For the fi rst time, this law made insurance for accidents in agriculture public and mandatory, applying the modern principle of an automatic right to compensation that was not linked to the contribution of the employer. With this reform, 9 million farm workers gained social protection, joining the industrial workers. In a 1921 decree, Prime Minister Giolitti would further extend the law's scope by lowering the barrier to eligibility. Mussolini's austerity axe of 1923, however, made sure to immediately gut Giolitti's decree (Royal Decree Law 432, February 11, 1923, in GU 64 [March 17, 1923], 2286).

Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, loc. 317