SPEECH BY DUCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 70, 20 September 1943, Page 5

SPEECH BY DUCE

THE KING ACCUSED

ITALY URGED TO REJOIN AXIS (By Telegraph—Vress Association —Copyright.)

■ LONDON, September 18. Signor Mussolini, broadcasting over the German-controlled radio, denounced King Victor Emmanuel and urged the Italians to take up arms by the side of Germany and Japan. He explained that. he had waited for some time before speaking to the Italians because "after a period of moral isolation it was necessary for me to regain contact with the world.'

He described at length his "removal' and recapture by Hitler's men, which he said was only a trifle compared with the terrible tragedy into which the Italian nation was plunged on July 26 by the liberal democratic constitutional Government. "The Italians, including the Fascists, with their unbelievable optimism, thought it impossible that such plans could have been made against the party, against the regime, and against the entire nation," he said, "but the measures taken after July 15 reveal that all were prepared to undo the achievements of 20 years, to extinguish the glory of those 20 years, |and remove every memory of the creation of an empire. The/ are today in search of some compromise for some justification for him who bears the responsibility of it all. "We, while claiming our full responsibility, wish to define precisely the responsibilities of others, and above all those of the King, who knows himself found out, but who failed to resign as all Italians expected. He can and must be brought directly to account. It is his dynasty which has represented the centre of defeatism against German propaganda; though he himself declared war. His heir took over command of the southern army. He never appeared on the battlefield. I am convinced that the House of Savoy worked it out down to the smallest detail, carrying it out in cooperation with their accomplice, Badoglio, and all his cowardly generals, as well as some members of the Fascist Party." BETRAYAL OF GERMANY. Mussolini said that negotiations between the Governments in Rome and London were initiated before his arrest. He accused the King of betraying Germany by continuing to deny, even after the signature of the armistice, that such negotiations were in existence. He described the armistice terms as the "hardest which could possibly be imagined," and said that their enemies did not hide the way m whicK they despised the Italians. Every Italian would be affected thereby. The Italians had lost all their gains in the Adriatic and, lonian seas and in southern France. The Balkans army was dispersed and disarmed by its own allies.. Humiliated, the navy had surrendered to Malta, which was and would be to an even greater extent the stronghold of British Imperialism in the Mediterranean. The air force had salvaged a considerable part of its equipment but had practically no power of action. "It was not Fascism which betrayed the monarchy, but the monarchy which betrayed Fascism," declared Mussolini. ' "Once a monarchy fails to accomplish its task, it has lost the right to exist. The basic tendency in Italy has always been more republican than monarchist. The new state is to be a national socialist ' state—a Fascist state in the widest sense in which the term is understood. FOUR DEMANDS. "In its initial period, in expectation that our movement will be irresistible, we postulate the following demands:-r First, again take up arms side by side with Germany and Japan and our other allies. Only by blood can such an ignominous page be expunged from the history of our fatherland. Secondly, embark immediately on reconstruction of the armed forces, which are,. to be grouped round the militia. Only those who bear arms and fight for a creed can conquer. Thirdly, the removal of traitors, especially those who on July 25 professed allegiance 'to the, *new Government and thus joined the ranks of our enemies, after, having been members of the party for 20 years. Fourthly, the removal of the plutocracy and the establishment of a social base on which the State can be resurrected, founded on the labour of its citizens."