2024 AQA A-Level HISTORY 7042/2L Component 2L Italy and
Fascism, c1900–1945
Verified Question paper and Marking Scheme Attached
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.
, 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 mean only industrialists or employers, I also mean 5
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 closely into the productive process and
share its necessary discipline. Since 1929, the mass of the Italian workers has come to support the Fascist 10
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
Fascist Party. Along with the representatives of the employers, there are the same number of 5
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 able to influence the masses it means that the masses support Fascism. There is no
great support from the Italian people for corporatism. 10
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. 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 5
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 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. 10
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 ►
Fascism, c1900–1945
Verified Question paper and Marking Scheme Attached
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.
, 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 mean only industrialists or employers, I also mean 5
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 closely into the productive process and
share its necessary discipline. Since 1929, the mass of the Italian workers has come to support the Fascist 10
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
Fascist Party. Along with the representatives of the employers, there are the same number of 5
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 able to influence the masses it means that the masses support Fascism. There is no
great support from the Italian people for corporatism. 10
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. 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 5
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 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. 10
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 ►
