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The Economic Boom and the Southern Question
THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC
After 1945 radical changes in:
Ć Politics
Ć Economy
Ć Society (mentality and costume)
Afterwar: Society
Ć Destruction, poverty
Ć Inflation, misery, unemployment
Ć A society in pieces, but with a strong vitality (contrast: misery-happiness)
Politics
The six antifascist parties
ƒÜ Partito d¡¦Azione
Ć PSI
Ć PCI
Ć DCI (support of US+UK and of the catholic church)
Ć Liberal party
+
Ć Republican party
Ć 1946: referendum + elections of deputies of a constituent assembly (for the first time in the Italian history women vote):
Ć Republic De Gasperi supported by the US government + Pio XII in excluding PSI and PCI from the government
Ć 1948: Political elections
1948 ELECTIONS
Ć PCI, PSI (LEFT)
Ć DCI
The first years of the Republic (De Gasperi):
Ć Exclusion of PSI and PCI
Ć Struggle on inflation and unemployment
Ć Reconstruction (Marshall Plan)
Ć Cassa per il Mezzogiorno + agrarian reform
The Economic Miracle (1955-1963)
Ć Mass motorization (FIAT); highways (A1)
Ć Household appliances (TV, fridge)
Ć Textile industry
Ć Internal Migration from the south towards the cities of the North (MIlan, Tourin)
Ć A fully industrialized country: low salaries (till 1958) + full employment (1st time)
Capitalism Italian Style
Ć Both Private and Public: Public works carried out by private industrials + incentives to support industry.
Ć Cheap work, stable raw materials costs, new energy sources (methane)
Ć Exports of agr. and industrial products
The Economic Miracle and its Social Consequences
Ć Mass consumption
Ć Television unifies cultures and languages and creates a new national dimension
Ć More rights for women
Ć No patriarchal society
Ć Sexual freedom
ƒÜ Decline of traditional family¡¦s view
Ć Mass education
Ć Class differences fading (reduced the gap between the extremes of wealth and poverty)
Ć Urbanization
Ć More opportunities for work and leisure
ƒÜ ¡Ka new life-style.
Negative consequences
ƒÜ Countryside almost totally abandoned ¡V imports
Ć All social services are inadequate to the new situation (schools, housing, hospital, public transport)
Ć North/South divide. Imbalance and inequality (1861-1961).
Probably the most important social consequence of the economic miracle is the spread of a sense of welfare. This new materialism is criticized by the Church.
THE SOUTHERN QUESTION
ƒÞ A divide in material well-being
ƒÞ The Northern League (1992-today)
ƒÞ North: one of the richest areas in Europe
ƒÞ South: climate, unemployment rate > 20%, pro-capita income half that of the North
THE HISTORICAL DIVISION
ƒÞ In ancient times the South was the most important part of the peninsula: high culture and intellectual prosperity - Greek and Rome (Archimedes, Pythagoras, and Herodotus).
ƒÞ Exploitation and poverty
Foreign dominations
ƒÞ The South has always been colonized or seen as colony (Cavour didn¡¦t want the South to be part of Italy).
ƒÞ Even the Italian State in the post unification years was seen as a colonizing state.
ƒÞ South and Fascism
After WWII: CASSA PER IL MEZZOGIORNO (Fund for the South). It was a program of 10 years investment based on:
ƒÞ Land Reform
ƒÞ Infrastructure
ƒÞ Industrialization (>1957)
Land Reform (1950)
ƒÞ 1949: Peasants occupied the latifondi
ƒÞ 1950: Land Reform Program: the State bought out some large estates and sold the land to the peasants.
ƒÞ Failure (not a sufficient redistribution of the land + aridity of the soil): many abandoned the land
Migration
ƒÞ Carbon suitcases + sunshine train
ƒÞ Cheap labour for the North (TO,MI)
ƒÞ Serious social problems (lack of accommodations + inadequate social services)
ƒÞ Racism
Infrastructure
ƒÞ A few progress for the South, less isolated, less back warded.
ƒÞ Hospitals, schools and social services
Industrialization
ƒÞ After 1957 (more funds for the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno),
ƒÞ Program of public works: IRI (iron-steel industry), ENI (petrol-chemical sector)
ƒÞ Only in certain areas (Bari, Naples, Taranto): the Cathedrals in the Desert.
Southern Italian Risks
ƒÞ Workers absenteeism
ƒÞ Low productivity
ƒÞ Low labor mobility
ƒÞ Organized crime and corruption
Different achievements
ƒÞ Parts of the South remained as it was before
ƒÞ Other areas began a (contradictory) industrialization process
1861-1961
1861-todays:
The Southern Question is still an essential, controversial and unresolved social issue
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