Liberal state - Giolitti, Socialists and the Church

Question 1

How many terms did Giolitti have as prime minister?

Answer 1

Five

Question 2

What was the length of Giolitti’s first term as Prime minister?

Answer 2

15 May 1892 - 15 December 1893

Question 3

What was the length of Giolitti’s second term as Prime minister?

Answer 3

3 November 1903 - 12 March 1905

Question 4

What was the length of Giolitti’s third term as Prime minister?

Answer 4

29 May 1906 - 11 December 1909

Question 5

What was the length of Giolitti’s fourth term as Prime minister?

Answer 5

30 March 1911 - 21 March 1914

Question 6

What was the length of Giolitti’s final term as Prime minister?

Answer 6

15 June 1920 - 4 July 1921

Question 7

Giolittian era

Answer 7

1901 - 1914

Question 8

How was Giolitti the master of Transformismo?

Answer 8

He kept files on the weaknesses of every deputy in the Italian parliament so had a specific understanding of how to guarantee their support. He believed all opponents could be transformed into political allies id the right deal was offered.

Question 9

What were Giolitti’s key policies as prime minister?

Answer 9

Making Italy a modern, industrialised, successful country where the masses were unified by shared values and a faith in the liberal ideals of parliament

Question 10

What were the three key oppositional forces to liberal Italy that Giolitti wanted the support of?

Answer 10

Socialists, Catholic church and Nationalists

Question 11

Liberal Italy

Answer 11

1870 - 1922
Democratic and free elections, freedom of press, freedom of religion, right to private property, support for free trade

Question 12

What was the main focus of Giolitti’s programme in 1911?

Answer 12

PSI

Question 13

PSI

Answer 13

Partito Socialista Italiano formed in 1892, Led by Filippo Turati

Question 14

What was the PSI’s outcome in the 1900 election?

Answer 14

216,000 votes and 32 deputies out of 508 parliamentary seats

Question 15

[Gap fill] _____’s growth in popularity mirrored Italy’s ________ as the population is major northern cities expanded considerably due to mass i_______ m_______

Answer 15

Socialism’s growth in popularity mirrored Italy’s industrialisation as the population is major northern cities expanded considerably due to mass internal migration

Question 16

What encouraged the growth of socialism as a means for working class advancement?

Answer 16

Greater mixing of Italians causing dissemination of political thought and increased literacy, education and an awareness of political engagement

Question 17

Filipino Turati

Answer 17

Led the Italian Socialist Party (PSI)

Question 18

Who mainly supported the PSI?

Answer 18

Academically educated individuals who had lost faith in the ability of liberal politicians to achieve the dreams of the Risorgimento and believed that only socialism could solve Italy’s problems of political corruption, persistent rural poverty and the widening gap between the ruling classes and the masses

Question 19

What did members of the PSI do that liberal politicians didn’t that gave them an upper hand over the poor?

Answer 19

They were active in taking their message to Italys poor by holding public meetings, lectures, discussions and debates in places where the working class and rural poor gathered. They promoted education as a means by which the poor could challenge the political order

Question 20

How many industrial workers had joined socialist national federations by 1902?

Answer 20

250,000

Question 21

How did Giolitti try to ‘absorb’ the socialist deputies (such as Turati)?

Answer 21

Offering a range of social reforms like:
- Compulsory accident insurance in industrial work paid for by employer
- Non-compulsory national insurance fund for health and old age (1898)
- Banning of employment of children under 12 (1901)
- Limiting the working day for women to 11 hours (1902)
- Introduction of a maternity fund (1910)
1913 further reforms like state subsidised sickness and an old age fund for the merchant navy were introduced

Question 22

What was Giolitti’s most important concession to the socialists?

Answer 22

1906, he asserted a new policy of non-intervention in labour disputes and the establishment of arbitration courts that would settle pay disputes between employers and employees, lowering the need for strike action. Turati welcomed these.

Question 23

How successful was Giolitti’s programme of placating the PSI with moderate social reform?

Answer 23

Partly successful with moderates like Turati, until 1912 but it was hard to win over the entire PSI.

Question 24

Why was it hard for Giolitti to win over the whole of the PSI?

Answer 24

The party was split between the reformists (prepared to work with Giolitti for gradual change) and the maximalists (believed in revolution and the violent overthrow of the state, including young Mussolini) who despised the liberal state. Giolitti could not win over this powerful radical element

Question 25

What did Giolitti’s compromises with the PSI cause?

Answer 25

Considerable conflict with the two key ideological groups that opposed socialism, Catholic Church and Nationalists

Question 26

What did Giolitti say in 1904 about the church?

Answer 26

The Church and the State were ‘two parallel lines that should never meet’ defining that there should always be separation between the two institutions

Question 27

Who was the first prime minister to win the organised Catholic vote?

Answer 27

Giovanni Giolitti

Question 28

Which bill did Giolitti allow in 1904 in relation to the Church?

Answer 28

Divorce bill

Question 29

How did the Catholic church grow it political influence?

Answer 29

Through youth movements and sports clubs that had expanded considerably from 1904 to 1911

Question 30

What was Giolitti not prepared to give the pope any concession on?

Answer 30

Roman territory so he was unable to solve the Roman Question