At the Inauguration of a Plaque in Memory of Guglielmo Oberdan
By Benito Mussolini
Citizens of Livorno!
You have longly and faithfully awaited me. On the third occasion I did not let you down. I do not know if my oratory will attract you; you can be certain, however, that I will tell you things I have long meditated upon...
I am pleased to be here at this ceremony. But do not expect a biographical speech about Guglielmo Oberdan. You already know this martyr and know his life in all its details. What I can do is illustrate the symbol that he represents and that he fulfilled with his victory.
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It's not necessary to tell you my emotion in going to Italian Trieste to visit the place where Oberdan left his life in the gallows—a deeply Austrian institution.
It is painful to think that there are some who oppose the Italianity of Trieste by placing before us a primitive people who have almost no history.
If we are challenged at the peace conference, then not only will the living rise up in Italy, but so will the dead.
I think back to the Carso, to our Carso, which we will encircle with cypresses and which will never remain deserted, because it is populated by all the martyrs of Italian civilization. (Very loud applause).
We must not allow any adulteration or contamination of our victory, which has been achieved by so much blood and with so much torment.
I pride myself in having taken this idle Italy by the hair—together with my friends—and to have told her: "March forward, because if you do not march forward, you will stand between death and shame for many centuries". (Very loud applause).
Those who had the privilege and the pride of having lived the war, as I have lived it, can not speak of the war except in a religious way.
Today we find that we were very right when we were campaigning for voluntary intervention in Italy.
An example of a people who chose their own path as voluntarily as ours has no comparable basis in history. We rose up again after a great setback. ... Our national goals have been fully achieved. It is time to aim our revolver against the policy of Italian imperialism; but when we ask for Trento, Trieste, Alto Adige and Zara, we are not asking for anything except that which belongs to us by right.
Those who deny us this right should look at the destruction done by the enemy in Veneto. Invasions never again! And for this reason we must draw the border at our natural gate, to prevent anyone from marching on Italy's fertile plains. These tribes jealously covet our sky and our sea, and precisely for this reason we have the duty to block the doors of our house, and afterwards, if necessary, we will sign pacts of friendship with them.
In Milan I explained clearly what was meant by the League of Nations, and I said that it could not be the substitute for victory. I do not exclude that the world of tomorrow will be composed of a free association of peoples united in friendship. But men who have limited life must persuade themselves that it is useless to want to build on eternity, and keeping well in our doctrinal baggage the ideal of the League of Nations, we must guarantee ourselves against the dangers of the future and of these Slavic peoples whose chains we have broken. (Applause).
Even if it were possible to come to agree, we still do not know what they will want. Perhaps they would also want Venice, because there is a Riva degli Schiavoni (laughter), or Milan because there was a Slavic king.
In Trieste we have allowed a Slovenian newspaper to continue publishing. This is the proof of our liberal thought; now it is time to look at freedom as it presents itself.
Out of 50,000 Italian inhabitants of Fiume, 45,000 have already presented themselves; it is the typical case of a people who, according to Wilson's criteria, can determine their own destiny.
We were at war against Prussian militarism, which now is in ruins. We must approach the German Republic with great caution; just because it is a republic does not mean it is pacifist. Bolshevism is a purely Slavic phenomenon; the historical climate of our Western civilization absolutely rejects Bolshevik intrigues.
Germany's collapse was provoked by Foch's army; and it was the Italian army which threatened Bavaria that determined the collapse.
Socialism in Germany marked the goose step behind the Kaiser. (Very loud applause).
I now call your attention to the internal ends of the war. All those who represent the people more or less authoritatively launch this slogan: "renewal!".
The program of the largest but most powerless Party has launched this program: "Dictatorship of the proletariat!". This dictatorship would be exercised by a few people who have never been proletarians. And you think that we, who have fought all dictatorships, will want to submit to this? We are for freedom against all dictatorships, even more so we are against a dictatorship of those who are nothing but parasites of the working class! (Very loud applause). It is time to realize these truths, and analyze what certain doctrinaires are claiming, and we will find that we are faced with a triple or quadruple lie equal to all lies! (Loud applause).
They divided the world into two camps: the bourgeoisie on the one hand, and the proletariat on the other. Reality is not like this: the world can not be divided in slices, like an orange; there is a plot, a nuance of responsibility that goes beyond such a sharp division.
I am a worker, I want labor to be redeemed from the two attributes that have persecuted it: fatigue and misery.
All I do is a matter of humanity: all men have the right to live free, to live well, and for that reason I say to the workers: "Beware of those who present you with these supreme programs, because they are nothing but losers of history".
I'm doing a dirty job: reading eighteen pamphlets containing the speeches of Socialist deputies. It is a very boring read, especially those godly speeches by Mr. Modigliani. (Laughter and applause).
The truths that were upheld as absolute and divinely-revealed, have failed today. We who have soaked our lives in the trenches, we who have seen our brothers die, we tell you: "Back off, jackals! If the war was ours, peace must also be ours". (Very loud applause). We who wanted the war will resume the fight. Life is all a struggle; the only peace is in cemeteries! We will have to carry out a vast work of renewal. But we must see where we start from and how; as long as peace is not signed, then it is necessary for Italy to be peaceful and concordant!
What is this assault on the coffers of the State? What is the State? The State is neither Mr. Fera nor the other ministers. We are the State. When the State is prosperous and peaceful, there will be wealth and satisfaction for all. There remains the question of how. Until all our brothers have returned, we can not proceed with major renovations. If the ruling classes then close the door in the faces of the combatants, we would respond by channeling these masses, letting them do an about-face inside, and then I guarantee that all that remains of old Italy in a short time would be gone for forever. We have bled, we have suffered, while others laughed and ran away. Fortunately, the Italian people have nothing to do with them: they are bigger, more noble, more just.
I heard a farmer in a trench who said: "All that I do is necessary. I am the pioneer of a great work!" This was the thought and action of the people, while here there was a mob left to do things that were not always clean and dignified!
We will say: "Combatants who return, Italy is yours, it belongs to the new aristocracy of the trenches! Those who refused to fight were cowards and are not worthy to rule it! We will entrust Italy to the Italian people who in a year's time had the greatest defeat and the greatest victory."
Who are the ones who want to deny the march of this people? Where are those who want to stop the march of the battalions coming from the trenches?
When Italy is free and hard at work, then we will have fulfilled our vow, then we will be able to commemorate our martyrs, our dead, to meet the mourning mothers, and say: All this was not in vain, as the jackals said, as the priests said. There is a bit more justice in the masses, there is a bit more freedom for the world.
(A great ovation greets the prolific orator, who spoke with sincerity, with faith, with true love for the Fatherland and for the people who made it great.)
