This is the message which comes from our dead, who, hovering above us, repeat this command.
The Italian people must somehow find that medium of harmony necessary for the reconstruction and development of civilisation; and if there be rebellious and seditious minorities they must be inexorably stamped out.
Treasure up these words in your hearts and remember the motto of the Fascista Syndicates:
The country must not be denied but conquered.
I raise my glass with you and drink to the future and the fortunes of Italian industry, that it may take a glorious place in the eyes of the whole world.
LABOUR TO TAKE THE FIRST PLACE IN NEW ITALY
Speech delivered at Rome, 6th January 1923, before a representative gathering of Fascisti dock-workers from Genoa who had presented him with an illuminated address.
You must certainly be aware of the fact that I take a great interest in your city—an interest which dates from 1915 when Genoa, together with Milan and Rome, led the way to revolution; because the revolution which has brought the Fascisti into power began in the May of 1915, was continued in the October of 1922, and goes on still, and will go on for some time. I am very pleased to accept your message, and I thank you with sincere cordiality.
I must tell you that the Government over which I have the honour of presiding never has had, never can and never will have the intention of following a so-called antilabour policy. On the contrary, I want to praise the working classes, who do not put obstacles in the way of the Government, who work, and who have practically abolished strikes. They have redeemed themselves, because they no longer believe in the Asiatic Utopia which came from Russia; they believe in themselves, in their work; they believe in the possibility, which for me is a certainty, of a prosperous Italian nation.
You have been directly interested in this greatness of the nation, and you, who come from such a live centre as Genoa, are the most suited to feel this ferment of new life, all this active preparation for a new destiny.