Redistributive politics were framed as selfishness by foreign financial observers

Evidence

Th e Italian and British establishments coalesced around a shared narrative of the problem: to understand the Italian economic crisis, “the political reason was to be put in the fi rst line” (April 12, 1920, T 1/12551/1). Italy’s economic problems could only be solved aft er addressing its political problems. Aft er all, strikes and redistributive policies were primary factors “in the nervousness shown abroad towards Italy’s fi nance,” and moreover, foreign fi nancial observers understood notions like taxes on profi ts or luxury goods as an expression of “the selfi shness and the cupidity of individuals and classes” in Italy (ibid.). Here again, the blame fell on the majority of the population— backward masses who consumed too much and produced too little. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1348

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the moralized framing of working-class demands found in the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ article — economic discipline as class and moral judgment. — connects to: Debt politics functions as a morality play shifting blame from banks to the state — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 56
• SEED: Angle: how ‘selfishness’ became a coded accusation against redistributive policy — the class-shaming language of austerity’s defenders.