“KING” MUSSOLINI

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 May 1927, Page 12

“KING” MUSSOLINI

LATEST FASCIST AIM

Pope Pius has found it necessary to start an open fight against the “uhpreme state.” which is the basic, idea of Mussolini. The Pontiff has instructed Catholic preachers to combat the doctrine that man must sink himself in the state and to proclaim that “man is the end” and the state was made for him. The “Osservatore Romano” calls upon all Catholic organisations to enter politics sufficiently to support the doctrine of “the inviolability of human individuality.”

Fascist! arc openly circulating and publishing a verse that says: “At all costs we will have Mussolini Emperor! At all costs whatever!” An attempt to overthrow the King in December was baulked by the army. Now Mussolini has summoned a commission to decide on measures for reorganising the army (writes Eugene J. Young in the “San Francisco Chronicle”). Meanwhile the Fascist militia is rapidly being armed with the latest rifles and machine guns. Italy’s finances are in such condition that something drastic must be done to keep industry going at high speed and to protect the lira from attack. The great dictor’s loan, behind which . all power of the State was mobilised, has brought in less than 4,000,000,000 lire, or about 175,000,000 dollars of which at least a quarter is renewal of old loans. That amount will not go far with a nation having an ambitious industrial and military programme. Either paper money must lie issued, which will harm the lira, or further burdens must be put on the Italian people, already carrying a heavy load.

A serious blow was dealt to Fascism in December when Pope Pius, in his allocution, took issue with “a conception of the state that absorbs and monopolises everything and makes citizens believe the state is an end.” An attempt was made by Mussolini and moderate Fascisti at that time to placate the Vatican and to find a means of reconciling their differing points of view over the organisation of the Italian masses and the education of Italian children. No progress was made, because the radical Fascisti insisted on carrying out the programme whereby the people and children were compelled to accept a creed that practically deifies the state and seems almost to deify Mussolini. A fresh conflict came in January, when Mussolini decreed that the Catholic Bov Scouts should be suppressed in all towns of less than 20,000 inhabitants and the boys should be taken into the Balillas (the Fascist Boy Scouts). The Pope, avoiding a conflict, himself dissolved the Catholic organisations, citing King David’s declaration to the Almighty: “If we must die let it be by your hand rather than by the hand of men.” The Pope’s letter to Cardinal Gasparri on this occasion was so moderate that the Fascisti hailed it as a sign that there was really no conflict with the Vatican. But now we have the address to the Lenten Preachers’ Parish in which the Pontiff calls for an offensive against, the Mussolini idea. And this had been preceded by a warning to the Fascisti not to interfere with the “Catholic action” organisations, which the Pope has called “the apple of my eye." This intervention of the church comes at a moment when the situation in Italy is highly tense because of the strained relations between the dictatorship and the monarchy, and because of the financial straits in which the dictatorship has found itself because of the failure of its great loan idea. We have yet. to learn just how far the Fascisti have carried their plans to overthrow King-Victor Emanuel and enthrone Emperor Benito 1., but there is no doubt, the intrigue has gone to a point, little short of decisive action. Early in January. I was informed through trustworthy channels that General del Bono, one of the inner circle of the Mussolini military group, had planned a descent on Rome in the middle of December, in which the King should be seized, Mussolini placed on the throne, and the army merged with the Fascist militia. Marshal Badoglio, who had been made chief of the staff of the army by Mussolini, was depended on to wink at this procedure. But when he was asked to do so he showed he was more loyal to the King than to the dictator, and moved artillery and troops into Rome, which made the coup impossible. Del Bono was repudiated by Mussolini, and had to make protestations of loyalty to the King and the Crown Prince. Dispatches that have come out of Rome since then have borne out this version. And what has happened since has cast a doubt on the sincerity of Mussolini in dissociating himself from the plot. When the affair had quietened down a bit an attempt was made to shelve Badoglio. The Mussolini Cabinet decreed all military forces should be put under “a chief of the general staff,” who should be appointed by the Ministries of National Defence. These offices are held by Mussolini, and he undertook also to make himself the supreme chief of the army. But the high army Generals protested they could not take their orders from anyone except the representative of the King, and so Badoglio was promoted to the new post. This defeat has not stopped Mussolini. He has put forward a plan for special commissions to study the reorganisation of the military forces and particularly to weed out. officers who have engaged in political activities in violation of the unwritten law that the service should keep out of such affairs. It is a clever scheme to get around the King’s control of the armed forces.

Two objects are to be accomplished under this plan. First, the Generals who are loyal to the monarchy could 1)? replaced as being too old for the active roles the dictator has in mind in his policy of expansion for Italy; second the younger officers loyal to the King could be ousted because of their political activities. These activities consist in the formation of “The Cross of Savoy,” a secret order pledged to defend the monarchy, and, therefore, opposed to the Fascist dictum that Fascism and Mussolini are above everything in Italy. So far no real progress has been made in this direction, for the King is showing a stubbornness he has revealed more than once when Mussolini has tried to invade his prerogatives. Should he surrender in this crisis he might as well step off the throne, for it will not be long before he will have no defenders left if Mussolini once, gets full coihmand of the military forces.

The dictator, however, is taking other measures that may be effective, He is constantly using his power as Premier and head of the defence departments to put Fascisti into the military services and to advance them as officers. This process cannot be blocked wholly, for the King and the army and navy command must show some confidence in the head of the

State and accede to his wishes as often as possible. At the same time the Fascist militia, which- now is a recognised body and is almost equal io the army in numbers, is being steadily armed with Ihe latest weapons. In fact the army high command has protested because the militia, has been getting more of the latest rifles and machine guns and more ammunition than the regulars. The militia lacks artillery, but if it gets powerful enough there is always the possibility that the artillery will join it in a critical hour.

And there is another peculiar feature that is worth attention. France is greatly disturbed because large forces of Fascisti are gathered on her frontier, ostensibly to keep some antiFascisti from getting into Italy and others from getting out. France has had many attacks of nerves for fear those forces intended to make a descent on Nice and retrieve that'district for Italy. But these Fascist, forces may be concentrated for another purpose. The Italian Crown Prince has been at Turin ever since it became evident that Mussolini might try to overthrow' the King. Have precautions been taken to seize him also when the day comes, and will the Fascisti on the border turn this trick?

If things were going well with the Fascisti dictatorship the conflicts now developing with the Vatican and the monarchy might not have an immediate menace. But in the vital field of finance things are not going well at all. The failure of the Lictors’ loan has been a serious blow. This operation was announced with much fervour as an opportunity for the Italian people to show their patriotism in furnishing money to meet maturing obligations of the nation and to. finance the growing industrial activity so necessary to bring prosperity and power. Pressure was brought on banks and wealthy people to lend all they could to make the loan a success. And out of that vast effort came less than 140,000.000 dollars of new money. Either Italy is much poorer than anyone supposed or Italy is not disposed to give up its money to Mussolini. At any rate, the Rome treasury approaches a time of strain with a lack of resources. It is now the time when Italy must buy food to tide over until the new crop comes in, for the old crop will not carry through the year. There are also raw materials to buy for the factories. The lira holds up, but there are fears that it will not be able to strand the strain, and already official announcements are taking note of rumour that there will either be action to peg the value of the lira by decree or that there will be fresh issues of paper money. Something of that sort must be done or fresh burdens must be imposed on the Italian people in the shape of taxes or in confiscation of Government securities.

Whatever is done will be bound to cause more dissatisfaction and it is probable that the dictatorship will take a stronger grip on the country in order to control such feelings.