FASCISM, ECONOMICS OF. A series of laws, decrees, and ministerial regulations, enacted since the Fascist Govern ment came into power in Italy in Oct. 1922, has radically trans formed the legislation regulating occupational and trade unions (or "syndical associations" as they are termed in Italian law), the relations between employer and employed, and representative institutions. The aim has been to replace the parliamentary re gime existing in Italy since attaining unity in 1870 by a "corpora tive" or guild state.
The basic act of the new system is that of April 3, 1926, regulating the legal and economic representation of employers and workers in all industries (including agricul ture), trades and professions. For each category of employers and for the corresponding category of workers (manual and non manual) the law provides that syndical associations may be formed and incorporated. Such associations must represent not less than 1 o% of the persons engaged in the business, profession or trade concerned in the territory for which they are formed; they must be organised to protect not only the economic but also the moral, educational and professional interests of their mem bers; and their directors must be persons who afford guarantees of capacity, honesty and patriotism. The activities of the asso ciations must never run counter to the national interest and they may not be affiliated to international bodies without the express consent of the Ministry. Unrecognised unions may continue to exist as de-facto associations.
The incorporated associations are the authorised representa tives of the category for which they are formed in (I) the stipu lation of wage and work agreements, (2) disputes brought be fore the labour courts, (3) nominating members to sit on the many boards, councils and commissions, which form the repre sentative organs of the guild State. The collective agreements on wages and conditions of work stipulated by these associations become binding on all employers and workers for the area and occupation concerned, whether they be members or not, the as sociations becoming civilly responsible for carrying out the terms of what is, in fact, a legal contract.
The act contemplates the formation of such associations for all branches of production and all forms of activity, with the ex ception of the civil services, State industries such as the railways, local government services, and public charities, employees in con nection with which are otherwise provided for. All forms of asso ciation are forbidden in the case of the armed forces of the State, magistrates, university professors, and the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. With the above exceptions, member ship of the incorporated associations is open to "all Italian citi zens engaged in the occupations represented, of both sexes, of not less than 18 years of age, and of good moral and political con duct." Membership of the associations is voluntary, but the conditions they secure for their members are extended to all non members similarly occupied. Collective bargaining through le gally recognised representative organs being thus provided for and given contractual force, it was logical that provision should be made for the settlement of disputes arising between organised employers and workers. To this end the act provides that, failing settlement by conciliation, disputes be deferred to the ordinary courts of appeal acting as labour courts (magistrotura del lavoro), the judges being assisted by experts selected from panels drawn up by the respective syndical associations. The verdict of the court is final, and strikes and lock-outs are alike illegal and pun ishable by heavy fines, and in certain cases by imprisonment.
The whole system has as its premise that the intensification of production is not only a national interest which the State, as the supreme expression of national life, must safeguard; but that it is in like degree the interest of the employers and the employed. The recognition of this essential identity of interest differentiates Fascist from Socialist trade unionism; it also explains the different goals and diverse methods of the two schools of economic thought. Socialist trade unionism works through the class struggle; Fascist syn dicalism works through class collaboration and aims at organizing the guild state in which all the factors of production—capital, scientific research, technical direction, manual and clerical labor— are recognized as essential each in their degree, their several interests being conciliated and subordinated to the general or national interest of which they are an integral part. The theory and practice of Fascist economics derives from a conception of the State not as a mere policeman keeping order and seeing fair play, not as an instrument at the service of a party or a class, not as a force dominating but apart from the people, but as the supreme expression of all forms of national life, to which none of its activities are extraneous. "All within the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State" is the formula in which the leader of Fascism—Mussolini—expresses this con ception which, in the early days of the Fascist labour movement, ted to the foundation of "mixed" syndical associations, repre sentative of both employers and workers. Experience showed this to be impracticable, and the act of April 1926 gave legal recognition to separate though parallel associations, the subsequent formation of joint guilds being, however, foreseen, and the whole system placed under the newly created Ministry of Guilds (corporazioni).
The guild feature of the system is developing under the direct control of this Ministry. National guilds, afford ing equal representation to employers and employed, under a chairman appointed by the minister, are formed for the several branches of productive and business activity. Their main duties are to study the organization and development of the industries they represent with a view to securing greater co-ordination and simplification so as to reduce production costs and intensify output. The scientific organization of production is as much an interest of the workers as of the employers, and the guilds afford them an opportunity of expressing their views and recording their vote on a footing of full equality. They may be described as permanent deliberative and advisory bodies, on a representative basis, in direct touch with the Government, appointed for the study of all phenomena affecting the prosperity of an industry. The guilds also act as boards of conciliation in trade disputes before they are referred to the labour courts; they organize employment bureaus (the only ones sanctioned) placed under the joint control of employers and workers; and regulate the con ditions of vocational training and apprenticeship. The Minister of Guilds is assisted by a National Guild Council on which sit representatives of the several government departments, of the syndical confederations, and of the national educational and welfare works—Dopolavoro, Balilla, and National Institute for the Protection of Maternity and Childhood.
The regulations for the enforcement of the act provide (I) for the formation of syndical associations for each category of employers or workers, known as first grade associations; (2) for their federation in provincial unions (second grade associations) ; and (3) for the federation of these unions in national federations (third grade associations), grouped (4) into seven confederations. Within this general framework con siderable elasticity is allowed to meet varying conditions. The organization adopted is generally twofold : (a) geographical, all the associations of a province or a zone being grouped in a union, (b) occupational, separate federations covering the whole ter ritory being formed for each industry or occupation.
There are six confederations for employers of labour, with whom are grouped the syndical associations of works' engineers and managers, assimilated by their responsibility for the success of the concern to their em ployers. These confederations are: (I) The General Fascist Con federation of Italian Industries, to which are affiliated the pro vincial unions, grouping together all the industrial employers' associations of each province and the National Federations for each industry. (2) The National Fascist Confederation of Agri culture, to which are affiliated the provincial federations of the three syndical associations representing operating land-owners, non-operating land-owners, and owners renting their lands. (3) The National Fascist Confederation of Commerce to which are affiliated provincial federations of all the syndical associations, and national federations formed for each category. (4) The General Fascist Confederation of Bankers, to which are affiliated national associations for each category of banks. (5) The Na tional Fascist Confederation of Land and Inland Water Trans ports, to which are affiliated regional associations, and national federations for each category. (6) The National Fascist Con federation of Sea and Air Transport, to which are affiliated inter regional federations for the ship owners and one national federa tion of air-transport employers.
Manual and non-manual workers are represented by national federations corresponding to the above, but united in one National Confederation of Fascist Syn dicates. An exception is made for sea and air-transport workers organized in an Autonomous Federation. An Autonomous Federa tion of Artisans is affiliated to the general confederation of in dustries (employers) ; and a National Federation of Intellectual Workers groups together 16 national syndical associations for a like number of professions and is affiliated to the national con federation of Fascist syndicates (worke .$). The federations and confederations appoint their own officers, subject to the approval of the Ministry of Guilds.
Under the provisions for the enforcement of the act the necessary funds are secured by levying annually from all employers the equivalent of one day's pay for every worker in their service. Workers, whether members of the associations or not, also contribute one day's pay per annum col lected by their employers. During the first year in which the act was in force (1927) £ 150,8 7 0,00o were thus secured and the system is expected to yield considerably more in the future. When it is not practicable to collect a day's pay the contribution takes the form of a fixed percentage of the land or income tax. Of the funds thus collected io% are deposited with the Bank of Italy as surety for the fulfilment of contractual obligations; io% go to the Ministry to meet the cost of the guild organization ; a further percentage is assigned to the welfare and education work con templated under the act ; the remainder, for the working expenses of the syndical associations, federations and confederations.
In the system above described the workers' organizations are placed at all stages on a footing of entire equality with those of their employers. Such equality can not exist in the relations between the State and local government bodies and their staffs, who are represented by the officially recognized General Fascist Association of Public Employees, entitled to representation on several of the advisory and con sultative bodies recently created in connection with the system, and on the educational and welfare activities of the Guild State.
This document, issued by proclama tion on April 21, 1927, sets forth Fascist labour policies. It asserts the subordination of individual to national interests, proclaims work to be a social duty, recognizes private initiative as "the most effective instrument of production" but holds the organizers of industry responsible to the State for results. Workers are to be considered as active partners in the enterprise, the direction and management of which is, however, vested solely and unequivo cally in the employer. The conditions which must regulate labour contracts are laid down and the right of the workers to Sunday rest and a paid annual holiday asserted. The worker dismissed for no fault of his own is entitled to compensation and on his death a sum is due to his family. Illness, unless prolonged beyond certain fixed limits, does not justify dismissal. Employers must engage their workers through the labour exchanges opened under the control of the Ministry of Guilds. The charter proclaims the intention of the Fascist State to perfect accident and maternity insurance, to enact sickness insurance (as a first step compulsory insurance of industrial workers against tuberculosis has been enacted), to perfect unemployment insurance and introduce spe cial forms of dowry insurance for young workers. The provision of education and recreational facilities and of vocational training is among the chief duties of the syndical associations.
The outstanding feature of Fascist economics is the representative, advisory and consultative functions assigned to the federations and confederations of the syndical associations which are represented on (1) the grand council of the Fascist Party, (2) the superior economic council, (3) the 92 provincial economic councils, (4) the municipal boards (consulte), (5) the central committee on prices, costs and wages, (6) the inter-syndical provincial committees for price, cost and wage adjustments, (7) the boards of experts assisting the labour courts. The act of May 17, 1928, reforming parliamentary repre sentation assigns to the 13 national confederations and federa tions, jointly with other corporate bodies and associations of national importance, the duty of nominating the candidates from whom the grand council of the Fascist Party selects the list of names submitted to the nation for election. Payment of the dues levied under the act of April 3, 1926, entitles the male citizen to a vote.
By the end of 1927 all categories of em ployers and workers were represented by incorporated associa tions, and the next stage of the work, that of forming the guild organizations, was taken in hand. In March 1928 the membership of the workers' syndical associations stood at 2,809,461; that of the employers' at 885,968. When the first national congress of manufacturers was called by the general confederation of in dustries in June 1928 the president announced that the manu facturers' syndical associations were organized in 49 national federations, representing 66,557 firms, employing 1,750,000 per sons, i.e., 7o% of Italian manufacturers employing 82% of in dustrial workers; besides these 355,00o artizans were affiliated to the confederation. At that date 2,435 national, 1o1 regional and interprovincial, and 2,289 provincial trade agreements had been signed between employers and workers under the new laws. The activities of the inter-syndical committees on prices and wages proved valuable in overcoming the economic difficulties consequent on currency and credit deflation and monetary re valorization, which entailed extensive readjustments of wages, prices and farm rents. In the revision of these latter no fewer than 31,120 cases were submitted to them for adjustment; while in the matter of wage disputes the fact that in spite of the exceptional difficulties of the situation it has only been found necessary to defer two cases of some importance for settlement to the labour courts (those of the rice workers and of the seamen, in both of which the verdict of the courts upheld the claims of the workers) shows how successful the syndical associations have been in conciliating what apparently were conflicting interests.
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