kept them in power was undermined. Giovanni Amendola, a journalist and liberal politician, assessed that ‘the list system means the abdication of the liberal party’.
November 1919 led to the first elections with new rules. The results clearly demonstrated that the liberal state had collapsed. The PSI (socialists) and the PPI (popular party) who were the two mass organized parties in Italy at the time obtained 156 and 101 seats. The liberals won 220 seats however they lost their control on parliament. Elections in 1921 produced similar results. From 1921 onwards the liberal government needed either the socialists or catholic support in order to
However, Giolitti’s government were not extreme failures after all. They gave concessions to trade unions. He promised social reform, therefore gaining limited support from the Papacy, which was support none the less. Giolitti’s government promoted economic and financial development with the greatest growth and development occurring in northern Italy, especially in the motor car industry. Giolitti attempted to develop the economy of the south; on the other hand they did not want to be helped as …show more content…
Economic growth had been slowed by massive state spending on war related items. By the end of the war Italy faced a serious budget deficit. The war deepened the North-South divide. With the more industrialized northern economy, the southern peasants increased their demands for land and the criticism of the liberal political system were ever more growing. More than 2.5 million peasants and laborer’s from the countryside served in the army, meaning that most were unskilled and unfit for service, most had to be …show more content…
The First World War had split the traditional ruling elite into separate factions. So many divisions existed that, everyone was opposing someone else one way or another for example, interventionists opposed neutralists. The liberal state made changes to the electoral system, there was the introduction of the universal male suffrage and then there was the bringing around of the party list system, were under the proportional representation system, voters choose parties not candidates.
This shift towards mass democracy and proportional representation meant that the importance of the traditional link between the liberal politicians and the elite who kept them in power was undermined. Giovanni Amendola, a journalist and liberal politician, assessed that ‘the list system means the abdication of the liberal party’.
November 1919 led to the first elections with new rules. The results clearly demonstrated that the liberal state had collapsed. The PSI (socialists) and the PPI (popular party) who were the two mass organized parties in Italy at the time obtained 156 and 101 seats. The liberals won 220 seats however they lost their control on parliament. Elections in 1921 produced similar results. From 1921 onwards the liberal government needed either the socialists or catholic support in order to