Technology and Culture

Historians dealing with the relationship between industry and Fascism in Italy have generally claimed the government's decisive role in the country's industrialization process. This role was implemented through creating public enterprises such as IRI, the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction, founded in 1933, and through constructing bureaucratic-organizational structures that framed private companies' actions. The state was also instrumental in determining a business focus that favored a decidedly oligopolistic system that was needed to increase industrialization.

If the Fascist regime's relationship with Italian industries has been extensively studied, so far fewer studies have investigated Italy-based multinationals' relations with Fascism. A substantial part of the journal Ricerche Storiche (Historical research; first issue of the 2020 volume), is dedicated to this theme. This is a collection of contributions by various authors, edited by M. Bertilorenzi, professor of economic history at the University of Padua. A series of case studies, mainly from the chemical industry, examines two types of companies: on the one hand Saint Gobain and Solvay, respectively French and Belgian multinationals, both with an Italian branch, but whose administration was entirely in the hands of the foreign parent company. On the other hand, companies in different industries such as SNIA, active in the field of artificial fibers since the 1920s, and two Umbrian companies, SIRI and Ammonia Casale, based on the chemical syntheses of ammonia and methanol developed by chemist Luigi Casale. The situation of these companies appears to be different: originally Italian industries, they later came under the control of foreign companies that were the major shareholders.

Using corporate archive sources, the authors outline a picture showing how foreign multinationals could quickly take advantage of the opportunities [End Page 1248] presented by international crises to increasingly control Italian companies in difficulty. Later these multinationals exploited autarkic policies as a lever for their interests in commercial and technological innovation. Despite the apparent paradox of a link between autarky and multinationals, the most economically prosperous and technologically advanced multinationals could benefit even more from autarkic markets than from domestic firms. The Fascist regime did not oppose the domination of multinational companies in the 1920s nor even question the most nationalistic phase of Italian economic policies.

This did not happen even in a key sector for autarky, chemistry. Fascism essentially made use of multinational companies in Italy because these provided access to technologies otherwise unobtainable by relying solely on Italian groups. Further supporting this thesis is the case of the major Italian chemical industry, Montecatini, which during the Fascist regime struggled considerably to extend its business in the sectors controlled by multinationals and received no support from the regime. Exemplifying this situation is an episode not yet discussed in the literature—the meeting between Ernest Solvay and Benito Mussolini in November 1941, when the Belgian industrialist sought and gained Il Duce's support for blocking Montecatini's attempt to take over Solvay's investments in Italy.

As evident from the above, this collection deals mainly with economic history. There are few references to the history of technology. In the chapter dedicated to SNIA, only a few considerations appear on the importance, within the artificial fiber market, of the launch of so-called short fibers, obtainable thanks to innovations in machinery, allowing the use of cellulose from alternative sources. In the chapter dedicated to Saint Gobain, there are few references to the modern production of crystal plates, a fully industrial system that successfully contrasts with the wind-crafted techniques of the old glass industry. From a history of technology perspective, the most interesting and curious reference in this issue describes the little-known story of the aborted ammonia engine project.