Page 109 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 109
Trieste 1948–1952: A Contended Port City and the Marshall Plan
Plan as a possible backdrop for coping with the complexities related to
the emerging new strategic perspectives. The role of seaport cities gained
a key position inside these studies, not only as infrastructural intersec-
tions, but also as control points, both for commercial flows and for the re-
liability of the infrastructural network (Deepak 2018).
The establishment of a new kind of infrastructure connectivity
would eventually change the spectrum of Chinese-European relations,
just as the Marshall Plan changed the relations between the two sides
of the Atlantic Ocean (Habova 2015). Within these studies, the main is-
sue seems to have been the disentanglement of the infrastructural val-
ue of the Plan (the reconnection of the material flows) from the other
effects connected with such massive transfer of material and immateri-
al resources (Da and Hai 2019), such as the economic recovery, the tech-
nological update, the productivity gains, and all the other, well-known
and well-studied, long-term consequences (Eichengreen 2007; Bischof,
Pelinka, and Stiefel 2010; Fauri 2010).
The case of Trieste during the Marshall Plan may bring some insights,
especially regarding how in those times, the local Allied government fig-
ured out a possible solution for the complex combination of political and
economic tools and goals, the overlapping of the short and long term, and
the increasing contradiction between the local dimension and the global
scenario. How the governors dealt with these difficulties in the past could
tell us something about the forces at work, related to the economic bal-
ance on the surface, but also to the power transition underneath.
Trieste and the European Recovery Program
As it was said, ‘The port of Trieste, standing at a crucial strategic point
at the head of the Adriatic, had a turbulent history in the mid-twenti-
eth century’ (Hametz 2005, back cover). Whether those turbulences were
mainly due to the geographical position, the economic role, or the geopo-
litical importance of being the southern link of the Iron Curtain we will
probably never know. The best guess is that every aspect of the Trieste
history has an inner international nature, and clearly the port (together
with all the related activities) is the most international part of the city, at
least in economic terms.
Being an international crossroads is a specific characteristic of every
port city. This international exposure is usually related to quicker and
wider changes in their histories. When changes reach a magnitude be-
109
Plan as a possible backdrop for coping with the complexities related to
the emerging new strategic perspectives. The role of seaport cities gained
a key position inside these studies, not only as infrastructural intersec-
tions, but also as control points, both for commercial flows and for the re-
liability of the infrastructural network (Deepak 2018).
The establishment of a new kind of infrastructure connectivity
would eventually change the spectrum of Chinese-European relations,
just as the Marshall Plan changed the relations between the two sides
of the Atlantic Ocean (Habova 2015). Within these studies, the main is-
sue seems to have been the disentanglement of the infrastructural val-
ue of the Plan (the reconnection of the material flows) from the other
effects connected with such massive transfer of material and immateri-
al resources (Da and Hai 2019), such as the economic recovery, the tech-
nological update, the productivity gains, and all the other, well-known
and well-studied, long-term consequences (Eichengreen 2007; Bischof,
Pelinka, and Stiefel 2010; Fauri 2010).
The case of Trieste during the Marshall Plan may bring some insights,
especially regarding how in those times, the local Allied government fig-
ured out a possible solution for the complex combination of political and
economic tools and goals, the overlapping of the short and long term, and
the increasing contradiction between the local dimension and the global
scenario. How the governors dealt with these difficulties in the past could
tell us something about the forces at work, related to the economic bal-
ance on the surface, but also to the power transition underneath.
Trieste and the European Recovery Program
As it was said, ‘The port of Trieste, standing at a crucial strategic point
at the head of the Adriatic, had a turbulent history in the mid-twenti-
eth century’ (Hametz 2005, back cover). Whether those turbulences were
mainly due to the geographical position, the economic role, or the geopo-
litical importance of being the southern link of the Iron Curtain we will
probably never know. The best guess is that every aspect of the Trieste
history has an inner international nature, and clearly the port (together
with all the related activities) is the most international part of the city, at
least in economic terms.
Being an international crossroads is a specific characteristic of every
port city. This international exposure is usually related to quicker and
wider changes in their histories. When changes reach a magnitude be-
109
