British finance lent to Italy primarily to prevent revolution and protect prior investments

Evidence

Italy of an enormous political upheaval unless they are allowed in some way to obtain the essential imports for their industries in order that their people may continue in employment. Th e cost of living there has reached such limits that the people are extremely restive and any lack of employment would probably result in revolution and bolshevism. Th is country has already lent Italy about 400 million sterling and it would seem almost a necessity for us to give them the further assistance they now require for a period of two years, in order to protect the amount we have already at stake. I am aware that in the city of London at the present time there are certain prominent people who are of opinion that England cannot aff ord now to give long credits to other countries but the danger of unrest among peoples is very great and any trouble in Italy might quickly spread. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1721

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s broader reading on austerity as a class weapon; British lenders prioritizing political stability over fiscal doctrine prefigures modern lender-of-last-resort questions. — connects to: Italy framed anti-revolutionary credit as mutual interest for Britain — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1345; Fascist Italy copied British sinking-fund methods to finance austerity — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1714