154 THE RISE OF ITALIAN FASCISM
implacable warfare against the remains of their routed
adversaries.'
Mussolini, stung by the cheap gibes of those who had
profited by fascism, retorted that he had nothing to learn
from any of them, and as to his style c he did not pretend
to act the general, since his army refused obedience or
discipline. ... It was my intention,3 he specified, e my
definite intention, to have a peace pact ; hundreds offasci
would have nothing to do with it and said so clearly. It is
not I who am leaving ; it is these others who force me to leave,
because it is I personally who am disqualified by their vote '.
The Giornale d* Italia answered by setting out its pre-
occupations, or rather those of the landowners who
controlled it :
c We are not impatient for the development of the crisis
in fascism, on the contrary we have criticized Mussolini
for wanting to bring it on. In our view, as we have often
said, fascism has only a temporary function, but for
precisely this reason it must only be liquidated gradually,
when it becomes superfluous. We have spoken of lack of
style in connection both with Mussolini's resignation
and with the excessive haste he has shown lately, since
the beginning of the negotiations for peace. We, who are
to-day engaged in a controversy with Mussolini, agree
that he is right when he says that the anti-fascist front
must be broken, that fascism must not come into conflict
with the forces of the state, and that it is important to
reconcile public opinion to fascism. But this cleavage of
ideas must not lead to the liquidation of fascism at the
very moment that arditi del popolo are starting up in
various districts, and when the Turati socialists are
making unprecedented efforts to get their party into the
government, or anyhow to capture the government. It is
probable that at the approaching socialist congress the
collaborationist tendency will be defeated, and this will
be a good thing for Italy, for even a socialist puntarella in
the government would waken the state at this juncture.
There is also danger of a coalition of socialists with the
reformists, the social democrats, and perhaps the liberal