Fascism and the Industrial Leadership in Italy, 1919–1940 by Roland Sarti (review)

108 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW reformism (Staffordcuriously refersto him asan extremerevolutionist at one point, p. I65) , althoughalong differentpaths.If reformismcapturedthe Socialistmovement,not only in France but elsewhere, it must be seenas a response to concrete situations and doctrinaldisputes whichmade an impact on theentirespectrum of Leftistthinking,and dueattentionmustbe givento the distinctions separating the varioussects in order to differentiatebetween possibilism and otherformsof reformist socialism. The mostconvincing featureofhisstudylieselsewhere. He istobecommended for hisclearstatement that the positions to which the variousgroupsof the Socialist movement gravitated werean outcome of thedivisions withinit dating fromrivaldeswithin theFirstInternational,ratherthan markingthebeginning of something new. If thisis recognized, the SecondInternationalcan then be seenas carryingwithin it an inheritedpropensity to disunity,especially that whichderivedfrompastchalleges towhatpassed asorthodoxy, andimplicitlyStafforddoes notexploitthispointsufficiently - thetenacity with whichcertain delegations, mostparticularlythe French,maintainedan aloofness from the alleged superiority of GermanSocialDemocracy, whetherasa successful political partyorasa repository of doctrinal purity. It isunfortunate thatthematerialwhichwouldhavemadeit possible towrite a bookin whichthepersonality andthepoliticsof thekeyfigurewereexamined together arelacking.The resultis ratherlikelookingintothe dustydocuments of thepastwithoutanyprospect of penetrating the character of the man who wasresponsible for them.The bookalsosuffers fromanotherkind of abstraction. Foramanwhospent somuchtimecaringandworkingfor a meaningful change in thelivesof workers, it iscurious that, at leastwithin thepages of thisbook, the two never seemedto have met, with the further result that the theoretical andpoliticalproblems whichoccasioned somuchheatseemarid andunreal. HARVEY MITCHELL University o[BritishColumbia Fascismand the Industrial Leadershipin Italy, •9•9-•94 o. •tOL•,Nr• SARTL Berkeley and LosAngeles, Universityof CaliforniaPress,I97I. Pp. xii, •54. $8.00. This bookactuallydelivers morethan it promises. While Sarti'stitle denotes a study of a single aspect of Fascist Italy, the authorhasalsoemployed hisown research topicasa mirror to reflectsomelargertruths.There is,indeed,more to be gleanedfrom thisworkaboutthe generalcharacterof Italian fascism andperhaps of thefascist phenomenon at large- thanfrommanyan avowed survey of fascism. In an epilogue Sarti eventakesthe troubleto expose the fallacyoftoday's radicalpolemicists whoequate fascism withsocial conservatism. It maybeunusual tofinda historical monograph froma university press ending on sucha presentist note,but hereit followsnaturallyfrom the subject matter of the text. Sartiisenabled to dealwith Italy'sindustrial leadership asa collective entity REVIEWS 109 because theindustrialists customarily spoke with a single voicethroughoneor, at most, twoorganizations. These weretheCon[ederazione Generale dell'Industria Iraliana (the Conlindustria or con) and the Associazione Ira le Societtt ltaliane per Jzioni (area). The con was the dominantparmer. Indeed, the conwentfromstrength tostrength underfascism, gaininga virtualmonopoly in representation of industrialinterests and not infrequently arrogatingthe right to speakfor other sectors of the business communityas well. Appropriately, Sarti'smain documentation consists of the publications and records of the ½ou and, to a lesser extent,of aSIA. By and large,Italian Fascists and industrialists saweye to eye.Both were conservative in their hatred of Marxist socialism;both were reformistin their zealto replacetheslow-paced parliamentary regimeof thelawyers with a more efficient, 'productivist,' authoritarian system. Throughco-operation with fascism the industrialists succeeded in wardingoff the threat to their entrepreneurial autonomy posed notonlybythe orthodox Left but alsobythesyndicalists within the Fascist party. Yet Sarti holdsno brief for thoseMarxistswho would see fascism asa tool of vestedeconomic interests. Mussoliniwaswilling and able to cross the industrialists whennecessary. In ,926 he compelled employers to accepta modest syndical reform;a yearlater he blithelyignoredbusiness objections to stabilizing the Italian currency at quota90; in •934 he forcedthe resignation of GinoOlivetti,theshrewdand powerfulsecretary-general of the COilsince1919,whocriticizedthenewcorporative state. Cordiality was normally achieved,however,by 'continualgive and take between the Fascist and industrial leaders' and because 'both sides showed amazingflexibility'(p. 5). Sarti'sdepiction of the conbargaining moreor less equallywith Mussolini's regimeis fraughtwith implications for a definition of Italian fascism. It reduces the claim of monolithic totalitarianism to mere rhetoric.Sarti himselfcallsfascism 'an inefficientpressure cookerthat softens but cannotchangeits contents into a homogeneous whole' (p. '34), and he goes sofar asto placefascism in thetraditionof trasformismo. The mostserious reservation which might be enteredagainstSarti'sinterpretationis that hisexamination of the con and ASmis too narrowa baseto sustain hisbroadconclusions aboutfascism. To whichit canonlyberepliedthat the latterseemed entirelycredible to thisreader.Moreover,by concentrating on Italy'sindustrial leaders, Sartihasproduced a studywhose brevitydoesnot allow the main themes to be lost from view. This affords a nice contrast with the nearest counterpartin the fieldof Germanhistory,A. Schweitzer's densely packed BigBusiness in theThirdReich. Minor cavilsincludetheabsence of materialfromthe Documentidiplomatici italiani on foreigntrade,althoughnothingfrom thissourcecontradicts what $arti says. The editing,sadto say,leavessomething to be desired;thereare bad misprints onpages 5o...