FASCIST RULE

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 149, 21 December 1932, Page 9

FASCIST RULE

DESTINED TO ENDURE

MUSSOLINI SURVEYS ITALY

LIST OF ACHIEVEMENTS

"We.have completed ten years of Pascist rule. It is a decade which needs no defence. Achievement is the best answey, and it is Fascism's answer, ■writes Benito Mussolini in the London "Daily Telegraph." I demand from a man to whom I entrust a charge that he must be able to . mate real accomplishments in. his field of action. In that same measure I demand accomplishment of the Fascist regime. The ten years of Fascism have been years of successive accomplishment, and in arithmetical progression. Were we called upon ■to give an account of our regime it would ue sufficient to enumerate the practical facts of government. This is .what other Governments "" . They report to Parliament the list of djeds done, and under ordinary political standards, when they can show a certain measure of usefulness, their administration, is conl--sidered as haying 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 eminently successful. But it"is more penetrating than that. This regime does not enact laws that it might make a successful appeal at elestions. No, it has a deeper responsibility, which undertakes to make a- nation.strong and to raise the well-being of its people in. all' their activities, and create a deeper sense of trust in the fnture. Our 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 felt to the succeeding generations. "WE HAVE NO STEIKES." Had wo wanted to make a moral budget on this tenth anniversary, it would; have beenrsufficient to recount the fulfilment of' a constructive, programme. It would have been sufficient 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 quintan per acre. We have made Italy almost independent of foreign wheat, we could say. ■« Wo could enumerate the vast1 public works scheme's—the electrified railloads, the asphalt and cement roads which stretch from one end _oi Italy to another, and none of- which existed when we came to powe , the aqueducts, the water-power development, the reclaimed land, the housing of the poor, the building of ports, the perfection of means of communication and readjustment of the buildings, and scientific organisation, of the great historic Italian universities. . >• ' All these are evidences, which any visitor can see with his own eyes. And more, we could enumerate the great reforms ! consummated in all branches of the Government. Our relations between Capital and Labour are a model for others to follow. ■ We have no strikes, but a producing and industrious working class. We could tell-of our educational system, of; the opportunities we have given for recreation for all classes of society and for all ages. We -could tell of the relief we brought to the unemployed. Wo could recount our insurance, bur pension, and our maternity schemes. *' GREATER STILL. What -we could say wo-ild give any Government the right to continue to rule. There is not a single State in the whole wide world which can point to as much achievement iri all branches of the State's activities as can the Fascist regime. And yet, I say that our accomplishment ia far greater than this. For the Fascist idea has become part of the Italian nation, is the Italian nation, and is^destined to-live on for the succeeding generations. Ten years of rule have created, as I said, an epoch. The physical iaets are only a part of our accomplishments. The tenure of office of Fascism is not going to pass like that of the usual political party, which enjoys its two or three, or perhaps four, years of administration, then goes-out of office, 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 h£ye endured are those which wero imbued with a spirit. We trace,the great spirit which founded the Eoman Empire and caused it to live, not alone while the Empire lasted, but beyond generation aftor generation, until that same spirit has been the rule and guide of the whole Western civilisation. SPIRIT OF CROMWELL. Other nations lived and became powerful, died and left nothing to posterity, but the spirit of Home 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 physical form of what ho had created passed away, ■ the spirit lived on, and has lasted • even until these times as cardinal principles in government throughout the whole of the Anglo-Saxon world. From whence comes that Puritan spirit of England and America, which shows itself in laws of Prohibition and moral concepts, if not from that roving warrior, whose "Ironsides" sang the Psalms of David as they went forth to battle? The spirit of Washington still rules in the conduct of the great nation which he founded. The' words he said and the policies he advocated have remained as the unchangirfg organic law of the land. Ten years of rule have given to Fascism a spirit which, beyond the.material things it built, is destined to live on as other great movements have lived on. The material accomplishments will serve the nation for other decades, even until new processes and inventions make them obsolete. The. spirit which created these material things will remain and continue long after they themselves have passed away. Already other nations are beginning to turn their gaze toward us. All over the world peoples are asking, What have 3'ou accomplished? Even the spirit of Fascism of these days has permeated beyond the frontiers of Italy, and has found life in the soil of other lands.