Chamber of Fasci and Corporations

Chamber of Fasci and Corporations (Italian: Camera dei Fasci e delle Corporazioni) was the official name of the Italian Chamber of Deputies established on January 19, 1939, to replace the Chamber of Deputies during the 30th legislature of Italy. The Chamber was vested with legislative power from March 23, 1939 to August 2, 1943, during the height of the regime of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party. Members of the chamber were called '"national councilors" (consiglieri nazionali) rather than deputies. The councilors of the chamber did not represent geographic constituencies, but the different branches of the trade and industry of Italy, thus reflecting the corporativist idea of fascist ideology.

Councilors were elected for terms of undetermined length and automatically lost their seats upon their defection from the branch they did represent. Renewal of the legislature was ordered by decree by the King of Italy, on specific instruction of the head of government (Mussolini).

Appointment

No elections took place in Italy between 1934 and 1946. The new founded Chamber of the Fascists and the Corporations replaced the Chamber of Deputies of Italy during the spring of 1939, with the legislative body coming into effect on March 23, 1939, as the 30th legislature of the Kingdom of Italy. Unlike earlier elections for the legislature held under the Fascist era, popular suffrage was not put into effect. Instead, candidates were simply delivered under the pretext of a parliamentary reform, replacing the elections system with a body comprising only candidates of the various corporations of Italy, fulfilling Benito Mussolini's vow of enacting a complete corporativist system.

The candidates for the approximately 600 seats were nominated summarily by three organs: the Grand Council of Fascism of the National Fascist Party (PNF), by the National Council of the members of the PNF, and by the different corporations resembling the entire trade and industry of Italy, canalized through the National Council of Corporations (Consiglio Nazionale della Corporazioni), effectively in the hands of Mussolini and the PNF.

Presidents

The presidents (speakers) of the Chamber of Fasci and Corporations were:

• Giacomo Acerbo (March 23, 1939 - June 27, 1939)
• Dino Grandi (November 30, 1939 - August 2, 1943)

See also

• Gerarca