Mediterranean hegemon

"The main problem of contemporary Italy is not that democracy is not sufficient or freedom is not active enough. On the contrary, democracy in Italy at this stage has long exceeded actual needs, and freedom has also exceeded the necessary level... It is precisely because we have too much democracy and freedom that every Italian has his own political ideas and cannot help but make comments on national politics and development strategies. They think one way today and another way tomorrow. This group of politicians do this when they come to power, and that group of politicians do that when they come to power. The cabinet and prime ministers change like a revolving lantern. There has never been a clear, long-term, and constructive strategy. The 40 million Italians are like a pile of loose sand, and the whole country is like dancing the rumba in a dance hall, taking two steps forward and three steps back, always standing still! Every time democracy and freedom are like a sharp knife in the body of the country!"

"When There are three most important issues for Italy today: the first is to be rich and strong! The second is to be rich and strong! The third is still to be rich and strong! We don’t have strong technology, strong national defense, or strong economy... All the powerful countries in the world are called powerful countries by relying on technology, economy, and national defense. I have never heard of a country becoming powerful by relying on democracy and freedom. We always claim to be a European power, but at the Paris Peace Conference and the Washington Conference, which of the three countries of Britain, France, and the United States regarded us as a power? They treated Italy like a clown and lied to it like a child. Do we have the courage to fight? Do we dare to say no loudly? "

"... You used to attack Germany for only dictatorship and autocracy, but no democracy or freedom. Now it’s good. The Germans have freedom - they have the freedom to lose their land! They have the freedom to disband their army! They have Freedom to have finances monitored! Freedom to have an economy that plummets! People have the freedom to starve and be unemployed! Any patriotic German does not want this kind of freedom and democracy, and would rather return to the despotism and dictatorship of the Second Empire. To me, Germany's suffering is not about to end, but is about to fall into a greater abyss! "

"I have asked many young people, soldiers, intellectuals and even university professors the same question - 'What price are you willing to pay for Italy's prosperity and rise? ' Every patriot told me with tears in his eyes that as long as the motherland is strong, they don't care even if they are torn to pieces. Then I would say, if you are not afraid of sacrificing your life, why are you afraid to temporarily restrict some democracy and freedom, restrict those democracy and freedoms that hinder the prosperity of the country? When Italy became one of the major powers in the world, When the Italian people can stand up straight and speak loudly in any country in the world, there will be hope for our democracy and freedom, and true democracy and freedom will come. "

"... The connotation and essence of an ideology, a political party, and a leader are very clear, that is, to unite the vast majority of Italian people, to concentrate the most overwhelming majority of forces to fight for the survival space and international status of the Italian nation. It is not that this party must be Fascist, and this leader must be Mr. Mussolini, but at this stage, in this historical period, no political party can better reflect the demands of the Italian people than Fascism, and can better represent the power of Italy. No political leader can be more popular than Mr. Mussolini, and can better lead the Italian people to win the prosperity, stability and order that the country needs most! ”

“We support Mr. Mussolini. As long as he is given 3-4 years, he will surely bring us an unprecedented and incredible national miracle…”

On the morning of November 12, thousands of students from the League went to Rome to distribute the first issue of “Italian Youth Daily” to the citizens for free. The article written by Contini gave people the greatest visual impact. In order to expand the influence of the newspaper, the League not only did everything it could to distribute it, but also set up a podium at the busiest intersection to focus on preaching this article “One Doctrine, One Party, One Leader”. The students who uniformly wore the badge and armband of the Italian Youth League gave a great impact to the citizens of Rome. Nearly 30,000 copies of the first issue were distributed in one day.

Ordinary citizens mainly watched the excitement, but for intellectuals, the petty bourgeoisie, and the middle class with a certain cultural foundation, this article resonated with them - they were tired of the endless changes of political parties and cabinets, tired of the political chaos of one party singing and another taking the stage, and extremely eager for stability and order, and of course they also hoped that the country would be strong.

By the afternoon of that day, more than 1,000 people had confirmed to subscribe to this newspaper.

“Youth Daily” The first shot was due to Contini's strategy. Because he attacked several printing plants, the left-wing bombs could not find a place to print. Even if they temporarily found other printing plants to replace them, they were arrested by Poti along with the paper. This news spread throughout the printing industry. Although news control is the work of other departments of the Ministry of the Interior, it is the right of the police to seal up printing plants. Even if there is no solid evidence, it is okay to arrest them and interrogate them in the police station, right?

To avoid trouble, the bosses directly rejected the printing needs of other left-wing newspapers. Anyway, the police made it clear that this temporary measure would not work. The measure only lasted for a week, and then it was stopped.

As for some newspapers that printed in other cities and transported them to Rome secretly, the police kept a close eye on them. When they were found, they confiscated all the newspapers and vehicles, so that at the beginning, except for the Youth Daily and newspapers from the Fascist camp, other newspapers could not be distributed.

Even if other newspapers wanted to use force, they were not afraid. Contini had already contacted old Ciano and mobilized more than 1,000 fully armed black shirts to protect the Youth Daily. Not to mention that ordinary hooligans did not dare to approach, even the police station would take a detour when they saw them.

This argument of "wealth and power over freedom" immediately shocked the political world. Fascist newspapers such as "Italy's People" and other right-wing newspapers published the full text the next day and launched it nationwide. "Italy's People's People" also wrote a long editorial, commenting: ... This is a landmark and weighty article. It speaks out the voice of the Italian people, reflects the expectations of the entire Italian people for the fascist movement, and reflects the support of Italian youth for the leader. We are not fighting for personal power and interests, nor for the illusory democracy and freedom. We are fighting for Italy's prosperity and rise!

In the newspaper the day after the inaugural speech, Youth Daily conducted a random survey ingeniously, asking "Which comes first, national prosperity or personal freedom?" Statistics show that 95.4% of people choose national prosperity, among which 98.4% of young students think that national prosperity comes first. Even among the most free-spirited petty bourgeoisie, 92% of people think that "national prosperity comes first." This is of course a trick designed by Contini, which sets the country and the individual, prosperity and freedom against each other. No matter what people really think in their hearts, at least the superficial "political correctness" will not be wrong.

As if to prove the correctness of Youth Daily, Mussolini also took powerful steps. In order to eliminate people's impression of his "one-party dictatorship", he organized a mixed cabinet under the absolute leadership of fascism. He himself served as prime minister and concurrently as minister of foreign affairs and interior affairs. Among the ministers and deputy ministers of various ministries, there were 15 members of the Black Shirts, 3 nationalists, 3 right-wing liberals, 6 Catholics, and 3 social democrats. However, all important positions such as deputy prime minister, interior, foreign affairs, justice, and finance were held by members of the Black Shirts.

The Minister of the Army was held by former Army General Diaz, who supported the seizure of power, and the Minister of the Navy was held by former Navy Admiral Daonde Reville, who was pro-Black Shirts. After the cabinet was formed, Mussolini immediately posted a notice announcing the dissolution of the Black Shirts, and declared:

"... Our movement has won, and the leader now controls the state power, and both internal and foreign affairs are in the hands of one person. For the sake of peace, there are also members of other political parties in the new government cabinet - all politicians loyal to the country. Our party has the courage to advance and retreat, and has now won. In the future, we will devote all our energy to achieving national prosperity and striving for national interests!"

With this final statement, other rebuttals, doubts, and debates are unnecessary. Contini not only firmly sat on the position of the leader of Italian youth, but also had a great reputation in the entire political arena...