[Mussolini's fight against occupational diseases (1922-1943): Italian leadership in the production of artificial silk].

After the end of the World War I Italy's economy was predominantly rural; industrialization had taken place only in the North-Western "Milan-Genoa-Turin triangle". Technological know-how and experience in developing the production cycles were scarce. The early experience in occupational medicine had been abruptly interrupted by the war. The attitudes of the Fascist regime with regard to work protection were ambiguous: work was claimed to be a sacred source of the national wealth worth being safeguarded by the regime, but the workers' potential to antagonize the regime was seen as a constant danger to public order. This scenery is well exemplified by a case study: Viscose-Ray-on Industry developed in synchrony with Mussolini's seizing power, in the early 20s. Thanks to the initiative of some manufacturers, Italy acquired a predominant role in this sector and became the second producer after the United States. Huge factories were created and complex equipment was imported from abroad. No attention was paid to health and safety at work. The major source of risk was carbon disulphide, used as a solvent in the production of xanthogenate starting from cellulose, the raw material; which produces progressive conditions following prolonged exposure. The slowness and the substantial inertia of the Fascist regime in the protection of workers' health contrasted with the reality in the Unit States, Italy's main competitor of Italy in the production of rayon. In order to exploit masses of workers, Fascism, unlike Nazism, needed no inferior "race": social discrimination was equally effective. Modern industrial development in Italy relied on masses of semiliterate farmers originating first from the Venetian region and later (after World War II) from Southern Italy. Shortly after 1945, during the so-called "Reconstruction-period", health protection developed slowly and circumspectly. National agencies supposed to have a proactive role in prevention, such as ENPI, confirmed their role as consultant of the employers for hygiene and prevention matters. Only the workers' fight around 1970 overcame the concept of the Corporative state introduced by the Fascism.