Giovanni Giolitti | |
|---|---|
 Giolitti in 1920 | |
| Prime Minister of Italy | |
| In office 15 June 1920 – 4 July 1921 | |
| Monarch | Victor Emmanuel III |
| Preceded by | Francesco Saverio Nitti |
| Succeeded by | Ivanoe Bonomi |
| In office 30 March 1911 – 21 March 1914 | |
| Monarch | Victor Emmanuel III |
| Preceded by | Luigi Luzzatti |
| Succeeded by | Antonio Salandra |
| In office 29 May 1906 – 11 December 1909 | |
| Monarch | Victor Emmanuel III |
| Preceded by | Sidney Sonnino |
| Succeeded by | Sidney Sonnino |
| In office 3 November 1903 – 12 March 1905 | |
| Monarch | Victor Emmanuel III |
| Preceded by | Giuseppe Zanardelli |
| Succeeded by | Tommaso Tittoni |
| In office 15 May 1892 – 15 December 1893 | |
| Monarch | Umberto I |
| Preceded by | Marchese di Rudinì |
| Succeeded by | Francesco Crispi |
| Minister of the Interior | |
| In office 15 June 1920 – 4 July 1921 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Francesco Saverio Nitti |
| Succeeded by | Ivanoe Bonomi |
| In office 30 March 1911 – 21 March 1914 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Luigi Luzzatti |
| Succeeded by | Antonio Salandra |
| In office 3 November 1903 – 12 March 1905 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Giuseppe Zanardelli |
| Succeeded by | Tommaso Tittoni |
| In office 15 February 1901 – 20 June 1903 | |
| Prime Minister | Giuseppe Zanardelli |
| Preceded by | Giuseppe Saracco |
| Succeeded by | Giuseppe Zanardelli |
| In office 15 May 1892 – 15 December 1893 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Giovanni Nicotera |
| Succeeded by | Francesco Crispi |
| Minister of the Navy | |
| In office 3 September 1903 – 9 November 1903 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Enrico Morin |
| Succeeded by | Carlo Mirabello |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 14 September 1890 – 10 December 1890 | |
| Prime Minister | Francesco Crispi |
| Preceded by | Federico Seismit-Doda |
| Succeeded by | Bernardino Grimaldi |
| Member of theChamber of Deputies | |
| In office 29 May 1881 – 17 July 1928 | |
| Constituency | Piedmont |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1842-10-27)27 October 1842 Mondovì, Kingdom of Sardinia |
| Died | 17 July 1928(1928-07-17) (aged 85) Cavour, Piedmont, Italy |
| Political party |
|
| Spouse | |
| Children | 7; includingEnrichetta |
| Alma mater | University of Turin |
| Profession | |
| Signature |  |
Giovanni Giolitti (Italian pronunciation:[dʒoˈvannidʒoˈlitti]; 27 October 1842 – 17 July 1928) was an Italian statesman. He was theprime minister of Italy five times between 1892 and 1921. He is the longest-serving democratically elected prime minister inItalian history, and thesecond-longest serving overall afterBenito Mussolini. A prominent leader of theHistorical Left and theLiberals, he is widely considered one of the most wealthy, powerful and important politicians in Italian history; due to his dominant position inItalian politics, Giolitti was accused by critics of being anauthoritarian leader and a parliamentarydictator.[1]
Giolitti was a master in the political art oftrasformismo, the method of making a flexible,centrist coalition of government which isolated the extremes of the Left and the Right in Italian politics after the unification. Under his influence, the Liberals did not develop as a structured party and were a series of informal personal groupings with no formal links to political constituencies.[2] The period between the start of the 20th century and the start ofWorld War I, when he was prime minister and Minister of the Interior from 1901 to 1914, with only brief interruptions, is often referred to as the "Giolittian Era".[3][4]
Aliberal[3] with strong ethical concerns,[5] Giolitti's periods in office were notable for the passage of a wide range of progressivesocial reforms, together with the enactment of several policies ofgovernment intervention.[4][6][7] Besides putting in place severaltariffs,subsidies, andgovernment projects, Giolitti alsonationalized the private telephone and railroad operators. Liberal proponents offree trade criticized the "Giolittian System", although Giolitti himself saw the development of the national economy as essential in the production of wealth.[8]
The primary focus of Giolittian politics was to rule from the centre with slight and well-controlled fluctuations betweenconservatism andprogressivism, trying to preserve the institutions and the existing social order.[9]Right-wing critics likeLuigi Albertini considered him asocialist due to the courting of socialist and leftist votes in parliament in exchange for political favours, whileleft-wing critics likeGaetano Salvemini accused him of being a corrupt politician and of winning elections with the support of criminals.[6][9][10] Nonetheless, his highly complex legacy continues to stimulate intense debate among writers and historians.[11]
Giolitti was born atMondovì, inPiedmont. His father Giovenale Giolitti had been working in theavvocatura dei poveri, an office assisting poor citizens in both civil and criminal cases. He died in 1843, a year after Giovanni was born. The family moved in the home of his mother Enrichetta Plochiù in Turin.
His mother taught him to read and write; his education in the gymnasium San Francesco da Paola of Turin was marked by poor discipline and little commitment to study.[12] He did not like mathematics and the study ofLatin andGreek grammar, preferring history and reading the novels ofWalter Scott andHonoré de Balzac.[13] At sixteen he entered theUniversity of Turin and, after three years, he earned a law degree in 1860.[14]
His uncle was a member of the Parliament of theKingdom of Sardinia and a close friend ofMichelangelo Castelli, the secretary ofCamillo Benso di Cavour; however, Giolitti did not appear particularly interested in theRisorgimento and differently to many of his fellow students, he did not enlist to fight in theItalian Second War of Independence.
Giolitti pursued a career in public administration in the Ministry of Grace and Justice. That choice prevented him from participating in the decisive battles of theRisorgimento (the unification of Italy), for which his temperament was not suited anyway, but this lack of military experience would be held against him as long as the Risorgimento generation was active in politics.[14][15]
In 1869, Giolitti moved toCalabria and was appointed as chief secretary of the Central Tax Commission. He moved to Rome Italy in 1905. That year he married Rosa Sobrero and they would have seven children – Giovenale,Enrichetta, Lorenzo, Luisa, Federico, Maria and Giuseppe. In 1870, he moved to the Ministry of Finance,[16] becoming a high official and working along with important members of the rulingRight, likeQuintino Sella andMarco Minghetti. In the same year, he married Rosa Sobrero, the niece ofAscanio Sobrero, a famous chemist, who discoverednitroglycerine.
In 1877, Giolitti was appointed to theCourt of Audit and in 1882 to theCouncil of State.
At the1882 Italian general election he was elected to theChamber of Deputies (thelower house ofParliament) for theHistorical Left.[15] This election was a great victory for the ruling Left ofAgostino Depretis, which won 289 seats out of 508.
As deputy, he chiefly acquired prominence by attacks onAgostino Magliani,Treasury Minister in the cabinet of Depretis.[17][18]
Following Depretis's death on 29 July 1887Francesco Crispi, a notable politician and patriot, became the leader of theLeft group and was also appointed prime minister by KingUmberto I.
On 9 March 1889, Giolitti was selected by Crispi as the new Minister of Treasury and Finance. But in October 1890, Giolitti resigned from his office due to contrasts with Crispi's colonial policy. A few weeks before, the Ethiopian emperorMenelik II had contested the Italian text of theWuchale Treaty, signed by Crispi, stating that it did not oblige Ethiopia to be an Italian protectorate. Menelik informed the foreign press and the scandal erupted.
After the fall of the government led by the new prime ministerAntonio Starabba di Rudinì in May 1892, Giolitti, with the help of a court clique, received from the King the task of forming a new cabinet.[17]
Giolitti's first term as prime minister (1892–1893) was marked by misfortune and misgovernment. The building crisis and the commercial rupture with France had impaired the situation of the state banks, of which one, theBanca Romana, had been further undermined by maladministration.[17]
TheBanca Romana had loaned large sums to property developers but was left with huge liabilities when the real estate bubble collapsed in 1887.[19] Then prime ministerFrancesco Crispi and his treasury minister Giolitti knew of the 1889 government inspection report, but feared that publicity might undermine public confidence and suppressed the report.[20]
The Bank Act of August 1893 liquidated theBanca Romana and reformed the whole system of note issue, restricting the privilege to the newBanca d'Italia – mandated to liquidate theBanca Romana – and to theBanco di Napoli and theBanco di Sicilia, and providing for stricter state control.[20][21] The new law failed to effect an improvement. Moreover, he irritated public opinion by raising to senatorial rank the governor of theBanca Romana, Bernardo Tanlongo, whose irregular practices had become a byword, which would have given him immunity from prosecution.[22] The senate declined to admit Tanlongo, whom Giolitti, in consequence of an intervention in parliament upon the condition of the Banca Romana, was obliged to arrest and prosecute. During the prosecution, Giolitti abused his position as premier to abstract documents bearing on the case.[17]
Another main problem that Giolitti had to face during his first term as prime minister was theFasci Siciliani, a popular movement ofdemocratic andsocialist inspiration, which arose inSicily in the years between 1889 and 1894.[23] The Fasci gained the support of the poorest and most exploited classes of the island by channelling their frustration and discontent into a coherent programme based on the establishment of new rights. Consisting of a jumble of traditionalist sentiment, religiosity, and socialist consciousness, the movement reached its apex in the summer of 1893, when new conditions were presented to the landowners and mine owners of Sicily concerning the renewal of sharecropping and rental contracts.
Upon the rejection of these conditions, there was an outburst of strikes that rapidly spread throughout the island, and was marked by violent social conflict, almost rising to the point of insurrection. The leaders of the movement were not able to keep the situation from getting out of control. The proprietors and landowners asked the government to intervene. Giovanni Giolitti tried to put a halt to the manifestations and protests of the Fasci Siciliani, his measures were relatively mild. On November 24, Giolitti officially resigned as prime minister. In the three weeks of uncertainty before Crispi formed a government on 15 December 1893, the rapid spread of violence drove many local authorities to defy Giolitti's ban on the use of firearms.
In December 1893, 92 peasants lost their lives in clashes with the police and army. Government buildings were burned along with flour mills and bakeries that refused to lower their prices when taxes were lowered or abolished.[24][25]
Simultaneously a parliamentary commission of inquiry investigated the condition of the state banks. Its report, though acquitting Giolitti of personal dishonesty, proved disastrous to his political position, and the ensuingBanca Romana scandal obliged him to resign.[26] His fall left the finances of the state disorganized, the pensions fund depleted, diplomatic relations withFrance strained in consequence of themassacre of Italian workmen at Aigues-Mortes, and a state of revolt in theLunigiana and by theFasci Siciliani inSicily, which he had proved impotent to suppress.[17] Despite the heavy pressure from the King, the army and conservative circles in Rome, Giolitti neither treated strikes – which were not illegal – as a crime, nor dissolved the Fasci, nor authorised the use of firearms against popular demonstrations.[27] His policy was "to allow these economic struggles to resolve themselves through amelioration of the condition of the workers" and not to interfere in the process.[28]
After his resignation, Giolitti was indicted for abuse of power as minister, but theSupreme Court of Cassation quashed the indictment by denying the competence of the ordinary tribunals to judge ministerial acts.[17]
For several years he was compelled to play a passive part, having lost all credit. But by keeping in the background and giving public opinion time to forget his past, as well as by parliamentary intrigue, he gradually regained much of his former influence.[17]
Moreover, Giolitti made capital of theSocialist agitation and of the repression to which other statesmen resorted, and gave the agitators to understand that were he premier he would remain neutral in labour conflicts.[17] Thus he gained their favour, and on the fall of the cabinet led by GeneralLuigi Pelloux in 1900, he made his comeback after eight years, openly opposing the authoritarian new public safety laws.[29]
Due to a left-ward shift in parliamentary liberalism at thegeneral election in June, after the reactionary crisis of 1898–1900, he dominated Italian politics untilWorld War I.[30]
Between 1901 and 1903 he was appointedItalian Minister of the Interior by Prime MinisterGiuseppe Zanardelli, but critics accused Giolitti of being the de facto prime minister, due to Zanardelli's age.[6]
On 3 November 1903, Giovanni Giolitti was appointed prime minister by KingVictor Emmanuel III and formed hissecond gevernment.
During his second term as head of the government onwards, Giolitti courted the left and labour unions with social legislation, including subsidies for low-income housing, preferential government contracts for worker cooperatives, and old age and disability pensions.[6] Under a circular of November 1903, the most substantial investigation of drinking water was initiated.[31] A law of 31 January 1904 extended accident insurance to a number of agricultural workers,[32] while a law of July 1904 offered fiscal and economic support to companies wishing to establish business in the Neapolitan area. That same year, the State facilitated the building of an Apulian aqueduct,[33] while national legislation was passed aimed at enhancing living conditions in asylums.[34] A healthcare reform law was introduced in February 1904, which reiterated some key concepts of a previous health law passed underFrancesco Crispi, "extending its potential through appropriate modifications and additions. The interventions were essentially concentrated on four issues: making the fate of municipal doctors less precarious, completing health care for the poor, facilitating better organization of local hygiene supervision and initiating more effective protection of the population in the countryside.”[35] In addition, a law of March 1904 established a pension fund for municipal secretaries.[36]
A law of March 1904 concerning the Basilicata region (aimed at promoting social and economic conditions) included provisions such as public works (including the building of farmhouses, sewers, water supplies and roads).[37] The Orlando law of 1904 increased the mandatory education age to 12 while also providing "for a general increase in state commitment with the splitting of large classes and the state's contribution to the payment of teacher's salaries."[38] The Public Welfare Commission Law of 1904 required general public welfare institutions to allocate a third of their funds to poor children.[39] Conditions for staff in the government libraries and prisons, together with the lower ranks of the army, were improved. Provision was made in connection with a sickness and old age fund for workmen, while a pension fund was set up for workmen in the tobacco factories and for veterans of the War of Independence. In addition, prisoners were also given the right to work in the open.[40] A modification of the laws concerning hospitals and similar institutions, designed to provide "for an effective trusteeship over the funds of these bodies," was carried out, while public health legislation was updated. Financial provision for elementary school teachers and primary schools was improved, and a duty of landlords to provide healthy habitations for agricultural workers was established. Co-operative agricultural and industrial societies were also given the right to apply for public contracts.[41] After 1904, "municipal councils could have public works and irrigation schemes carried out by co-operatives."[42]
Giolitti tried to sign an alliance with theItalian Socialist Party, which was growing so fast in the popular vote and became a friend of the Socialist leaderFilippo Turati. Giolitti would have liked to have Turati as a minister in his cabinets, but the Socialist leader always refused, due to the opposition of the left wing of his party.[43]
Giolitti, differently from his predecessors likeFrancesco Crispi, strongly opposed the repression of labour union strikes. According to him, the government had to act as a mediator between entrepreneurs and workers. These concepts, which today may seem obvious, were considered revolutionary at the time. The conservatives harshly criticized him; according to them, this policy was a complete failure that could create fear and disorder.
However, Giolitti too, had to resort to strong measures in repressing some serious disorders in various parts of Italy, and thus he lost the favour of the Socialists. In March 1905, feeling himself no longer secure, he resigned, indicatingFortis as his successor. When the leader of theHistorical Right,Sidney Sonnino, became premier in February 1906, Giolitti did not openly oppose him, but his followers did.[17]
When Sonnino lost his majority in May 1906, Giolitti became prime minister once more. His third government was known as the "long ministry" (lungo ministero).
In the financial sector, the main operation was the conversion of the annuity, with the replacement of fixed-rate government bonds maturing (with a coupon of 5%) with others at lower rates (3.75% before and then 3.5%). The conversion of the annuity was conducted with considerable caution and technical expertise: the government, in fact, before undertaking it, requested and obtained the guarantee of numerous banking institutions.
The criticism that the government received from conservatives proved unfounded: public opinion followed almost fondly the events relating, as the conversion immediately took on the symbolic value of a real and lasting fiscal consolidation and a stable national unification. The resources were used to complete the nationalization of the railways.
The strong economic performance and the careful budget management led to currency stability; this was also caused by amass emigration and especially on remittances that Italian migrants sent to their relatives back home. The 1906–1909 triennium is remembered as the time when "thelira was premium on gold".[44]
As a means of strengthening the role of labour inspectors, Law No. 380 of 1906 “provided extraordinary funds to the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce with a view implementing the Italian-French Convention. Consequently, as a result of a ministerial circular of November 1906, the first territorial labour inspection services started to be established in Turin, Milan and Brescia.”[45] A law of 1907 fixed the age of admission to employment at 14 years for underground work in mines not employing mechanical motive power while forbidding the employment of children under 15 in especially dangerous occupations.[46] A law of June 1906 established a social security system for bus, tram and rail workers. This was later extended to employees of extra-urban lines in 1907, and to shipyard workers in 1910. A law of June 1908 established a fund for state railway employees.[36]
On 7 July 1907 an important law providing for a weekly day of rest was passed, and that same year a treaty was ratified with France concerning industrial accidents, "by which French laborers in Italy and Italian laborers in France were given all the benefits of the insurance laws of the country in which they are employed." A law was also passed on 22 March 1908 abolishing night work in bakeries.[47] The 1907 Malaria Law "contained important dispositions protecting women and children, banning night work and limiting the workday to nine hours, prohibited work in the last month of pregnancy, and mandated two breaks to breastfeed children."[48] A law of 27 February 1908, concerning inexpensive or people's dwellings, granted communes the power "to construct people's dwellings exclusively for renting purposes, people's lodging houses, and free public dormitories whenever a commune considers it necessary to supply dwellings for the poorer classes of the population and there are neither cooperative societies nor private organizations undertaking these constructions or when these societies exist but do not meet the commune's needs."[49] Various laws related to agriculture were also introduced,[50][51] public works for the South were initiated, the tax on heating oil used by the poor was cut,[52] and sickness and old age insurance was extended and improved.[53]
_-_Vittime_del_terremoto_di_Messina_(dicembre_1908).jpg)
On 28 December 1908, a strongearthquake of magnitude of 7.1 and a maximumMercalli intensity scale of XI, hitSicily andCalabria. About ten minutes after the earthquake, the sea on both sides of the Strait suddenly withdrew a 12-meter (39-foot)tsunami swept in, and three waves struck nearby coasts. It impacted hardest along the Calabrian coast and inundatedReggio Calabria after the sea had receded 70 meters from the shore. The entire Reggio seafront was destroyed and numbers of people who had gathered there perished. NearbyVilla San Giovanni was also badly hit. Along the coast between Lazzaro andPellaro, houses and a railway bridge were washed away. The cities ofMessina andReggio Calabria were almost completely destroyed and between 75,000 and 200,000 lives were lost.[54]
News of the disaster was carried to Prime Minister Giolitti by Italian torpedo boats toNicotera, where the telegraph lines were still working, but that was not accomplished until midnight at the end of the day. Rail lines in the area had been destroyed, often along with the railway stations.[54]
The ItalianRegia Marina ("Royal Navy") andRegio Esercito (Royal Army) responded and began searching, treating the injured, providing food and water, and evacuating refugees (as did every ship). Giolitti imposedmartial law with all looters to be shot, which extended to survivors foraging for food. KingVictor Emmanuel III andQueen Elena arrived two days after the earthquake to assist the victims and survivors.[54] The disaster made headlines worldwide and international relief efforts were launched. With the help of theRed Cross and sailors of the Russian and British fleets, search and cleanup were expedited.[55]
In1909 general election, Giolitti'sLeft gained 54.4% of votes and 329 seats out of 508.[56] Giolitti found himself faced with the necessity for renewing the steamship conventions which were about to lapse. The bill presented by his Cabinet on this subject was designed to conciliate conflicting politicaI interests rather than to solve the actual problem. The vigorous attacks of the conservative opposition, led by BaronSidney Sonnino, induced Giolitti to adjourn the debate until the autumn, when, the Cabinet having been defeated on a point of procedure, he resigned on 2 December.[57] Giolitti proposed Sonnino as new prime minister, but after a few months, he withdrew his support for Sonnino's government and supported the moderateLuigi Luzzatti as new head of government. Given his party's position, Giolitti remained the real power.
During Luzzatti's government the political debate had begun to focus on the enlargement of theright to vote. The Socialists, in fact, but also theRadicals and theRepublicans, has long demanded the introduction ofuniversal manhood suffrage, necessary in a modern liberal democracy. Luzzatti developed a moderate proposal with some requirements under which a person had the right to vote (age, literacy and annual taxes). The government's proposal was of a gradual expansion of the electorate, but without reaching the universal male suffrage.
Giolitti, speaking in the Chamber, declared himself in favor of universal male suffrage, overcoming the impulse to government positions. His aim was to cause Luzzatti's resignation and become prime minister again; moreover he want to start a cooperation with the Socialists in the Italian parliamentary system. Furthermore, Giolitti intended to extend his pre-war reforms. Conscripted men were fighting overseas in Libya and so it appeared as a symbol of national unity that they be given the vote.
Giolitti believed that the extension of the franchise would bring more conservative rural voters to the polls as well as drawing votes from grateful socialists.
Many historians considered Giolitti's proposal a mistake. Universal male suffrage, contrary to Giolitti's opinions, would destabilize the entire political establishment: the "mass parties," i.e. Socialist, Popular and later Fascist, were the ones who benefitted from the new electoral system. Giolitti "was convinced that Italy can not grow economically and socially without enlarging the number of those who partecipated in public life."[citation needed]
Sidney Sonnino and the SocialistsFilippo Turati andClaudio Treves proposed to introduce alsofemale suffrage, but Giolitti strongly opposed it, considering it too risky, and suggested the introduction of female suffrage only at the local level.[58]
Although a man of first-class financial ability, great honesty and wide culture, Luzzatti had not the strength of character necessary to lead a government: he showed lack of energy in dealing with opposition and tried to avoid all measures likely to make him unpopular. Furthermore, he never realized that with the chamber, as it was then constituted, he only held office at Giolitti's good pleasure. So on 30 March 1911 Luzzatti resigned from his office and KingVictor Emmanuel III again gave Giolitti the task to form a new cabinet.
During his fourth term, Giolitti tried to seal an alliance with theItalian Socialist Party, proposing the maleuniversal suffrage, implementing left-wing social policies, introducing theNational Insurance Institute, which provided for the nationalization of insurance at the expense of the private sector. Moreover, Giolitti appointed the socialistAlberto Beneduce as the head of this institute.[59] Law No.1361 of 1912 and the Royal Decree No. 431 that was approved in 1913 “represented the legal basis of the institutional activity of the Labour Inspectorate, still structured within the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Trade.”[45] The purpose of the inspectorate was to supervise the application of labor legislation.[60] A law introduced on July the 6th 1912 authorized the formation (in the province of Liguria) of an agricultural credit association.[51] That same year, benefits were introduced for pregnant women and mothers.[61]
Also in 1912, Giolitti had Parliament approve an electoral reform bill that expanded the electorate from 3 million to 8.5 million voters – introducing near-universal male suffrage – while commenting that first "teaching everyone to read and write" would have been a more reasonable route.[62] Considered his most daring political move, the reform probably hastened the end of the Giolittian Era because his followers controlled fewer seats after the1913 election.[15]
During his ministry, the Parliament approved a law requiring the payment of a monthly allowance to deputies. In fact, at that time the parliamentarians had no type of salary, and this favoured the wealthy candidates.
The claims of Italy overLibya dated back to Turkey's defeat byRussia in thewar of 1877–1878 and subsequent discussions after theCongress of Berlin in 1878, in whichFrance andGreat Britain had agreed to theoccupation of Tunisia andCyprus respectively, both parts of the then declining Ottoman Empire. When Italian diplomats hinted about possible opposition by their government, the French replied thatTripoli would have been a counterpart for Italy. In 1902, Italy and France had signed asecret treaty which accorded freedom of intervention inTripolitania andMorocco;[63] however, the Italian government did little to realize the opportunity and knowledge of Libyan territory and resources remained scarce in the following years.
The Italian press began a large-scale lobbying campaign in favour of aninvasion of Libya at the end of March 1911. It was fancifully depicted as rich in minerals, well-watered, and defended by only 4,000 Ottoman troops. Also, the population was described as hostile to theOttoman Empire and friendly to the Italians: the future invasion was going to be little more than a "military walk", according to them.
The Italian government was hesitant initially, but in the summer the preparations for the invasion were carried out and Prime Minister Giolitti began to probe the other European major powers about their reactions to a possible invasion of Libya. TheSocialist party had strong influence over public opinion; however, it was in opposition and also divided on the issue, acting ineffectively against military intervention.
An ultimatum was presented to the Ottoman government led by theCommittee of Union and Progress (CUP) party on the night of 26–27 September. ThroughAustrian intermediation, the Ottomans replied with the proposal of transferring control of Libya without war, maintaining a formal Ottomansuzerainty. This suggestion was comparable to the situation inEgypt, which was under formal Ottoman suzerainty but was actually controlled by the United Kingdom. Giolitti refused, and war was declared on 29 September 1911. He was criticised for having declared war without consulting Parliament, and for not having summoned it until several months later. His conduct of the Government during the campaign was also severely criticised, as he acted as though the war were merely an affair of internal politics and party combinations.[57]
On 18 October 1912, Turkey officially surrendered. As a result of this conflict, Italy captured the OttomanTripolitania Vilayet (province), of which the main sub-provinces wereFezzan,Cyrenaica, andTripoli itself. These territories together formed what became known asItalian Libya.
During the conflict, Italian forces also occupied theDodecanese islands in theAegean Sea. Italy had agreed to return the Dodecanese to the Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of Ouchy[64] in 1912 (also known as the First Treaty of Lausanne (1912), as it was signed at theChâteau d'Ouchy inLausanne, Switzerland.) However, the vagueness of the text allowed a provisional Italian administration of the islands, and Turkey eventually renounced all claims on these islands in Article 15 of theTreaty of Lausanne in 1923.[65]
Although minor, the war was a precursor ofWorld War I as it sparkednationalism in theBalkan states. Seeing how easily the Italians had defeated the weakened Ottomans, the members of theBalkan Leagueattacked the Ottoman Empire before the war with Italy had ended.
The invasion of Libya was a costly enterprise for Italy. Instead of the 30 millionlire a month judged sufficient at its beginning, it reached a cost of 80 million a month for a much longer period than was originally estimated. The war cost Italy 1.3 billionlire, nearly a billion more than Giolitti estimated before the war.[66] This ruined ten years of fiscal prudence.[66]
In 1913, Giolitti founded theLiberal party,[67] which was simply and collectively called Liberals. The Union was apolitical alliance formed when theLeft and theRight merged in a single centrist and liberal coalition which largely dominated theItalian Parliament.
Giolitti had mastered the political concept oftrasformismo, which consisted in making flexiblecentrist coalitions ofgovernment which isolated the extremes of thepolitical left and thepolitical right.
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In 1904,Pope Pius X informally gave permission to Catholics to vote for government candidates in areas where theItalian Socialist Party might win. Since the Socialists were the arch-enemy of the Church, the reductionist logic of the Church led it to promote any anti-Socialist measures. Voting for the Socialists was grounds forexcommunication from the Church.
When Pius X lifted the ban on Catholic participation in politics in 1913, and the electorate was expanded by a newfranchise law from 3 million to 8 million,[57] he collaborated with theCatholic Electoral Union, led byOttorino Gentiloni in theGentiloni pact. It directed Catholic voters to Giolitti supporters who agreed to favour the Church's position on such key issues as funding private Catholic schools and blocking a law allowing divorce.[68]
The Vatican had two major goals at this point: to stem the rise of Socialism and to monitor the grassroots Catholic organizations (co-ops, peasant leagues, credit unions, etc.). Since the masses tended to be deeply religious but rather uneducated, the Church felt they were in need of conveyance so that they did not support improper ideals like Socialism orAnarchism. Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giolitti understood that the time was ripe for cooperation between Catholics and theliberal system of government.
Ageneral election was held on 26 October 1913, with a second round of voting on 2 November.[56] Giolitti's Liberals narrowly retained an absolute majority in theChamber of Deputies, while theRadical Party emerged as the largest opposition bloc. Both groupings did particularly well inSouthern Italy, while theItalian Socialist Party gained eight seats and was the largest party inEmilia-Romagna;[69] however, the election marked the beginning of the decline of the Liberal establishment.
In March 1914, the Radicals ofEttore Sacchi brought down Giolitti's coalition, who resigned on 21 March.
After Gioilitti's resignation, the conservativeAntonio Salandra was brought into the national cabinet as the choice of Giolitti himself, who still commanded the support of most Italian parliamentarians; however, Salandra soon fell out with Giolitti over the question of Italian participation inWorld War I. Giolitti opposed Italy's entry into the war on the grounds that Italy was militarily unprepared and he tried to use his personal hold over the parliamentary majority to upset the Salandra Cabinet, but was frustrated by an uprising of public opinion in favour of war.[57] At the outbreak of the war in August 1914, Salandra declared that Italy would not commit its troops, maintaining that theTriple Alliance had only a defensive stance andAustria-Hungary had been the aggressor. In reality, both Salandra and his ministers of Foreign Affairs,Antonino Paternò Castello, who was succeeded bySidney Sonnino in November 1914, began to probe which side would grant the best reward for Italy's entrance in the war and to fulfil Italy'sirredentist claims.[70]
On 26 April 1915, a secret pact, theTreaty of London or London Pact (Italian:Patto di Londra), was signed between theTriple Entente (theUnited Kingdom,France, and theRussian Empire) and the Kingdom of Italy. According to the pact, Italy was to leave the Triple Alliance and join the Triple Entente. Italy was to declare war againstGermany andAustria-Hungary within a month in return for territorial concessions at the end of the war.[70] Giolitti was initially unaware of the treaty. His aim was to get concessions from Austria-Hungary to avoid war.[71]
While Giolitti supported neutrality, Salandra and Sonnino, supported intervention on the side of the Allies, and secured Italy's entrance into the war despite the opposition of the majority in parliament (seeRadiosomaggismo). On 3 May 1915, Italy officially revoked the Triple Alliance. In the following days Giolitti and the neutralist majority of the Parliament opposed declaring war, while nationalist crowds demonstrated in public areas for entering the war. On 13 May 1915, Salandra offered his resignation, but Giolitti, fearful of nationalist disorder that might break into open rebellion, declined to succeed him as prime minister and Salandra's resignation was not accepted. On 23 May 1915, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary.[72]
On 18 May 1915, Giovanni Giolitti retired toCavour and kept aloof from politics for the duration of the conflict. He consequently lost his influence over public opinion, and in many quarters was regarded as little better than a traitor.[57]
Giolitti returned to politics after the end of the conflict. In theelectoral campaign of 1919 he charged that an aggressive minority had dragged Italy into war against the will of the majority, putting him at odds with the growing movement ofFascists.[15] This election was the first one to be held with aproportional representation system, which was introduced by the government ofFrancesco Saverio Nitti.
In October 1920, a decree was issued providing guaranteed tenure to illegal land occupiers, and in January 1921 a bill was introduced guaranteeing (until the end of 1922) all jobs in the agricultural sector.[73]
The election took place in the middle ofBiennio Rosso ("Red Biennium") a two-year period, between 1919 and 1920, of intense social conflict inItaly, following the war.[74] The revolutionary period was followed by the violent reaction of theFascistblackshirts militia and eventually by theMarch on Rome ofBenito Mussolini in 1922.
TheBiennio Rosso took place in the context of an economic crisis at the end of the war, with high unemployment and political instability. It was characterized by mass strikes, worker manifestations as well as self-management experiments through land and factory occupations.[74] InTurin andMilan,workers councils were formed and manyfactory occupations took place under the leadership ofanarcho-syndicalists. The agitations also extended to the agricultural areas of thePadan plain and were accompanied by peasant strikes, rural unrests and guerrilla conflicts between left-wing and right-wing militias.
In the general election, the fragmented Liberal governing coalition lost the absolute majority in theChamber of Deputies, due to the success of theItalian Socialist Party and theItalian People's Party.[69]
Giolitti became prime minister again on 15 June 1920, because he was considered the only one who could solve that dramatic situation. As he did before, he did not accept the demands of landowners and entrepreneurs asking the government to intervene by force. He succeeded in forming a cabinet which comprised a number of non-Giolittians of all parties, but only a few of his own old guard, so that he won the support of a considerable part of the parliament, although the Socialists and the Popolari (Catholics) rendered his hold somewhat precarious.[57]
To the complaints ofGiovanni Agnelli, who intentionally described a dramatic and exaggerated situation ofFIAT, which was occupied by workers, Giolitti replied: "Very well, I will give orders to the artillery to bomb it". After a few days, the workers spontaneously ceased the strike. The Prime Minister was aware that an act of force would have only aggravated the situation and also suspected that in many cases the entrepreneurs were linked to the occupation of factories by workers.
Before entering the war, Italy had made a pact with the Allies, theTreaty of London, in which it was promised all of theAustrian Littoral, but not the city ofFiume. After the war, at theParis Peace Conference in 1919, this delineation of territory was confirmed, with Fiume remaining outside of Italian borders, instead joined with adjacentCroatian territories into theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Moreover, Giolitti's last term saw Italy relinquish control over most of the Albanian territories it gained after World War I, followingprolonged combat against Albanian irregulars inVlorë.
The Italian nationalist and poetGabriele D'Annunzio was angered by what he considered to be the handing over of the city of Fiume. On 12 September 1919, he led around 2,600 troops from theRoyal Italian Army (theGranatieri di Sardegna), Italian nationalists andirredentists, into a seizure of the city, forcing the withdrawal of the inter-Allied (American, British and French) occupying forces. Their march fromRonchi dei Legionari to Fiume became known as theImpresa di Fiume ("Fiume Exploit").
On the same day, D'Annunzio announced that he had annexed the territory to theKingdom of Italy. He was enthusiastically welcomed by the Italian population of Fiume.[75] The Italian government of Giolitti opposed this move. D'Annunzio, in turn, resisted pressure from Italy. The plotters sought to have Italy annexe Fiume but were denied. Instead, Italy initiated a blockade of Fiume while demanding that the plotters surrender.
The approval of theTreaty of Rapallo on 12 November 1920, between Italy and Yugoslavia, turned Fiume into an independent state, theFree State of Fiume. D'Annunzio ignored the Treaty of Rapallo and declared war on Italy itself. On 24 December 1920, Giolitti sent the Italian Royal Army to Fiume and ordered theRegia Marina to bombard the city; these forced the Fiuman legionnaires to evacuate and surrender the city.
The Free State of Fiume would officially last until 1924, when Fiume was eventually annexed to the Kingdom of Italy under the terms of theTreaty of Rome. The administrative division was called theProvince of Fiume.
When workers'occupation of factories increased the fear of a communist takeover and led the political establishment to tolerate the rise of the fascists ofBenito Mussolini, Giolitti enjoyed the support of the fascist squadristi and did not try to stop their forceful takeovers of city and regional government or their violence against their political opponents.
In 1921 Giolitti founded theNational Blocs, an electoral list composed by hisLiberals, theItalian Fasces of Combat led byBenito Mussolini, theItalian Nationalist Association led byEnrico Corradini, and other right-wing forces. Giolitti's aim was to stop the growth of theItalian Socialist Party.[76]
Giolitti called for newelections in May 1921, but his list obtained only 19.1% of votes and a total of 105 MPs. The disappointing results forced him to step down.[56]
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Still the head of the liberals, Giolitti did not resist the country's drift towardsItalian Fascism.[15] In 1921, he supported the cabinet ofIvanoe Bonomi, a social-liberal who led theItalian Reformist Socialist Party; when Bonomi resigned, the Liberals proposed again Giolitti as prime minister, considering him the only one who could save the country fromcivil war. ThePeople's Party ofDon Luigi Sturzo, which was the senior party in the coalition, strongly opposed him. On 26 February 1922, KingVictor Emmanuel III gaveLuigi Facta the task of forming a new cabinet. Facta was a Liberal and close friend of Giolitti.
When the Fascist leaderBenito Mussolini marched on Rome in October 1922, Giolitti was in Cavour. On 26 October, former prime ministerAntonio Salandra warned the then prime minister Facta that Mussolini was demanding his resignation and that he was preparing to march on Rome; however, Facta did not believe Salandra and thought that Mussolini would govern quietly at his side. To meet the threat posed by the bands of Fascist troops gathering outside Rome, Facta, who had resigned but continued to hold power, ordered astate of siege for Rome. Having had previous conversations with the king about the repression of fascist violence, he was sure the king would agree,[77] but Victor Emmanuel III refused to sign the military order.[78] On 28 October, the King handed power to Mussolini, who was supported by the military, the business class, and the right wing.[79][80]
Mussolini pretended to be willing to take a subalternate ministry in a Giolitti or Salandra cabinet but then demanded the Presidency of the Council. Giolitti supported Mussolini's government initially – accepting and voting in favour of the controversialAcerbo Law,[81] which guaranteed that a party obtaining at least 25 per cent and the largest share of the votes would gain two-thirds of the seats in parliament. He shared the widespread hope that the fascists would become a more moderate and responsible party upon taking power, but withdrew his support in 1924, voting against the law that restricted press freedom. During a speech in theChamber of Deputies, Giolitti said to Mussolini: "For the love of your country, do not treat the Italian people as if they did not deserve the freedom they always had in the past!"[82]
In December 1925, the provincial council ofCuneo, in which Giolitti was re-elected president in August, voted a motion which asked him to join theNational Fascist Party. Giolitti, who by that time was completely opposed to the regime, resigned from his office. In 1928 he spoke to the Chamber against the law which effectively abolished the elections, replacing them with the ratification of governmental appointments.
Powerless, Giolitti remained in Parliament until his death inCavour, Piedmont, on 17 July 1928. His last words to thepriest were: "My dear father, I am old, very old. I served in five governments, I could not singGiovinezza."Giovinezza, which means "youth", was the official anthem of the Fascist regime.[83]
According to his biographer Alexander De Grand, Giolitti was Italy's most notable prime minister afterCamillo Benso, Count of Cavour.[9] Like Cavour, Giolitti came from Piedmont; like other leading Piedmontese politicians, he combined apragmatism with anEnlightenment faith inprogress through material advancement. An able bureaucrat, he had little sympathy for theidealism that had inspired much of theRisorgimento. He tended to see discontent as rooted in frustrated self-interest and believed that most opponents had their price and could be transformed eventually into allies.[30]
The primary objective of Giolittian politics was to govern from thepolitical centre with slight and well-controlled fluctuations, now in aconservative direction, then in aprogressive one, trying to preserve the institutions and the existing social order.[9] Critics from thepolitical right considered him asocialist due to the courting ofsocialist votes in parliament in exchange for political favours; writing for theCorriere della Sera,Luigi Albertini mockingly described Giolitti as "theBolshevik from theMost Holy Annunciation" after hisDronero speech advocating Italy's neutrality duringWorld War I like theSocialists. Critics from thepolitical left called himministro della malavita ("Minister of the Underworld"), a term coined by the historianGaetano Salvemini, accusing him of winning elections with the support of criminals.[6][9]
According to one study, Giolitti represented a new kind of liberalism, noting that
Giolitti's ability to muster the votes in the Chamber for the reforms he deemed necessary established him as the undisputed political leader of Italy for over a decade. His program of reforms also made him the most significant Italian practitioner of European New Liberalism. Giolitti did not contribute theoretical works to this new intellectual current, but he put into practice several of the tenets of New Liberalism before some of the theorists of the intellectual current had shown awareness of them.[84]
Giolitti stands out as one of the majorliberal reformers of late 19th- and early 20th-century Europe alongside the FrenchGeorges Clemenceau (Independent Radicals) and the BritishDavid Lloyd George (Liberal Party). He was a staunch adherent of 19th-century elitistliberalism trying to navigate the new tide of mass politics. A lifelong bureaucrat aloof from the electorate, Giolitti introduced nearuniversal male suffrage and toleratedlabour strikes. Rather than reform the state as a concession topopulism, he sought to accommodate the emancipatory groups, first in his pursuit of coalitions with socialist and Catholic movements, and at the end of his political life in a failed courtship withItalian Fascism.[9]
Antonio Giolitti, the post-war leftist politician, was his grandson.
Giolitti's policy of never interfering in strikes and leaving even violent demonstrations undisturbed at first proved successful, but indiscipline and disorder grew to such a pitch that Zanardelli, already in bad health, resigned, and Giolitti succeeded him as prime minister in November 1903.[17] Giolitti's prominent role in the years from the start of the 20th century until 1914 is known as the Giolittian Era, in which Italy experienced an industrial expansion, the rise of organised labour and the emergence of an active Catholic political movement.[6]
The economic expansion was secured by monetary stability, moderateprotectionism and government support of production. Foreign trade doubled between 1900 and 1910, wages rose, and the general standard of living went up.[85] Nevertheless, the period was also marked by social dislocations.[15] There was a sharp increase in the frequency and duration of industrial action, with major labour strikesin 1904, 1906 and 1908.[6]
Emigration reached unprecedented levels between 1900 and 1914 and rapid industrialization of the North widened the socio-economic gap with the South. Giolitti was able to get parliamentary support wherever it was possible and from whoever was willing to cooperate with him, including socialists and Catholics, who had been excluded from government before. Although an anti-clerical he got the support of the catholic deputies repaying them by holding back a divorce bill and appointing some to influential positions.[15]
Giolitti was the first long-term Prime Minister of Italy in many years because he mastered the political concept oftrasformismo by manipulating, coercing and bribing officials to his side. In elections during Giolitti's government, voting fraud was common, and Giolitti helped improve voting only in well-off, more supportive areas, while attempting to isolate and intimidate poor areas where opposition was strong.[86] Many critics accused Giolitti of manipulating the elections, piling up majorities with the restricted suffrage at the time, using theprefects just as his contenders; however, he refined the practice in the general elections of1904 and1909 that gave the Liberals secure majorities.[15]
More positively, the Giolittian Era was characterized by a great deal of progressive social and economic reform. As noted by one study
The liberal-labour coalition that dominated the Chamber was able to enact an impressive array of social reforms intended to improve the conditions of workers during these years. Legislation that created night schools and public libraries (to reduce illiteracy), and enforced a weekly day of rest and business closings on holidays, a strengthened workmen's compensation fund, a program of low-cost workmen's homes, a maternity insurance scheme, more generous public relief, and restrictions on female and child labor all were products of this coalition.[87]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Giolitti, Giovanni".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 31.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922)."Giolitti, Giovanni".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 31 (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. p. 283.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Italy 1892–1893 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Italy 1903–1905 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Italy 1906–1909 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Italy 1911–1914 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Italy 1920–1921 | Succeeded by |
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