“Mussolini's Economic and Social Policies Only Had Limited Success.” How Far Do You Agree?
Throughout his time in power, Mussolini implemented new social and economic policies which varied in their success. Socially, his policies such as controlling workers worked in the short run as Dopolavoro numbers were high, however in the long run they were a failure, due to the lack of loyalty workers showed to Mussolini during his fall from power after world war one. Mussolini's 'Battles' were the least successful aspect of his policies, with his youth policies also limiting success. Nevertheless his social policy of propaganda through the media enabled him to depict these failures as success to a large degree, heightening the overall success of social policies. In addition to this Mussolini did achieve both economic and social success with his transport policies, achieving his aims, however overall there were limitations to success.
The area in which Mussolini's policies had the most limited success was his 'Battle For Births', 'Battle For The Lira' and 'Battle For Grain'. The aim of the 1927 Battle For Births was to increase the population to 60 million by 1950 with an ideal of 12 babies per family. Multiple incentives were put in place including married men with 6 plus kids were exempt from taxes, improved healthcare for women and in the 1930s, only opening promotion in the civil service to the fertile married men. Nevertheless this policy was a complete failure as until 1936 the birth rate declined and only rose slightly after, the rate of marriage remained unchanged and most importantly by 1950 the population had only increased by 7.5 million to 47.5 million. Although not as unsuccessful as the Battle For Births, Mussolini's 1927 Battle For Lira did have limited success. This is due to the fact the new rate of 90 lira to the pound resulted in high export prices causing export industries into depression, and due to tariffs on foreign imports, import prices did not become cheaper. As a result of this between 1926 and 1928 unemployment trebled, a
The area in which Mussolini's policies had the most limited success was his 'Battle For Births', 'Battle For The Lira' and 'Battle For Grain'. The aim of the 1927 Battle For Births was to increase the population to 60 million by 1950 with an ideal of 12 babies per family. Multiple incentives were put in place including married men with 6 plus kids were exempt from taxes, improved healthcare for women and in the 1930s, only opening promotion in the civil service to the fertile married men. Nevertheless this policy was a complete failure as until 1936 the birth rate declined and only rose slightly after, the rate of marriage remained unchanged and most importantly by 1950 the population had only increased by 7.5 million to 47.5 million. Although not as unsuccessful as the Battle For Births, Mussolini's 1927 Battle For Lira did have limited success. This is due to the fact the new rate of 90 lira to the pound resulted in high export prices causing export industries into depression, and due to tariffs on foreign imports, import prices did not become cheaper. As a result of this between 1926 and 1928 unemployment trebled, a