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- State in which the members are organized and
- represented not on a local basis as citizens,
- but as producers working in a particular
- trade, industry, or profession.
- Originating with the syndicalist
- workers' movement, the idea was superficially
- adopted by the fascists during the 1920s and
- 1930s. Catholic social theory, as expounded
- in some papal encyclicals, also favours the
- corporative state as a means of eliminating
- class conflict. The concept arose in the
- political theories of the syndicalist
- movement of the early 20th century, which
- proposed that all industries should be taken
- over and run by the trade unions, a
- federation of whom should replace the state.
- Similar views were put forward in Britain by
- the guild socialists about 1906-25. Certain
- features of syndicalist theory were adopted
- and given a right-wing tendency by the
- fascist regime in Italy, under which
- employers' and workers' organizations were
- represented in the National Council of
- Corporations, but this was completely
- dominated by the Fascist Party and had no
- real powers. Corporative institutions were
- set up by the Franco and Salazar regimes in
- Spain and Portugal, under the influence of
- fascist and Catholic theories. In Spain
- representatives of the national syndicates
- were included in the Cortes (parliament), and
- in Portugal a corporative chamber existed
- alongside the National Assembly.
-