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)
_What we have asked the Government._ The whole question has been
approached in a fatally mistaken manner. Politicians ask what we want.
We are not people who beat about the bush. We speak clearly. We do good
to those who do good to us, and evil to those who do evil. What do we
want, Fascisti? We have answered quite simply: the dissolution of the
present Chamber, electoral reform, and elections within a short time
from now. We have demanded that the State shall abandon the ridiculous
neutral position that it occupies between the national and the
anti-national forces. We have asked for severe financial measures and
the postponement of the evacuation of the third Dalmatic zone; we have
asked for five portfolios as well as for the Commission of Aviation. We
have, in fact, asked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the War
Office, the Admiralty, the Ministries of Labour and of Public Works. I
am sure none of you will find our requests excessive. But to complete
the picture, I will add that I shall not take part with the Government
in this legal solution of the problem, and the reason is obvious when
you remember that to keep Fascismo still under my control I must of
necessity have an unrestricted sphere of action both for journalistic
and polemic purposes.
_A Ridiculous Answer._ And what has been the Government’s reply?
Nothing! No; worse than that, it has given a ridiculous answer. In spite
of everything, not one of the politicians has known how to pass the
threshold of Montecitorio in order to look the problem of the country in
the face. A miserable calculation of our strength has been made; there
has been talk of Ministers without portfolios, as if this, after the
more or less miserable experiences of the war, was not the culmination
of human and political absurdity. There has been talk of sub-portfolios,
too; but that is simply laughable! We Fascisti do not intend to arrive
at government by the window; we do not intend to give up this
magnificent spiritual birthright for a miserable mess of ministerial
pottage. (Loud and prolonged applause.) Because we have what might be
called the historical vision of the question as opposed to the merely
political and Parliamentary view.
It is not a question of patching together a Government with a certain
amount of life, but of including in the Liberal State—which has
accomplished a considerable task which we shall not forget—all the
forces of the rising generation of Italians which issued victorious from
the war. This is essential to the welfare of the State, and not of the
State only, but to the history of the nation. And then...?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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