| Abstract |
In 1924, the Commercial and Industrial Chamber of Heraklion (C.I.C.H.) was established in Heraklion in order to represent, monitor and register the main activities regarding the commerce and industry within its areas of jurisdiction. Throughout the years of its operation, an abundant archive was created, including not only the General Registry but also the minutes of the meetings of the Governing Board. These materials constitute the core of the present research.
Based on the above, and taking into account the various information extracted from the local press, it is shown that in the beginning of the Interwar period, the local economy had already entered a fruitful era, rooted in the opening of the European markets and the granting of bank loans. However, certain problems which came up in the following years, not only on local but also on a more general level, led the local economy to a slow but stable fall into a situation of constant crisis.
The main characteristic of this era was the absolute commitment to the productive and commercial model of the prewar period, without any further change-apart from certain feeble endeavors to modernize the already existing productive practices. There were only some very important initiatives on the community level, as opposed to private businesses, which aimed at the establishment of basic public infrastructure works, for example the construction of the new harbor in Heraklion.
As a result, in the 1930s, state interventionism extended along the intensification of social tensions. Although new forms of organizations, such as the cooperatives, made their appearance competing for a place in the local market, the most valid obstacle for the local commerce at the time was the significant strengthening of the main domestic commercial centers and not of those of the periphery. A while later, in the mid-1930s, all those mentioned above as well as due to the gradual preparation of the country for the upcoming war, made clear that there was no possibility of a return to an era of prosperity mainly due to the denial of any other alternatives but also because of an obsession and advocacy in favour of the maintenance of the pre existing infrastructures. Under these circumstances, the local economy was not capable of responding to the new requirements of the domestic and global economy as they took shape since the beginning of 1930s and afterwards. Although after 1932 the financial activity presented some signs of recuperation, it constituted –yet again- the result of a period of adaption and not of genuine change of the deeper and more substantive basis of the local economy.
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Γενικό μητρώο επιμελητηρίου Ηρακλείου : όψεις από την οικονομία της ανατολικής Κρήτης, 1924-1946
