Daily Telegraph/October 31, 1922

Mussolini In Rome

Interview With the King

Signor Mussolini, the Fascisti leader, arrived in Rome yesterday morning from Milan, and had a great welcome. He at once paid a visit to the King at the Quirinal, and later in the day the composition of his Cabinet was announced. It comprises, besides General Diaz and Admiral Thaon de Revel, who are officers not identified with any party, five Fascists, five Nationalists, one Democrat, and one member of the Popular (Catholic) party. Reuter wires the full list, as follows: 

Prime Minister, Minster of Interior, and Minister of Foreign Affairs —Signor Mussolini. 

War—General Diaz.

Marine — Admiral Thaon de Revel.

Treasury — Signor Inaudi (Nationalist)

Industry — Signor Theophile Rossi (Nationalist).

Finance — Signor de Stefani (Fascist)

Colonies — Signor Federzoni (Nationalist).

Liberated Regions — Signor Giuriati (Fascist)

Justice — Signor Oviglio (Fascist) 

Education — Signor Gentilo (Demorat).

Agriculture — Signor de Capitani (Fascist) 

Public Works — Signor Carnazza (Nationalist) 

Posts and Telegraphs — Signor Colonna di Cesarn (Nationalist)

Social Welfare— Signor Cavazzoli (Popular Party)

Under-Secretaries:

Prime Minister’s Department—Signor Acerbo (Fascist)

Interior — Signor Finzi.

Foreign Affairs — Signor Pasqualino Vassalle (Democrat)

War — Signor de Belo (Fascist) 

Marine — Signor Giano (Fascist)

Pensions— Signor de Vecchi (Fascist) — Reuter 

It will be observed that Signor Mussolini himself has taken the portfolios of the Interior and Foreign Affairs. It is, however, not expected that this will be a permanent arrangement. There is reason to believe that the new Foreign Minister will be Signor de Martino, who has been Ambassador to the Court of St. James since November, 1920. 

It is understood that the Chamber will be dissolved as soon as possible and new elections held. The Fascisti are credited with the intention of issuing a Royal Decree changing the system of voting from the form of proportional representation now existing to a simpler and more direct arrangement. The effect of this alteration, they believe, would be to eliminate many of the present groups and give the new Cabinet a working majority. 

Loyalty To Allies

Rome Monday (5:45 p.m.) Signor Mussolini called on the Presidents of the Chamber and Senate at 4:30 this afternoon. In an interview with journalists, the Fascisti leader said the new Government’s foreign policy would be firm without being sensational and would be based on loyalty and friendship towards Italy’s Allies.—Reuter.

King And Mussolini

Welcome To Capital

From Our Own Correspondent

The Fascist revolution is triumphant today over Italy. The Fascisti this morning, when marching into Rome, were acclaimed by tens of thousands of people, and Signor Mussolini, called by special telegram from the King, has come to undertake the task of forming a new Government. Italy is thus on the threshold of a new period in its history which, it is hoped, will lead her on to greater destinies. Mussolini, the man of iron nerve, of dauntless courage, of striking initiative and patriotic ardor, has imposed his will and personality on the entire nation. Hundreds of thousands obey his beck and call. His army of Fascisti, with their black shirts and strict military discipline, recall the red shirts of the days of Garibaldi, and Mussolini himself is like a second edition of the great hero of Italy’s “Risorgimento.” When I interviewed him two months ago he told me confidently: “We shall get to Rome” and today he has kept his word. The following is the telegraphic message sent to him by General Cittadini yesterday by the King’s order: 

His Majesty the King begs you to come to Rome as soon as possible, as he desires to entrust you with formation of the Ministry. Best regards.

The telegram was sent at one o’clock yesterday afternoon and published in an extra edition of Mussolini’s paper, the Popolo d’Italia, and the news spread like wildfire. Milan was swept by a wave of enthusiasm. A cortege of thousands of Fascisti marched to the Piazza del Duomo. The whole city was beflagged, and Deputy Finzi made a speech at the foot of the monument to Victor Emmanuel. Tens of thousands of Fascisti had marched into Milan during the day from all parts of Lombardy. They occupied the postal and telegraph offices and chased away the censors stupidly appointed by the outgoing Ministry. Next they appeared before the newspaper offices and forbade the publication of the Socialist papers Avanti and Giustizia, which were issued nevertheless, and intimated the same order to the Corriere della Sera, which did not appear. At 8:30 a huge crowd saw Mussolini off at the station as he was leaving in the train for Rome. Before leaving for Rome Mussolini had a telephone conversation with D’Annunzio at Gardone, and it is supposed that some understanding was reached by which an important portfolio was offered to the poet. 

Rome, meanwhile, was preparing a triumphant reception for the Fascist leader. All the Fascisti forces, some 60,000 strong encamped near Rome were to  march into the city, and they are already pouring in from every gate as I write. They march through the streets gaily acclaimed by the entire population, and the whole city is decorated with flags. Mussolini was timed to arrive at nine o’clock, and at that hour the square in front of the station and the Piazza Venezia, the Piazza Colonna, and every open space in the centre of the town were teeming with Facisti and crowds of spectators. The trams have been stopped, and it is impossible to find any vehicle. All Rome is out on foot. The Fascisti have received orders to concentrate in the park round the Villa Borghese, where they will encamp. The headquarters of Mussolini will be at the Hotel Bristol, and the Piazza Barberini in front of it has been occupied since yesterday by an imposing force of Fascisti awaiting their leader.

The “Big Four”

A quadrumvirate of all the Fascisti forces in Italy has been established at Perugia, which, by the orders of Mussolini, hereafter takes the supreme military and political command of all the Fascisti forces in Italy. General de Bono, Signor Michele Bianchi, General Balbo, and a fourth whose name is not yet known constitute this quadrumvirate. They have issued the following proclamation: 

Fascisti of Italy, the hour of decisive battle has come. Four years ago the national army undertook in those days its victorious offensive. Today our army of black shirts reaffirms this triumph, and marching resolutely on Rome will lead in glory to the Capitol. Today all are mobilized. The martial law of the Fascisti enters into vigour. Upon the orders of our Duke the military, political, and administrative powers are assumed by our quadrumvirate of secret action and with dictatorial mandate. We are not marching against the agents of public force nor against the nation, but against the class of inept politicians who for four years have defrauded our nation of the fruits of victory. The upper classes will find a return to discipline and the encouragement of the forces of national expansion, and the labouring classes will have all their rights loyally protected. God and the spirits of our 500,000 dead soldiers will inspire us, and we have only one aim, the safety and greatness of our country. 

The Fascisti Command in Rome has issued another proclamation to the Fascisti in the capital strictly forbidding any individual action or excess, which will be severely punished. The Fascisti army has been most orderly and marvelously disciplined. There were some incidents in Rome yesterday. Copies of some newspapers, including the Paese and the Epoca, were burnt, and they were prevented from appearing. In the Trastevere quarter some Communists fired at a group of Fascisti; this was followed by immediate reprisals, and one workman, supposed to be a Communist, was killed. One of the Carabinieri was stabbed to death by Communists in the same quarter. Some conflicts occurred in places outside Rome between Communists and Fascisti, and four or five deaths occurred, three at Palestrina, one at Mentana, and one at Genazzano. Otherwise the Fascisti mobilisation has been remarkably quiet and undisturbed. 

Castor Oil For Communists.

The Party Disbanded.

The Communist leaders at San Remo, Pigna, and Alessio were arrested by Fascisti. It is declared that the Fascisti made them swallow a strong dose of castor oil and then let them go.  

The Azione, which has now resumed publication, has announced that the Communist party has formally disbanded, and all its members are freed from the party’s discipline. It is understood that the Communist deputies will resign simultaneously. The General Confederation of Labour has issued a manifesto to Italian workmen requesting them to maintain order — Exchange Telegraph Company. 

The offices of the newspaper Secolo have been raided and sacked by a force of Nationalists about 100 strong. The invaders destroyed the machines — Reuter. 

People And Monarch

The King received Signor Mussolini at 11.15 a.m. When he went to the Quirinal the Fascisti immediately organised a gigantic concentration outside the building. 

After Signor Mussolini’s departure from the Quirinal, the King suddenly appeared on a balcony of the Palace and was loudly cheered by the enthusiastic crowd. The King, who was visibly affected, withdrew after thanking the crowd for their greeting, but was compelled by renewed demonstrations to step on to the balcony again. Perfect order prevailed throughout the proceedings. 

The newspapers published telegrams exchanged between Signori Mussolini and D’Annunzio. Signor Mussolini declares that he will exercise discretion and will not abuse his victory, to which Signor D’Annunzio replies that what they must do is to muster their forces and direct the path of Italy towards her great destinies. 

A Bordighera message states that Queen Margherita, mother of the present King, received the local Fascisti at San Remo, and that her Majesty conversed in friendly fashion with the Fascisti, who paid their respects and presented flowers.—Reuter. 

“Black Shirt” Policy.

Fascisti Leader Explains

From Vincenzo DE Santo

By Special Arrangement with the “Chicago Tribune”

The fundamental principles of the Fascist movement are here outlined, as enunciated to me by Signor Mussolini, the Fascisti chieftain. He said:

We intend to make Italy a strong, industrious, disciplined, and peaceful nation. We are not opposed to the Constitution, nor do we have recourse to illegal methods, although it may appear as if we were adopting such a course. During the sessions of the last two legislatures our Constitution was deformed, and the laws of the land were disregarded owing to the advent in the Chamber of Deputies of numerous subversive elements and to the weakness of the old statesmen in power.

Parliament as well as the country have become riotous. The Fascisti decided to stop the riot, to restore order, and put the Constitution in working order again. If a riot occurs, for instance, in an American city, with which the police are not able to cope, private citizens take a hand to end the disturbance. Such citizens, by assuming the role of policemen, would not be acting illegally, nor would they be acting in opposition to the municipal laws. Merely because they excoriated the administration for its indifference or inability to impose respect for law.

We are super-citizens, super-patriots. We have but one love; her name is Italian. Woe unto them who seek to harm her. The Bible expounds the doctrine of an “eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.” We go that dictum one better by proclaiming, “two eyes for an eye; two teeth for a tooth.” It you give Italy one carnation, we will present you in return with two roses, but if you give her a nettle, you will receive a bushel of thistles.

This devotion to the Motherland, this readiness to sacrifice everything for Italy’s welfare as evinced by hundreds of thousands of youths—participated in the Piave victory—is Signor Mussolini’s conception of a super-democracy. He further defines a super-democracy not so much as a nation in which every citizen enjoys equal rights, but as a nation in which everybody has an equal amount of duty to perform. The Fascisti intend to respect all treaties previously entered into by Italy, but they will insist that people of other races living in Italian territory must observe Italian laws. 

Effect On Foreign Policy

The Turkish Problem

From A Diplomatic Correspondent

While opinions may differ widely as to the probable consequences, whether beneficial or the reverse, which the advent to power of Fascism will entail for Italy and Europe, the orderliness with which Signor Mussolini and his followers have taken over Rome and the government of the peninsula has been fully recognised by foreign diplomatic observers in Rome. The tactful handling of a most delicate and difficult situation by the Sovereign has been greatly admired. But, then, King Victor is as fine a diplomat as he is a soldier, his diplomacy on the present occasion being the more remarkable in view of his tolerant attitude towards M. Chicherin during the Genoa Conference. It is true that, as a prominent Allied statesman put it yesterday, “Bolshevism, which began with Communism, is ending in Reaction, so that Fascism, which began with Reaction, may end in, or rather revert with Signor Mussolini, to Socialism!” However, the sympathies of several members of the House of Savoy with the Fascists, e.g., those of the Duke of Aosta, had long been in evidence, and were in their case, as in these of the Liberal groups, merely a token of a not unnatural revulsion from the extreme Pacifism and renunciatory mood of a Nitti! 

General Diaz, who along with so many other victorious army chiefs, was so thanklessly retried by Signor Nitti, has now been avenged by receiving the portfolio of war. I remember asking General Diaz in 1919 for his opinion on the prospects of general disarmament, and being told that, “When you have taken from us our aircraft, cannon, machine-guns, and rifles, well… there will still be stones!”

It is, however, with the influence of Fascism upon the trend of Italian foreign policy that the diplomatic world was specially concerned yesterday. Much would depend, it was agreed, upon Signor Mussolini’s choice of a new Chief for the Consulta. It was generally assumed, however, that in no case would the Fascist Government attempt to realize in its entirety the rather crude expansionist protagonists when out of office. Existing Adriatic agreements, none the less, whether relating to Dalmatia or Albania, are in danger of being challenged, and although nothing so wild as a demand for Tunisia from France or Malta from ourselves need be feared, it is quite possible that extensive colonial frontier readjustments in North Africa will be sought in the new circumstances. 

However, the most interesting point will be the attitude of the now Italian Government towards Turkey at the coming Conference. The Fascist and Nationalist Press, while all along hostile to the Greeks, has been the reverse of conciliatory towards the Turks. It has again and again condemned the renunciation by previous Governments of a hold upon large areas in Asia Minor, the evacuation of Adalia and Konia and the Meander Valley. The question is in what way it will endeavor to secure “compensation” from the Turks or others for these renunciations. It may well be that the Kemalists will not appreciate the change from Schanzer to Mussolini!  The Fascists, moreover, are strongly represented in the Italian Lodges, which in their turn have cultivated close relations in the past with the “Young Turk” Lodges. It is quite on the cards that Fascist Italy might elect to back against the Francophile Kemalists the party which rests in the main on the resuscitated Committees of Union and Progress.