It was one hundred years ago, in October 1922, Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy by ‘Marching on Rome’ with about 30,000 men from his goon squads. Earlier, in a speech before thousands of his supporters, Mussolini had declared, “Either the government will be given to us, or we will seize it by marching on Rome.” As tens of thousands of ‘Black shirts’, the uniform of his fascist youth organisation converged on Rome, Prime Minister Luigi Facta wanted to declare a ‘State of Siege’ and advised King Victor Emmanuel III to mobilise the army. Instead, the King caved in and asked Mussolini to form the government.
Mussolini, who was supported by the military, the business class, the Church and right-wing political forces, was sworn into office on October 29, 1922. Only a year before that, in 1921, Mussolini had formed the National Fascist Party without any clear programme. In front of a crowd of 60,000 people in Milan on October 24, he had declared “Our programme is simple. We want to rule Italy.” Ambition could not have been stated in simpler terms.
Mussolini thus captured power ‘legally’, with no apparent violation of the Italian Constitution. The transition was made possible simply by the surrender of public authorities to fascist intimidation.
journalist and became a member of the Chamber of Deputies in Italy in 2006. She has led ‘Brothers of Italy’ since 2014. Her party leader declared proudly on the day of its election victory, “We are the heirs of Il Duce.”
Meloni describes herself as a Catholic–Christian and a conservative and says she defends “God, fatherland, and family”. Opposed to the immigration of non-European migrants and multi-culturalism, she is seen as xenophobic and Islamophobic.
Despite her party’s fascist origins, Meloni is seen as distancing herself from openly aligning with the old fascist organisation. Fascism is still a dirty word in Europe, though xenophobia and Islamophobia are not. Media analysts are now saying, “She is no Mussolini but a Trump”. Hardly comforting.
What is worrying, however, is that the heirs of Moonje and the cadre that came out of his organisation and later the RSS Shakas, with all their admiration for Mussolini and Hitler, today control the levers of power in India. They don’t call themselves fascists, of course; they call themselves ‘nationalist’ and ‘Hindutva-vadi’.
Postscript: More than a decade ago, Peter Martland of Cambridge University discovered that Mussolini was paid 100 pounds a week by Britain in 1917, equal to about 6,000 pounds today. It remains to be seen, when more archival material comes out, as to who paid for Moonje’s trips to London and Rome. He was, after all, a King’s Commissioned Officer and fought for the British Empire in South Africa.
script Ravijee from ex secretary personal Newdelhi