To Young Workers on the Birthday of Rome
By Benito Mussolini
Comrades!
In the rough years of our movement, when Fascism was struggling to liberate the Italian people from the deluded Socialist, we chose April 21st, the anniversary of the founding of Rome, as the day to celebrate and exalt labour.
2,691 years have passed since the first stones were laid in the city square. The Romans of the First Empire were not only invincible warriors and unsurpassed legislators, they were also builders and formidable workers who endowed the countries they conquered with roads, bridges, aqueducts, thermal baths, basilicas, in addition to producing fruitful countrysides and illustrious cities.
The lands of three continents—Europe, Asia, Africa—still bear the eternal and innumerable vestiges of Rome. The Second Empire, our Empire, also wishes to be—and will be—an Empire of work in the name of peace, protected by our arms.
