Assess the impact of the Fascist ruralisation campaign and the regime’s agricultural policies on Italian agriculture and on the lives of those who worked the land
In May 1927 Mussolini officially addressed the Chamber of Deputies with his famous ‘Ascension Day’ speech. ... In response to this problem Mussolini administered the ‘Battle for Wheat’ campaign, which became the first policy to address agriculture and ruralisation. ... Mussolini’s dream of Italian ‘ruralisation’ was becoming more and more distant. ... When put into practice the campaigns did it no way lead to a ruralisation of Italy. ... Mussolini’s ideological and moral dream, surrounding ruralisation did just simply not occur. ...
What runs prominent throughout the whole ruralisation debate is the regimes support, or more accurately, its subordination to the big agrarians, industrialists and privileged middle classes.
As the regime did not want to disrupt the alliance with these groups (which had brought them to power) it became more and more difficult to mount a successful ruralisation campaign. ... All in all the ruralisation campaign seems contradictory, as it’s policies only benefited the privileged classes.
Bibliography
· Bevilacqua, Piero, Le Campagne del Mezzogiorno tra fascismo e dopoguerra, Einaudi, 1980, Torino
· Cohen, Jon, ‘Fascism and Agriculture in Italy: Policies and Consequences’, Economic History Review, 1979
· Corner, Paul, Fascist Agrarian Policy and the Italian Economy in the Interwar Years in Davis, J, A, Gramsci and Italys Passive Revolution, chp8, 1979
· Ebenstein, William, Fascist Italy, American Book Company, 1939
· Morgan, Philip, Italian Fascism 1919-1945, Macmillan press, London, 1995
· Preti, Domenico, Studi Storici No1, Gennaio-Marzo 1973
· Salvatici, Silvia, ‘Un mondo in affanno: famiglie agricole nell’Italia Fascista’, Passato e Presente 36, 1995
