The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-11-02
fascist SAVED
ITALY AFTER WAR
Bolshevism Had Been the
Bane of All Parties
for Three Years

with the facisii In ttRIv I'm con-
troll Of Florence, Pisa and Gre.
mona; with strikes. murders. In.
cendiarism. and what not I'm the
wake ot three years Of It's existence
the climax OF the faclstl movement
appears AZ hand. The present stu.
. alton vcrges on civil strife; more
than a million fasclti are devoting
/ their energies to the Uustlng OF the
. lntrcnChcd socialists svndicallstq
communists and radical groups of
! all sorts which have been i'm control
! IN italy since the war.
Extreme as It's methods havo hoo,
I the fascist stands out as the chiof
/ conservative element in italy Social.
/ Ism has always had q strong hold
/ ~ Italy, SO strong was IL that ltaly's
entrance into the World war was
delayed until 1915. And i'm
mediately ltaly's fighting mon went
/ To the front the socialists seized
/ tho opportunity 10 dig themselves In
} and TO strengthen their organization
at homo. when the soldiers were
demobilized they discovered they
had been fighting 20 "hake Italy
, SaIe place Tor socialists TO strike in"
Want No Bolshc,ism.
Fnctory workers, agricultural
lhhorets local government officials
had become radical In their think
ing and made Italy the most favor.
able place outside OF Russia for the
propagation Of CommuniWic ideas.
In the northern part OF Italy, where
there are many large estates, tho
socialist unions undertook 10 put
the large land owners out OF bust.
ness by declaring strikes Crops
were lost for want OF gathering;
ChateauN were seized. socialists
staked out claims on private proper
ty marking tho boundaries thereof
with the red flag. and proceeded to
cultivate the land for their own
profit on cooperative plan.
4 similar situation existed among
factory workers; industrial plantsI
were invaded as in Russia and the
workers appropriated them for
themselves The rcd flag was much
IN evidence throughout the king
dom, the bolshevist symbol OF the !
"scythc ana hammer" was often
found upon II. Socialist deputations
were sent to Moscow to consult with |
Lenine; and the Italian malcontents
understudled the Russian masters OF |
bolsh evism,
Little resistance to this radical de- |
veiopment was offered by the Itai- |
ian government. Rome was para
lyzed by powerful socialist bloc in |
parliament, and the conservative |
factions were not only weak but |
divided. For n while communism |
threatened to sweep Italy into an
archy. II was at this crucial mo-
ment that the fascist arose TO |
combat the socialists and their radi. /
cal followers. Benito Mussolina np-
peared at the head OF the Fascist. |
Himself a socialist at the outbreak .
Of the war, he had been unable 10 ,
swallow the paclfist doctrines OF his |
comrades. He resigned his post as |
editor OF Avanti, n socialist news |
paper, and went to war as n private |
in the ranks. The demohilized |
Mussolini organized band Of |
young Italians in April, 1918. They |
were eX-service men, and they called |
themselves "Fasci II Combattimen- |
to-" which means "fasces of combat" |
"Fasces' Is the old emblem which |
was borne before rulers OF the
ancient Roman empire--a symbol OF |
authority. OF power, OF Justice and
of union. The dime OF recent
United states coinage carries on its
& C'v0'oe side the symbol OF the
fasces.
Broke Socialist Power.
Mussolin's fascist proceeded 70
put into execution the ideals indl-
Gated by their chosen symbol. They
stuck together and by methods
often militaristic, they broke the
power OF the socialists They drove
the communists out Of the factories
liberated thousands OF farm hands
from the control Of the socialists;
they intimidated communistlc may
ors and local councils: they broke
political strikes, burned offices of |
socialist newspapers and destroyed II
club buildings. There
was street fighting. many on both Il
sides were killed. II was lawless,
but IL was effective. Tho Fascisti
grew in number from an original
handful to more than a million.
while the socialists have been re. .
duced, some say. by as much as 80
per cent, Half way measures have
not been acceptable TO the fascist:
Il stands for 100 per cent national
Ism I'm Italy and clubs az the heads
NJ those who profess a sympathy
for their movement OF less than
that; 80 or rs per cent patriotism.
,ney say, is not enough. Internal
.ionalism must go; all the radical
SINS hatched out of the restlessness
that followed the war are pro-
'cribed. Their program IS conserva-
i've. They believe that the state
was made for man and not man for