D’ANNUNZIO’S RULE IN FLUME.

Otago Witness, Issue 3487, 11 January 1921, Page 51

D’ANNUNZIO’S RULE IN FLUME.

A COMIC OPERA STATE. Now that D’Annunzio, Italy's greatest living poet, has been turned out of Fiume, the gateway of the Adriatic, which he conquered with 5000 volunteers while the Peace Congress was deliberating, the following particulars of a holiday visit paid to Fiume by Dr H. Suttner, of Zurich, will be of interest: — Fiume is one of the most charming places I know. It is picturesquely situated in the Gulf of Quarnero, on the slopes of the Julian Alps. Half of its 50,000 inhabitants are of Italian descent, and the other half of southern Slavonian origin. In the town proper, there is now an unmistakable preponderance of Italians. Nobody seems to be oppressed by cares, except the “Commandante,” D’Annunzio, who must provide the population with food, money —and poetry. The works in the harbour are lulled to sleep, and industrial establishments are at rest. The workmen get for their support 13 liras a day from the workmen’s relief fund, and the 5000 legionary soldiers receive the same nay as the regular troops of the Italian army. On the Piazza Dante, in the centre of the little town, people promenade all day long. Many women are dressed in the latest Paris fashion. Soldiers of all the different districts of Italy, belonging to various regiments, complete the motley throng. Judging from the cause to which they have given their service, we might presume them to be reactionaries of the deepest type, hut it is just the reverse with them. I have never met more confirm (1 believers in peace than hero at Fiume. These officers, on the whole, have very little grasp of the national side of the adventure; the reason why they went to Fiume was principally the liberation from military service in Italy, while a

goodly number o£ them are admirers of D’Annunzio. | It was as a Nationalist and Imperialist : that D’Annunzio conquered Fiume. Italy, i however, has disowned him and left him in the lurch ; the Peace Conference has not j sympathised with him; and the leading i merchants in Fiume pressed him to depart. ’ But he found a firm footing again by fra- : ternising with the workmen, enforcing their demands by means of military power, ! and turning Socialist in spite of himself. ■ Tile Nationalist D’Annunzio became an : Internationalist and Revolutionist. | He began to set up for himself a regu- ! lar and well-organised Cabinet. Literary ■ friends received seats in it. As the “re- ' actionary” countries did not pay the neces- | sary attention to him, D’Annunzio turned I to Revolutionary Europe. Thus I met at Fiume ‘‘representatives” of the Sinn ! Feiners, of the Egyptian, Turkish, and ; Indian Nationalists, and Soviet Russia. D’Annunzio, whether he wanted it or not, i launched out upon a new political line —- that of the avowed enemy of England, i These are the contrasts which jynaze the j visitor to Fiume at first. We are often 1 amazed, but nowhere more than with the ilo gic of D’Annunzio’s politics. Intuition ; explains everything in poetry; but in ; Fiume it also holds good in politics, j The cost of living in the town is no dearer than in Italy; it is even a I little cheaper than at Milan. For ten I liras a nice room in a good hotel may i be had, and for another ten liras an excellent dinner may be procured. The current coin is the lira, but South Slavonian crown banknotes are likewise in circulation, though they are disappearing. The town does not issue any currency of its own, but prints postage stamps which are very pretty and much in demand by collectors. The great question is: Where does D’Annunzio get the money ? Fiume is very unremunerative at present, and the idea of getting the funds from the sale of the postage stamps is absurd. At the start of the expedition, the' Italian banks advanced 15 millions of liras. Mussolini, the well-known Nationalist journalist, collected on his part four millions more, and the rest comes out of piracy. Finance troubles D’Annunzio. Thus it often happens that the day before the pay for the soldiers comes due, there is not a single lira in the safes; but at the very last moment a way out is found. As to the political side of the Fiumian question, all endeavours of the poet cannot alter the fact that this port is the natural egress of the new South Slavonian State, as it has always been the egress of Croatia and Hungary. The Slavonian hinterland is in great economic difficulties to-day, because the possibilities for an export trade are wanting. A great portion of the surplus crop of 1919 is still in the country, where it is rotting away, while the neighbouring countries are starving. The indignation and resentment of Jugoslavia is naturally very great, and the affair of Fiume, if Italy does not soon solve it in a satisfactory manner, will end in war between the two countries. D’Annunzio himself has long ago perceived the futility of his enterprise, and no longer believes in the possibility of the Italian annexation ; he, therefore, on September 8, proclaimed Fiume an independent and autonomous commonwealth, and gave it a constitution in verse, which is full of ardour. Among other things, it introduces universal forced labour and workmen’s guilds, "or “Corporazioni.” The position of music is a novelty in this State. In its rhythms resounds the rhythm of labour, as Clause 64 notes. When the printed sheets of the Constitution were issued they were received with great approbation at the various Ministries. The question of what the system of government should be—Republic or Monarchy—is to the front. The Fiumians wish to have a king by all means. D’Annunzio, however, seems at present to prefer the laurel wreath to the golden crown, and tries to gain over his citizens for a Republic. But the question is a very difficult one, and will divide into two parties the political unity which D’Annunzio thinks he has created by banishing the opposition. But he will not admit there is disunion, and it will not be his fault if his subjects and fate put a golden royal crown upon his head. , D’Annunzio will then be called Gabriele I, and the unpoetical world, devoid of understanding will applaud the whole as the last operetta.