BENITO MUSSOLINI – Italian Duce

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 365, 20 February 1937, Page 4

BENITO MUSSOLINI - Italian Duce

Leaders Of World Affairs

(Written for the ‘Central Press' -1

by

W.J.H.)

I "I will make my own ’life a ! masterpiece.”—(Mussolini.) Benito Musoslini, for over a decade I unrivalled dictator of Italy, is at onee | a stronger, more able and more forI tunate man than Hitler is. He is. ; without question, one of the world’s I outstanding leaders. Formerly a journalist of great abil- ■ ity, Mussolini jvrote his way to power ! —just as Hitler talked his. But. Mus- ■ solini can talk, too, and talk to some i purpose when the occasion demands, i He is a man of great intellectual power and wide There are I few subjects upon which he cannot I express well-formed opinions and eni lightened judgments. When he had I reached quite mature years he startj ed to learn languages, and to-day he : can speak and write three or four bei sides his own. He is a great reader, | and keeps constantly in touch with the world’s best literature and with modern thought. Most of those who meet the Duce for the first time are somewhat surprised by the shortness of his stature. Like Napoleon, he stands only five feet six. Bpt if he is small in stature, he is powerfully built. He has a passion for exercise, and there are few outdoor pursuits in which he does not excel. He is singularly fond of his motor-cycle, which he rides at terrific speed. Like Hitler, Mussolini places himself under a severe regime. Desperately ill with stomach trouble some years ago, he now eats very little except fruit and milk; and now at 54 he enjoys powerfully good health. He

neither drinks nor smokes. Riding, hiking, fencing and swimming give him a great deal of pleasure. A couple of months ago he was visited by Goerring in Rome, and during the latter’s stay the two engaged in fencing. It was reported that the agile Duce easily outstripped the lumbering German, who must have towered over his formidable opponent like a veritable Colossus! A perfect executive, Mussolini works hard for five or six hours each day and spends the remainder of his time in reading, meditation and exercise. He is neat and methodical to a degree, and has no time for those who cannot work to a system.

4- Tempestuous, yet graceful, the son of a blacksmith, and the creator of modern Italy, his career is a remarkable combination of turncoat, ruffian, ■ and man of genius. The forces of his i early life were literary and intelleci tual, and while he was still young he ■ had become an avowed revolutionary i Socialist. But the tragedy of the Great War, in which he fought, put an end ' to his Socialist career and made of . him an uncompromiisng opponent of i Socialism—as that movement is usual- > ly understood. He organised the Blackshirts, secured the backing of i large Morgan loans, and marched on r Rome. The rest is common knowledge. Without doubt the Duce has great ambitions in the Mediterranean. The } Modern Caesar, he hopes for the time when that great sea will be r again a Roman lake. He has a pre-»-dominating influence in Albania and , the Adriatic is completely under his . control. But if his domestic policy . has been conspicuously successful, his foreign policy has in some instances failed.

Il Duce cares little for money. For some years it has been reported that the chief source of his income was the Hearst Press of America, for which he was in the habit of writing regular articles. For his biography, which was published in America some years ago, he received £5OOO, but some of this went to the Rome poor. Mussolini is the most accessible of all the dictators, and the number of people he manages to see is enormous. Unlike Hitler, he is fond of listening to his visitors and his interviwers. (Most journalists are trained to listen carefully and well!) He likes newspaper men, and is fond of meeting them. He may be cheerful, loud, gruff or brutal, according to his mood; but boldness is always the best approach to his favour.

Mussolini's luck is a by-word. On several occasions the assassins have shot at him. Each time he has escaped. Over the Abyssinian crisis, he defied the whole world and came out the victor. There is reason to believe, however, that his rash adventure In Africa has yielded him little but trouble, and the losses have more than offset the gains. The Abyssinian adventure seems a mistake from whichever angle we look at It. and the Duce will almost certainly live to regret it.