Those who, as the result of being led into false ideas by incorrect information, talk about agrarian slavery, ought to come here and see with their own eyes this crowd of genuine workers, people with shoulders broad enough and arms strong enough to bear the weight of the increasing fortunes of the nation. (Applause.)
Only the rabble could accuse us of being the enemies of the people, for we are the sons of the people; we have known what manual labour is; we have always lived among the working classes, who are infinitely superior to the false prophets who pretend to represent them. (Unanimous and prolonged applause.) But just because we are the sons of the people, we do not wish to deceive them, we do not wish to mystify them or promise them the unattainable, although we solemnly and formally pledge ourselves to protect them and to vindicate their just rights and their legitimate interests.
As I watched your procession passing—disciplined, ardent and exulting—as I watched the little Balillas, who represent the still immature spring of life, followed by the squadrons in the full flush of youth, and finally the men in the vigour of manhood and even old men, I said to myself that the series was complete since all phases of life, from the first to the last, were represented.
Fascisti! Great tasks await us. That which we have accomplished is nothing compared to that which awaits us. There is already a strong and manifest contrast between the Italy of the cowardly politicians and the vigorous healthy Italy which is preparing to give the death-blow to all inefficiency and egoism and to clear away the infected strata of the Italian community. (Loud applause, and cries of “Rome! Rome!”)
Our adversaries must not delude themselves. They thought in the unfortunate year of 1919, when we here in Cremona and all over Italy were no more than a handful of men, that Fascismo would only be a passing phenomenon. Fascismo has now been alive four years, and it has tasks enough to fill a century. Nor must our enemies deceive themselves by thinking that they can break up our organisation, because we intend to make it more compact, more solid, better equipped against all emergencies; since, my friends, if a decisive blow is necessary, every man from the first to the last will do his exact duty. In a word, we want Italy to become Fascista. (Clamorous applause.)
That is simple and clear. We want Italy to become Fascista, because we are tired of seeing her governed by men whose principles are continually wavering between indifference and cowardice. And, above all, we are tired of seeing her looked upon abroad as a negligible quantity.
What is that feeling which stirs you when you hear the song of the Piave? It is that the Piave does not mark an end, it marks a beginning. (Hear, hear!) It is from the Piave, it is from Vittorio Veneto, it is from our victory—even if it was mutilated by a mistaken diplomacy—that our standards move on!
It was on the banks of the Piave that the march was begun that cannot stop until Rome is reached. (Enthusiastic applause.) And there are no obstacles, either of men or things, that can prevent us from arriving there.
I wish to thank you, Fascisti of Cremona and people of this city, for your reception. I know and like to think that it is not to me personally that you pay this honour, but to the ideal, our cause, which has been sanctified by so much blood shed by the flower of Italian youth. And embracing my old friend Farinacci I mean to embrace all the Fascisti of Cremona, to the cry of Long live Italy! Long live Fascismo! (Enthusiastic applause.)