Mussolini as revealed in his political speeches (November 1914-August 1923)Mussolini, Benito
History
Mussolini as revealed in his political speeches (November 1914-August 1923)
Mussolini, Benito
Fascism -- Italy; Italy -- Politics and government -- 1914-1945; Mussolini, Benito, 1883-1945; Partito nazionale fascista (Italy)
This is what our enemies are waiting for. As the result of certain
episodes—let us frankly admit disagreeable episodes—such as that at
Taranto, they have been led to believe and to hope that violence has
become a sort of second habit, and that when we no longer have a target
upon which to practise, we shall turn against ourselves and against each
other, or the Nationalists. Now the Nationalists differ from us on
certain questions, but the truth is this, that in all the battles we
have fought we have had them by our side. It may well be that among them
there are leaders who do not see Fascismo as we see it, but it must be
recognised and proclaimed that the “blue shirts”[9] at Genoa, Bologna
and Milan, and in another hundred centres, were with the “black shirts.”
In consequence the occurrence at Taranto was most displeasing, and I
hope that the leaders of Fascismo will act in such a way that it remains
an isolated incident to be forgotten in a local reconciliation and in a
national manifestation of sympathy and solidarity.
Footnote 9:
The Nationalists.
_Our Syndicalism._ Another argument which raises the hopes of our
enemies is the existence of the masses. You know that I do not worship
the new divinity, the masses. It is a creation of Democracy and
Socialism. Just because they are numerous, they must be right. Not a bit
of it, the opposite has often proved to be true that the masses are
against the right. In any case history proves that it has always been
the minorities, a handful from the first, that have produced profound
changes in human society. We do not adore the masses, even if they have
got work-worn hands and brains. We shall bring, instead, into our
examination of social life, ideas and elements new at any rate in
Italian circles. We could not turn away the masses; they came to us.
Ought we to have received them with kicks on the shins? Are they
sincere? Do they come to us as the result of conviction or fear, or
because they hope to get from us what they failed to obtain from the
Socialists? These questions are really superfluous, as no one yet has
found the way to penetrate into their inmost minds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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