By Benito Mussolini
Comrades!
You understand it is not an accident that I chose this day to convene a meeting with the provincial hierarchy of the Party in Rome. It is a day of victory for Fascist Italy, and of defeat for the corporate coalition of 52 states which assailed us.
November 18, 1935 appears as a decisive date in the history of Europe. It is the first and last tentative assault launched in grand style by the old world, represented by its ferocious egoism and by its outdated ideologies; launched by the League of Nations against the new European forces and revolutionary youth, represented by Italy and Germany.
From that day forward began the separation, the antithesis, the struggle that was, after the compromises of Munich, accepted by the democracies only to buy time, to culminate in the war declared by France and Britain against Germany.
We must never forget that the instigation of this war started in London, followed a few hours later by Paris. I solemnly affirm, without any fear of being contradicted today or at any other time, that the responsibility for the war falls exclusively on Great Britain.
Peace could have been preserved if Britain had agreed to a constructive revision of treaties, instead of initiating—with the supine complicity of France—its policy of encirclement against Germany, which they have done not for the purpose of leaving the most German city of Danzig to the Poles, but for the purpose of overthrowing German political and military power. Peace could have been preserved if England had not rejected all attempts to move closer to Germany, which had gone so far as to sign a naval pact which placed itself in a situation of clear and permanent inferiority. Peace could have also been preserved in the last hours of August 1939 if England—under pressure from the Polish Ambassador who went to the Foreign Office at 11 pm on September 1—had not advanced an absolutely unacceptable condition for joining the conference proposed by Italy, an unacceptable condition because it would have been humiliating, namely that the German troops already on the march should not only stop but retreat back to their lines of departure.
What happened in the following months is something we all have experienced, so it is superfluous to recall it.
Never in the history of mankind has there ever been such a colossal wave of mystification and lies like the one unleashed by the government and media organs of Great Britain during the campaigns in Poland, Norway, Belgium and Holland, which ended with the defeat of the British army and the French army. Moreover, the defeat of the French army was unprecedented due to its immense size and due to the almost unthinkable rapidity in which it was defeated. If the practice of lying is the most suitable system for stupefying a people and hardening their spirits, then one can safely say that the people of Great Britain have reached an indisputable and unsurpassable record. France stumbled, but it was still far from defeated when Italy—in order to remain loyal to the letter and spirit of the Alliance and to finally break the bars of her prison in her own sea—entered the war on June 10, and no one in the world could have foreseen that the French army, celebrated as the strongest in all of Europe, would be so quickly liquefied like snow under the sun. After two weeks France signed an armistice and stopped fighting, although they were forced to resume fighting a couple times in order to defend themselves from attacks by their former English ally in places like Oran and Dakar.
Five months have passed since June 10, and we are seriously waging war on distant and multiple fronts, on land, at sea, in the air, in Europe and in Africa.
I wish to send a salute full of admiration to the Italians who at this moment have the privilege of taking up arms.
On the Alpine and African fronts the Army has demonstrated its toughness, as we wanted. The English were totally defeated in British Somalia. Just as at Dunkirk, so at Berbera the English escaped and avenged themselves by reproaching us for having committed an irreparable strategic error by beating them. The armed forces of the African Empire—an empire that must have escaped the enemy's foresight—have everywhere taken the initiative and the English attempts at internal incitement have pitifully failed.
We were also on the attack in Libya, and the rapid occupation of Sidi el Barrani must not be considered a conclusion, but a prelude.
The acts of valour made by officers and by soldiers of the Italian Army on the front lines are such as to make the Nation legitimately proud.
The officers and crews of the Navy silently and often heroically perform their duty in the many seas and oceans in which they are engaged—from the Indian to the Atlantic. They obey strict orders, and tough blows were inflicted against the enemy's fleet. The Navy protects our Mediterranean and Adriatic communication lines so effectively that the enemy fleet has not been able to interrupt them or even disturb them.
The Italian Air Force is always—and now more than ever—up to its task. It has dominated and still dominates the skies. Its bombers fly to the most distant destinations, its fighters make life very difficult for enemy fighters. The men are truly men of our time: they are characterized by calm intrepidity.
As for vehicles, they are being produced four times faster per month than before the war. Soon, with the mass construction of our new models, we will perhaps be at the forefront, but certainly on par with the more modern vehicles of the other countries.
Besides the Armed Forces, let me praise the discipline, the sense of duty, and the imperturbable firmness of the Italian people. They tranquilly accept the privations that result from the state of war—privations which are still tolerable, but which may subsequently become more serious—and, guided by their millennial political intuition, feel that this is a decisive war; it is like the third Punic war that must end and will end with the annihilation of the modern Carthage: England.
A strong people like the Italian does not fear the truth, but demands it.
That is why our war bulletins are documentations of truth. We report both victories and losses; our feats and the enemy's feats; favourable days and days where little or nothing happened. We publish the losses of men and supplies on a monthly basis.
I would feel uncomfortable before the people and before myself if I adopted any other method, such as covering up or sugar-coating the reality, whether it be good or bad. To do so would be equivalent to brainwashing and humiliating the people. That is something I will never do.
I have already prescribed in the most categorical manner to the military commanders on the front and to the civil authorities at home not to send any news to Rome—news which is intended for dissemination—unless it has been strictly and personally verified.
In this regard, I want to mention that shouts of joy were heard in the House of Commons when Churchill finally was able to report some good news: namely the action carried out in the port of Taranto by English torpedoes. Indeed, three ships have been hit, but none have been sunk and only one of them—as reported by the bulletin of our armed forces—has been seriously damaged and its recovery will take a long time. According to the unanimous opinion of the technicians, the other two vessels will be promptly restored to their original efficiency. It is false—I repeat, false—that two other warships and two auxiliary ships were sunk or hit or even slightly damaged in any way.
It is a sign of bad conscience that he magnifies and multiplies by six a success that we ourselves were the first to acknowledge. In order to provide a complete picture, Mr. Churchill could have honourably informed his audience about the fate of HMS Liverpool, HMS Kent and the other large vessels recently torpedoed in the central Mediterranean and in the port of Alexandria by Italian submarines and torpedo aircraft.
Our entry into the war has shown that the Axis was not and is not an empty word. From June to today our collaboration with Germany is truly comradely and totalitarian. We march side by side.
This union of two peoples becomes ever more intimate and extends to all fields of military, economic, political and spiritual activity. The identity of views regarding the present and the future is perfect.
My meetings with the Führer are but the consecration of this complete fusion of our conceptions. When I meet the Führer I see in him not only the Chief creator of Greater Germany, the commander of armies who has seen his brilliant strategic conceptions—sometimes considered more reckless than daring—confirmed by victory, but also—and I would like to say in particular—the instigator of the National Socialist movement, the revolutionary who has awakened the German people, which has made him the protagonist of a new conception of the world greatly similar to that of Italian Fascism.
The identity of views is the result of this revolutionary premise; it stems from the meeting of two Revolutions that are just beginning their journey in the international and social fields.
Everything concerning the developments of the Tripartite Pact in the West or in the Danube Basin is followed by mutual agreement; likewise with regard to the future position of France.
It is now clear that the Axis did not want to make a peace of reprisal or rancor, but it is also understood that certain demands must be met.
These demands, which are more than legitimate, could have been the object of discussion long before the war if those ridiculous and tragic men had not imposed their "jamais".
When they began to reconsider, it was too late. Italy had already chosen its path since May 1939. The die was cast. But precisely because of their legitimacy, our demands must be accepted without compromise or provisional solutions, which we categorically reject from this moment on.
Only after this total clarification will it be possible—in the orbit of the new Europe which will be created by the Axis—to start a new chapter in the history of relations between Italy and France, which have become so agitated.
It is superfluous to confirm that, just like the armistice, peace will be shared; that is to say, it will be an Axis peace. To consecrate the fraternity of Italo-German arms I asked and obtained from the Führer direct participation in the battle against Great Britain with airplanes and submarines.
I hasten to add that Germany did not need our contribution in that arena. The valor of her fighters on land, sea and air, her industrial power, her organizational and technical ability, and the efficiency of her workforce are all well-known facts. The German production numbers for airplanes and submarines are truly exceptional and in continuous progress. Nevertheless I am grateful to the Führer for accepting my offer: nothing more strongly solidifies the relations between peoples than spilling common blood and enduring shared sacrifice, especially when they are animated by absolute loyalty and by shared interests and ideals.
I am certain that our pilots and our submariners will honour our flag.
After a long period of patience we finally tore the mask off a country "guaranteed" by Great Britain, a subtle enemy: Greece. It was an account which needed to be settled.
One thing must be said, and perhaps this will surprise certain outdated Italian classicists. The Greeks hate Italy like no other people. It is a hatred which at first glance appears inexplicable, but it is general and deep-rooted in all the classes, in the cities, in the villages, high and low, everywhere. The reason why is a mystery.
Perhaps because Santorre Santarosa left his native Piedmont to go die selflessly and heroically for Greece at Sphacteria? Perhaps because the garibaldian from Forli, Antonio Fratti, repeated the same gesture of sublime ingenuity seventy years later, falling at Domokos? There are questions, but these facts remain.
It is on this hatred, which can be defined as grotesque, that Greek politics has been based upon in recent years; a policy of absolute complicity with Great Britain. Nor could it be otherwise, given that the King of Greece is English, the political class is English, and the bourse — in both the figurative and literal sense — is also English.
This complicity, which manifested itself in many ways, and which in time will be irrefutably documented, was a continuous act of hostility against Italy.
The papers found by the German General Staff in France, at Vitry-la-Charité, demonstrates that since May Greece had offered to the Franco-British forces all its air and naval bases. It was necessary to put an end to this situation. It is for this reason that our troops crossed the Greco-Albanian border on October 28.
The rugged mountains of Epirus and their muddy valleys do not lend themselves to "lightning war", as certain incorrigible armchair warriors would pretend.
No act or word of me or my Government, nor of any other responsible factor, could have foreseen what happened there.
I do not believe it worthwhile to refute all the fake news reported by Greek propaganda and by their English mouthpieces.
The Alpine Division Julia, which supposedly had "huge losses", which supposedly "ran away", and which the Greeks supposedly "pulverized", was visited by General Soddu who telegraphed me on November 12:
"This morning I went to visit the Alpine Division Julia. I must inform you, Duce, of the magnificent impression given by this superb unit, proud and steadfast more than ever in its alpine granite."Is there anyone among you, dear comrades, who remembers the unpublished speech in Eboli, pronounced in July 1935, prior to the Ethiopian war? I said we would break the kidneys of the Negus. Now, with the same absolute certainty—I repeat, absolute certainty—I tell you that we will break the kidneys of Greece. It does not matter if it happens in two months or in twelve months. The war has only just begun. We have enough men and means to destroy all Greek resistance. British help can not prevent the fulfillment of our firm resolve, nor can it prevent the Hellenes from the catastrophe which they desired and which have proven they deserve.
Those who think or doubt otherwise do not know me. Once something is started, I do not give up until the end. I have already demonstrated it, and whatever happens, happened or may happen, I will demonstrate it again. The 372 casualties, the 1081 injured, and the 650 missing during the first ten days of combat on the Epirus front will be avenged.
Comrades!
In this historical hour, this truly solemn hour, which aligns the continents in contrast and in waiting, the Party, the defender and the continuer of the Revolution, must intensify all forms of its activity to the utmost.
At the outbreak of the war a certain slowdown in the activity of the Party occurred due to the objective fact of the departure of all the hierarchs. Not anymore.
There is not and never will be a general mobilization. The classes mentioned are two. And there are still about thirty available.
We have one million men at arms; if necessary, we can call another eight.
Under these conditions the Party must resume its function with unaltered increasing stringency, valiantly engaging its battle on the home front, on the political, economic and spiritual level.
The Party must free itself and free the Nation from the remnants of this burdensome petty-bourgeois, and by this we mean it in the broadest sense that we give to this term. The Party must maintain and accentuate the climate of hard times, become closer to the people, protecting their moral health and material existence.
Certain pacifism of a cerebraloid and universalistic nature must be carefully monitored and fought. It is outdated, especially in this era of iron and cannons. Nothing else exists nor can exist outside of our supreme war aims.
The Germans and Italians form a bloc of 150 million resolute, compact and determined men, from Norway to Libya, in the heart of Europe. This block already has victory in its hands.
