Chamber of Fasces and Corporations

Last updated
Chamber of
Fasces and Corporations

Camera dei Fasci e delle Corporazioni
30th Legislature of Kingdom of Italy
Lesser coat of arms of the Kingdom of Italy (1929-1943).svg
Type
Type
History
Founded19 January 1939
Disbanded5 August 1943
Leadership
Costanzo Ciano (1939)
Dino Grandi (1939–1943)
Structure
Seats681 [lower-alpha 1]
Chamber of Fasces and Corporations.svg
Political groups
  •   PNF (681)
Elections
No election
Members appointed by the Head of Government
Meeting place
Palazzo Montecitorio - esterno.jpg
Palazzo Montecitorio, Rome

Chamber of Fasces and Corporations (Italian : Camera dei Fasci e delle Corporazioni) was the lower house of the legislature of the Kingdom of Italy from 23 March 1939 to 5 August 1943, [1] during the height of the regime of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party.

Contents

History

It was established on 19 January 1939, to replace the Chamber of Deputies during the 30th legislature of Italy. Members of the chamber were called '"national councillors" (consiglieri nazionali) rather than deputies. The councillors of the chamber did not represent geographic constituencies, but the different trades and industries of Italy, thus reflecting the corporatist idea of fascist ideology.

Councillors were elected for terms of undetermined length and automatically lost their seats upon their defection from the branch they did represent. Renewal of the legislature was ordered by decree by the King of Italy, on specific instruction of the head of government (Mussolini).

Appointment

The creation of the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations was the culmination of the progressive curtailment of the independence of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy following Mussolini's formal proclamation of dictatorship in 1925. All other parties were formally banned in 1926, though Italy had effectively been a one-party state for a year before then. At the elections of 1929 and 1934, voters were presented with a single list of Fascist candidates chosen by the Grand Council of Fascism.

No elections took place in Italy between 1934 and 1946. Unlike earlier elections for the legislature held under the Fascist era, popular suffrage was eliminated altogether. Instead, the lower house would be a body comprising representatives of the various corporations of Italy, fulfilling Benito Mussolini's vow of creating a "corporate state."

The candidates for the approximately 600 seats were nominated summarily by three organs: the Grand Council, the National Council of the members of the PNF, and the different corporations resembling the entire trade and industry of Italy, canalized through the National Council of Corporations (Consiglio Nazionale delle Corporazioni), effectively in the hands of Mussolini and the PNF.

Powers and procedures

The Chamber of Fasces and Corporations shared the legislative powers with the Government and the Royal Senate.

The only bills that were actually discussed by the plenary assembly, both in the Chamber and in the Senate, were the ones regarding constitutional amendments, legislative delegation and budget laws; the other bills were directly examined and passed by the parliamentary commissions, unless the Chamber, with authorization from the Head of the Government, decided to debate it in the assembly. By order of the Head of the Government, even the laws that required approval by the plenary assembly could be approved directly by the commissions, should urgency reasons require it.

The powers of the Chamber was largely marginal, but it still exercised some influence onto the legislative process: according to Italian historian Renzo de Felice, the parliamentary commissions were often subjected to strong corporate influence, which the fascist government had to deal with. [2]

Presidents

N.PortraitName
(Born–Died)
Term of officePartyLegislature
Took officeLeft officeTime in office
1 Costanzo Ciano.jpg Costanzo Ciano
(1876–1939)
23 March 193926 June 1939†95 days PNF XXX
(no election)
2 Dino Grandi.jpg Dino Grandi
(1895–1988)
30 November 19392 August 19433 years, 245 days PNF

See also

Notes

  1. Data relative to the year 1939.

Related Research Articles

"The Manifesto of the Italian Fasces of Combat", commonly known as the Fascist Manifesto, was the initial declaration of the political stance of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento the movement founded in Milan by Benito Mussolini in 1919 and an early exponent of Fascism. The Manifesto was authored by national syndicalist Alceste De Ambris and the futurist poet Filippo Marinetti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michele Bianchi</span> Italian revolutionary syndicalist leader (1883–1930)

Michele Bianchi was an Italian revolutionary syndicalist leader who took a position in the Unione Italiana del Lavoro (UIL). He was among the founding members of the Fascist movement. He was widely seen as the dominant leader of the leftist, syndicalist wing of the National Fascist Party. He took an active role in the "interventionist left" where he "espoused an alliance between nationalism and syndicalism." He was one of the most influential politicians of the regime before his succumbing to tuberculosis in 1930. He was also one of the grand architects behind the "Great List" which secured the parliamentary majority in favor of the fascists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chamber of Deputies (Italy)</span> Lower house of the Italian Parliament

The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament, the upper house being the Senate of the Republic. The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical functions, but do so separately. The Chamber of Deputies has 400 seats, of which 392 will be elected from Italian constituencies, and 8 from Italian citizens living abroad. Deputies are styled The Honourable and meet at Palazzo Montecitorio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giacomo Acerbo</span> Italian economist and politician (1888–1969)

Giacomo Acerbo, Baron of Aterno, was an Italian economist and politician. He is best known for having drafted the Acerbo Law that allowed the National Fascist Party (PNF) to achieve a supermajority of two-thirds of the Italian Parliament after the 1924 Italian general election, which saw intimidation tactics against voters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giovanni Giuriati</span> Italian politician

Giovanni Giuriati was an Italian fascist politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Fascist Party</span> Italian fascist political party founded by Benito Mussolini

The National Fascist Party was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian fascism and as a reorganisation of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The party ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 when Fascists took power with the March on Rome until the fall of the Fascist regime in 1943, when Mussolini was deposed by the Grand Council of Fascism. It was succeeded, in the territories under the control of the Italian Social Republic, by the Republican Fascist Party, ultimately dissolved at the end of World War II.

General elections were held in Italy on 26 March 1934. At the time, the country was a single-party state with the National Fascist Party (PNF) as the only legally permitted party.

General elections were held in Italy on 24 March 1929 to elect the members of the Chamber of Deputies. By this time, the country was a single-party state with the National Fascist Party (PNF) as the only legally permitted party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giuseppe Cobolli Gigli</span> Italian politician (1892–1987)

Giuseppe Cobolli Gigli was an Italian engineer and politician. From 1935 to 1939, he was member of Benito Mussolini's Italian fascist government as minister of public works.

Sansepolcrismo is a term used to refer to the movement led by Benito Mussolini that preceded Fascism. The Sansepolcrismo takes its name from the rally organized by Mussolini at Piazza San Sepolcro in Milan on March 23, 1919, where he proclaimed the principles of Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, and then published them in Il Popolo d'Italia, on June 6, 1919, the newspaper he co-founded in November 1914 after leaving Avanti!

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian Parliament (1928–1939)</span> Parliament of Italy

The Italian Parliament (1928–1939) was the parliament of Italy as it existed following the constitutional reforms enacted after the Italian general election, 1924. It was, in turn, substantially restructured in 1939. This early Fascist-era legislature was a continuation of the bicameral parliament that had existed prior to 1928, though the character, structure and responsibilities of each house were altered to various degrees.

The National Council of Corporations was a constitutional organ of the Kingdom of Italy between 1930 and 1943.

The Corpo Reali Equipaggi Marittimi, also known as Corpo Regi Equipaggi Marittimi or Corpo Reali Equipaggi di Marina (CREM), was the corps that comprised non-commissioned officers and enlisted men of the Regia Marina. It operated the Royal Italian Navy's schools for specialists, such as gunners, mechanics, electricians, radio operators, sonar operators, carpenters, firemen, paymasters, nurses, motormen, helmsmen, deep-sea divers, signalmen, and rangefinder operators. Its schools were located in Venice, La Spezia and Pola.

Athos Bartolucci was an Italian Fascist politician and journalist, who served as federal secretary of the National Fascist Party in Dalmatia from 1934 to 1942 and as Civilian Commissioner for occupied Dalmatia during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferruccio Lantini</span> Italian politician (1886–1958)

Ferruccio Lantini (1886–1958) was one of the leading figures in the Fascist Italy. He was a member of the National Fascist Party and served as the minister of corporations between 1936 and 1939 in the cabinet of Benito Mussolini.

Giuseppe Peverelli was an Italian industrialist and Fascist politician, who served as Minister of Communications for one day in the Mussolini Cabinet in July 1943 and then again in the Italian Social Republic from September to October 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Umberto Albini</span> Italian Fascist politician (1895–1973)

Umberto Albini was an Italian Fascist politician and civil servant, who served as State Undersecretary for the Interior of the Kingdom of Italy from February to July 1943 and as prefect in several Italian cities, including Genoa, Naples and Palermo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luigi Russo</span> Italian Fascist politician (1882–1964)

Luigi Russo was an Italian Fascist politician and civil servant, who served as Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of the Kingdom of Italy from 1939 to 1943. He was also Chief of Staff of the Volunteer Militia for National Security from 3 October 1935 to 3 November 1939.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlo Emanuele Basile</span> Italian Fascist politician and writer

Carlo Emanuele Basile was an Italian Fascist politician and writer. He held various high-raking offices within the National Fascist Party during the interwar period, and during the Italian Social Republic he served as prefect of Genoa and Undersecretary for the Armed Forces.

Fascist martyrs or Martyrs of the Fascist Revolution or Martyrs of Fascism were called during Fascism those who fell for the Fascist cause beginning with the founding of the Fasci Italiani di combattimento in 1919.

References

  1. Minister Calderoli explained the subtle nuances between dissolution of the Camera dei fasci e delle corporazioni and express repeal of its founding law of 1939, never taken place and now required "for cleaning needs of legislative databases": Buonomo, Giampiero (2009). "La Camera dei fasci e delle corporazioni o il Senato regio? Cronaca di un'abrogazione incompleta". Forum di Quaderni Costituzionali. Archived from the original on 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  2. Negri, Guglielmo (1982). "The Rise and Fall of Fascist Constitution" (PDF). Il Politico. 47 (3): 449–478. JSTOR   43096918.