In its 20 years of reign in Italy, Fascism achieved wonders never seen before. For starters, the welfare system, which have been proven to be inadequate in supplying the workers in the form of assistance, was further elaborated by the Fascist regime. Fascists went on to embark on an ambitious social program, amongst the most advanced for its time, giving a significant coverage of the population in health, education, housing, food assistance, etc. Carl Theodore Schmidt, an anti-fascist scholar, remarked in 1939:
“Formally, indeed, the organization of social services is impressive. All workers are entitled to insurance benefits in the event of industrial diseases and accidents, to old-age and invalidity pensions, and to insurance against tuberculosis. A substantial number are insured against unemployment. Small supplements to the wages of laborers with large families have also been introduced. Women workers are entitled to maternity benefits. Voluntary sickness funds have been set up by business firms and the syndical organizations. Furthermore, the Government has fostered a number of social-welfare institutions. The most important of these is the Dopolavoro, or Leisure-Time Institute, which provides it members with admirable opportunities for education, sport, and recreation. By 1938 it had more than 3,000,000 members. Fascist youth, maternity, and infancy organizations are said also to have made material additions to the well-being of workers”
Even among anti-fascist observers, the social system in Fascist Italy undeniably introduced an array of benefits to the population. The results of these social policies was a national decline in mortality rate from tuberculosis, cholera, miscarriage, as well as greater incentives for workers. One particular creation of the Fascist regime that deserves a special mention is the Dopolavoro, an organization that erected recreational facilities, giving members access to various outings such as skiing, boxing, theatres, operas, and much more, throughout the country for its members. Membership in the organization was open to non-fascists. Nor did one have to be part of the Fascist Party to join it. The same commentator mentioned above noted:
“Members of the Dopolavoro may at little or no cost travel in the country, receive medical treatment, take part in a variety of sports and pastimes, attend lectures, theaters, and vocational courses. . . . During his working hours, the laborer has little chance to think about anything but the job before him, and in his leisure time the Dopolavoro helps to safeguard him from ‘dangerous thoughts.’”
Nor are all of these enough. A Labor Charter in 1927 was promulgated, dealing with the following labour issues:
(1) Insurance
(2) Paid vacation
(3) Pensions
(4) Syndical associations
(5) Labor Courts
(6) The role of labor
(7) Collective contracts
Conceiving both strikes and lock-outs as harmful to the nation, Fascists created a labor court system, whereby workers and bosses would reach to a reconciliation. Of all the cases forwarded to the court system, 11,062 cases solved, 3,432 cases abandoned or delayed, 6,050 cases in informal arbitration, and 670 without jurisdiction. To be sure, the system proved to be inadequate in some cases, but it, nevertheless, effectively lessened the conflict between labor and capital. What’s more, employers who instituted lock outs on their businesses faced 3-12 months imprisonment and a 10,000-100,000 lire fine. As a response to the growing economic depression in the early 30s, a state intervention in the economy came in the form of a comprehensive public works program, further consolidating the “Battle For Wheat” and “Battle For Land” campaigns, both of which began a few years prior to the advent of the Great Depression. The government boosted the construction of railways, roads, and communication services, as well as erecting workers’ dwellings, schools, hospitals, public buildings, etc. As a result, unemployment which reached a million in 1933 was further reduced to only about six hundred thousand in 1936. Furthermore, camps for the poor were created. In 1933-34, over two million people were accommodated in these camps in form of medical assistance and food supplements. On the matter of ecology, Fascism promoted reforestation, as well as putting an emphasis on the improvement of environmental conditions. A forest militia was formed in 1926, for the purpose of carrying out reforestation works, as well as dealing with general question of forestry, and directing hydraulic arrangement of streams and districts. According to a report from Augusto Agostini, a general of the Forest Militia, 79,500,000 small plants and 557,000 kilogrammes of forest seeds have been planted between 1928-30. Forest-keepers and wood-cutters, which had a neglected role before the advent of Fascism, finally had their own respective federations into which they were organized. The claim that Fascism had little care or the worst intentions in mind for its working class is simply untrue. To say otherwise is to create a fantastic myth.
God Bless You All Comrades, Tomorrow We Live.
Ave
“At a given moment the worker, the tiller of the soil, must be able to say to himself and to his family: ‘If I am really better off today it is due to the institutions that the Fascist Revolution has created.'” – Benito Mussolini
Authored By: Blackshirt Yugo
The Seamusite Fascisti 