Page:L. W. - Fascism, Its History and Significance (1924).pdf/24

 22 the ranks of Fascism were swelled by recruits from many sections of society.

By this time a state of civil war was in exigence. Fighting between Fascists and Socialists, burning of socialist buildings and all the accompaniments of warfare, were constant occurrences. The Fascists were rapidly building their organisation firmly as a basis of the seizure of power. By the end of October, 1922, The Times could say of their Party: "A couple of years ago they did not exist. Now they are supreme. They have a real army of their own, armed, admirably disciplined, and full of daring and impatience. They command the enthusiastic adhesion of the National Army, of the Navy, and of the bureaucracy, or at least of a very large proportion of them. They have so terrorised the Press by threats to burn newspaper offices and destroy the machinery, that the Italian people themselves know but little of their misdeeds, their insolence, and their cruelty in a great part of northern Italy. Thousands have been driven from their homes and dare not return. Mayors, prefects, officials of all sorts, are forced to resign at their bidding. Magistrates who have dared to punish Fascisti, however inadequately, for grave crimes, have been seized and beaten. The tyranny of the organisation is complete, and it is a brutal and intolerant tyranny."

With such forces at their command, and a debased and corrupted proletariat as their only opposition, the Fascists found the road open before them as they marched on Rome to seize power. The proper forms of constitutional opposition were maintained by the Government of Facta, who declared a State of siege. But the King, ever careful of his own position, sided with the big battalions of Mussolini and refused to sign the declaration. The Government fell, and Mussolini came into power on November 1st, 1922.

НЕ rise of the Fascist Party was a triumph of political organisation, and the efforts of its leaders to achieve the ends for which they Stand have been remarkable for their intensity and skill. It is true enough that Fascism has no intellectual content, no theoretical basis, that its political arguments carry no conviction to a reasonably intelligent critic and that its programme fluctuates in a chaos of contradictions. But these facts do not in the least alter the value of Fascism as a weapon in the hands of the industrial bourgeoisie. Mussolini's political tactic may be summed up as one of dividing his opposition and setting section against section. He carefully distributes concessions to the