This article has been written for Easy History by Hannah Latham.
Introduction:
The late 1950’s saw the beginning of an economic boom fuelled by the industrial cities of the North, which transformed Italian society so rapidly and profoundly it became known as an ‘Economic Miracle’. This was the period between 1958-63 that represented a change in economic and social development where Italian society and culture were greatly impacted due to industrialisation, urbanisation and the expansion of consumer culture.
Italy was economically struggling by the end of World War Two. With the tensions created in the Cold War, Italy was considered under the influence of the United States and was a recipient of the aid provided by the Marshall Plan. Officially known as the Economic Recovery Program (ERP) until 1951, the ERP poured aid amounting to $1,315.7 million in Italy. The presence of a large and cheap stock of labour force meant that economic growth was created. However, with the economic growth came a deepening of preexisting divisions within Italian society. While the ‘Economic Miracle’ elevated Italy’s economy it had a complex social impact, amplifying regional, social and gender divisions.
Regional divisions:
The ‘Economic Miracle’ further enhanced regional divisions between the industrialised North and underdeveloped South. The economic growth was concentrated in the “industrial triangle” of the North, consisting of the cities Milan, Turin and Genoa which had huge manufacturing centres. The region was able to profit from post-war industrial opportunities. The South, on the other hand, remained largely agrarian, dependent on old farming practices.
Regional divisions were heightened with the limited success of government attempts to address inequality. In 1950 the Fund for the South was created with a mandate to invest in public works projects to facilitate estate improvement, land reform and private industrial initiatives. This continued during the time of the ‘Economic Miracle’. However, the Fund was not really a success, with the income gap between the North and the South increasing between 1950 and the early 1960s. It soon became a formidable source of political patronage and corruption that led to migration of Italians from the South towards the North.
This increased migration from rural to urban Italy greatly divided the North and the South. Southern Italians saw the appeal in the industrial North where jobs were more readily available. In the two decades between 1953 and 1973, it is claimed that some 9 million Italians were involved in inter regional migration. Milan’s population increased by a quarter in the 1950’s and Turin’s by 42 per cent. Peasants who were often illiterate and had never been outside their local village suddenly found themselves in the big city with a regular income for the first time in their life. The South however struggled with the migration of young men to the North, leaving only the old and women remaining, which created a slump into decline and degradation. This became so widespread that Italy lost 5 million agricultural workers between 1951 and 1971. This migration concentrated wealth and development in the North as the migrants from the South provided the new labour force for the booming industrial sectors, fuelling the Northern economy but leaving the South with labour shortages.
The Northern cities were not prepared for this vast level of migration which overwhelmed urban infrastructure. Housing was insufficient and chronically overcrowded. The standard of schools, hospitals and transport were not much better. The movement to the Northern cities meant that the suburbs were expanded to make space for the new citizens, often resulting in the creation of shanty towns. The phenomenon was highly developed around Rome where more than one million people lived in the borgate. Many migrants seeking work in this ‘Economic Miracle’ were forced to live in poor, overcrowded conditions on the edge of these urban cities, as housing was not created efficiently enough to match the amount of migration. The demand for schools, healthcare and transportation increased which placed additional pressure on local governments to improve this to meet the level of migration.
Social divisions:
This influx of migration created social tension and discrimination against the Southern migrants. Comasina was a public housing estate completed in 1960 in a district of Milan. By January 1962 there were at least 10,650 people on the estate, with 32.45% per cent of the families from the South of Italy. Those not native to Northern Italy often faced discrimination from Northern Italians. According to a 1964 report, the green spaces around the Piano Tupini houses were ’ordered and clean’, with vandalism in the house blamed on the children from the Piano Romita houses, where these children were known as the ’foreign legion’ at Comasina. This discrimination was also displayed at schools. It was common for mothers of the Turin pupils to ask specifically that their child not be seated next to a ”Napuli” for fear of illness.
Turin natives regarded migrants from the South with constant suspicion, punctuated by moments of frank hostility. Southerners struggled to find new places to live after migrating, as landlords generally refused to rent to them.
The ‘Economic Miracle’ also created issues for Southern migrants as they also encountered problems finding work. In Turin, newcomers from the South were rarely able to find the kind of employment that inspired their migratory project, i.e., a permanent contract in a large factory that was mainly precarious and low paid. The growth of labour productivity in both agriculture and industry offset, to some extent, the growth in output so that the rate of job creation continued to lag behind the numbers looking for work. Those who were able to find work in factories often completed tough, repetitive and often dangerous work. The construction sector was another place for migrants to seek employment, although working hours were also very long and there were minimal safety precautions. Migrants often accessed these jobs through the so called “cooperatives” which were groups of gang like subcontractors, run by immigrant workers and supported by local enterprises. Despite this being eliminated by law in 1960, it demonstrated the exploitation of the poorer and less protected workers. It is clear that working-class migrants were taken advantage of, often in a cycle of poverty and discrimination which was propelled during the ‘Economic Miracle’
Class divisions:
Unlike the working-class Italians, the urban middle class were able to embrace the change to modernity and rising living standards with their access to new consumer goods. A good example of this were cars, which had a heightened demand during the period. However, cars became a status symbol available only to the lower middle and upper classes as the working-class people could not afford them. There were other goods in high demand, such as new electrical appliances including hairdryers, extractors and blenders that embodied a fascination with everything modern in age attracted by the future and technological progress. There was a second phenomenon created with mixed consumption due to increased media available via TV, radio and magazine that only reinforced this consumer culture. This was particularly enjoyed by younger Italians who enjoyed the new access to consumer goods, enabling them to embrace the new modern lifestyle. While the middle and upper classes could enjoy these new goods, the juxtaposition of the struggling working class represented growing gaps created due to the ‘Economic Miracle’.
Gender divisions:
Women faced inequality in the workplace that was enhanced by the ‘Economic Miracle’. The boom led to greater opportunities for women to enter the workforce, particularly in industrial jobs. However, many women were unable to find regular jobs, needing informal work due to having to balance their work with care responsibilities at home. Those who found work were not treated well by their employers. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s Italian women workers both in the factories and on the farms embraced a “classification struggle” to have their status as workers recognised and become entitled to welfare services and social citizenship rights. During the boom, various work involved women in the industrial sector where fixed term contracts, piecework, and unregulated dismissals gave women workers no continuity of tenure, nor a fixed minimum wage. In the worst cases women were deprived of any form of security or protection since they could lose their job at any moment. Forms of additional discrimination included dismissals due to marriage. Seamstresses often worked without a contract, with no tenure or wage stability and no cover if they were ill or if work diminished. Women in rural areas were even more disadvantages as opportunities for social and economic advancement were limited.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the ‘Economic Miracle’ best represents a double-edged sword: Italy was transformed into a dynamic economy but at the same time left societal fractures that further enhanced the gaps within society. During the boom, regional disparities between the North and South only deepened over time. Social divisions deepened with the working class struggling with poor housing and poor treatment in the workplace. In contrast, the middle and upper classes were able to enjoy the new consumer goods. Women also struggled with discrimination in the workplace. This huge unequal distribution of the period demonstrates how gaps in Italian society deepened as a result of the ‘Economic Miracle’
Sources:
- Scarpellini, Emanuela 2011. Material Nation. Oxford University Press
- Cohen,J Federico, G , The Growth of the Italian Economy 1820-1960 (Cambridge: CUP, 2001)
- Foot, John. 2018. The Archipelago. Bloomsbury Publishing
- Mccarthy, Patrick. 2000. Italy since 1945. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press
About the Author:
Hannah Latham is a penultimate year student at Queen Mary University of London studying History. She particularly loves researching the Cold War. She enjoys writing in her spare time, aspiring to work in the publishing and journalism industries post-graduation.
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