In 1935 the fascist Italy of Benito Mussolini's attacked Ethiopia, an independent state and a member of the League of Nations, and turned it into a colony. Monsignor Domenico Tardini, undersecretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastic Affairs of Roman Curia, wrote some notes on this colonial war, meant for his talks with Pope Pius XI. Tardini was in favor of Italian colonialism, which he considered a right and a need, to give relief to the overpopulation of Italy. In spite of this, the way in which Mussolini managed the crisis led him to write very harsh words against the Duce, identified as a possible cause of the ruin of Italy. On this point the future proved him right.
The damage made by Fascism is increasingly
evident. Actually, Fascism:
1. created a muddle between fascist
party, Italy, Duce. Conclusion: a whim of the Duce turns into
the ruin of Italy;
2. destroyed any freedom of action
and discussion. Conclusion: the Italians are now a population
of sheep that run where the shepherd, with his staff, takes them;
3. brought up the generations
to violence. Conclusion: all are heroes, ready to come to blows,
being sure that the only thing the others can do is ... to take
blows;
4.
in foreign policy followed a line made of rash acts, rudeness,
clashes, threats, bullying. Conclusion: it caused the whole world
to be against Fascism;
5. pre-announced, preconized,
proclaimed an Empire. Conclusion: it's wearing itself out in a
colonial war, hard and expensive, which will have only two goals:
to waste money and conquer inhospitable lands;
6. shouted to the four winds
the strength, the greatness, the wealth of Italy. Conclusion:
today a people of beggars give themselves airs of ... Sardanapalus,
a weak and poorly evolved population gives itself the air of the
greatest people of the earth;
7. deified the Duce, making everyone
bow to this Deity. Conclusion: there is no longer political life,
there is no longer any possibility of preparing new energies for
the inevitable needs of tomorrow;
8. demanded, imposed on everyone
the most absolute and uncompromising docility. Conclusion: at
this point there is nothing more than a rabble of slaves, always
ready to say yes, to clap their hands, saturated ... with enthusiasm;
9. centralized all powers, all
means, all ages in the hands and in the organizations of the State.
Conclusion: the Church can no longer count on a huge number of
souls who are taken by the demon of Nationalism and who believe
more in Mussolini than in the Pope;
10. created a tangle of laws,
customs, associations that put everything and every person at
the mercy of the State. Conclusion: Communism would find the laws
ready tomorrow. It would only have to apply them, with another
name, with another spirit, but with the same autocratic tendency,
destructive of individual energies.
Text taken from: CECI Lucia. Il Fascismo manda l'Italia in rovina». Le note inedite di monsignor Domenico Tardini (23 settembre - 13 dicembre 1935). Excerpt from Rivista Storica Italiana 1/2008 Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, Napoli 2008. pag. 343-344. Downloaded from Accademia.edu link
page
created: December
15th, 2019 and last updated: December 15th, 2019