Forms of Organization of Italian Public Undertakings

Contrary to expectation, widespread when the Fascists acceded to power, no notable retreat by the national government from the field of economic undertaking has been witnessed under the present Italian régime. The theoretical advocacy of public ownership of business concerns as a goal in itself has, indeed, passed entirely from the political stage with the suppression of the once powerful Socialist party, but the enterprises already operated by the Italian government have for the most part been continued under Mussolini's administration. Fascist theory concedes the private entrepreneur to be the normal and proper producer and distributor of economic goods. The Fascist attitude toward the government in business is expressed in the doctrine of state intervention. When any phase of the national economy fails to operate properly, the state has a right to intervene, even to the extent of becoming an entrepreneur itself. In the ninth declaration of the Charter of Labor, the Fascist social creed, the doctrine is expressed thus: “The intervention of the state in economic production takes place only when private initiative is lacking or is insufficient or when political interests of the state are involved. Such intervention may assume the form of control, assistance, or direct management.”