The Seventies, a contradictory decade: politics and culture
The graphs above are self-explaining: despite the difficulties and an electoral basis still limited by census, the
Sinistra Costituzionale enjoys a strong support from voters and a large, self-sufficient majority in the Parliament. What the graphs do not say is that
Depretis rules almost continuously over the entire decade, not without some Parliamentary worries and internal frictions.
State of the ruling Sinistra Costituzionale
The Palace ...
The custom of "transformism" already practiced during the Sixties by Rattazzi is erected by Depretis onto a regular way to gain legitimacy and the vote of confidence necessary to form his cabinets. Claiming a direct inheritance from the liberal and democratic tradition that had shaped Italy in 1848-52,
Depretis' Sinistra is therefore able to make itself the only valid political paradigm and effective government system. Opposition consent is paid off (or coerced, when needed), State bureaucracy is gradually politicised and the press remains under a soft form of censorship. Local authorities (remember that at the beginning Italy was built as a Federal Republic in consideration of the variety of its constituencies) are gradually discharged of real power and corruption thrives both at local and central level. All these practices and principles let Depretis govern changing its opponents into supporters
[otherwise, how could you explain a 70% suffrage in 1871?], but will this support be fair and stable, in case the political institutions change adjust themselves to a rapidly changing society?
The new legislature begins in January with the election of
Aurelio Saffi (Mazzini's former associate in the 1848 Roman Republic and one of the ministers in 1852 Troya's first unitarian government) as President of the Republic. Depretis forms his new cabinet, which would last well after the end of the Parliamentary thanks to his strong grip on the current and next Parliamentary majorities (even if 1876 elections would show a slight decline in the number of seats gained by the governmental party). As a sign of changing times, both Giuseppe Mazzini and Urbano Rattazzi die in 1872 and 1873, respectively, removing from the political panorama to weighty personalities capable of challenging Depretis with Mazzini's morale stature and Rattazzi's conciliatory skills.
Thus,
only Francesco Crispi and Benedetto Cairoli remain to counterbalance Depretis among the progressive Liberals. Seated on two very visible chairs (authoritative Crispi as Interior Minister and esteemed Cairoli as Foreign Minister) and extremely influential with dominant constituencies, they repeatedly try to conduct autonomous political guidelines. Crispi's star is to be momentarily eclipsed because of his bigamy scandal in March 1878
[R], which even causes the fall of Depretis' cabinet. In fact, Crispi marries the lady who gave him a daughter, being still valid his previous marriage; being freemason, authoritarian and anticlerical, he is not clearly the most favoured statesman for the abundant traditionalists of Italy and a storm of indignation submerge with him the whole government. A period of instability ensues, with Cairoli forming another short-lived ministry (March-December 1878) that falls because of mismanagement of the aforesaid farmers riots and is followed by the so called "Cairoli-Bis" running (to be precise, wavering among the fluxes because it even loses support from the most leftist members of the
Sinistra Costituzionale that flow towards the emerging Radical Party and thus can count on a thin Parliamentary majority) until the end of the legislature in June 1881.
From a purely administrative standpoint, Depretis' long government is characterised by large state spending in all the fields (military, economic and education) that consolidate the financial standing of Italy in Europe
[more details on this in the following chapter]. Yet, social and economic reformism, which had been one of the leading principles during the unification, slows down in this period: as in Victorian Britain, having a running economy is the must, wealth distribution comes after. Thus, apart from the really urgent measures (increase schooling, find a work for unemployed and expand infrastructure and factories), few achievements are pursued in the social and political field. One of these reforms in the widening of electoral basis for the 1881 elections, that would expand the State "supporting base", thus changing drastically the scenario for the Eighties. The voting age is reduced to 21 years (from 25) and the census requirement halved. Thus, even if not a universal suffrage,
the reform multiplies by four the number of electors. This outcome produces a complete reshaping of existing parties and introduces new ones, being the
Partito Radicale (liberal-radical) and the
Partito Socialista Rivoluzionario (socialist) the major novelties of the new decade. Having introduced these new realities, let's move to the oppositions …
The various oppositions
... and the People
Until mid-Seventies, opposition is traditionally conducted in the Chambers, and relatively weak.
Minghetti and
Ricasoli still lead the consuetudinary factions of moderate/liberal
Destra Consorterista and conservative
Destra Permanente, but their Parliamentary groups add up to less than 30%. They would gain some more room in the Chamber after 1876 elections (reaching 40%) but their opposition keeps on as a frustrating – and frustrated – series of attempts to obstruct Parliamentary work and incite public opinion on Depretis faults (which sometimes cannot be doubted), remaining inconsequential as alternative government force. Similarly, on the extreme right a little band of
Intransigenti Cattolici (15-20 deputies on average, out of 443) guided by Carlo Boncompagni generally team up with the conservatives when the interests of the strong clerical lobby are frequently touched by the laicist policies of the ruling party. Unfortunately, in the second half of the decade extra-Parliamentary opposition grows and becomes more dangerous than the Parliamentary one.
The
Catholic Church is maybe the most serious opposition: a list of insulting deeds made by Pius IX against the Republic that had deprived him of the territories out of Rome has been already revealed. Additionally, in 1871 with the encyclical Ubi Nos
[R] Pius IX expressly prohibits to good Christians to vote for the liberals in the upcoming elections. Given the large number of people following its doctrine, this ban produces a large astensionism and reduces the representativity of the Parliament (that's also the reason why the elected Intransigenti Cattolici will always be few). A series of anticlerical reforms adopted in these years further exacerbate the divergence: the land reform privatises many ecclesiastical estates and converts into public buildings monasteries and convents; the schooling reform breaks the longstanding monopoly of the Church on education and science, some timid attempts to renew family law almost provoke an excommunication …
Additionally, the
"Roman Question" proves to be also a terrible deadlock from a diplomatic point of view: supported by other Catholic countries either resentful or cold against Italy (particularly Austria-Hungary, Bavaria, Spain and France), Pius IX keeps on with his intransigent stance of not renouncing to the rule over the Eternal City. Between the Franco-Prussian War and the eruption of the Balkan Question in 1876 a couple of times Foreign Minister Cairoli tries to call an international conference to settle the situation, getting only the British encouragement. Actually, among all those crises, is not simple to have a general agreement about an intricate matter like the temporal power of the Papacy. Pius IX's stubborn antagonism to Italy, liberalism and modernity would exasperate not only anticlerical persons, but also sincere Catholic ones inclined to reconciliation. Pius IX finally dies on 7th February 1878 after the longest papacy of modern times, succeeded by Leo XIII, which will be slightly more receptive to innovations of modern world. His 25 years of Papacy will speak for him in the following posts. An episode happening three years later when his body is moved into the Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura. The event ignites a violent clash among clericals and liberals and someone even menace to throw the corpse into the Tiber River, as last offence to this controversial Pope
[R].
On the left, the opposition takes two alternative forms: the dreadful one of anarchism and socialism that more appeasing of the Radical Party. During his permanence in Italy in the late '60s,
Mikhail Bakunin would have a major role in the early development of the workers' movement making proselytes to the cause of anarchism. His friend
Giuseppe Fanelli and later
Carlo Cafiero and
Errico Malatesta (all Southern Italians) would be the first distinguished leaders of the movement. Their first insurrectional attempts during mid-'70s receive limited support from the masses (the farmers' riots inspired by Catholic conservative movements are much more disrupting) and generally end with these leaders being arrested and exiled. These initial failures soon result in the split of the movement in three parts: the eternally idealists like Cafiero and Malatesta will always stick to a not-institutionalised anarchistic movement, their companion
Andrea Costa will assume a "legalitarian" stance and found in 1881 the
Partito Socialista Rivoluzionario and few others will move towards Radicalism.
Thus, the
Partito Radicale could be considered more as a mixture among the left of the institutional
Sinistra and the right of the workers' movement. The goal of its leaders (like
Felice Cavallotti and
Giuseppe Zanardelli) is the extension of civil and social liberties at a pace higher than Depretis'; their ideology focuses more on rationalism, individualism and secularisation of the society through constitutional ways and institutional instruments rather than through revolution: the fact that they are mainly idealists and intellectuals (many important poets of this period, like Fogazzaro, Nievo, Carducci, are quite close to Radicalism) rather than peasants or craftsmen may have a role in their discreet approach. The electoral reform promulgated at the beginning of the new decade unleashes the evocative strength of all these new political movements and combines it with a much more higher number of electors; in the Eighties, Italian politics will not be the same …
Reforms overview in 1876