He is Orso Mario Corbino and you have probably never heard of him. Or, if you've heard of it, it's about a bribery scandal involving Standard Oil in 1924.
Orso Corbino was a senator of the Kingdom of Italy during the Fascist regime, elected to parliament for the first time in 1921 and remained in office until 1937, the year of his death.
In addition to being a Senator, Corbino, between 1921 and 1924, was also Minister, first of Education and then of the national economy, however, despite being a minister during the Mussolini I government, Corbino was not a fascist, and not would ever be.
The history of pensions, in Italy, is obviously much broader than this, and begins in 1898 with the foundation of an institution that we know today with the name of INPS and which, between 1895 and 1919, allowed public employees, on voluntary basis, to have access to an allowance, a monthly sum of money paid by the state, once a certain age is reached and the impossibility of continuing to work, associated with what we now call a pension.
Political position of Orso Mario Corbino
Orso Corbino was a liberal, a convinced liberal, elected to the senate of the kingdom of Italy in 1921 from the ranks of the Italian Liberal Party , the party of the Historical Right , which at that time represented all that remained of the legacy of Cavour .
In 1921 Ivanoe Bonomi invited Corbino to his government team, entrusting him with the Ministry of Education, a position he would hold until February 22. As we know, in October 22 there was the march on Rome, which led to the birth of the Mussolini I government and precisely during this government, in July 1923, following a reshuffle of the Orso government, Mario Corbino was invited by Mussolini to hold the position of Minister of National Economy, thus replacing Teofilo Rossi , a liberal Giolittiano who after the march on Rome had sided in favor of fascism.
The reasons for which Mussolini replaced Rossi with Corbino are different, among these, the great popularity of Corbino both among the Liberals and the Socialists, a popularity that therefore allowed the PNF that he ruled with just 19% of the votes, to be able to legislate.
As soon as he took office in the Corbino ministry he immediately promoted a bill, which later became effective law with the decree law 3184 of December 30, 1923, which made the pension compulsory.
The famous law with which, for years, the fascists have fed the myth of Mussolini and pensions. Here, that law there, the very law with which "mussolini" introduced civil pensions. That law was proposed by a Liberal, as well as an academic, who, in his life, would never have joined fascism and indeed, would have been one of the first senators to join the anti-fascist movement.
The Pensions Act
This law was not actually an original creation of Corbino, the law had in fact been proposed for the first time in 1919, but, following the change of government and the political balance following the elections of November 1919, the law had suffered a sudden break.
In February 1920 Dante Ferraris had tried to relaunch the design, and the same did, in June of the same year the socialist Arturo Labriola, unfortunately, however, Liberals and Socialists had different visions and the political framework of the time, very unstable, especially for away from the disturbances linked to the red two-year period, they put the law in stasis.
With the new elections of 1921, the situation did not improve, at least at the beginning, the liberals, with Bonomi, initially supported by the popular and other minor parties, obtained the leadership of the government, but the high instability did not allow much to be achieved.
In October 22, with the march on Rome and the leadership of the government entrusted to Mussolini, the situation improved only on the face, de facto the parliamentary commissions produced very few texts that actually became laws, and the few that succeeded were made thanks to the great charisma of the promoters and the mobilization of all political forces.
Orso Mario Corbino, certainly did not lack charisma, as anticipated, he was invited to the ministry of national economy, for his great ability, demonstrated during his experience as minister of education, to bring together the various political forces, and find a meeting point on common ground.
Corbino accepted the post from July 23 to September 24 as Minister of the National Economy.
Corbino and the law on pensions
Mussolini's invitation to Corbino was not disinterested, the physicist's political ability and his charisma were an important tool and Crobino's popularity began to grow very rapidly, even outside political circles. Mussolini therefore decided to link Corbino's name to Fascism, making him one of the key men in propaganda.
This translated into a total autonomy of Corbino, who could therefore operate freely, supported by fascism, liberals, popular and socialists.
Thanks to this freedom Corbino proposed a bill that made pensions compulsory, the bill was the result of a compromise between the liberal positions and those of the socialists on the issue, and received the approval of Mussolini and fascism, which saw in that law a double opportunity.
If the law had been positively received by the voters, it would have been claimed, as it was, as a great success of fascism, if instead it would have been a flop, the responsibility would have been passed on to the promoter, who was not a fascist, thus making it a failure of liberals, popular and socialists.
The law was welcomed positively, and, even if promoted by Corbino, the law was never called by his name, it was instead linked to the fascist propaganda, while Corbino, fell into oblivion and, after the elections of 24, although he was reconfirmed as senator, his name no longer appeared in the roast of Mussolini's ministers.
Corbino and Freemasonry
There are various theories on Corbino's departure from the scene, on the one hand some argue that the man, during his ministerial mandate, pocketed a bribe from Standard Oil together with Minister Gabriele Carnazza, both Masons of the Serenissima Gran Loggia of Italy .
According to this hypothesis, the Freemasons of Piazza del Gesù are behind the Matteotti crime, who was assassinated to cover the bribes collected from his followers.
However, this hypothesis is highly unlikely, it is based exclusively on Mussolini's private files, exonerates Mussolini from the Matteotti crime, and incriminates the only two ministers, from the first Mussolini government, who were not fascists.
This story presents many irregularities, and it is all too convenient for Mussolini, author of the only evidence in support of this theory, evidence that emerged during the investigation into the Matteotti crime.
In any case, one of the main supporters of this theory is the American essayist, former OSS agent, Peter Tompkins , author of very popular books such as “ From the secret papers of the Duce ”, 2001, whose historiographic authority is close to zero, these are books more inclined to fiction than to historical narration, in which conspiracy theories are elaborated, extremely fascinating, but not based on the comparative method.
If you want to read something on the subject of Freemasonry, I recommend the book Freemasonry, history, men, ideas, curated by Zeffiro Ciuffoletti and Sergio Moravia
Conclusions
Orso Mario Corbino was an Italian academic and politician, twice minister between 1921 and 1924, first as minister of education, under the Bonomi government and then minister of the national economy under the Mussolini government.
Although Corbino was a minister in Mussolini's first government, the physicist never adhered to fascism and never shared its values or ideals. In 1925 Corbino joined the anti-fascist movement and was one of the few Italian politicians who never joined the Party.
Corbino was a very reserved man and a very charismatic politician, capable of putting socialists and liberals in agreement, a rare gift that allowed him to complete a legislative project started in 1919, creating civil pensions.
An incredible merit that Fascism managed to wrest from him by making it its own.
Corbino was also at the center of a scandal that emerged during the investigation into the Matteotti crime, a scandal probably built ad Hoc by Mussolini to remove the investigation from the real principal and at the same time get rid of a possible rival and political opponent.
The Corbino law, never called by this name, was one of the very few laws, together with the Acerbo law, to be produced in Italy during the first Mussolini government.
In any case, pensions in Italy are an invention of the Liberals, made possible by the compromise between liberals and socialists and in the legislative process that led to the creation of law 3184 of December 30, 1923, the role of Mussolini and Fascism was absolutely marginal. The law was proposed by a Liberal, was voted on by all political forces, and the only contribution made by Fascism to the law, being written, was the vote in favor of the chambers, a vote obliged by the fact that the law had been proposed by a minister of the Mussolini I government, even though that minister was not only not a Fascist, but he never would have been.