THE * G.U.F.' Ijl
Fascist Doctrine and Policy: Relationship between the Party
and the Corporations in the Fascist State.
Literature: Oversea countries in Italian literature.
Theatre: The place of the theatre in political propaganda.
Painting and sculpture: Italianity and Europeanism.
Music: War music in connexion with the psychology of the
peoples.
Cinema: The cinema considered as a document of the civiliza-
tion of a country.
Science: The contributions made by Italian thinkers to the
progress of science.
Among the prize essays were the following: Inter-syndicab
Committees and Provincial Councils for the Corporative Economy;
Effectiveness of State Intervention in Demographical Matters;
The Red Sea and Italian Colonial Policy; The Party as a Military
Strength; Italian Agriculture and Foreign Trade; British Policy
towards Italy in connexion with the Abyssinian Question; Bio-
graphy of an Italian Pioneer; the poem * Cemetery of the Volun-
teers V a musical composition, War March,
The right was several times claimed by members, even
authoritative ones, of the G.U.F. to join with the academic
authorities in the discussion of university administration, the
time-table of the lectures and examinations, financial help to
poor students, scholarships, and various other activities. It was
not rare to hear students belonging to the G.U.F. going much
further, and asking for a kind of control over the cultural side of
academic He as well. The result was that a member appointed
by the Secretary of the G.U.F. sat on several boards dealing with
exemption from fees, grants and scholarships, and saw that the
political merits of the candidates were taken into consideration
before any decision was taken on financial, moral, and intellectual
merits. The time-table of the examinations often had to undergo
changes required by the G.U.F. on account either of the LittoriaU
or of political demonstrations. The principle that academic life
should stop completely during the LittoriaU was not accepted by
the university authorities, but a large increase of indulgence had
to be granted, .both for attendance at the lectures and for profi-
ciency in the examinations, to those who indulged in political
activities or took part in the competitions. Consultation with the
Secretary of the G.U.F. was normal in all matters connected
with politics, and frequent in those connected with the building
or allocation of new laboratories, premises, and institutes; in
this case, however, it is difficult to imagine that it was much
more than an act of courtesy on the part of the university
authorities.