ITALIAN SUFFRAGE AROUSES COMMENT

The following article on the recent Italian election was written for the Crimson by C.J. Friedrich, Assistant Professor of Government.

The most recent Italian elections, heralded as a great victory for Mussolini and the groups which support him are as a matter of fact rather difficult to interpret. Not only are no satisfactory data available with reference to the nominating process of those 'elected', but even less do we know about the circumstances of the election itself. True, the Times correspondent emphasized that there was no violence at the election; but it would be somewhat naive, to say the least, to assume that therefore the election was a fair one. Whether the ballots were exactly alike, and not distinguished from each other by colour or in some other way, whether people voted in the same booths for both candidates, these and similar "details" are not known. Yet without such details it is impossible to say whether the elections were free or not.

Prejudice of Anti-fascists

On the other hand, it would be equally wrong to accept the claims of Antifascist agitators. When the concordat between Rome and the Vatican was concluded, for example, you could hear them explain that it was done partly in order to gain the support of the clergy for the forthcoming plebiscite, and a hint was thrown out that such support was rather needed. Now, however, it will be asserted that the people in Italy had no choice but to vote for the Fascist candidates. Emigres are as hard to please as an irate mother-in-law, and who will blame them?

"Organic" Representation

These elections were heralded as a plebiscite for the present government of Italy. The idea of plebiscites is not new, but rather an integral part of dictatorial government. It was thus used by Napoleon III who in more than one way reminds one of the present rulers of Italy in spite of their enthusiasm for the older Bonaparte. What is a little novel in these recent Italian elections is the use of 'professions' and 'trades', so-called 'corporations' as the units or precincts, thus substituting a functional for a regional division of the electorate for purposes of what is termed more 'organic' representation.

Parliamentary Processes Lost

The authoritarian hierarchy of social groups, which is thus made part of the Italian governmental machinery, is often decried as syndicalism. Whether this can be maintained when the corporations are made into creatures of the central political authorities (since they depend upon these authorities for recognition) is doubtful to me. It might with more justification be maintained that they bring about a rigid bureaucratization of the social strata, which elsewhere are left more or less to their own council and initiative. To some extent this tendency to governmentalize the 'interest groups' is to be found in all modern states. But what the Italian experiment of forcing this development for purposes of general representation certainly does bring about is a rather complete elimination of parliamentary processes. For such organizations, resting upon the interest groups, effectively thwarts the organization of political parties.

If this aspect of the corporative state is kept in mind, it will help to avoid overestimating the eight million odd votes cast for the candidates of the Fashist 'party'.