Page [351], line 21, for 1885 read 1855.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
|---|---|
| Facsimile Letter | [vi] |
| Introduction: a Note on Italian Fascismo | [ix] |
| Reproduction of the Original of the Manifesto issued by the Hon. Mussolini after He and His Party succeeded to the Government | [xx] |
| English Translation | [xxi] |
| PART I | |
| MUSSOLINI THE “SOCIALIST” | |
| “Do not think that by taking away my Membership Card you will take away my Faith in the Cause” | [3] |
| (Speech delivered at Milan, 25th November 1914.) | |
| PART II | |
| MUSSOLINI THE “MAN OF THE WAR” | |
| For the Liberty of Humanity and the Future of Italy | [9] |
| (Speech delivered at Parma, 13th December 1914.) | |
| “Either War or the End of Italy’s Name as a Great Power” | [18] |
| (Speech delivered at Milan, 25th January 1915.) | |
| “To the Complete Vanquishing of the Huns” | [25] |
| (Speech delivered at Sesto San Giovanni, 1st December 1917.) | |
| “No Turning Back!” | [30] |
| (Speech delivered at Rome, 24th February 1918.) | |
| The Fatal Victory | [37] |
| (Speech delivered at Bologna, 24th May 1918.) | |
| “In Honour of the American People” | [49] |
| (Speech delivered at Milan, 8th April 1918.) | |
| The League of Nations | [52] |
| (Speech delivered at Milan, 20th October 1918.) | |
| In Celebration of Victory | [58] |
| (Speech delivered at Milan, 11th November 1918.) | |
| PART III | |
| MUSSOLINI THE “FASCISTA FRIEND OF THE PEOPLE” | |
| Workmen’s Rights After the War | [63] |
| (Speech delivered at Dalmine, 20th March 1919.) | |
| Sacrifice, Work, and Production | [67] |
| (Speech delivered at Milan, 5th February 1920.) | |
| “We are not against Labour, but against the Socialist Party, in as far as it remains Anti-Italian” | [71] |
| (Speech delivered at Milan, 24th May 1920.) | |
| Fascismo’s Interests for the Working Classes | [75] |
| (Speech delivered at Ferrara, 4th April 1921.) | |
| “My Father was a Blacksmith and I have Worked with Him; He bent Iron, but I have the harder task of Bending Souls” | [79] |
| (Speech delivered at Milan, 6th December 1922.) | |
| Labour to take the First Place in New Italy | [82] |
| (Speech delivered at Rome, 6th January 1923.) | |
| PART IV | |
| MUSSOLINI THE “FASCISTA” | |
| The Three Declarations at the First Fascista Meeting | [87] |
| (Speech delivered at Milan, 23rd March 1919.) | |
| Outline of the Aims and Programme of Fascismo | [92] |
| (Speech delivered at Milan, 22nd July 1919.) | |
| Fascismo and the Rights of Victory | [103] |
| (Speech delivered at Florence, 9th October 1919.) | |
| The Tasks of Fascismo | [108] |
| (Speech delivered at Trieste, 20th September 1920.) | |
| Fascismo and the Problems of Foreign Policy | [121] |
| (Speech delivered at Trieste, 6th February 1921.) | |
| How Fascismo was Created | [134] |
| (Speech delivered at Bologna, 3rd April 1921.) | |
| The Italy We Want Within, and Her Foreign Relations | [143] |
| (Speech delivered at Udine.) | |
| “The Piave and Vittorio Veneto mark the Beginning of New Italy” | [158] |
| (Speech delivered at Cremona, 25th September 1922.) | |
| The Fascista Dawning of New Italy | [161] |
| (Speech delivered at Milan, 6th October 1922.) | |
| “The Moment has arrived when the Arrow must leave the Bow or the Cord will Break” | [171] |
| (Speech delivered at Naples, 26th October 1922.) | |
| PART V | |
| MUSSOLINI THE “FASCISTA MEMBER OF | |
| PARLIAMENT” | |
| Fascismo and the New Provinces | [183] |
| (Speech delivered in the Chamber, 21st June 1921.) | |
| The Question of Montenegro’s Independence | [189] |
| (Same speech delivered in the Chamber, 21st June 1921.) | |
| D’Annunzio and Fiume | [192] |
| (Same speech delivered in the Chamber, 21st June 1921.) | |
| Italy, Sionism, and the English Mandate in Palestine | [194] |
| (Same speech delivered in the Chamber, 21st June 1921.) | |
| The Attitude of Fascismo towards Communism and Socialism | [196] |
| (Same speech delivered in the Chamber, 21st June 1921.) | |
| The Attitude of Fascismo towards the Popular Party. The Vatican and Social Democracy | [201] |
| (Same speech delivered in the Chamber, 21st June 1921.) | |
| PART VI | |
| MUSSOLINI THE “FASCISTA PRIME MINISTER” | |
| A New Cromwell in the Parliament | [207] |
| (Speech delivered in the Chamber, 16th November 1922.) | |
| The Foreign Policy of the Fascista Government | [210] |
| (Same speech delivered in the Chamber, 16th November 1922.) | |
| The Policy of Fascismo for Italy: Economy, Work and Discipline | [215] |
| (Same speech delivered in the Chamber, 16th November 1922.) | |
| “Conscientious General Diagnosis of the Conditions of the Country and its Foreign Policy” | [219] |
| (Speech delivered before the Senate, 27th November 1922.) | |
| “I Remain the Head of Fascismo, Although the Head of the Italian Government” | [227] |
| (Speech delivered in London, 12th December 1922.) | |
| “Our Task in History is to make a United State of the Italian Nation” | [228] |
| (Speech delivered at Rome, 2nd January 1923.) | |
| The Advance in the Ruhr District | [230] |
| (Speech delivered at Rome, 15th January 1923, before the Cabinet.) | |
| The Government of Speed | [234] |
| (Speech delivered at Rome, 19th January 1923, at the headquarters of Motor Transport Company.) | |
| The March of Events on the Ruhr. The Position of Italy | [235] |
| (Speech delivered at Rome, 23rd January 1923, before the Cabinet.) | |
| The Ruhr, the Conference of Lausanne, and the Port of Memel | [240] |
| (Speech delivered at Rome, 1st February 1923, before the Cabinet.) | |
| Ratification of the Washington Treaty of Naval Disarmament | [243] |
| (Speech delivered before the Chamber of Deputies, 6th February 1923.) | |
| Message from the Hon. Mussolini to the Italians in America upon the Occasion of the Signing of the Convention for the Laying of Cables between Italy and the American Continent | [245] |
| (Rome, 6th February 1923.) | |
| For the Carrying Out of the Treaty of Rapallo | [247] |
| (Prefatory remarks to the Deputies, 8th February 1923, accompanying the Project of Law presented by the Hon. Mussolini, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister.) | |
| The Agreements of Santa Margherita. Italy and Yugoslavia | [251] |
| (Speech delivered before the Chamber of Deputies, 10th February 1923.) | |
| Questions of Foreign Policy before the Senate. The Ruhr; Fiume; Zara and Dalmatia | [258] |
| (Speech delivered before the Senate, 16th February 1923.) | |
| A Review of European Politics in their Relation with Italy | [264] |
| (Speech delivered before the Cabinet, 2nd March 1923.) | |
| The Italo-Yugoslav Conference for the Commercial Treaty | [271] |
| (Speech delivered at Rome, 6th March 1923.) | |
| “History Tells Us that Strict Finance has brought Nations to Security” | [272] |
| (Speech delivered at the Ministry of Finance, 7th March 1923.) | |
| “It is not the Economic System of Europe alone that we have to restore to its full Efficiency” | [274] |
| (Speech delivered at Rome, 18th March 1923.) | |
| “Only Those who Profited by the War Grumbled and still Grumble, Cursed and still Curse at the War” | [276] |
| (Speech delivered at Milan, 29th March 1923.) | |
| “Patriotism is not Formed by Mere Words” | [277] |
| (Speech delivered at Arosio, near Milan, 30th March 1923.) | |
| Questions of Foreign Policy before the Cabinet | [278] |
| (Speech delivered before the Cabinet, 7th April 1923.) | |
| “Mine is not a Government which Deceives the People” | [284] |
| (Speech delivered at Rome, 2nd June 1923.) | |
| “In Time Past as in Time Present, Woman had always a Preponderant Influence in Shaping the Destinies of Humanity” | [286] |
| (Speech delivered at Padua, 2nd June 1923.) | |
| “So long as these Students and these Universities Exist, the Nation cannot Perish and become a Slave, because Universities smash Fetters without allowing the Forging of New Ones” | [289] |
| (Speech delivered at the University of Padua, 3rd June 1923.) | |
| Italy’s Foreign Policy regarding German Reparations, Hungary, Bulgaria, Austria, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Russia Poland and other Countries | [293] |
| (Speech delivered before the Senate, 8th June 1923.) | |
| “The Internal Policy” | [306] |
| (Speech delivered before the Senate, 8th June 1923.) | |
| “As Sardinia has been Great in War, so likewise will she be Great in Peace” | [320] |
| (Speech delivered at Sassari (Sardinia), 10th June 1923.) | |
| “Men Pass Away, maybe Governments too, but Italy Lives and will never Die” | [323] |
| (Speech delivered at Cagliari (Sardinia), 12th June 1923.) | |
| “Fascismo will bring a Complete Regeneration to Your Land” | [326] |
| (Speech delivered at Iglesias (Sardinia), 13th June 1923.) | |
| “As we have Regained the Mastery of the Air, we do not want the Sea to Imprison Us” | [328] |
| (Speech delivered at Florence, 19th June 1923.) | |
| “I Promise You—and God is my Witness—that I shall continue now and always to be a Humble Servant of our Adored Italy” | [330] |
| (Speech delivered at Florence, 19th June 1923.) | |
| “The Victory of the Piave was the Deciding Factor of the War” | [331] |
| (Speech delivered at Rome, 25th June 1923.) | |
| The Relations between Italy and the United States | [335] |
| (Speech delivered by the American Ambassador at Rome, 28th June 1923, and the Italian Prime Minister’s reply.) | |
| “The Greatness of the Country will be Achieved by the New Generations” | [343] |
| (Speech delivered at Rome, 2nd July 1923.) | |
| The Situation on the Ruhr and Other Questions of Foreign Policy | [345] |
| (Speech delivered 3rd July 1923, at the Council of Ministers.) | |
| The Electoral Reform Bill | [347] |
| (Speech delivered before the Chamber of Deputies, 16th July 1923.) | |
| The Massacre of the Italian Delegation for the Delimitation of the Greco-Albanian Frontier | [363] |
| (Rome, 27th August 1923.) | |
| Index | [365] |
PART I
MUSSOLINI THE “SOCIALIST”
“DO NOT THINK THAT BY TAKING AWAY MY MEMBERSHIP CARD YOU WILL TAKE AWAY MY FAITH IN THE CAUSE”
Speech delivered on 25th November 1914, at Milan, before the meeting of the Milanese Socialist Section, which had decreed Mussolini’s expulsion from the official Socialist Party.
In the fearless militarism of the dramatic speech with which this volume begins, the Socialistic activity of Benito Mussolini ends—of Benito Mussolini, who from the autumn of 1914 could have been considered the recognised and acclaimed leader of the Italian Socialist Party. He had attained with giant strides the highest rank in the party’s hierarchy, namely the editorship of the Avanti, the chief organ of the political and syndicalist movement. He had been a clever and aggressive writer in a weekly provincial paper of Forli, called La lotta di classe,[[1]] and an ardent Sunday orator for the “ville” of Romagna. He had revealed himself a “comrade” of tremendous power at the Congress of Reggio Emilia, held in the summer of 1912, where he delivered a memorable speech bitterly criticising the flaccid mentality of Reformism then dominating the party.
[1]. Class struggle.
It was within two months of his success at Reggio Emilia that the revolutionary leaders, feeling the need of strong men, entrusted to Benito Mussolini the editorship of the Avanti, which was the most powerful weapon of the party.
The following speech was delivered before a furious crowd of not less than three thousand holders of membership cards, who hastened from other centres adjacent to Milan, amid a diabolical tumult in an atmosphere of organised hostility, which was the more violent by contrast with the fanatical devotion which Benito Mussolini had evoked during the two years in which he had been the undisputed mouthpiece of the party.