ABSTRACT
The ‘fascist laws’ of 1925–6 brought political life to an end and imposed a silence that was to last until 1943. In April 1926 Rocco inaugurated the corporative state with what Mussolini called ‘the revolutionary law par excellence, destined to live in history’. The corporative structure took eight more years to complete. In its final form it consisted of a pyramid of institutions designed to represent ‘the interests of production’. The base of the pyramid was provided by 160 national federations of employers’ and workers’ syndicates and professional associations, embracing every citizen in his occupational capacity. In the middle were 22 corporations, 16 jointly representing the employers and workers in separate branches of production, the remaining 6 representing the professions. The apex was formed by a National Council of Corporations, nominally a deliberative assembly, and a Ministry of Corporations, which was the real seat of power. The task of these institutions was to regulate all problems of production, employment, social welfare and labour relations.
