Sector-level industrial interests shaped Italy’s neutrality stance on World War One
Evidence
One consequence of the specific character of Turin’s capitalism was that, unlike the other major industrial cities of the country, it was relatively satisfied by the boom which it experienced in 1914-15, and hence favoured the policy of neutrality advocated by Giolitti. It was above all heavy industry - iron, steel, coal, ship-ping-which stood to gain from war. But the cotton and wool factories which still represented by far the greater part of Turin’s industry, and the vehicle industry which was soon destined to outstrip these, were both so overwhelmed by orders from the belligerent Entente countries that they saw no need for direct intervention in the war. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 58
Categorization
- XREF: A clear instance of economic base shaping political position — the materialist analytic that later Islamophobia readings will need to distinguish from purely ideological explanation. — connects to: Italian state expropriated industrial patents and plants during wartime — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 136
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 58
Related
- Italy entered the war far weaker industrially than Britain (similarity 0.79)
- Italian industry profited enormously from the First World War (similarity 0.79)