Quo Vadis, Duce?

Since Italian Fascism is the personification of youth and Benito Mussolini is the embodiment of Fascism, one of the embarrassments of Italy today is that Il Duce is growing old. Last week Dictator Mussolini was 56, but unlike his German comrade, Adolf Hitler, whose birthdays are celebrated with more splendor each year, Il Duce preferred not to have his mentioned.

Notwithstanding his reticence, however, there was quite a celebration for Signor Mussolini. He came down from his mountain retreat at Rocca della Caminate in Romagna, to Predappio, his birthplace in the valley below, where 10,000 peasants from all parts of Italy greeted him with gifts of wine, fruit, spaghetti, cheese, olive oil. He reviewed them, told them his spirit was "unchangeably rural." They in turn filed past the tomb of Alessandro and Rosa Maltoni Mussolini, Il Duce's parents, visited the house where Benito Mussolini was born and the blacksmith shop where his father worked.

While newspapers in Italy carried three-column headlines describing the ceremonies, not one journal mentioned the fact that Dictator Mussolini was born on July 29, 1883. Newspaper proprietors perhaps remembered the case of one enterprising journalist who found himself without a job after he had published a picture of Il Duce standing beside Italo Balbo, now Governor General of Libya. Governor Balbo looked years younger than Dictator Mussolini. Editors in Italy do not refer to Il Duce as a grandfather; they understand that the picture of Signor Mussolini slipping gracefully into old age is not for Fascist consumption. Featured instead is the fact that Il Duce pilots his own plane, rides horseback, swims, skis, can lead his militiamen in a half-mile trot or a goose step. The Dictator's hair is cut close to his head so that neither increasing greyness nor baldness is noticeable. His physical endurance is still greater than that of most of the younger Fascists of his entourage.

The Master's Voice. Whatever have been the shortcomings of Fascism, Benito Mussolini, in this 17th year of his regime, can still be said to be revered by the majority of his understanding Italian people. That his reputation for political infallibility has suffered, however, is no secret, nor is there the slightest difficulty in finding out why. The alliance with Germany has not set well with the Italian people.

Since the Axis treaty, Italians refer to Adolf Hitler as La Voce del Padrone ("The Master's Voice"), the Victor phonograph trademark whose secondary meaning is understood by everyone. Too many Gestapo men are around to mention the word "Hitler or "Adolf," but when Italians say "We were better off under our own padrone," the inference is that they believe Il Duce to have lost his hold on Italy and that the Fuehrer is really the boss.

Almost incredible, considering the enthusiasm of even a year ago, is the fact that few Italians listen over the radio when Il Duce speaks today. Equally incredible is the fact that "Viva Hitler! Viva Mussolini! Viva Ciano!" posters in Milan last spring were torn and defiled. The iron wedding rings, now worn instead of the golden rings given to the Government in the Ethiopian campaign, are disappearing. The cafes display patriotic posters asking people to drink a sort of near coffee, but not 1% follow the request. Well remembered is the fact that during the Ethiopian War Ethiopia was advertised as a land which would give Italy the coffee she needs.

But while experienced observers in Italy hear many articulate Italians asking "Quo Vadis, Duce?", they also report that the sense of fatalism is very strong. The intelligentsia feel that a crisis is at hand, that the economic and financial difficulties are growing worse daily, that the regime has to do something or collapse. If war comes, they will probably fight the way Benito Mussolini tells them to.

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