Description:

Mussolini Benito

Benito Mussolini TLS to Finance Minister Giuseppe Volpi: "This will serve to disprove the allegations of bear market adherents and speculators" 1 Month before Launching "Battle for the Lira"

 

1p TLS in Italian signed by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) as "Cordially, Mussolini" at center right. Nearly 10 words including textual edits are inscribed in Mussolini's hand. Mussolini's handwriting is bold and dark. Signed in Rome, Italy on July 21, 1926. The cream bifold paper features "Minister of Foreign Affairs" letterhead. Bearing miscellaneous notations in pen and blue crayon. Expected light paper folds and a clerical square hole punch at top left, else near fine. A few ghost ink impressions suggest the letter was folded and dispatched before it was completely dry. Each page measures 7.875" x 9.875". A full translation is provided.

 

Mussolini sent this enigmatic letter to his Finance Minister, Giuseppe Volpi (1877-1947), less than one month before launching his ambitious "Battle for the Lira" initiative. Il Duce corrected a typographical spelling mistake on Line 2, and added three words of dramatic emphasis on Line 3.

 

In part:

 

"I have read the interesting information from Zurich. It is necessary, among other things, to encourage everyone to tell the truth, above all when it is unpleasant. The abovementioned information demonstrates the ever more lively relevance of the problem I posed to you in our most recent conversations. It is necessary, that is, to make it known one way or another, that our room for maneuvering has not disappeared. This will serve to disprove the allegations of bear market adherents and speculators."

 

This letter is couched in deliberately general terms that don't reveal many concrete details. Yet we know from context that Mussolini was discussing the state of the Italian economy. Could Volpi's "interesting information from Zurich" have been related to international banking, or securing a foreign loan? It's possible, since Switzerland was (and is) the headquarters of global finance.

 

In the immediate aftermath of World War I, Italy struggled with crushing debts, price inflation, shortages, and unemployment. Mussolini spearheaded a multi-prong economic program in the mid-1920s to combat these problems, and to promote the idea of an invincible Fascist State. These efforts targeted specific areas of the economy: land, wheat, population, and the lira. The lira had been dropping in value since 1922, and Mussolini wanted it to stop.

 

Mussolini launched his "Battle for the Lira" campaign via radio on August 18, 1926.  In the "Pesaro Speech," Mussolini argued that the lira did not just serve an economic function, it symbolized the spirit of the Italian nation. Increasing its value was thus a matter of national honor. As a bonus, restoring the lira would also demonstrate the viability of Fascism, then still in its experimental phase.

 

The dictator's letter to Volpi resembles part of his Pesaro Speech in its conjuring up of ideas related to external and fifth-column sabotage. In our letter, Mussolini characterizes these enemies of the State as "bear market adherents and speculators." In the Pesaro speech, these same enemies are described as "hostile financial forces," both foreign and domestic.

 

Il Duce soon outlined his plans to restore the lira to 1922 values in a program nicknamed Quota Novanta, or "Quota 90," referring to the conversion rate of lire to British pounds sterling. Mussolini's program succeeded in reducing inflation. At the lira's nadir of 150 lira to £1 in 1926, it had rebounded to 92 lira for every £1 in 1927. Italy's pride was thus protected, but sadly, the economy still suffered from a general recession.

 

Benito Mussolini, a former war veteran and right-wing journalist, had become leader of Italy's National Fascist Party after World War I. He was appointed Prime Minister in 1922, a title that he would hold until his dismissal in 1943, but in reality, he served as a de facto dictator after 1925. Under Mussolini, Italy and its one-party political system devoted itself to recapturing the lost glories of the Roman Empire. Secret police, propaganda, and strict state regulation of all aspects of life ensured almost universal compliance.

 

Giuseppe Volpi served as Mussolini's Finance Minister between 1925-1928. He succeeded Alberto de Stefani, whom Mussolini had fired in 1925. While finance minister, Volpi linked the Italian lira to the gold standard and negotiated Italian debt repayment to its former military allies the United States and Great Britain.

 


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