ABSTRACT
There is a long history of state ownership of industry in Europe involving national and regional public corporations, state holdings in private sector companies, state holding companies and operation through local and central government departments. A major expansion of state enterprises occurred in the interwar years and more especially after 1945. For example, in Italy bankrupt industries were salvaged by the state under the pre-war Fascist regime; while after 1945 the Labour government in the UK nationalised major industries such as coal, the railways and electricity. On the continent industries owned by Nazi collaborators were taken into state ownership, such as Renault in France and many of Austria’s large enterprises. Later, in the 1970s, economic crises led to the state takeover of failing industries, such as British Leyland (motor vehicles) in the UK and steelworks in Sweden. In West Germany state-owned coal, steel and shipbuilding companies faced severe economic difficulties and attempted to widen their industrial base by investing in companies involved in downstream activities, thus expanding the scope of state control.
