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)
Those who sympathise with us must not withdraw into the shade; they must
stay in the light. They must have the courage to remain monarchists. The
monarchy would represent the historical continuity of the nation; a
splendid task and one of incalculable importance.
On the other hand, the Fascista revolution must also avoid risking
everything. Some firm ground must be left, so that the people shall not
feel that everything is falling to pieces, that everything must be begun
again, because in that case the first wave of enthusiasm would be
followed by a wave of panic. Now everything is very plain. The
social-democratic superstructure must be destroyed.
_The State we want._ We must have a State which will simply say: “The
State does not represent a party, it represents the nation as a whole,
it includes all, is over all, protects all, and fights any attempt made
against her inviolable sovereignty.”
This is the State which must arise from the Italy of Vittorio Veneto. A
State which does not acknowledge that the strongest power is right;
which is not like the Liberal State, which, after fifty years of life,
was unable to install a temporary printing press so as to issue its
paper when there was a general strike of printers; a State which does
not fall under the power of the Socialists; which does not think that
problems can be settled only from the political point of view, as
machine-guns do not suffice if there is not the spirit behind to keep
them going. The whole armoury of the State falls to pieces like the old
scenery in an operatic theatre when it is not inspired by the most
deep-rooted sense of the necessity of the fulfilment of duty—nay, of a
mission.
That is why we want to remove from the State all its economic
attributes. We have had enough of the State railwayman, the State
postman and the State insurance official. We have had enough of the
State administration at the expense of Italian tax-payers, which has
done nothing but aggravate the exhausted financial condition of the
country. It still controls the police, who protect honest men from the
attacks of thieves, the masters responsible for the education of the
rising generations, the army which must guarantee the inviolability of
the country and our foreign policy.
It must not be said that the State thus shorn will remain very small.
No! It will remain very great, because it will still have all the
spiritual dominion, having given up only material power.
Citizens, I have placed my ideas before you as a whole, it is enough, to
my mind, for you to individualise them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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