Modern Italy: A Political History

543 Pages·1997·14.652 MB·English

by  Denis Mack Smith

MODERN ITALY

M O D E R N ITALY
A Political History
DENIS MACK SMITH
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON
Copyright © 1997 by Denis Mack Smith
First published in the United States of America as Italy: A Modem History by the University of
Michigan Press in 1959, revised edition 1969
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers for the public press) without written permission from the publishers.
Set in Linotronic Bembo by Fakenham Photosetting, Norfolk, England.
Printed in Great Britain by St. Edmundsbury Press Ltd.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Mack Smith, Denis, 1920-
Modem Italy: a political history. - New ed.
I. Italy - Politics and government - 1870-
I. Tide II. Italy
945'.o8
isbn 0-300-07377-1 (hbk.)
ISBN 0-300-04342-2 (pbk.)
ACKNOWLEDGMENT is made to the following for permission to quote from the works
listed: Pietro Nenni, for quotations from the books by him in the bibliography; Nazareno
Padellaro, for Ubro della 111 classe elementare; The Bodley Head, for Mazzini’s Letters to an
English Family; Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., for The Memoirs of Francesco Crispi; Weidenfeld &
Nicolson Ltd., for Mussolini’s Memoirs, 1942-43, ed. R. Klibansky; G. Bell & Sons Ltd., for
The Roman Journals of Ferdinand Gregorotnus 1852-74, ed. F. Althaus, tr. by Mrs. Gustavus
Hamilton; Hutchinson, for Benito Mussolini, My Autobiography, tr. R. Washburn Child; G.
Allen & Unwin Ltd., and also Litde Brown & Co., and Franz J. Horch, for Emil Ludwig’s
Talks with Mussolini, tr. by Eden & Cedar Paul; Edward Arnold Ltd., for Salandra's Italy and
the Great War; Deputazione subalpina di storia patria, for Le carte di Giovanni Lanza; Tom
Antongini, for his biography of G. D'Annunzio; Arnoldo Mondadori, for quotations from
D'Annunzio, Albertini, and C. Sforza; La Nuova Italia, for works of G. Fortunato; Rizzoli,
for L. Albertini’s In difesa della libertà; Edizioni scientifiche Italiane, for F. S. Nitti’s
Rivelazioni, and Meditazioni dell’Esilio; Licinio Cappelli, for G. Massari’s Diario 1858-60
sull’azione politica di Cavour; G. C. Sansoni, for works of G. Gentile; Aldo Garzanti, for works
of F. Crispi and G. Giolito; E. Mariano, director of IZ Vittoriale, for works of G. D'Annunzio;
Istituto per gli studi di politica intemazionale, Milan, for D. Farini’s Diario 1891-95; La
Fenice, for Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini; Giuseppe Laterza & Figli, for works of Benedetto
Croce and Luigi Blanch; Doubleday & Co., Inc., for Ciano’s Diaries ed. by Hugh Gibson,
copyright 1945, 1946, by Doubleday & Co., Inc.; and also William Heinemann Ltd., and
Methuen and Co., Ltd., for Ciano’s Diaries.
Contents
PREFACE ix
SECTION ONE: ITALY BEFORE l86l
1 The “Geographical Expression” 3
2 The Idea of National Unity 6
3 Mazzini, Garibaldi, and the Revolutionaries 11
4 Cavour and the Expansion of Piedmont 17
SECTION two: the political and economic scene
5 The Constitution, the King, and Parliament 27
6 The Social Hierarchy 34
7 Agriculture and Industry 41
8 Immediate Political Problems 48
section three: the first decade, 1861-1871
9 Ricasoli, Rattazzi, and Minghetti, 1861-1865 59
10 Counterrevolution and Brigandage, 1860-1865 66
11 The War for Venice, 1866 72
12 Financial and Other Problems, 1866-1867 78
13 The Capture of Rome 83
SECTION four: the nation asserts itself, 1870-1882
14 The Last Years of the Right, 1870-1876 95
15 Depretis and Transformism, 1870-1880 100
16 Foreign Policy, 1860-1882 108
17 Colonial Enterprise, 1860-1882 115
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MODERN ITALY
SECTION five: the troubled period of crispi, 1880-1893
18 Depreds and Crispi, 1880-1890 123
19 Irredenrism and Nationalist Fervor 129
20 Agriculture and Industry, about 1880 135
21 The Tariff War with France, 1887-1892 142
22 Corruption and the Banks, 1889-1893 146
SECTION six: colonial defeat and political reaction,
1893-1900
23 Social Unrest and Crispin Last Ministry 157
24 The Ethiopian War and the Eclipse of Crispi 163
25 Parliamentary Government Endangered, 1896-1900 171
26 Defects in the Constitution 178
section seven: giolitti and liberal reform , 1900-1911
27 Liberal Government Resumed, 1900-1904 191
28 Clerical and Radical Co-operation, 1904-1906 200
29 The “Southern Problem” and Emigration 206
30 Economic and Cultural Revival 216
31 The Last Years of Liberal Reform, 1909-1911 225
SECTION eight: THE ONSET OF WAR
32 The German Alliance, 1896-1911 235
33 The Libyan War, 1911-1912 241
34 Giolitti’s System Collapses, 1912-1914 249
35 Italy Remains Neutral, 1914 255
36 Intervention Against Austria, 1915 260
SECTION nine: the w ar and its afterm ath, 1915-1922
37 The Conduct of War, 1915-1918 271
38 The Peace Settlement, 1918-1920 276
39 New Political Currents, 1919 282
40 Nitti and the Rape of Fiume, 1919-1920 288
41 Giolitti and the Suicide of Liberalism, 1920-1921 295
42 Bonomi and Facta, 1921-1922 302
section ten: M ussolini’s revolution, 1922-1925
43 Italy on the Eve, Summer 1922 311
44 The March on Rome, October 26-30, 1922 316
vi
CONTENTS
45 Dictatorship Emerges, 1922-1924 322
46 The Defeat of Parliament and Press, 1924-1925 329
SECTION eleven: the theory and practice of fascism
47 The Machinery and Personnel of Fascism 337
48 Economic and Social Policy 347
49 Fascist Doctrine 354
50 The Standardization of Culture 359
51 Persecution ancUfts Effects 367
52 Surviving Institutions 374
SECTION twelve: decline and fall of a roman empire
53 Foreign Policy, 1922-1936 383
54 Lack of Restraint, 1936-1938 389
55 The Drift Toward War, 1938-1940 397
56 Military and Political Defeat, 1940-1943 404
SECTION THIRTEEN: THE TRANSFORMATION OF ITALY, 1943-1969
57 Liberation, 1943-1947 417
58 Postwar Recovery 425
59 Constitutional Problems in the 1950s 434
60 A Move to the Left: the early 1960s 443
SECTION FOURTEEN: ITALIAN DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS
61 Terrorism, Corruption, and Consociation, 1968-1981 455
62 The Old Regime Begins to Collapse, 1981-1992 467
63 Four Attempts at Reform, 1992-1995 479
64 An Interim Solution, 1996 491
appendix: PRIME MINISTERS OF ITALY, heads of STATE, POPES 498
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOOKS IN ENGLISH 501
INDEX 513
vii

Preface
The best starting point for a political history of modem Italy is March 1861
when, at long last, Count Cavour was able to proclaim that a united Italian
kingdom was in existence. In every previous century each individual region of
this Mediterranean peninsula had had its own separate history and relations
between them were often characterized by bitter rivalries and civil war. Only
after 1861 was it possible for a unified national state to take its place in the
European community. During the first sixty years this new kingdom was
governed by a Uberai parUamentary oUgarchy. Then for two decades after 1922
it was a fascist dictatorship until Mussolini’s regime suffered catastrophic
miUtary defeat in World War II, after which a national referendum changed the
kingdom into a democratic repubUc. Not only was this referendum an expUcit
repudiation of fascism, but Italian voters in 1946 also turned against the Uberal-
conservatives whose forbears had united Italy during the risorgimento. This was
the very first election ever held by universal suffrage, and the victor was a
relatively new party of Christian democrats that hitherto had played only a
minor role on the margin of poHtics. So began the last of three successive
regimes that each put a distinctive mark on modem ItaUan history—one of
them being Uberai, eUtist, and moderately anticlerical; the second being ilUberal
and totaUtarian; and the third being predominandy Christian-democrat until
the 1990s.
Count Cavour’s ambitious aim in 1861 had been to create a Uberai and
prosperous country that would become one of the great powers of Europe.
This objective was achieved but only long after his death and not without
setbacks and disappointments along the way. National unification had at first
been gready admired by many foreigners, but enthusiasm waned when social
tensions and unresolved constitutional weaknesses prepared the way for
Mussolini’s nationaUst revolution with its acceptance of war as desirable and
beneficial. The fascist aim to make Italy feared as well as admired then led to the
pursuit of goals in foreign and domestic poUcy that left the country isolated,
enfeebled, and internally divided. This in turn brought about a reaction against
miUtarism, coloniaUsm, and authoritarianism. In the fifty years since 1945, Italy
IX
MODERN ITALY
has done a great deal to encourage international co-operation and European
integration. Not only do the amenities of civilized living in Europe owe much
to what Italians have contributed in these years since World War II, but their
country was entirely changed by an economic revolution that created a more
satisfactory balance between social classes and removed some of the alienation
and internal divisions that had been such a burden in the past.
If Italy today is an immeasurably healthier society than in 1861, this is because
her people have shown the same qualities of resilience and enterprise that were
so much admired in earlier centuries. Many problems still remain, in part
because of a failure to establish the checks and balances needed for a workable
system of representative government. The ineffectiveness of the parliamentary
opposition and the permanence of a single party in office between 1946 and
1992 allowed corrupt practices to develop in many areas of society and
encouraged extravagant expenditure that created a huge national debt. Also a
lack of political will permitted a formidable growth in organized crime by the
mafia and camorra. As parliament lost some of its moral authority, many different
suggestions were made for modifications in the constitution that would assist
the proper functioning of a democracy, but these were not taken with sufficient
seriousness until a revolt by the electorate in 1992 led to a collapse of the
existing parties and made radical changes inevitable. Some politicians began to
talk of reversing the achievement of 1861 and creating either a federal state or
possibly a complete separation between North and South. A very small
minority even looked back with nostalgia to the more authoritarian practice of
Mussolini. But the great majority preferred to hope that minor constitutional
changes would make possible an improved Second Republic by learning from
past mistakes and renewing the idealism that in 1861 had led to the unification
of Italy.
An earlier version of this book was published in 1959 but its continued
existence in print has prompted a request that it be revised and brought up to
date. Encouragement also came from Italy where over a dozen editions in
translation have been a recommended text in schools and universities. A few
cuts and alterations have therefore been made so as to find room for new
chapters on the fifty years after 1945. Proximity to such recent events makes it
difficult to put the half-century since Mussolini’s death into perspective. Yet
there are advantages in treating the whole period since 1861 as a continuum in
which certain themes recur even when the nation itself and ideas about national
identity have continued to change. What has no pretence to be more than an
outline of recent history, oversimplified and filtered through personal inter­
pretation, may help to explain how present-day Italy has emerged from its
past.
Denis Mack Smith
x