Francesco Saverio Nitti
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Francesco Saverio Vincenzo de Paola Nitti (; 19 July 1868 – 20 February 1953) was an Italian
economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
and statesman. A member of the Italian Radical Party, Nitti served as
Prime Minister of Italy The prime minister of Italy, officially the president of the Council of Ministers (), is the head of government of the Italy, Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is established by articles 92–96 of the Co ...
between 1919 and 1920. An opponent of the fascist regime in Italy, he opposed any kind of
dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...
throughout his career. According to the '' Catholic Encyclopedia'' in "Theories of Overpopulation", Nitti was also a staunch critic of English economist
Thomas Robert Malthus Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English economist, cleric, and scholar influential in the fields of political economy and demography. In his 1798 book ''An Essay on the Principle of Population'', Mal ...
and his ''Principle of Population''; Nitti wrote ''Population and the Social System'' (1894). He was an important meridionalist and studied the origins of Southern Italian problems that arose after Italian unification.


Career

Born in Melfi, Basilicata, Nitti studied law in
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
and was subsequently active as journalist. He was correspondent for the ''Gazzetta Piemontese'' (English: Piedmontese Gazette) and was one of the editors of the ''Corriere di Napoli'' (Courier of Naples). In 1891, he wrote a work about Christian socialism, titled ''Il socialismo cattolico'' (Catholic Socialism). In 1898, when he was only 30 years old, he became professor of
finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...
at the University of Naples. Nitti was chosen in 1904 for the Italian Radical Party to serve in the
Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italy, Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingd ...
. From 1911 to 1914, he was minister of agriculture, industry, and trade under the then prime minister Giovanni Giolitti. In 1917, he became minister of finance under Vittorio Emanuele Orlando and held it until 1919. On 23 June 1919, Nitti became prime minister and interior minister, after Orlando had resigned following the disappointed Italian gains at the Paris Peace Conference, resulting in widespread indignation within Italy about an alleged '' mutilated victory''. A year later, Nitti was also minister of the colonies. His cabinet had to deal with great social unrest and dissatisfaction over the peace treaties. Particularly troublesome was the agitation over Fiume led by Gabriele D'Annunzio. Nitti had great difficulty keeping the administration functioning at all, thanks to the enmity between the extremely divergent political factions of
communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...
, anarchists, and fascists. After less than a year as head of government, he resigned and was succeeded by the veteran Giolitti on 16 June 1920. In social policy, Nitti's government passed a law setting up compulsory insurance for unemployment, invalidity and old age. From 1901 to 1924, Nitti was a member of the country's
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...
, first for the Italian Radical Party and then for the Italian Democratic Liberal Party. Still a member of the
Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italy, Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingd ...
, Nitti offered resistance to the nascent power of
Italian fascism Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...
and openly despised
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
. In 1924, Nitti decided to emigrate, and returned to Italy only after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, and joined the National Democratic Union and was a member of the Senate for the Republic in the Independent Left group from 1948 until his death in 1953. As a secularist and anticlerical, he opposed
Christian Democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...
and staunchly opposed
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
membership. In his 1927 book ''Bolshevism, Fascism and Democracy'', Nitti correlated fascism with Bolshevism, saying: "There is little difference between the two, and in certain respects, Fascism and Bolshevism are the same." At the same time, as a positivist, for Nitti both politics and history boiled down to facts. Like World War II, the
Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
was a fact. Against the opinion of Georges Clemenceau, who considered the Russians to be perfectible ignorant barbarians and the Germans to be imperfectly educated barbarians, Nitti wondered what would have prevented them from getting along with Bolshevik Russia, once they had got along well with the Russia of the Tsars. Referring to modernisation, he wrote: "Transplanting the principles and methods of the Russian Revolution into a country like Italy ... would be certain ruin. But it can be added that there is something in the spirit of the Russian Revolution that even Italy cannot ignore."


Notable works


''Population and the Social System''
(1894)
''Catholic Socialism''
(1895, reprinted 1908) *''Eroi e briganti'' (Heroes and brigands) (1899; reprinted by Osanna Edizioni, 2015) - , 9788881674695)
''L'Italia all'alba del secolo XX''
(1901)
''Principi di scienza delle finanzie''
(1903, 1904; 5th ed., 1922). French translation
''Principes de science des finances''
(1904)
''Peaceless Europe''
(1922)
''The Decadence of Europe''
(1922)
''The Wreck of Europe''
(1923)
''Bolshevism, Fascism and Democracy''
(1927)


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nitti, Francesco Saverio 1868 births 1953 deaths People from Melfi Italian Roman Catholics Historical Far Left politicians Italian Radical Party politicians Democratic Liberal Party (Italy) politicians Prime ministers of Italy Ministers of agriculture of Italy Ministers of the interior of Italy Deputies of Legislature XXII of the Kingdom of Italy Deputies of Legislature XXIII of the Kingdom of Italy Deputies of Legislature XXIV of the Kingdom of Italy Deputies of Legislature XXV of the Kingdom of Italy Deputies of Legislature XXVI of the Kingdom of Italy Members of the National Council (Italy) Members of the Constituent Assembly of Italy Senators of Legislature I of Italy Politicians of Basilicata Exiled Italian politicians Burials at Campo Verano