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)
The means of obtaining this end may be altered according to time and
place. The organisation will promote at times co-operation, and at times
war between the classes and the expropriation of class. It will not
always be for co-operation, but neither will it always be in favour of
class preservation; and when it expropriates, it will not be to make all
poor, but to make all rich. In the conquest of a colonial market and in
certain questions connected with the customs, the middle classes and the
proletariat can work together. When there is division of booty, then
class war; but class war in times of under-production is destructive
nonsense.
_In the Political Field._ The Electoral Reform will pass. The scrutiny
of lists and proportional representation will pass. That will determine,
for obvious reasons, the great coalitions—the Socialist-Leninist, the
Clerical-Popular, and, lastly, ours, which might be called the “Alliance
for the Constituent,” the Republican Alliance or the group of the
“interveners” of the Left.
Our programme is to present candidates who pledge themselves to place
the problem of constitutional revision before the new Chamber in the
first session.
This is the Constituent as I understand it. This is the lowest
denominator to which all of us can pledge ourselves and around which we
can all form a union. The moment is particularly propitious for such an
organisation. I think that all we who are represented in this Milanese
Committee of Intesa e Azione can follow this path.
It is a case of “nationalising” this attempt, of making it general all
over Italy. We could, if we wished, number not thousands, but millions
of followers. I myself refuse, in the actual delicate economic situation
in Italy, to adhere to any movement which makes the path clear for
Bolshevism and ruin. The victory cannot and must not be destroyed. I
understand a certain impatience, but I beg you to reflect that if the
lives of individuals are counted in years, the lives of nations are
counted in centuries, and we must not refer egoistically to ourselves
that which is of a general nature. Good strategy is calculation and
audacity. We do not wish to govern by recourse to the bayonet alone,
because that would be dictatorship, which we condemn. We wish first to
sound the masses by the coming elections. Once having had our principles
accepted, we will spring to action.
The revolution which we desired and obtained in 1915 will be ours again
by the victorious peace in its conclusive phase, and it will be called
“Well-being,” “Liberty” and, above all, “Italy.” (Loud applause.)
FASCISMO AND THE RIGHTS OF VICTORY
Speech delivered at Florence, 9th October 1919, at the first
Congress of the Fascisti.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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