CORPORATISM: CHARACTERISTICS AND EXAMPLES - HISTORY - 2025

The corporatism or corporate state is the organization of society in corporations subordinate to state power. The most emblematic case of corporate state occurred in Italy during the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, between the 20s and 40s of the 20th century.

According to this ideology and production system, both workers and employers must organize themselves into industrial and professional corporations. These corporations in turn would function as organs of political representation.

Benito Mussolini, promoter of Italian state corporatism

Its basic function was of social control, both of people and of activities that occurred within its jurisdiction. In principle, the corporate state should be at the service of the adjusted interests of economic groups, but in the case of Italian corporatism it was subject to the will of the dictator.

Corporatist thought had its origins in New England and colonial-era mercantilism. The first theoretical notes were produced after the French Revolution (1789) and its most complete expression took place in Austria and eastern Germany.

The greatest theoretical exponents were the Austrian economist Othmar Spann and Giuseppe Toniolo, leader of the Christian democracy in Italy. In Germany it was the philosopher Adam Müller.

characteristics

- Corporatism or corporate statism is considered a political culture. It is one of the forms of corporatism in terms of the production model and social organization. According to this model, the corporate group is the fundamental basis of society and, therefore, of the State.

- For its full operation, the State requires that workers and entrepreneurs join an interest group, which is officially designated. In this way, the interest groups organized by the State are recognized and participate in the formulation of public policies.

- The purpose is to achieve state control over groups and their members, in order to structure an economy and a society subordinate to the state.

- In the 19th century, corporatism was opposed to liberal economic thought and French egalitarianism. Attacks on the doctrine of classical economics by corporatist theorists attempted to justify the traditional structures of society.

- The corporate state has historically manifested itself through the governing party, which exercises the functions of mediator between workers and employers, as well as with other sectors and state interests, which are incorporated into this production system.

- In theory, within state cooperativism all social classes should work together in the search for the common good, unlike communism, which emphasizes the class struggle to achieve power under the promise of extinguishing class society when the proletarian revolution.

- Corporatism prevailed in Europe until the first half of the 20th century and spread to other developing countries, but the corporatist state and its character as a mediator were overtaken by social conflict and economic processes.

Examples

Italian corporatism

Italian state corporatism was initially founded on the ideas of Giuseppe Toniolo, the leader of the Christian democracy in Italy. The corporatist doctrine was used by Mussolini to consolidate fascist nationalism, so in 1919 he put these theories into practice.

At first, Mussolini sought the support in Milan of the trade union wing of the Nationalist Party, to draw up his plan to seize power.

Corporatism was considered by fascism as a useful form of social organization, but not to favor class interests or to orient the productive apparatus in a harmonious way, but to accentuate the nationalist claim.

In addition, the theory of the corporatist state served Mussolini as a discourse in opposition to the other parties (centrists, rightists) and unions.

Initially Italian businessmen and industrialists refused to participate in the corporatist organization through mixed unions or a single confederation of corporations.

Trade union confederations

A compromise was then agreed upon which required pairs of union confederations in each major production area. That is, a confederation for employers and another for employees.

In turn, each confederation had to discuss and establish the collective bargaining contracts of all workers and employers in its area. The performance of the corporations was coordinated by a central or national corporate committee, which was actually the same ministry as the corporations.

German corporatism

The main promoter of German corporatism - or distributism, as it was later called - was the philosopher Adam Müller, who served at the court of Prince Klemens Metternich. To justify the colonial production structures, Müller conceived the modernized S tändestaat (class state).

According to this theory, the State could claim sovereignty and invoke divine right over the economy and society, because the State would be organized in function of regulating production and coordinating class interests (workers and employers).

German corporatist ideas served to found in Europe other movements similar to union socialism. For example, in England such movements had many characteristic elements common to German corporatism, despite the fact that their sources and objectives were largely secular in origin.

The social structure of Müller's German corporatist state was more or less similar to the feudal classes. The states would function as guilds or corporations, each controlling an area of ​​social life.

Müller's theories were scrapped by Metternich, but decades later they gained much popularity throughout Europe.

Danish corporatism

Denmark also developed a corporatist state from 1660, when absolutism and centralism replaced the stability it had hitherto had.

This process was consolidated in the second half of the 19th century by the political and constitutional changes caused by the defeat in Prussia.

This aroused a strong nationalist sentiment that facilitated the consolidation of the corporatist state. A strong wave of associations developed between farmers, small businessmen and labor unions.

However, these associations had a more independent character, as they were opposed to the ruling elite and owner of the land.

The farmers fought the landlords and then, between 1880 and 1890, the workers fought against the entrepreneurs, taking the class struggle to another dimension.

Other examples

In the mid-20th century, during the postwar era, in countries like France, Italy, and Germany, unionism revived the theory of corporations. The idea was to fight the revolutionary syndicalists on the one hand, and the socialist political parties on the other.

Similarly, the governments of several democratic countries such as Austria, Sweden and Norway incorporated elements of a corporatist nature into the production model. With this they tried to mediate and reduce the existing conflict between companies and unions in order to increase production.

References

1. Corporatism. Retrieved June 1, 2018 from britannica.com
2. Corporate statism. Consulted of politicsforum.org
3. The State and Corporatism. The role of the state in the development. Consulted from openarchive.cbs.dk
4. Corporate statism. Consulted of en.wikipedia.org
5. International Corporatism. Consulted of richardgilbert.ca
6. Corporate statism. Consulted of revolvy.com.