FASCISM.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 12 March 1925, Page 4

FASCISM.

Towards the end of last year there was sonio indication that Fascism was losing favour in Italy. The murder of the Socialist Deputy, Matteotti, in which the late chief of the Government Press Bureau was suspected of complicity, had thrown discredit upon the Government. Signer Mussolini himself had rc--I,uked his followers for their disregard of the law. Critics of the system became louder and more daring. The A ventines, who are so called because, like the plebs' of ancient Pome, they meet on the Aventinc Hill to ventilate their grievances, and who consist of an amalgamation of Liberals, Conservatives and Socialists united by their hostility to the Fascist regime, redoubled their activities. Mussolini announced that he intended to pursue a policy of conciliation, and this was inter--I,reted as a sign that he was conscious of the insecurity of his position, 'those who had contended that Fascism was merely a. passing phase, the product of exceptional and ephemeral cireumstan-

ces, wondered whether their predictions were soon to be fulfilled. Then, quite suddenly, events in Italy took on a new orientation. Early in January .Mussolini declared that since the proffered olive branch had been rejected, lie would embark upon a vigorous campaign for the suppression of sedition. The militia was mobilised. The “Black Shirts” paraded with machine guns and magnums of castor oil, at sight of which the ardour of the disaffected abated. A number of newspapers were suspended, and tlie more intransigeant political clubs were closed. In fact, all the usual machinery of Fascism was set in motion, and it worked according to schedule. Mussolini had proclaimed that lie would break the back of the opposition in forty-eight hours, and his boast was justified. These extraordinarily high-handed measures served their purpose; indeed, the lukewarm and the doubtfully loyal hastened to offer tokens of submission. Journals which, though anti-JFascist, had not actually come under the ban, ceased their attacks of their own accord. Political associations which, tho'ugh antagonistic to Mussolini, had been spared, dissolved voluntarily. Mussolini remains master of the situation, and Fascism, to all appearances, is still as firmly established as ever. Conditions such as exist in Italy would not be tolerated in any civilised country for five minutes.