A-level
HISTORY
Component 2L Italy and Fascism, c1900–1945
Friday 7 June 2024 Afternoon Time allowed: 2 hours 30 minutes
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 16-page answer book.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is
7042/2L.
• Answer three questions.
In Section A answer Question 01.
In Section B answer two questions.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
Advice
• You are advised to spend about:
– 1 hour on Question 01 from Section A
– 45 minutes on each of the two questions answered from Section B.
IB/M/Jun24/G4006/E4 7042/2L
, 2
Section A
Answer Question 01.
Source A
From a speech to the workers of Milan by Benito Mussolini, 6 October 1934. The speech
followed the creation of 22 corporations for the major industries.
Comrade workers! Five years ago, in this month, the capitalist economy crashed with a
terrific noise. Countless fortunes were destroyed. This was the end of the
liberal-capitalist economy. The Fascist economy will no longer aim at individual profit; it
will act in the interests of everyone. The solution is the Corporate State. This means the
self-discipline of production is entrusted to producers. When I say producers, I do not 5
mean only industrialists or employers, I also mean the workers. Fascism establishes the
real equality of individuals in work and in the nation. The object of the Fascist regime in
the economic field is to ensure higher social justice for the whole Italian people. This
means guaranteed work, fair wages, decent homes, and the possibility of continuous
improvement. Nor is this enough. It means that the workers must enter more and more 10
closely into the productive process and share its necessary discipline. Since 1929, the
mass of the Italian workers has come to support the Fascist Revolution.
Source B
From ‘Lectures on Fascism’ given in Moscow by Palmiro Togliatti in 1935. Togliatti was
an Italian Communist in exile; he was speaking to other Italian Communists.
The Corporate State is nothing but a series of words, of slogans, with which Fascism
tries to cover up the dictatorship. The Corporate State is not only a propaganda tool, it is
also a system of political control which restricts every democratic liberty and every
possibility for the workers to organise for themselves. Even if the corporations had some
importance, they would not be able to do anything which was not approved by the 5
Fascist Party. Along with the representatives of the employers, there are the same
number of representatives of the workers, but also representatives of the Fascist Party.
Even if the employees’ representatives were truly representative of the workers, the
upper hand would still be given to the bosses by the Fascist Party. There is only one
president of the corporations: Mussolini. It is a mistake to think that because Fascism is 10
able to influence the masses it means that the masses support Fascism. There is no
great support from the Italian people for corporatism.
IB/M/Jun24/7042/2L
, 3
Source C
From ‘Inside Europe’ by John Gunther, published in London, 1936. Gunther was a
journalist who travelled widely in Europe, investigating the political situation in the
mid-1930s.
In Italy, the state controls the economy for its own benefit. Fascism has made Italy a
prison. Mussolini said, “I declare that the capitalist method of production is finished”.
There is a seemingly impressive list of anti-capitalist measures in the Corporate State.
No employer can sack workers without government consent. Wages are determined by
the government. The employer may only hire labour at government labour exchanges. 5
However, the disadvantages to labour under Fascism are infinitely more severe. Liberty,
in a Fascist system, ceases; the question for the individual is whether the merits of the
regime compensate for its loss. Workers have lost their right to bargain; their trade
unions have been dissolved. They are the weaker party compared to the employers in
the corporations; their wages may be mercilessly deflated by decree. Above all, they 10
have lost the right to strike. Yet the capitalist maintains the privilege of earning private
profits. Mussolini’s Fascism was probably not deliberately intended to prop up the
capitalist structure, but it has that effect.
0 1 With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context,
assess the value of these three sources to an historian studying the Corporate State in
Italy.
[30 marks]
Turn over for Section B
IB/M/Jun24/7042/2L Turn over ►
HISTORY
Component 2L Italy and Fascism, c1900–1945
Friday 7 June 2024 Afternoon Time allowed: 2 hours 30 minutes
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 16-page answer book.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is
7042/2L.
• Answer three questions.
In Section A answer Question 01.
In Section B answer two questions.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
Advice
• You are advised to spend about:
– 1 hour on Question 01 from Section A
– 45 minutes on each of the two questions answered from Section B.
IB/M/Jun24/G4006/E4 7042/2L
, 2
Section A
Answer Question 01.
Source A
From a speech to the workers of Milan by Benito Mussolini, 6 October 1934. The speech
followed the creation of 22 corporations for the major industries.
Comrade workers! Five years ago, in this month, the capitalist economy crashed with a
terrific noise. Countless fortunes were destroyed. This was the end of the
liberal-capitalist economy. The Fascist economy will no longer aim at individual profit; it
will act in the interests of everyone. The solution is the Corporate State. This means the
self-discipline of production is entrusted to producers. When I say producers, I do not 5
mean only industrialists or employers, I also mean the workers. Fascism establishes the
real equality of individuals in work and in the nation. The object of the Fascist regime in
the economic field is to ensure higher social justice for the whole Italian people. This
means guaranteed work, fair wages, decent homes, and the possibility of continuous
improvement. Nor is this enough. It means that the workers must enter more and more 10
closely into the productive process and share its necessary discipline. Since 1929, the
mass of the Italian workers has come to support the Fascist Revolution.
Source B
From ‘Lectures on Fascism’ given in Moscow by Palmiro Togliatti in 1935. Togliatti was
an Italian Communist in exile; he was speaking to other Italian Communists.
The Corporate State is nothing but a series of words, of slogans, with which Fascism
tries to cover up the dictatorship. The Corporate State is not only a propaganda tool, it is
also a system of political control which restricts every democratic liberty and every
possibility for the workers to organise for themselves. Even if the corporations had some
importance, they would not be able to do anything which was not approved by the 5
Fascist Party. Along with the representatives of the employers, there are the same
number of representatives of the workers, but also representatives of the Fascist Party.
Even if the employees’ representatives were truly representative of the workers, the
upper hand would still be given to the bosses by the Fascist Party. There is only one
president of the corporations: Mussolini. It is a mistake to think that because Fascism is 10
able to influence the masses it means that the masses support Fascism. There is no
great support from the Italian people for corporatism.
IB/M/Jun24/7042/2L
, 3
Source C
From ‘Inside Europe’ by John Gunther, published in London, 1936. Gunther was a
journalist who travelled widely in Europe, investigating the political situation in the
mid-1930s.
In Italy, the state controls the economy for its own benefit. Fascism has made Italy a
prison. Mussolini said, “I declare that the capitalist method of production is finished”.
There is a seemingly impressive list of anti-capitalist measures in the Corporate State.
No employer can sack workers without government consent. Wages are determined by
the government. The employer may only hire labour at government labour exchanges. 5
However, the disadvantages to labour under Fascism are infinitely more severe. Liberty,
in a Fascist system, ceases; the question for the individual is whether the merits of the
regime compensate for its loss. Workers have lost their right to bargain; their trade
unions have been dissolved. They are the weaker party compared to the employers in
the corporations; their wages may be mercilessly deflated by decree. Above all, they 10
have lost the right to strike. Yet the capitalist maintains the privilege of earning private
profits. Mussolini’s Fascism was probably not deliberately intended to prop up the
capitalist structure, but it has that effect.
0 1 With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context,
assess the value of these three sources to an historian studying the Corporate State in
Italy.
[30 marks]
Turn over for Section B
IB/M/Jun24/7042/2L Turn over ►
