John majors government came into office after the downfall of Margret Thatcher, which ultimately created divisions within the party. Not only did the party suffer from the internal conflict but also faced the problems of the recession after the ‘Lawson boom’. In order to stabilise the economy he joined the ERM getting a good deal but ultimately resulting in ‘black Wednesday’ causing Major to raise interest rates to 15%. This was political suicide and he soon lost the support of the press we had once relied so much on to get re-elected in 1992. The housing market also plummeted leading to negative equity, which the majority of the working class could not afford resulting in the repossession of their houses combined with the drastic increase in unemployment Britain was in a mess.
Growth of support for facism was a reason for Mussolinis appointment as Prime Minister,however there were many other reasons for Mussolinis appointment as PM, but growth of support was very important for him. The war and the mutilated victory, had an affect on Mussolinis appointment as PM. The main reason wad that the nationalists were bitterly disappointed that italy didn’t make any gains during the war. The nationalists claimed that Italy had been betrayed by the Liberal government, this shows that the nationalists might have wanted to overthrow the Liberal government and therefore supported Mussolini before he was appointed. This links into the title point that Mussolini had a wide support base and that it was growing.
This essay will seek to examine these policies and their varying successes or failures. Economic policies in Fascist Italy can be divided into distinct periods. In Mussolini’s early years, from 1922-1925, the economy was run using traditional liberal ‘laissez-faire guidelines.’ Under the guidance of the then Minister of Finance, Albert de Stefani, taxes were lowered and government expenditure cut. These policies found favour amongst the industrialists, bankers and big landowners who had been instrumental in the Fascist rise to power and thus served the ‘dual purpose of placating the big-business interests and balancing the state’s budget.’ Although the economy enjoyed modest growth, its inherent structural weaknesses were not addressed and in 1925 de Stefani was sacked amidst rising inflation and a falling Lira. The economic policies he had implemented had served their purpose in helping to garner further support for Mussolini and the fascists.
Italy was not a democracy in 1896 so the right to vote was held only by the rich due to the parliament being dominated by wealthy landowners, businessmen and professional classes; this resulted in the masses having no say in the Italian government and suggested a low level of equality which consequently led to mass levels of unrest. Evidence of this is where riots occurred on a widespread, regular basis; over 100 protestors were killed in a clash with the army in Milan, 1898 over increased food prices. This level of crisis was most present in the less advanced and more agricultural based South as opposed to the wealthy, rapidly developing North of Italy. This divide was further developed when the new Italian government abolished internal tariffs by creating free trade that did, theoretically create some level of economic unity but was crippling for the small
Though collectivisation may have had short term boosts to the economy but the effects of collectivisation were disastrous. For that the harvest of 1933 was nine million tons less than that of 1926 and the number of pigs dropped by 65%. These are the results of the peasants rebelling against the soviets forced collectivization. These peasant rebellions were damaging to the economy as its effects emanates to the city
Having a war caused inflation, government spending rose from 4-30 million, taxation increased, and money became practically worthless and the price of food and fuel quadrupled. This made people angry as they could not afford supplies for themselves and their families, which made them, turn to the Tsar for help but he wasn’t seen to be doing much about the effects of war on the people at home. Furthermore, as well as not being able to
So what happened?? Without self-sufficient crops, many fell into poverty… …And were taken over by the bigger farms. However, wheat imports fell by 75%… …But exports of olive oil, wine meat and eggs fell, as countries didn’t trade with Italy – “He’s not buying my wheat, I won’t buy his wine. hah!” Price of bread rose. A huge propaganda campaign was released to try and help them achieve autarky.
Many factors caused the economic condition in America to change in the late 1920’s resulting in the Great Depression. These factors include World War One, individual debt, business failure, farming decline, banking failure, and the stock market crash. World Depression was caused by World War one because the demand for American products reduced after the war resulting in too much supply with limited demand. Production was lowered and jobs had to be cut, leaving many without jobs leaving many in debt because many people took out loans or stocks during the war. Many people did not have money to spend in businesses and businesses also took out loans that needed to be paid back.
However, in reality it made it hard for Italy to sell abroad (due to the higher prices), so Italy lost its competitiveness on the world market. In addition, serious deflation took place and by 1936 the government was forced to devalue the Lira. To summarise, the reform was a failure as – although in the short run, Italy seemed powerful, in the long run the economy suffered. The battle for the Lira was a propaganda victory in which Mussolini successfully confirmed the image that the fascists were bringing stability and prosper to Italy, without actually doing so. Mussolini also had two other battles; that for
The well-trained modern Italian forces had been defeated by backward, poorly equipped Abyssinian tribesmen. It was absolutely humiliating to have such a military record, revenge and final defeat would restore Italian pride. This would also be a distraction to the people of Italy, to take their mind of the Great Depression, which at this point was in full swing. Though Italy was not suffering nearly as much as countries such as USA, but they were still struggling. This war would give them purpose, and a sense that they were indeed moving forward, that this economic crisis was not their end.