MUSSOLINI Reviews TEN YEARS of FASCISM ITALY: A Force Destined To Live

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 408, 17 December 1932, Page 12

MUSSOLINI Reviews TEN YEARS of FASCISM ITALY: A Force Destined To Live

BENITO

MUSSOU

By

In the "Daily TelegrapSt

28 we completed 10 O f|I|an3 Of Fascist rulfe. It Is a dewhich needs no defence. A^ie.Vement is the best answer, and $Spis Fascism's answer. I dpmand from a man to whom I £ntr.u6$ a charge that he must be a »jil aficomplisher in his field of actlqh. Ipt that same measure I demand acadmplishment of the Fascist regime. The 10 years of FascTsm have been ^ears of successive accomplishment, 'and in geometrical progression. Were we called upon to give an achpunt of our regime it would be sufii«ient to enumerate the practical facts of government. This is what other Governments do. They report to Parliament or in messages to Congress the list of deeds done, and under qrdinary political standards, when they can show a certain measure of usefulness, their Administi'ation is considered as having been successful. But the Fascist regime is much more than a Government which has accomplished certain political acts. If it were satisfied with the mere enacting of- laws, it would have been erninently successful. But it is more penetrating than that. This regime does not enact laws that it might make a successful appeal at elections. No, it has a deeper responsibility, which undertakcs to make a nation strong and to rai.se the well-being oi its people in all their activities. and create a deeper sehsa of trust in the futuie. Qur regime has permeated the life of the Italian people. Our accomplishment is that of having created an epoch in Italian history, whose influence will be left to the succeeding generations, Had we wanted to make a moral budget on this 10th anniversary, it would have been suilicient to recmr.it the fuliilment of a constructive programme. It would have been suilicient to say that we had increased the wheat production of italy to 75,151,000 quintals, thus raising the yield from four quintals to six quintals per acro. We have made Italy e.linost indcpendent of forelgn wheat, we could say. We could enumerate the vast public works schemes — the electrilied railroads, the asphalt and ceinent roads which stretcli from one end of Italy to another, and none oi which cxistcd when we came to power. the aquedncts, tho water-povvcr development, the reclaimed land, the housing of tho poor, the building of ports, the per fiction of means of communication and readjustment of the buildings, and scientific organisation or the great liistaric Italian universities. All theso are evidenccs Avliich any visitor can see with liis own eyes. And more, we could enumc-rate the great reforms consummated in all branclie:-. of the Government. Our relations betwecn capital and Labour are a model for others

to follow. We havs no strikes, but a producing and industrious working class. V/e could tell of our educational system, ct the opportunities we have given for recrealion for all classes of society and for all .ages. We could .cll of the relief we brought to the unomploycd. We could reeount our insnrance, our" pansion, and our mater■jity schemes. What we could say would give any Clovorr.mer.t the riglit to continue to ru'le. There is not a single State in :he whi lo wide world which can point i.o as much achiavement in all hrcnchcs of ihe State's activities as can the Fascist regime, And yet, I say that our accomplishment is far gr'entor than this. For the Fascist idea has become psrt of the Italian nation, is the italian nation, and is destined to live on for the succeeding generations. T; n voars of rule have created, as l said, an epoch. Tlie physieal facts are only a part of our accomplishments. The tenure of oifice 'of Fascism is not going to pass like that of the

usual political party, which enjoys its two or three, or perliaps four, years of administration, then goes out of oifice, leaving only some tangible political fact as evidence of its having ruled. Fascism is far more than that. It is destined 'to live on. We have more than tangible buildings, roads and bridges. Fascism is a living spirit, and that spirit will live on beyond the lives of the pioneers who created it. The great movements which have endured are those which were imbued with a spirit. We trace the great spirit which founded the Roman Empire and caused it to live, not alone while the Empire lasted, but beyond generation after generation, until that same spirit has been the rule and guide of the whole Western civilisation. Other nations lived and became powerful, died and left nothing to posterity, but the spirit of Rome was a living thing which has continued to this day. We mark the movement. of Cromwell, who created during his short span of power a new concept of the rights of the governed.

Though the physieal forQ he had created passed a\vaJ lived on, and has lastei'l these times as cardinal J government througliout ths the Anglo-Saxoh world, comes that Puritan spirit I and America, which slioin' laws of prohibition ann cepts, if not from tliat roA Avhose "Ironsides" sang ttj David as they went forth h The spirit of Washingtoj in the conduct of the al which he founded. The^ and the policies he advocahi maihed as the unchanging,, of the land. The spirit of Washingto3, not alone the nation durirl time, but passed on, nntii|! the ruling passion of that i public. Ten years of rule havjt Fascism'a spirit which, br material things it built' tined to live on as ot^ movements have lived l The material accomplist; serve the nation for othc even until new processes; tions make them obslete. i which created these matc' will remain and continue! they themselves have pa;i Already other nations art to tuni their gaze howard over the world peoples ; What have you accomplisti the spirit of Fascism of % permeated beyond tlie Italy, and has found life hi other lands.

This is not tbe mere se system or the mechanfc! ment of a Government.! spread of a living thing, gg developing as its vibrant! creases with the years of in When it is asked wheii perish when the leaders t away, we can reply with ce it will go on. Its virility has in 10 1,: fused into the very exlsfe of the Italian people. "We? people and destined to eni: Fascism has strengthecej ity and given fuller belngt; like those nations which 1 and bestowed their spirit' Ings on all mankind, aofi Is marked and destined to the generations to come, Ten years have ereaiei organism, full of vibrant 12 mise that it is ordained to hand down to posterity ii power and will. MIWi