MUSSOLINI.

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17384, 21 April 1928, Page 13 (Supplement)

MUSSOLINI.

THE DICTATOR.

(By “Darius.”) Rome that was dead regains Imperial State, w Led by wise craft to her abandoned pow’r, . . And crumbled fortresses and abandoned tow’r , , . Rise from the dust or centuries, elate. Never since Caesar Tell rose one so great INor shall bis jealous Mends. v.nn visage sour, . . . Or leagued conspirators delay his hour This first of Romans, mast.errul as rate. Like a young Trojan well-approved or He bears a war-cry throbbing in each And'senscs war in each averted eye. Yet with an augury or happy stars He arms, and bids the battle hai m s ° kv Seen like a mirage on a desert sk.y The hot blasts of national coiade ™" nation.that have swept through the columns of the Press could not faU to arrest the enquiring mind and lead it to the question: "Musi noi the be, in a man so monstrously demned, something to make the outsiders afraid?" It was endeavoured to make him the laughing stock; oi his country, to ridicule him and denounce but in portraiture at least, he is Napoleonic. I should not dare to condemn any man of his appearance. I believe he has greatness m him and that his Dictatorship is necessary to the national evolution o Italy. Revival of an Old Organisation. A story is now going the rounds of the more sensational newspapers to the effect that there has been trouble in the Italian Court between the Dictator and tiie Heir Apparent, and that the trouble culminated in a duel, without fatal results. The challenger, it is said, was the Prince of the ruling house, one of the finest swordsmen in Europe. No one could have expected Mussolini to be his match, and so he “played safe,” and "went to the fair in a suit of chain mail. The Prince s first thrust, therefore, instead of repeating the act in which Horatio s sword stood “a hand-breadth out behind the Tuscan’s head,” as in Macaulay’s ballad, jarred the Royal wrist and broke in twain, whereupon he called Mussolini a coward and flung the hilt in his face. Blood being drawn, the code was satisfied, and the wounded man retired from the public gaze for a time. He is now due for a dramatic re-appearance and extra precautions are taken to prevent his assassination. It is no joke being a prominent reformer, revolutionist, anarchist or fascist in Italy. It is a land of quick decisions and future developments of the Fascist movement cannot be forecasted with enthusiasm. The movement may last'a little longer than Hie man. Then there may be a recession and further advance as is indicated by the past history of the movement.

Development of Nations. The highly organised nations look with suspicion upon the tumultuous methods of younger nations mUhcir endeavours to free themselves from the shackles of old and tyrannous forms of government, forgetful of the fact that they themselves came to peace hardly and at great sacrifice of life and property. In the dreadful tumults of national evolution property becomes the chattel' that receives the least consideration. It exists merely to be destroyed, as in the Great War. Neither must any considerations of life and death be permitted to stand in the way of the advance of humanity in the interests of man. It is not conceivable that ordered government could move on from content to deep content in any country. The human elements are too contentious, and it was out of the cauldron of discontent that Fascism first appeared, flushed and. furious at Its real or imagined wrongs. It was known long ago in Sparta and in Athens by other names which matter not, hut the movement, as oft as it appeared, was always "a maniTestation of self-defence by strong and active groups or classes, uniting and forming centres of resistance." When grown sufficiently powerful, they naturally assumed the functions of the State in government that had become weak and inefficient. There was such a movement, called "Fasci," in Italy in 1893, a socialistic movement of short duration and confined to a small area, while the present organisation is traced to the groups of armed men who, in 19141915, recruited from the Republicans and Socialists, pressed for Italy's intervention in the Great War. That object was achieved, and as many of the leaders, including Mussolini, joined up and entered the trenches, there was no further occasion for activity. When hostilities ceased, however, and demobilisation followed, other ' problems faced the released soldiers who had favoured Socialism and Republicanism. Italy Saved From Revolution. Curiously enough, Fascism, though cultivated by all the insidious powers of strife-provoking Bolshevism, saved Italy from the latter, and revolution. Confronted with unemployment in its worst aspect owing to the great number of soldiers liberated from war that could not then be absorbed by industry, seeing the manufacture of arms and equipment had ceased, the Government still took no steps to meet the occasion squarely and redeem its promise to the people that those who fought in the Great War should be first in the following peace, in leaders of (he people and in employment. When war-wearied and disillusioned soldiers were everywhere clamouring for a reinstatement of lost rights, if not for preference, when strikes fostered by Bolshevism were paralysing industry and damning the credit of the country, and Italy was about to take the plunge into revolution, Mussolini stood forth above the people. The meeting at Milan in March. 1919, was the result, of his initiative. Straightway a programme was drawn up that included a super-tax nn capital and of war profits on army contracts of S 5 per cent. Such "a rev-enue-producing tax was surely enough to terrify the wealth of the world. Ever since the Milan convention, by powerful propaganda and by fiery and persistent oratory, and other devices known to the resourceful leader, enrollment has gone on until it has ongulfed its one-time rival, Socialism and has obtained the confidence of the Government. if is said that "Italy is a country dependent, upon her leaders," which means that individuality counts far more than the most powerful bureaucracy of any other country-, and the lender in this case is both intellectual, powerful and picturesque.