Evening star., 1928-10-14

PAIN br1dL ne CONSIDERS lIlSI1 hIUeTlGdIls
and not Italians. In fact, he spoke Of
: Italian blood" he said, must prove
themselves the most loyal of all Amer
leans. AS I stated in my recent address
to the Senate, and as l have often re-
peated to the many Americans with
whom l have discussed this subject, We
regard them as foreigners. All that we
ask is that they be proud of their orr
gin and so conduct themselves as tc
reflect nothing but credit upon the race
from which they come"
Fascism Held Democracy.
Among other things. / was anxious
10 secure from Mussolini himself his
cwn definition Of Fascism. In my va
Ticus interviews with men on both sides
OF the question, the many descriptions
] obtained ran all the way from ar
earthly paradise to tyrant's hell. II
V-as almost impossible TO secure a single
definition which would meet with the
approval of at least dozen Fascist.
You want to know what Fascism is?''
be said. II shall first tell you what
FasciSm is not"
He leaned slightly forward and. in an
D1gllSh which was strangely Stilted but
clear explained:
say in your questionnaire. 1t is not
tyranny. It is not aristocracy or plu-
tocracy. 1t is democracy"
He pronounced democracy" a'
Roosevelt used to pronounce delighted .
with a show of the teeth and the en-
phaSis on the democracy"
Centralized, responsible, disciplined
democracy"
He asked me to read what had writ
ten, and, after making sure that would
not nlisquote him, continued:
This is the first time in the histc:y
Of Italy that the Italians have a regime
which they can call their own. Some
people are saying that Italy is in the
grip of tyranny. Pure rot. The truth
of it is that there is not a government
en- earth which rests on surer founda-
tions than mine. The Fascist govern
nent is not class government. 1t is
not one-man government but a gov
ernment of all the people of Italy It
has back of it a party of 1000. 900
members, 100000 youths and millions
and millions of producers organized
within the state. Fascism has given the
people what they want; a strong and
efficient state The movement Of the
Black Shirts is a mass movement born
of the idealism and the faith of every
living soul in Italy"
Only Dema gogy Before.
He paused a minute as If to collect
his thoughts, and then, pointing to my
notebook. asked me to take down the
following:
There was no democracy in italy
before Fascism. No. there was only
6emagogy. The people had no interest
and no stake in their government. They
we're tired of politics and politicians.
who placed their own personal interests
above the interests of the country. But
now Fascism has created a united
Italian democracy from Sicily to the
Alps, and every Italian is back of it,
Mussolini does not believe in the
ballot as means Of registering the will
Of the people. In fact he has never
believed in it. In one of his speeches.
IN which ne pointed out that of II .o0o.-
600 Italian voters, 100000 never took
the trouble to vote, he denounced
democratic, universal suffrage" as a
Tie" In his opinion, public consent is
a matter of hard work. discipline. and
moral solidarity" This solidarity. he
said. is proved by such acts of support
es the recent visit of the 10000 workers
from Milan who came to Rome to paw
homage to, and hear the word of, the
leader of the Fascist revolution" and
by the fact that the workers and
peasants of Italy, who are back of us
IN the battle for economic improvement.
have accepted cut in wages amounting
to 100000 lire"
The statement that the people are
back of the government raised the CUES
Jlon OF opposition. II it is true that
Fascism has popular support, why is it
that criticism is not tolerated? I ap-
preached the subject automatically. but
the Duce knew what was running
through my mind.
1T is not true that we do not tolerate
opposition" he said, shaking his head
and pretending a certain surprise. Ion
the contrary We welcome it, We have
plenty Of 1t. We know we are not
1nfallible and We want to be corrected.
But what We do not want, what ne will
not tolerate, at any time, is opposition
against the state"
Must Be Nothing Above the State.
He pronounced the words against the
gtate" with determination in his eyes.
had touched on a delicate subject.
'As I have often stated, there must
be nothing above the state, nothing out
side the state, nothing against the state.
Fascisun does not tolerate a multitude
Of parties and cliques operating against
the common welfare. And it never will
First let our enemies accept the Fascist
state as a reality and then let them
oppose us. There are two kinds of
opposition, opposition in good faith and
opposition in bad faith We welcome
the former, but we have no room for
the latter. We will not permit any one
to destroy the work we have set out 10
DO. We must be free to realize the aims
OF the revolution"
Plausible as this may sound, it is
only fair to point out that FaScism
does not swallow opposition gracefully
No one. Fascist or anti-Fascist. dare
oppose the will of the Duce. or stand
out against the Fascistization of Ital-
ian life, with impunitv. The answer
to this condition is that Italy is in
process Of revolution and the revolu-
ton must be defended Hear Mussolini
on another occasion:
"All opposition newspapers have beer
supressed All anti-Fascist parties have
been broken Up. We have created q
special police which is doing splendid
work. We have organized political in
yestigatirg bureaus. We have set ur
z special tribunal which is doing re.
markedly veil Opposition is not neces.
serv to the functicning Of a san:
polittcal regime. Opposition Is foolish
Euperhuous In a totaliarian state such
IS the Fascist state We have plent,
of opposition within ourselves. There
is opposition in the very problems We
have to face. in the objective diff1cultie:
of life-and life offers mountains o.
opposition capable of breaking ever
stronger spirits than mine"
Promises TO Abolish Special Tribunal
Opponents of the regime who violate
the special laws for the defense OF tn,
state are tried by military tribuna
end confined to special islands. Th'
number of prisoners on these islands
is the subject of much speculation. The
chief of the Italian police told me thai
there are less than 600 But the anti
Fascistl claim manV thousands I aSkeC