THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1940 MUSSOLINI IN SELF-DEFENCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23818, 20 November 1940, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1940 MUSSOLINI IN SELF-DEFENCE

In the main, Mussolini's speech is addressed to Hitler. It was meant also for other audiences: the thousands of Italians gathered on the fifth anniversary of League sanctions to hear him denounce that attempt to interfere with his glorious conquest of Abyssinia; the Greeks, daring to think they could successfully oppose him; the French, tricked by Britain into a vicious assault upon Germany; the British, foolish and wicked enough to plan Germany's encirclement and to refuse compliance with the demands of the magnanimous Axis Powers; any other Powers misinterpreting Italy's motives and belittling Italy's might; himself, fond of listening to his own thunderous oratory. But, above all, Hitler, who has been caustically lecturing Count Ciano on the alleged failure of his august chief's march into Greece and loss of naval strength. If the evil afoot were not so gravely menacing, there could be sympathy with Mussolini in his obvious anxiety to placate Hitler and to offer him explanation and excuse for the reverses Italian arms have suffered. Into the framework of this abject purpose all the rest of his remarkable tirade fits. Through the castigation of his son-in-law and Foreign Minister he has been given an unpleasant piece of his master's mind, and therefore sets himself to show that the reverses are not really so bad and that he has the will and the means to prove his ability to make the world ring with the fame of Italy's unsurpassed achievements.

Notwithstanding his pose of superiority to every allegation of weakness and blundering, Mussolini is plainly perturbed. He tries to ingratiate himself with his disappointed and angry senior partner, calls him a genius in strategy, an awakener of his people and —for reflection on the quality of Fascist service must be somehow countered —a leader of world revolution "similar to Fascism." Ciano must have been told, probably at Goebbels' urging, that the communiques sent out officially from Rome were too carelessly ready to acknowledge Italian setbacks ; so Mussolini is at pains to say that the Italian people can bear to be told as much of the truth as he decides shall be made known to them and that he personally supervises the drafting of all war bulletins; thus he gives Hitler an implied assurance of Italian care to make future communiques conform to the principles of courageous mendacity advocated in that brilliant manual, "Mein Kampf." Also he promises an .accelerated Italian production of redoubtable aircraft. On this subject of aircraft he asserts that he asked and obtained permission from the Fuehrer to take an active part in the battle against Britain. There has been, he confesses, "a certain slackening of -activities since the outbreak of war," because many leaders had gone to the front, and admits that the Fascist Party ought to intensify its influence among the Italian masses. These lapses, he asserts, will not happen again. So the recital of admissions and regrets and promises goes on its humble way as he craves Hitler's pardon. The trail of this strange humility is over all the speech. 11 is marked by spasms of the swashbuckling aggression once consistently typical of certain balcony utterances, and is brightened at intervals with denunciation of the hating and hateful Greeks, with, jibes at Mr. Churchill, with. novel accounts of the Italian terror spread by the Italian navy throughout the Mediterranean ; yet the signs of dejection, a dejection produced by the furious blame Ciano had been forced to hear, are everywhere. If the back of Mussolini's mind can be read from these signs, this heir of all the Caesars has more than a suspicion of having backed the wrong horse when he joined Hitler after France had been roughly handled —he must often have heard about Lord Salisbury's memorable figure of speech on a critical occasion in the Near East. It is impossible to take quite seriously this laboured defence of Italian doings and misdoings. Whether it consoles Hitler cannot be known, at all events not until the history of these days of queer diplomacy is intimately written. In the meantime, the Allies will be unaffected by it, except to intensify their campaign against the Axis Powers' calculated onslaught.