Benito Mussolini

During the next 12 months Fascist influence consolidated itself throughout Italy, and the obvious breakdown of the old political parties convinced Mussolini that the time for bold action was fast approaching. At first he thought only of the possibility of a coali tion Government comprising Fascist elements, but by the summer of 1922 he felt that a predominantly Fascist Government was conceivable and indeed necessary. The strike of Aug. 1, 1922, promoted by the revolutionary Alleanza del Lavoro, was broken by the Fascists, and this fact showed the increasing weakness of Signor Facta's Government, which was no longer able to resist any really energetic action from the right or from the left. In the meanwhile, Mussolini had been shedding the last traces of dema gogic ideas, and at a Fascist gathering at Udine on Sept. 29 he openly pronounced himself an upholder of the Monarchy, thereby securing the sympathy of many non-Fascists and of the army. He now made no secret of his intention of seizing power, and said so openly at the Fascist meeting in Naples in October. The march on Rome (see ITALY : History) was organized and directed by Mussolini, and indeed it shows the Mussolini touch in every phase. When the Facta Cabinet resigned the king first sent for Signor Salandra, who tried to form a coalition Government, but Mussolini refused to lend the scheme his support, and Salandra threw up his mandate, whereupon the task was entrusted to Mussolini himself. He formed his Ministry within seven hours, a record for Italy, where, especially during the post-war years, every cabinet crisis had lasted for many days and even weeks. He chose several non-Fascists as Ministers, but refused to contract an alliance with the parties to which they belonged.

His Reforms.

From the moment he assumed office he set to work with his accustomed energy to overhaul and reform the whole administration, to eliminate inveterate abuses, and infuse a new spirit into the State. He himself assumed the portfolios of Foreign Affairs and the Interior, although the work of the latter he left largely to the under-secretary Aldo Finzi. In June 5924, of ter the Matteotti affair, he appointed Signor Federzoni Minister of the Interior, but in the following spring, on the resignations of Gen. Di Giorgio and Adml. Thaon di Revel (April 3 and May 5, 5925), he assumed the portfolios of War and Marine, and also that of the new Air Ministry; while leaving great latitude to the under secretaries, he gradually welded the three ministries into a single department of National Defence.

As a Socialist Mussolini was an anti-Parliamentarian, and even later did not regard the Parliament as the sole organ of national life. His object was to make Italy powerful, prosperous and effi cient, in as short a time as possible. But in order to make these reforms lasting he determined that the whole body politic shall be imbued with the Fascist spirit—fascistizzare la nazione, as he de scribed it—and he therefore inserted Fascism into every activity of the country (for the details of Mussolini's policy as head of the Government see ITALY : History).

As a Minister, Mussolini's activity was prodigious. Even when he was seriously ill in the spring of 1925, he surprised his friends and disconcerted his adversaries by continuing very largely to conduct his business of government from his bed, and by his quick recovery. While he was immensely popular with the great majority of the people who appreciated the far-reaching benefits of his rule, he had many enemies among the members of the old governing caste, the Socialists, Communists and• Republicans and the anti-national freemasons, whose influence he destroyed. His

opponents tried to exploit the Matteotti murder (June, 1924) to compromise and overthrow Fascism, but Mussolini's great political ability and his obvious honesty of purpose warded off the attempt.

Settlement of the Roman Question.

His unique contribu tion to the settlement of the 59 year old Roman Question added great lustre to his name as a statesman. On February iith, 1929, at the palace of the Lateran in Rome, he was co-signatory with Cardinal Gasparri, Papal Secretary of State, of a treaty by which the Supreme Pontiff became sovereign of a newly created State, "The City of the Vatican." In an address two or three days later, the Pope paid a tribute to Mussolini's "exceptional statecraft," shown in the settlement.

Attempts on Mussolini's Life.

At the end of Oct. 1925, a plot to murder him was discovered by the police, and the would-be murderer, the Socialist ex-deputy Tito Zaniboni, was arrested in the very act; other persons were arrested in connection with the affair, notably Gen. Capello, a leading freemason. The news of the plot aroused general indignation, and Mussolini received a plebiscite of enthusiastic congratulations. On April 7, 1926, as he was leaving the Capitol, where he had inaugUrated a surgical congress, an Irishwoman, the Hon. Violet Gibson, fired at him with a revolver, slightly wounding him in the nose. His assailant appeared to be demented. The wound did not prevent him from sailing for Tripoli the following day according to programme. On Sept. II, 1926, the anarchist Lucetti threw a bomb at the premier's motorcar, but although it exploded and wounded several passers by, Mussolini escaped unhurt. The would-be assassin was arrested and condemned to 3o years imprisonment. On Oct. 31, while he was returning from the inauguration of the scientific congress at Bologna a youth named Zamboni fired a revolver shot at him and narrowly missed him. Zamboni was instantly lynched by the crowd. This unsuccessful attempt was followed by demonstrations of enthusiasm all over Italy, and new measures were enacted for dealing severely with political crime.

Mussolini is not a finished orator in the classical sense. But every speech bristles with facts, and each phrase contributes to build up the idea which he wishes to assert. On innumerable occa sions an apparently difficult, even insoluble, situation has been solved by one of his vigorous speeches. Besides innumerable arti cies in Il Popolo d'Italia, Avanti, Gerarchia, etc., he has published Il mio Diario di Guerra 1915-17 (Milan, 1923), and his speeches have been collected in several volumes. A selection of them has been published in English edited by Baron Quaranta, Mussolini as revealed in his political speeches, Nov. 1914 to Aug. 1923 (1923) His biography was published in English by Margherita Sarfatti (Butterworth, 1925). See F. Gueterbock, Mussolini and d.e Fascismus (1923) ; A. Dressler, Mussolini (Leipzig, 1924) ; L. Roger, Historie de Mussolini (1926) ; Spencer Jones, Benito Mussolini (1927) ; Antonio Beltramelli, L'uomo nuovo (new edition, 1928), and Vittorio De Fiori, Mussolini the Man of Destiny (1928). See also his own account of his life (Eng. trans. My Autobiography, 1928). (L. V.)