To the People of Cagliari
By Benito Mussolini
Citizens! Black shirts! Chivalrous people of Cagliari! Of late I have visited several towns, including those which belong to the place where I was born. Well! I wish to tell you, and this is the truth, that no town accorded me the welcome you gave me to-day. I knew that the town of Cagliari was peopled by men of strong passions, I knew that an ardent spirit of regeneration throbbed in your hearts. The cheers with which you welcomed me, the crowd crammed into the Roman amphitheatre, all this tells me that here Fascism has deep roots. I thank you, therefore, Citizens, from the depth of my heart.
I have come to Sardinia not only to know your land, as forty-eight hours would not be enough for that purpose, and still less would they be enough to examine closely your needs. I know them; statesmen have known them for the last fifty years. Those needs are already before the nation, and if up to to-day they have not yet been solved, this is due to the fact that Rome was lacking that iron will for regeneration which is the pivot, the essence of the Fascist Government's faith in the future of our country. (Applause.)
Passing through your land, I have found here a living, throbbing limb of the mother country. Truly this island of yours is the western bulwark of the nation; is like a heart of Rome set in the midst of our sea.
Some of your mountain chains remind me of the foothills of Como; certain plains resemble those of the Po Valley; but above all I have seen in the crowds that have gathered around our banners the beautiful buds of the Italian race, immortal in time and space. (Applause.)
... I believe, and I say this here in your presence, I believe that few regions of Italy can compete with you in terms of love for the Fatherland. (Applause.)
... Amongst all the impressions I have received in coming here, one has struck my absolutely intransigent Fascist heart. I was told that Sardinia, for special local reasons, was refractory to Fascism. Here, too, there was another misunderstanding. But from to-day the cohorts and the legions, the thousands of strong Black shirts, the syndicates, the fasci, the whole youth of this island is there to show that Fascism, representing an irresistible movement for the regeneration of the race, was bound to carry with it this island where the Italian race is manifested so superbly. (Applause.)
I salute you, Black shirts! We saw each other in Rome and the groups coming from Sardinia were cheered in the capital. You bear in your hearts the faith which at a given moment drove thousands and thousands of Fascists from all the cities, from all the villages of Italy, to Rome. (Applause.)
Nobody can ever dream of wrenching from us the fruit of victory that we have paid for by so much blood generously shed by youths who offered their lives in order to crush Italian Bolshevism. Thousands and thousands of those who suffered martyrdom in the trenches, who have resumed the struggle after the war was over, who have won—all those have ploughed a furrow between the Italy of yesterday, of today and of tomorrow.
Citizens of Cagliari! You must certainly play a part in this great drama. You, undoubtedly, wish to live the life of our great national community, of this our beloved Italy, of this adorable mother who is our dream, our hope, our faith, our conviction, because men pass away, maybe Governments, too, but Italy lives and will never die! (Loud applause.)
Today I have visited the marvellous works of the artificial Lake Tirso. They are not only a glory to Sardinia, they represent a masterpiece of which the whole nation may be proud.
After this speech of mine, which was meant to be an act of devotion, a bond of union between us, let us salute each other by shouting: Long live the King! Long live Italy! Long live Fascism!
