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Christian Democracy (Italy)

Christian Democracy (Italy)

Christian Democracy, (Democrazia Cristiana), the Christian democratic party of Italy, commonly called the democristiani or "DC", dominated government for nearly half a century until its demise amid a welter of corruption allegations in 1992-94.

History

Early years

The party was in part a revival of the Italian People's Party (italian: Partito Popolare Italiano) created in 1919 by the priest Don Luigi Sturzo but declared illegal by the Fascist regime in 1925 despite the presence of some members in Benito Mussolini's first government. As Fascism's ruin approached in the latter years of World War II, the Christian Democrats started organising post-Fascist Italy in certain competition but also for a time in coalition with the parties of the center and left. Breaking decisively with its former Communist coalition partners in May 1947, the party went on to win its greatest election victory in April 1948 with the support of the Church and the United States.

Forty-four years in power

United States From 1948 until the 1992, DC was the largest party in parliament, governing in successive coalitions with the smaller Liberal, Republican and Social Democratic parties and, after the 1963, with the Socialist party. Basing its electoral majority largely on the catholic countryside, the party moved over time from its reformist origins to a more conservative role. A short-lived DC government led by Fernando Tambroni (1960), relying on parliamentary support from the Italian Social Movement, Fascism's ideological heir, was disowned by the party following widespread opposition. Later in the sixties, the increased political influence of the left-wing factions, led by Amintore Fanfani, moved the party to a center-left strategy based on the coalition with the Socialist Party.

Factionalism

Party life came to be characterised according to adherence to respective correnti or factions, each identified with individual leaders. Among the leaders who built DC, notable names include those of Alcide De Gasperi, Antonio Segni, Amintore Fanfani, Giulio Andreotti, Aldo Moro and Francesco Cossiga. Many DC members were attacked in the 1970s, and in some cases murdered, by terrorists.

Aldo Moro's murder

The abduction and murder of Aldo Moro in 1978 removed one of the party's most highly-regarded leaders. Aldo Moro was the leader that was trying to replicate the inclusion of the socialist party with the communist one, a highly contested manoeuver in conservative circles. This policy became known as parallel convergences, or the historic compromise. However, this policy was no longer considered after Moro's murder, as the Red Brigades that kidnapped him claimed to be communist. Many conspiracy theories flourished about Moro's murder, and an account satisfactory for all parties involved may never be found. The main issues were:
- When Moro was abducted, the government immediately took a hardline position: the "State must not bend" on terrorist requests. This was a much different position than the one kept in the kidnapping of Ciro Cirillo, a minor political figure for which the government negotiated with terrorists. It has been suggested that some politicians, especially Giulio Andreotti, took the chance of getting rid of a political competitor by letting the terrorists execute him.
- It has been claimed that the hideout of the Red Brigades in Rome where Moro was kept prisoner contained material received from Italian and/or NATO secret services. Also, more than one member of the BR commando would have been an undercover agent of some government agency, but these claims are inherently difficult to substantiate.
- Moro wrote a series of letters during his time as a captive, at times very critical of Andreotti. These letters were kept secret for decades, and published only in the early nineties. After the recovery of Moro's body in a road midway between the headquarters of the Christian Democracy and the Communist party in Rome (with a clear symbolism), the Minister of the Interior Francesco Cossiga resigned, gaining trust from the Communist party, which would later make him the first President of the Republic to be elected at the first ballot.

Corruption and relations to the Mafia

Having ruled the nation for over 40 years with no alternative other than the Communist party, DC members had ample opportunity to abuse their power, and undoubtedly some did. In the 1960s a deputee was indirectly involved in the so-called Montesi scandal (a girl killed after a drug party), and the very president of Italy Giovanni Leone was forced to resign after a scandal involving Lockheed aeroplanes. The scandal regarding the secret society P2 forced the premier Arnaldo Forlani to resign, because he had delayed the publication of the member list (among which many high-ranking bureaucrats, enterpreneurs, army generals and also Silvio Berlusconi). Minister of Public Health Carlo Donat-Cattin was supposedly helped by the minister of Internal Affairs, Francesco Cossiga, to let his son Marco escape from the police while wanted as a terrorist of Prima Linea. In 1992 an investigation was started in Milan, dubbed Mani Pulite. It uncovered endemic corruption practices at the highest levels, causing many spectacular (and sometimes controversial) arrests and resignations. After two years of mounting scandal and divisions, the party disbanded in 1994. Party treasurer Severino Citaristi became the recordman of investigations, with an impressive 72 investigations on him. Being the party's stronghold in the Italian south, it was likely that the Mafia and dishonest politicians may try to collaborate. Of all government parties, DC was the most associated with Mafia in the popular opinion. Leaders as Antonio Gava, Vito Ciancimino, Ciriaco De Mita and especially Giulio Andreotti were perceived by many to belong to a gray zone between simple corruption and mafia business. In the nineties, some of these politicians were acquitted, and their supporters claim this vindicates them. However, skeptics point out that many times these acquittals are based on the trial exceeding, sometimes narrowly, the statutory time limit, as it was the case for Andreotti. In some cases, though not in Andreotti's, this type of expiration was actively sought by employing delaying tactics.

Ideology

The party's ideological sources are principally to be found in democratic and social Catholic doctrines of the 19th century (see Christian democracy), developed in France by Buchez, Lamennais and Le Play, and in Italy by Giuseppe Toniolo and Romolo Murri; in addition, the movement gained limited elements from liberal and social-democratic influences. Of particular influence were the two Papal encyclicals Rerum novarum (1891) of Pope Leo XIII, and Quadragesimo anno (1931) of Pope Pius XI, which were offered a basis for social and political doctrine; in economy, DC opposed the concept of cooperation to competition, and rejected Marxism's idea of conflict among social classes. The so-called "leftist wing" of DC, born with Dossetti, Giorgio La Pira, and Lazzati (represented by the magazine Cronache Sociali) advocated dialogue with leftist parties and gave birth to the concept of center-left, proposing governments with minority socialist participation.

References

[http://www.apolis.com/moro/moro/lettere/indice.htm Aldo Moro's letters] from the "People's prison" (Italian).

External links

- [http://www.cartacanta.it/manifesti/democrazia%20cristiana/index.html Archive of DC posters]
- [http://www.cartacanta.it/manifesti/democrazia%20cristiana%20-%20seconda%20parte/index.html Archive of DC posters, part 2] Category:Catholic political parties Category:Christian Democratic parties Category:Political parties in Italy

Italian People's Party

History

Early years

Forty-four years in power

Factionalism

Aldo Moro's murder

Corruption and relations to the Mafia

Ideology

References

[http://www.apolis.com/moro/moro/lettere/indice.htm Aldo Moro's letters] from the "People's prison" (Italian).

External links

Italian language

Italian (Italian: ) is a Romance language spoken by about 70 million people primarily in Italy. Standard Italian is based on Tuscan dialects and is somewhat intermediate between the languages of Southern Italy and the Gallo-Romance languages of the North. Like many languages it is written using the Latin alphabet, Italian has double consonants. However, contrary to, for example, French and Spanish, double consonants are pronounced as long (geminated) in Italian. As in most Romance languages (with the notable exception of French), stress is distinctive. Out of the Romance languages, Italian is generally considered to be the one most closely resembling Latin in terms of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.

History

The history of the Italian language is quite complex but the modern standard of the language was largely shaped by relatively recent events. The earliest surviving texts which can definitely be called Italian (as opposed to its predecessor Vulgar Latin) are legal formulae from the region of Benevento dating from A.D. 960-963. Italian was first formalized in the 14th century through the works of Dante Alighieri, who mixed southern Italian dialects, especially Sicilian, with his native Tuscan in his epic poems known collectively as the Commedia, to which Boccaccio later affixed the title Divina. Dante's much-loved works were read throughout Italy and his written dialect became the canonical standard that others could all understand. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language. Italian has always had a distinctive dialect for each city, since the cities were up until recently city-states. Italians generally believe that the best spoken Italian is lingua toscana in bocca romana - 'the Tuscan tongue, in a Roman mouth' (Tuscan dialects spoken with Roman inflection). The Romans are known for speaking clearly and distinctly, while the Tuscan dialect (supposedly derived from Etruscan and Oscan), is the closest existing dialect to Dante's now-standard Italian. In contrast to the dialects of northern Italy, the older southern Italian dialects were largely untouched by the Franco-Occitan influences introduced to Italy, mainly by bards from France, during the middle ages. (See La Spezia-Rimini Line.) The economic might and relative advanced development of Tuscany at the time (late middle ages), gave its dialect weight, though Venetian remained widespread in medieval Italian commercial life. Also, the increasing cultural relevance of Florence during the periods of 'Umanesimo' and Rinascimento (Renaissance) made its vulgare (dialect) a standard in the arts.

Classification

Italian is most closely related to the other two Italo-Dalmatian languages, Sicilian and the extinct Dalmatian. The three are part of the Italo-Western grouping of the Romance languages, which are a subgroup of the Italic branch of Indo-European.

Geographic distribution

Italian is the official language of Italy and San Marino, and is an official language in Ticino and Grigioni cantons of Switzerland. It is also the second official language in Vatican City and in some areas of Istria in Slovenia and Croatia with an Italian minority. It is widely used by immigrant groups in Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium, the United States, Canada, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, and Australia, and is also spoken in neighbouring Albania. It is spoken, to a much lesser extent, in parts of Africa formerly under Italian rule such as Somalia, Libya and Eritrea. It is also widely known and taught in Monaco and in the neighbouring island of Malta and served as an official language of the country until English was enshrined in the 1934 Constitution. Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first non-native language of pupils. In anglophone parts of Canada, Italian is, after French, the second most taught language. In the United States and the United Kingdom, Italian ranks fourth (after Spanish-French-German and French-German-Spanish respectively). Throughout the world, Italian is the fifth most taught non-native language, after English, French, Spanish and German.

Official status

Italian is an official language of Italy, the European Union, San Marino, Switzerland and Vatican City. It is also an official language in the Istria County (Croatia) and municipalities of Koper, Piran and Izola (Slovenia).

Dialects and regional languages of Italy

:See Italian dialects The dialects of Italian identified by the Ethnologue are Tuscan, Abruzzese, Pugliese (Apulian), Umbrian, Laziale, Central Marchigiano, Cicolano-Reatino-Aquilano, and Molisan. On the contrary Ethnologue and the Red book on endangered languages of UNESCO consider Piemontese, Lombard, Ligurian, Emiliano-Romagnolo, Venetian, Friulian, Neapolitan-Calabrese or Tricalabro (a range including Neapolitan and Sicilian) and Sardinian as regional minority languages, structurally separated from Italian. Most Italians, however, refer to these simply as "dialect", with the exception of Sardinian, which is usually recognized language status. Also the Corsican language has strong similarities to Italian and most linguists consider it as a Tuscany dialect, the closest to modern Italian. Many of the so-called dialects of Italian spoken around the country are different enough from standard Italian to be considered separate languages by most linguists and some speakers themselves. Thus a distinction can be made between "dialects of (standard) Italian" and "dialects (or languages) of Italy". A link to an Italian site with translation features between Italian dialects and Italian: [http://www.dialettando.com]

Cultural acceptance of dialects

The dialect of Tuscany became the basis for what would become the official language of Italy, by way of the famous Tuscan author Dante Alighieri. Alighieri and other Tuscan poets were inspired by the Sicilian koine wanted by the Sicilian School under holy roman emperor Frederick II. His project (in which Giacomo da Lentini invented the sonnet) was accomplished by enriching the Sicilian language with new words adapted from French, Latin, and Apulian. The Sicilians produced a collection of love-poems which can be considered the first standard Italian ever produced, though it was only used for literary purposes until Guittone d'Arezzo. When the Svevs dynasty ended the Tuscans and Dante re-discovered it (see De Divina Eloquentia and Vita Nova)and integrated the Sicilians into Florence's linguistic heritage. Dolce stil novo, the platonic school of courtly love can be considered the link between the old southern school and Tuscan poetry which aimed to express the new intellectual sensibility and fervor of the newly-born city-states, as Florence. Dante's work, Divina Commedia was the first of its kind to be written in a dialect (though sensibly enriched compared with its spoken counterpart), as opposed to the traditional Latin. The success of his work spread the Florentine dialect, and gave it prestige and acceptance. For this he is referred to as the father of the Italian Language. By the time Italy was unified 1861, and Rome was annexed (1870) the Italian standard had further been influenced by Florentine through the work of the Accademia della Crusca (Cardinal Pietro Bembo and followers). Bembo laid the foundation for what is today's modern standard. But Bembo was a purist and had accepted no other influence than that from Dante, Petrarca and Boccaccio. As time went on, the language was losing touch with linguistic change, and could not put up with technology and science. The much-needed update would have to wait a little longer until, in what is commonly regarded as the first modern novel of the Italian literature, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed) (Alessandro Manzoni further refined its widely read novel by "rinsing" it in the waters of the Arno (Florence's river), as he states in his 1840 Preface. However, Manzoni refused the Crusca's purist, written Florentine-only attitude and admitted a certain influence from other dialects, though he reduced it as compared to the first edition of (1821). After unification the huge number of civil servants and soldiers recruited from all over the country introduced many more words and idioms from their home dialects ("ciao" is Venetian, "panettone" is Milanese etc.), in fact confirming Manzoni's linguistic views. Tuscan has thus become one of the twenty official dialects of Italy. Though technically speaking the division between dialect and language is purely conventional, it has been used by scholars, for eg. by Francesco Bruni, to distinguish between the languages that made up the Italian koine, and those which had very little or no part in it, as Albanian, Greek, Südtirolean, Ladino, Friulian and Occitan, still spoken by small ethnic or linguistic minorites. Dialects are generally not used for general communication, e.g. on TV, but are limited to groups of people who can actually speak them and to informal contexts. Speaking dialect is often shunned upon in Italy as it is a sign of lacking education. Younger generations, especially those under 35 (though it may vary in different areas), speak almost exclusively standard Italian in all situations, usually with a slight local accent. Dialects have their share of enthusiasts, but this is a small niche of the population. The promotion of dialects by some political forces as the Lega Nord has possibly damaged rather than promoted their status. Dialects are often used in movies to provide comic relief or to produce stereotypes: northern dialects can be connected to greedy merchants; a Roman accent is associated with arrogant, simple-minded bullies; Neapolitan reminds of dishonest, cunning slackers, and, even in Italy, Sicilian is often associated with the mafia. However, many screenwriters also explore the more expressive and spontaneous features of a dialect, often to challenge the common cliches and present a richer, less explored reality.

Sounds

Vowels

Italian has seven vowel phonemes: , , , , , , . The 'couples' ( - ) and ( - ) get mixed up in spoken Italian, even though each variety of Italian employs both phonemes consistently: compare, for example: (because) and (you listen), employed by some northern speakers, with and , as pronounced by most central and southern speakers. As a result, the usage is strongly indicative of a person's origin. The standard (Tuscan) usage of these vowels is listed in vocabularies, and employed outside Tuscany mainly by the more educated people, especially actors and (television) journalists. These are truly different phonemes, however: compare (fishing) and (peach), both spelled "pesca" (). Similarly (barrel) and (beatings), both spelled as "botte", discriminate and (). In general, vowel combinations usually pronounce each vowel separately. Diphthongs exist, (e.g. "uo", "iu", "ie", "ai"), but are limited to the pattern: (unstressed "u" or "i", or zero) + (stressed vowel) + (unstressed "u" or "i", or zero) The unstressed "u" in a diphthong approximates the English semivowel "w", the unstressed "i" approximates the semivowel "y". E.g.: buono, ieri. As a semivowel, "j" is an alternate spelling of i, currently obsolete but common until early 20th century and preserved in specific words like "Jesi" (a town) or "Jacopo" (a first name). Triphthongs are limited to a diphthong plus an unstressed "i". (e.g. miei, tuoi.) Other sequences of three vowels exist (e.g. noia, febbraio), but they are not triphthongs; they consist of a vowel followed by a diphthong.

Consonants

Two symbols in a table cell denote the voiceless and voiced consonant, respectively. The phoneme undergoes assimilation when followed by a consonant, e.g., when followed by a velar ( or ) it's pronounced , etc. Italian plosives are not aspirated (unlike in English). Italian speakers hear the difference as a foreign accent. Italian has geminate, or double, consonants, which are distinguished by length. Length is distinctive for all consonants except for , , , , which are always geminate, and which is always single. Geminate plosives and affricates are realized as lengthened closures. Geminate fricatives, nasals, and are realized as lengthened continuants. Geminate is realized as the trill .

Assimilation

Italian has few diphthongs, and so most unfamiliar diphthongs heard in foreign words (in particular, those with a first vowel that is not "i" or "u", or a first vowel that is stressed), will be assimilated as the corresponding dieresis (i.e., the vowel sounds will be pronounced separately: "strive" and "hive" will rhyme with "naïve").

Grammar

see Italian grammar.

Writing system

Italian grammar Italian is written using the Latin alphabet. The letters J, K, W, X and Y are not part of the standard Italian alphabet, but are seen in imported words (such as jeans, whiskey, taxi). J may also appear in many words from different dialects. Each of these foreign letters had an Italian equivalent spelling: gi, ch, u, cs or s, and i, but these are now obsolete.
- Italian uses the acute accent over the letter E (as in perché, why/because) to indicate a mid-close vowel, and the grave accent (as in tè, tea) to indicate a mid-open vowel. The grave accent is also used on letters A, I, O, and U to mark the stress position when it is on the last letter of a word (for instance gioventù, youth). Typically, the penultimate syllable is stressed. If other syllables are stressed, no accent is marked, as is instead done in Spanish.
- The letter H is always silent when it begins a word, and is only used to distinguish ho, hai, ha, hanno (present indicative of avere, to have) from o (or), ai (to the), a (to), anno (year). H is otherwise used for some combinations with other letters (see below), but the /h/ sound does not exist in Italian.
- The letter Z is pronounced , or sometimes , depending on context, though there are few minimal pairs. The same goes with S, which can be pronounced or . However, these two phonemes are in complementary distribution everywhere except between two vowels in the same word, and even in such environment there are extremely few minimal pairs, therefore this distinction is being lost in most accents.
- The letters C and G are affricates: as in "chair" and as in "gem", respectively, before the front vowels I and E. They are pronounced as plosives , (as in "call" and "gall") otherwise¹. But, the normally silent H is added between CI, CE, GI or GE if the consonant is to be a plosive. For example: : :¹(Front/back vowel rules for C and G are similar in French, Romanian, and to some extent English (including Old English). Swedish and Norwegian have similar rules for K and G. See also palatalization.)
- There are two special digraphs in Italian: GN and GL. GN is always pronounced , and GL is pronounced ) but only before i, and never when at the beginning of the word, except in the plural form gli of the masculine definite article. (Compare with Spanish "ñ" and "ll", Portuguese "nh" and "lh".)
- In general all letters are clearly pronounced, and always in the same way. (The only notable allophonic variations in the pronunciation of phonemes in standard Italian are the assimilation of /n/ before consonants, and vowel length (vowels are long in stressed open syllables, and short elsewhere) — compare with the enormous number of allophones of the English phoneme /t/. Spelling is clearly phonetic and difficult to mistake given a clear pronunciation. Exceptions are generally only found in foreign borrowings. There is less dyslexia than in languages like English.

Usage among Younger Generations

Some variations in the usage of the writing system may be present in practical use. Most scholars consider these to be mistakes, but they are so common that knowledge of these may be useful to read an Italian text.
- Usage of x instead of per: this is very common among teenagers and in SMS abbreviations. Since per means "to", "for you" becomes x te, similar to the English 4 U. Words containing per can also have it substituted with x, and once an university student allegedly pronounced the surname of Italian revolutionary Nino Bixio as Biperio at an oral exam[http://pacs.unica.it/rassegna/rassegna0905.txt]. Perché (both "why" and "because") is often shortened as x`.
- Usage of foreign letters such as k, j and y, especially in nicknames and SMS language: ke instead of che, Giusy instead of Giuseppina. This is curiously mirrored in the usage of i in English names such as Staci instead of Stacey, or in the usage of c in Northern Europe (Jacob instead of Jakob). The letter k also appears to give words a certain strenght and threatening aspect, possibly because it is associated with Germany. Politician Francesco Cossiga used to be nicknamed Kossiga by rioting students as early as 1968, because of his role as minister of internal affairs.
- Accents are often substituted by apostrophes, such as in perche instead of perché. È is particularly rare, as it is absent from the Italian keyboard layout. Few are aware of the distinction between grave and acute accents.
Examples

- cheers (generic toast): salve
- English: inglese
- good-bye: arrivederci
- hello: ciao (informal); buongiorno (good morning/good afternoon), buonasera (good evening)
- Yes: sì /si/
- No: no
- Sorry: scusi //
- Again: ancora //
- Always: sempre //
- When: quando /kwando/
- Why? / Because: perché /per'ke/
- how much?: quanto (masculine); quanta (feminine)
- thank you!: grazie!
- you're welcome!: prego!
Sample texts
You can hear a recording of Dante's Divine Comedy read by Lino Pertile at http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/pdp/. From the Holy Bible, Luke 2, 1-7 (for an English version see http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=luke+2) You can listen to a rendition of this text as recorded by an Italian native speaker from Milan. 2:1 In quei giorni, un decreto di Cesare Augusto ordinava che si facesse un censimento di tutta la terra. 2 Questo primo censimento fu fatto quando Quirino era governatore della Siria. 3 Tutti andavano a farsi registrare, ciascuno nella propria città. 4 Anche Giuseppe, che era della casa e della famiglia di Davide, dalla città di Nazaret e dalla Galilea si recò in Giudea nella città di Davide, chiamata Betlemme, 5 per farsi registrare insieme a Maria, sua sposa, che era incinta. 6 Proprio mentre si trovavano lì, venne il tempo per lei di partorire. 7 Mise al mondo il suo primogenito, lo avvolse in fasce e lo depose in una mangiatoia, poiché non c'era posto per loro nella locanda.
See also

- Italian phonology
- Sicilian School
- Veronese Riddle
External links

-
- [http://www.ielanguages.com/italian.html Italian Language Tutorial at ielanguages.com]
- [http://www.ilm.it/ Italian Language School]
- [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Italian-english/ Italian English Dictionary] from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org Webster's Online Dictionary] - the Rosetta Edition
- [http://www.garzantilinguistica.it A free Italian-English Dictionary, Italian Dictionary, and Thesaurus] from Garzanti Linguistica (in Italian, requires free registration)
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ita Ethnologue report on Italian]
- [http://www.applelanguages.com/en/learn/italian/italy.php/ Learn Italian in Italy]
- [http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/languages/italian/index.html A profile of the Italian language]
- [http://www.dicts.info/dictlist1.php?k1=53 All free Italian dictionaries]
- [http://italian-language-test.scuolaleonardo.com/ Test your Italian - Free Italian language test]
- [http://www.centropuccini.it/ Learn Italian in Italy by the sea]
- [http://www.locuta.com/ Centro Studi Italiani]
- [http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/modlang/carasi/site/pageone.html Online Italian language course]
- [http://www.loecsen.com/travel/discover_pop.php?lang=en&to_lang=8&learn-Italian/ Learn and listen to useful expressions in Italian]
- Category:Languages of Italy Category:Languages of Switzerland Category:Languages of Vatican City Category:Languages of San Marino Category:Languages of Slovenia als:Italienische Sprache ko:이탈리아어 ja:イタリア語 simple:Italian

1919

1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).

Events

January

- January 1 - Iolaire sinking disaster
- January 1 - Edsel Ford succeeds his father as head of the Ford Motor Company
- January 5 - Spartacist uprising - Socialist demonstrations in Berlin turn into attempted communist revolution
- January 9 - Spartacus revolutionary council folds – Friedrich Ebert orders Freikorps into action
- January 10-January 12 - Freikorps attack Spartacus supporters around Berlin
- January 11 - Romania annexes Transylvania.
- January 13 - Worker’s councils in Berlin end the general strike - Spartacus week is over
- January 15 - Murder of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht in the aftermath of Spartacus uprising
- January 15 - The Boston Molasses Disaster: Wave of molasses sweeps through Boston, killing 21 and injuring 150
- January 15 - Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes Premier of Poland
- January 16 - The 18th Amendment, authorizing Prohibition, goes into effect in the United States
- January 18 - World War I: A peace conference opens in Versailles, France.
- January 18 - Bentley Motors is founded
- January 21 - the First Dáil Éireann meets in the Mansion House in Dublin. It is from this meeting that the Irish state dates its existence.
- January 25 - The League of Nations is founded

February-April

- February 1 - The first Miss America is crowned (New York City).
- February 3 - Soviet troops occupy Ukraine
- February 11 - Friedrich Ebert (SPD), is elected President of Germany.
- February 14 - Polish-Soviet War begins
- February 25 - Oregon places a 1 cent per US gallon (26 ¢/L) tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.
- February 26 - An act of the United States Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park (see Grand Canyon National Park).
- March 1 - March 1st Movement against Japanese colonial rule in Korea.
- March 2 - The first Communist International meets in Moscow
- March 15 - The American Legion forms in Paris
- March 21 - The Chinese High School was established in Singapore by Mr. Tan Kah Kee
- March 23 - In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.
- March 31 - General strike begins in the Ruhr
- April 6-April 7 - Communist People’s Republic of Munich founded
- April 13 - At the Amritsar Massacre, British and Gurkha troops massacre 379 Indians.
- April 14 - Emperor of Austria moves to exile in Switzerland
- April 25 - Bauhaus movement founded
- April 25 - ANZAC day is celebrated for the first time in Australia.
- April 25 - Pancho Villa takes Parral in Mexico - hangs mayor and his two sons

May-June

- May 1 - Large left-wing demonstration in France leads to a violent confrontation with the police
- May 1 - Weimar Republic troops and Freikorps take over Munich and crush the Soviet Republic of Bavaria
- May 1 - The May Day Riots break out in Cleveland, Ohio – two people killed, forty injured, and one hundred and sixteen arrested
- May 3 - People's Republic of Munich is crushed
- May 4 - May Fourth Movement opposes foreign colonizers in China
- May 15 - Winnipeg launches general strike for better wages and working conditions.
- May 16 - US Navy Naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read departs Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight
- May 17 - Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose Winnipeg General Strike
- May 23 - The University of California opens it second campus in Los Angeles. Initially called Southern Branch of the University of California (SBUC), it is eventually renamed the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
- May 25 - Volcano Kelut erupts in Java – 16.000 dead
- May 29 - Einstein's theory of general relativity confirmed by Arthur Eddington's observation of a total eclipse of the Sun.
- June 4 - Women's rights: The United States Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which would guarantee suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.
- June 14 - John Alcock and Arthur Brown depart St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight (they landed at Clifden, County Galway, Ireland the next day). [http://www.aviation-history.com/airmen/alcock.htm]
- June 15 - Pancho Villa attacks Ciudad Juarez. When the bullets begin to fly to the US side of the border, 2 units of the US 7th Cavalry regiment cross the border and repulse Villa's forces
- June 21 - Royal Canadian Mounted Police fire a volley into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two, during Winnipeg General Strike.
- June 21 - Admiral Ludvig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet in Scapa Flow, Orkney. The nine sailors killed were the last casualties of the First World War.
- June 28 - The Treaty of Versailles is signed, ending World War I with Germany.

July-November

- July 6 - The British dirigible R-34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic by an airship.
- July 31 - Strike of policemen in London and Liverpool for recognition of the National Union of Police and Prison Officers. Over 2,000 strikers are dismissed.
- August 11 - In Germany, the Weimar Constitution is passed into law.
- August 19 - Afghanistan gains independence from the United Kingdom.
- 16 August-26 August - First Silesian Uprising, the Poles in Upper Silesia rise against the Germans
- August 31 - American Communist Party is established
- September 10 - Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed, ending World War I with Austria.
- September 10-September 15: The Florida Keys Hurricane kills 600 in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida and Texas.
- September 23 - Belenenses is founded.
- September 27 - Last British troops leave Archangel, Russia and leave fighting to the Russians
- September 28 - Omaha Riot - lynch mob besieges the police station and courthouse in Omaha, Nebraska and lynch alleged black rapist Will Brown
- October 1 - Elaine Race Riot breaks out in Arkansas
- October 2 - US President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed.
- October 9 - Black Sox scandal: The Cincinnati Reds "win" the World Series.
- October 9 - Boston police strike
- October 13 - Convention relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation signed.
- October 28 - Prohibition begins: The United States Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto.
- November - At end of month health officials declare the global Spanish Flu Pandemic over
- November 10 - The first national convention of the American Legion is held in Minneapolis, Minnesota (convention ended on November 12).
- November 11 - The Centralia Massacre in Centralia, Washington results the deaths of four members of the American Legion and the lynching of a local leader of the IWW.
- November 16 - Admiral Horthy conquers Budapest from Bela Kuns Soviet Republic
- November 27 - The Treaty of Neuilly is signed between Allies and Bulgaria.
- November 28 - The American-born Lady Astor is elected to the British House of Commons, becoming the first female MP to take a seat on December 1.

December

- December 5 - Turkish ministry of war releases Greeks, Armenians and Jews from military service
- December 12 - Gabriele D'Annunzio with his entourage marches into Fiume and convinces the Italian troops to join him
- December 30 - Lincoln's Inn, in London admits its first female bar student.
- The Paris Peace Conference

Unknown dates

- The Åland Islands vote for a return to Swedish rule in a referendum.
- Les Champs Magnetiques, the first automatic book, is written by Andre Breton and Philippe Soupault.
- XWA (now CFCF), in Montreal, Quebec, is the first public radio station in North America to go on the air.
- Various strikes in USA: Strike of US railroad workers; Longshoreman’s strike; The Great Steel Strike; General strike in Seattle, Washington.
- Female suffrage in Germany and Luxembourg
- Henri Desire Landru captured
- Marcel Tolkowsky's Diamond Design is published.
- The International Astronomical Union is founded.
- World League Against Alcoholism established by Anti-Saloon League.

Births

- Langdon Brown Gilkey - American Christian Protestant Ecumenical theologian (d. 2004)

January-April

- January 1 - J. D. Salinger, American novelist
- January 13 - Robert Stack, American actor (d. 2003)
- January 14 - Andy Rooney, American journalist
- January 23 - Hans Hass, Austrian zoologist
- January 23 - Ernie Kovacs, American comedian (d. 1962)
- January 25 - Edwin Newman, American journalist and writer
- January 26 - Valentino Mazzola, Italian footballer (d. 1949)
- January 27 - Ross Bagdasarian, American musician and actor (d. 1972)
- January 31 - Jackie Robinson, baseball player (d. 1972)
- February 5 - Red Buttons, American actor
- February 5 - Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1996)
- February 11 - Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress (d. 1995)
- February 11 - Eddie Robinson, American football coach
- February 12 - Forrest Tucker, American actor (d. 1986)
- February 13 - Tennessee Ernie Ford, American musician (d. 1991)
- February 26 - Rie Mastenbroek, Dutch swimmer (d. 2003)
- March 2 - Jennifer Jones, American actress
- March 15 - Lawrence Tierney, American actor (d. 2002)
- March 17 - Nat King Cole, American singer (d. 1965)
- March 24 - Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American author and publisher
- March 24 - Robert Heilbroner, American economist (d. 2005)
- March 29 - Eileen Heckart, American actress (d. 2001)
- March 30 - McGeorge Bundy, U.S. National Security Advisor (d. 1996)
- April 1 - Joseph Murray, American surgeon, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- April 8 - Ian Douglas Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia
- April 19 - Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographer
- April 22 - Donald J. Cram, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2001)

May-August

- May 1 - Dan O'Herlihy, Irish film actor (d. 2005)
- May 3 - John Cullen Murphy, American comic strip artist (d. 2004)
- May 3 - Pete Seeger, American singer and musician
- May 7 - Eva Peron, wife of Argentine President Juan Peron (d. 1952)
- May 8 - Lex Barker, American actor (d. 1973)
- May 16 - Liberace, American pianist (d. 1987)
- May 18 - Dame Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer (d. 1991)
- May 20 - George Gobel, American comedian (d. 1991)
- May 23 - Betty Garrett, American actress and dancer
- June 4 - Robert Merrill, American baritone (d. 2004)
- June 5 - Richard Scarry, American children's author (d. 1994)
- June 19 - Pauline Kael, American film critic (d. 2001)
- June 21 - Gérard Pelletier, French journalist, politician, and diplomat (d. 1997)
- June 26 - Richard Neustadt, American political historian (d. 2003)
- July 6 - Ernst Haefliger, Swiss tenor
- July 7 - Jon Pertwee, British actor (d. 1996)
- July 15 - Iris Murdoch, Irish novelist (d. 1999)
- July 20 - Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer
- July 31 - Maurice Boitel, French painter
- August 11 - Ginette Neveu, French violinist (d. 1949)
- August 28 - Godfrey Hounsfield, English electrical engineer and inventor, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)

September-December

- September 11 - Ota Sik, Czech economist and politician (d. 2004)
- September 21 - Fazlur Rahman, Pakistani Islamic scholar (d. 1988)
- September 27 - James H. Wilkinson, English mathematician (d. 1986)
- October 3 - James M. Buchanan, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 5 - Donald Pleasence, English actor (d. 1995)
- October 11 - Art Blakey, American jazz drummer (d. 1990)
- October 12 - Doris Miller, U.S. Navy cook (d. 1943)
- October 16 - Kathleen Winsor, American writer (d. 2003)
- October 18 - Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2000)
- October 22 - Doris Lessing, British writer
- October 26 - James E. Myers, American songwriter (d. 2001)
- October 26 - Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (d. 1980)
- November 3 - Jesús Blasco, Spanish comic book author (d. 1995)
- November 5 - Myron Floren, American accordionist (d. 2005)
- November 10 - Mikhail Kalashnikov, Russian firearms inventor
- November 14 - Lisa Otto, German soprano
- November 15 - Roy Burden, Canadian World War II pilot (d. 2005)
- November 18 - Andrée Borrel, French World War II heroine (d. 1944)
- November 28 - Keith Miller, Australian sportsman (d. 2004)
- December 6 - Paul de Man, Belgian-born literary critic (d. 1983)
- December 8 - Moisei Vainberg, Polish composer (d. 1996)
- December 9 - William Lipscomb, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- December 31 - Tommy Byrne, baseball player

Deaths

- January 6 - Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1858)
- January 6 - Max Heindel, Christian occultist, astrologer, and mystic (b. 1865)
- January 15 - Karl Liebknecht, German politician (executed) (b. 1871)
- January 15 - Rosa Luxemburg, German politician (executed)
- January 18 - Prince John of the United Kingdom (b. 1905)
- January 27 - Endre Ady, Hungarian poet (b. 1877)
- February 17 - Wilfrid Laurier, seventh Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1841)
- April 4 - Sir William Crookes, English chemist and physicist (b. 1832)
- April 15 - Jane Delano, American nurse and founder or the American Red Cross Nursing Service (b. 1862)
- May 6 - L. Frank Baum, American writer (b. 1856)
- May 14 - Henry John Heinz, American businessman (b. 1844)
- June 29 - José Gregorio Hernández, Venezuelan medician and saint (b. 1864)
- June 30 - John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1842)
- July 15 - Hermann Emil Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
- July 26 - Sir Edward Poynter, British painter (b. 1936)
- August 9 - Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (b. 1857)
- August 11 - Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-born businessman and philanthropist (b. 1835)
- October 7 - Alfred Deakin, second Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1856)
- October 13 - Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)
- October 18 - Viscount William Astor, American financier and statesman (b. 1848)
- November 15 - Alfred Werner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866)
- December 3 - Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter (b. 1841)

Nobel Prizes

- Physics - Johannes Stark
- Chemistry - not awarded
- Physiology or Medicine - Jules Bordet
- Literature - Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler Category:1919 ko:1919년 ms:1919 ja:1919年 simple:1919 th:พ.ศ. 2462

Fascism

---- Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. Similar political movements, including Nazism, spread across Europe between World War I and World War II. Fascism generally attracted political support from big business, landowners, and patriotic, traditionalist, conservative, far-right, populist and reactionary individuals and groups. Classical fascism has also inspired contemporary neo-fascist organizations. There is little agreement among historians, political scientists, and other scholars concerning the exact nature of fascism. Some scholars hold that fascism as a social movement employs elements from the political left, but it eventually allies with the political right, especially after attaining state power. A few argue that fascism is a form of socialism or left corporatism. See: Fascism and ideology. There is also controversy surrounding the question of what political movements and governments belong to fascism. The most restrictive definitions of fascism include only one government - that of Benito Mussolini in Italy. The broadest definitions, on the other hand, may include every authoritarian state that has ever existed. Fascism is associated with one or more of the following characteristics: a very high degree of nationalism, economic corporatism, and, after attaining political control of a country, a powerful, dictatorial state that views the nation as superior to the individuals or groups composing it. Fascism also typically calls for the regeneration of the nation and uses populist appeals to unity. Mussolini defined fascism as being a right-wing ideology in opposition to socialism, liberalism, democracy and individualism. He said in The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism: :"Granted that the 19th century was the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy, this does not mean that the 20th century must also be the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy. Political doctrines pass; nations remain. We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century tending to the 'right', a Fascist century. If the 19th century was the century of the individual (liberalism implies individualism) we are free to believe that this is the 'collective' century, and therefore the century of the State." [http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/Germany/mussolini.htm] The problem of defining fascism is complicated by the fact that the word fascist, used as an epithet, became an all-purpose insult after World War II, being widely applied to people on all sides of the political spectrum. In contemporary political discourse, adherents of some political ideologies tend to associate fascism with their enemies, or define it as the opposite of their own views.

Definition

The word "fascism" comes from fascio (plural: fasci), which may mean "bundle," as in a political or militant group or a nation, but also from the fasces (rods bundled around an axe), which were an ancient Roman symbol of the authority of magistrates. The Italian 'Fascisti' were also known as Black Shirts for their style of uniform incorporating a black shirt (See Also: political colour). Merriam-Webster defines fascism as "a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition". The American Heritage Dictionary instead describes it as "A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism.". Scholar Stanley Payne's Fascism: Comparison and Definition (1980) uses a lengthy itemized list of characteristics to identify fascism, including the creation of an authoritarian state; a regulated, state-integrated economic sector; fascist symbolism; anti-liberalism; anti-communism and anti-conservatism. A similar strategy was employed by semiotician Umberto Eco in his popular essay Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt. More recently, an emphasis has been placed upon the aspect of fascist rhetoric that argues for a "re-birth" of a conflated nation and ethnic people. Fascism in practice has expressed itself in both political and economic practices, and academics have examined these elements both together and in isolation. Hannah Arendt, whose focus is largely political, argues that regimes commonly thought of as fascist, such as Nazism, belong to a larger category of totalitarianisms, including communist dictatorships, such as that of Joseph Stalin. Thayer Watkins, a professor of Economics from San Jose State University, identifies fascism as aligned with corporatism, a form of economic oppression that he argues includes most of the world's governments. Watkins considers Mussolini's Fascist regime to be one example of the corporatist states that emerged during the Great Depression, including such diverse political systems as that of Spain, Argentina and the United States. After the defeat of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in World War II, the term has taken on an extremely pejorative meaning, largely in reaction to the crimes against humanity committed by the Nazis. Today, very few groups proclaim themselves fascist, and the term is often used to describe individuals or political groups who are perceived to behave in an authoritarian or totalitarian manner; by silencing opposition, judging personal behavior, promoting racism, or otherwise attempting to concentrate power and create hate towards the "enemies of the state".

Italian Fascism

Early history

Etymologically, the use of the word Fascism in modern Italian political history stretches back to the 1890s in the form of fasci, which were radical left-wing political factions that proliferated in the decades before World War I. One of the first of these groups were the Fasci Siciliani who were part of the first movement that consisted of the Italian working-class peasants that made real progress. The Fasci Siciliani dei lavoratori, were revolutionary socialists that were led by Giuseppe De Felice Giuffrida.

Mussolini's Fascism

Giuseppe De Felice Giuffrida As a political and economic system in Italy, fascism combined elements of corporatism, totalitarianism, nationalism, militarism and anti-Communism. In an article in the 1932 Enciclopedia Italiana, written by Giovanni Gentile and attributed to Benito Mussolini, fascism is described as a system in which "The State not only is authority which governs and molds individual wills with laws and values of spiritual life, but it is also power which makes its will prevail abroad... For the Fascist, everything is within the State and... neither individuals nor groups are outside the State... For Fascism, the State is an absolute, before which individuals or groups are only relative... Liberalism denied the State in the name of the individual; Fascism reasserts the rights of the State as expressing the real essence of the individual." It discussed other political and social doctrines of the time by describing fascism as: "the resolute negation of the doctrine underlying so-called scientific and Marxian socialism... and as rejecting (in democracy) "the absurd conventional lie of political equalitarianism, the habit of collective irresponsibility, the myth of felicity and indefinite progress". "Fascism is definitely and absolutely opposed to the doctrines of liberalism, both in the political and economic sphere. ... The Fascist State lays claim to rule in the economic field no less than in others; it makes its action felt throughout the length and breadth of the country by means of its corporate, social, and educational institutions, and all the political, economic, and spiritual forces of the nation, organised in their respective associations, circulate within the State." Another central theme of Italian fascism was the struggle against what it described as the corrupt "plutocracies" of the time, France and Britain in particular. Italian Fascism is often considered to be a proper noun and thus denoted by a capital letter "F", whereas generic fascism is conventionally represented with the lower-case character "f". Italian Fascism is considered a model for other forms of fascism, yet there is disagreement over which aspects of structure, tactics, culture, and ideology represent a "fascist minimum" or core. A Doctrine of Fascism was written by Giovanni Gentile, a neo-Hegelian philosopher who served as the official philosopher of fascism. Mussolini signed the article and it was officially attributed to him. In it, French socialists Georges Sorel, Charles Peguy, and Hubert Lagardelle were invoked as the sources of fascism. Sorel's ideas concerning syndicalism and violence are much in evidence in this document. It also quotes from Ernest Renan who it says had "pre-fascist intuitions". Both Sorel and Peguy were influenced by the Frenchman Henri Bergson. Bergson rejected the scientism, mechanical evolution and materialism of Marxist ideology. Also, Bergson promoted an elan vital as an evolutionary process. Both of these elements of Bergson appear in fascism. Mussolini states that fascism negates the doctrine of Marxist socialism and its doctrine of historical materialism. Hubert Lagardelle, an authoritative syndicalist writer, was influenced by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon who, in turn, inspired anarchosyndicalism. There were several strains of tradition influencing Mussolini. Sergio Panunzio, a major theoretician of fascism in the 1920s, had a syndicalist background, but his influence waned as the movement shed all connection to the working-class autonomy of syndicalism. The fascist concept of corporatism and particularly its theories of class collaboration and economic and social relations have similarities to the model laid out by Pope Leo XIII's 1892 encyclical Rerum Novarum. This encyclical addressed politics as it had been transformed by the Industrial Revolution, and other changes in society that had occurred during the nineteenth century. The document criticized capitalism, complaining of the exploitation of the masses in industry. However, it also sharply criticized the socialist concept of class struggle, and the proposed socialist solution to exploitation (the elimination, or at least the limitation, of private property). Rerum Novarum called for strong governments to undertake a mission to protect their people from exploitation, while continuing to uphold private property and reject socialism. It also asked Catholics to apply principles of social justice in their own lives. Seeking to find some principle to compete with and replace the Marxist doctrine of class struggle, Rerum Novarum urged social solidarity between the upper and lower classes. Its analogy of the state as being like a body working together as "one mind" had some cultural influence on the early Fascists of Catholic nations. It also indicated the state had a right to suppress "firebrands" and striking workers. Further Rerum Novarum proposed a kind of corporatism that resembled medieval guilds for an industrial age. This relates far more directly to Brazilian Integralism form of Fascism than anything in Italy. The encyclical intended to counteract the "subversive nature" of both Marxism and liberalism. Themes and ideas developed in Rerum Novarum can also be found in the ideology of fascism as developed by Mussolini. Although it also contains ideas like "the members of the working classes are citizens by nature and by the same right as the rich" or "the State has for its office to protect natural rights, not to destroy them; and, if it forbid its citizens to form associations, it contradicts the very principle of its own existence," that never fit easily with Italian Fascism. Fascism also borrowed from Gabriele D'Annunzio's Constitution of Fiume for his ephemeral "regency" in the city of Fiume. Syndicalism had a strong influence on fascism as well, particularly as some syndicalists intersected with D'Annunzio's ideas. Before the First World War, syndicalism had stood for a militant doctrine of working-class revolution. It distinguished itself from Marxism because it insisted that the best route for the working class to liberate itself was the trade union rather than the party. The Italian Socialist Party ejected the syndicalists in 1908. The syndicalist movement split between anarcho-syndicalists and a more moderate tendency. Some moderates began to advocate "mixed syndicates" of workers and employers. In this practice, they absorbed the teachings of Catholic theorists and expanded them to accommodate greater power of the state, and diverted them by the influence of D'Annunzio to nationalist ends. When Henri De Man's Italian translation of Au-dela du marxisme emerged, Mussolini was excited and wrote to the author that his criticism "destroyed any scientific element left in Marxism". Mussolini was appreciative of the idea that a corporative organization and a new relationship between labour and capital would eliminate "the clash of economic interests" and thereby neutralize "the germ of class warfare.'" Socialist thinkers, Robert Michels, Sergio Panunzio, Ottavio Dinale, Agostino Lanzillo, Angelo Oliviero Olivetti, Michele Bianchi, and Edmondo Rossoni played a part in this attempt to find a third way that rejected both capitalism and Marxism. Many historians claim that the March 23 1919 meeting at the Piazza San Sepolcro was the historic “birthplace” of the fascist movement. However, this would imply that the Italian Fascists “came from nowhere” which is simply not true. Mussolini revived his former group, Fasci d'Azione rivoluzionaria, in order to take part in the 1919 elections in response to an increase in Communist activity occurring in Milan. The Fasci di Combattimenti were the result of this continuation (not creation) of the Fascist party. The result of the meeting was that Fascism became an organized political movement. Among the founding members were the revolutionary syndicalist leaders Agostino Lanzillo and Michele Bianchi. In 1921, the fascists developed a program that called for:
- a democratic republic,
- separation of church and state,
- a national army,
- progressive taxation for inherited wealth, and
- development of co-operatives or guilds to replace labor unions. As the movement evolved, several of these initial ideas were abandoned and rejected. Mussolini capitalized on fear of a Communist revolution, finding ways to unite Labor and Capital to prevent class war. In 1926 he created the National Council of Corporations, divided into guilds of employers and employees, tasked with managing 22 sectors of the economy. The guilds subsumed both labor unions and management, and were represented in a chamber of corporations through a triad comprised of a representative from management, from labour and from the party. Together they would plan aspects of the economy for mutual advantage. The movement was supported by small capitalists, low-level bureaucrats, and the middle classes, who had all felt threatened by the rise in power of the Socialists. Fascism also met with great success in rural areas, especially among farmers, peasants, and in the city, the lumpenproletariat. Mussolini's fascist state was established nearly a decade before Hitler's rise to power (1922 and the March on Rome). Both a movement and a historical phenomenon, Italian Fascism was, in many respects, an adverse reaction to both the apparent failure of laissez-faire economics and fear of Communism. Fascism was, to an extent, a product of a general feeling of anxiety and fear among the middle class of postwar Italy. This fear arose from a convergence of interrelated economic, political, and cultural pressures. Under the banner of this authoritarian and nationalistic ideology, Mussolini was able to exploit fears regarding the survival of capitalism in an era in which postwar depression, the rise of a more militant left, and a feeling of national shame and humiliation stemming from Italy's 'mutilated victory' at the hands of the World War I postwar peace treaties seemed to converge. Such unfulfilled nationalistic aspirations tainted the reputation of liberalism and constitutionalism among many sectors of the Italian population. In addition, such democratic institutions had never grown to become firmly rooted in the young nation-state. This same postwar depression heightened the allure of Marxism among an urban proletariat who were even more disenfranchised than their continental counterparts. But fear of the growing strength of trade unionism, Communism, and socialism proliferated among the elite and the middle class. In a way, Benito Mussolini filled a political vacuum. Fascism emerged as a "third way