Government." (Grand Fascist Council, July 25, 1923.) The Con1mandant, General De' Bono, sends out .public telegran1s declaring his readiness "to kill" (whom? Italian citizens?) "for Fascism." (November 23, 1923.) Italy is the only civilised country in. which a party militia is kept under arms, and paid at the expense of the State, against another part of the citizens. XIIL-THE STATE ENSLAVED BY A PARTY. The Fascist Militia, paid out of the revenue of the State, has been substituted for a police force impartially recruited from among all the citizens, in violation of Article 24 of the Constitution, under which "all citizens are equally admissible to• civil and military posts.'' 1~he Grand Fascist Council has ta.ken the place of the Council of Ministers in disposing of the affairs of the nation. On October 9, 1923, the Executive of the Fascist party declared that any form of interference on the part of representatives of the party with the organs of the Government was prohibited ; but at the sam(! ti1ne it was continually calling for reports from Prefects of the Italian State. (for example, at Girgenti, Trapani, Pesaro, Grosseto, etc.), and giving them instructions or orders. 1 1 Here is one of the most curious of these orders. The Secretariat of the Fascist party sent to the Provincial Fascist Federations and the Prefects of the Kingdom the following circular: ''The Nati0nal Directory desires that virtually all the Fasci should resume their social duties towards the electoral system, so that there may be guaranteed to every current of opinion the right to express its own ideas and, by means of the vote, to express its wishes. In this way· the National Directory counts on providing an outlet (dare sfogo) for all the passions which hitherto have disturbed the internal unity of the various Fasci. ... It is not intended, however, that the meetings of the Fasci should be transformed into battlefields between rival Fascists. BibliotecaGino Bianco
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