Economia, popolazione e società nelle colonie italiane

Demographic colonisation ideally represented the noblest objective, because the birth of the new Italian Africa consecrated Fascism's universal mission. Libya and Ethiopia, in particular, were going to be widely settled by Italian colonists. In the latter, it was believed that the decadent African population would be quickly overtaken by the more prolific and vital Italian race, providing ample scope for demographic colonisation. In Libya the coastal regions were subdivided into four provinces, which were then annexed to the mother country. The regime's pro-Islamic policies favoured the recognition of a special kind of citizenship to Libyan subjects, although they remained in a subordinate position in relation to Italians; the plan was also conceived to extend compulsory military service to all young men belonging to the Gioventu' Araba del Littorio (GAL - Fascist Arab Youth Organisation), the organisation especially set up for Libyan youths. The division of labour and the economic and social organisation of Italian Africa were established before the Second World War: Eritrea and the Addis Ababa area were destined to become AOI's (Italian East Africa) industrial regions as well as the main hubs for services, whilst the other Ethiopian territories would be characterised by mixed-type agriculture, that is, both small-scale farming and capitalistic production. This latter type should become predominant in Somalia, where foodstuffs would be produced for the imperial market, and where banana cultivation had been especially developed both for the Italian market and for export. In Tripolitania demographic colonisation would be integrated with manufacturing and the service industry in the capital, whilst in Cyrenaica it should be largely prevalent. However, the construction of the fascist empire, directly planned by Mussolini, must always be investigated on two different planes: that of myth and that of reality, with the two levels constantly intersecting, though the first was certainly predominant, since Mussolini's aims were strongly political and ideological rather than economic.