THE MARCH ON ROME
were the fanatically conservative Sarocchi and Belotti
Senator Albertini and various nationalists. A proposal to
call the party * liberal-democratic ' was crushed by 45,426
to 21,091. The congress was definitely hostile to collabora-
tion with the socialists, and the Giornale d'Italia commented
as follows on the results : ' The Liberal Congress of Bologna
has declared for the pure party tradition and decided to
steer firmly to the right. ... By rejecting the adjective
" democratic" it clearly wished to indicate that the
association of liberalism with democracy is to cease.5
Grandi, though he reproved the congress for not having
made quite clear how liberalism stood in relation to fascism
remarked : * Once more it was really Mussolini who
presided over the Liberal Congress. The right wing had
its way over the question of the name to be given to the
party ; the word ££ democracy53 is the bete noire of fascism,
and it was thought that its rejection would please the
fascists.5
In these circumstances it is hardly surprising that the
attempt, revived in August, to build up a great democratic
party should have been doomed to failure. The earlier
'democratic coalition' of autumn 1921 had broken up
early in June I922.1 The new attempt was faced with all
the difficulties that had wrecked the old one, in an aggravated
form. Rivalry between Nitti and Giolitti was as before,
while most of the politicians of the centre had succumbed
either to fear of fascism or to the desire to come to terms with
it. The members of the c democratic ' groups had planned
a great campaign of meetings to introduce to the country
the new political party, which was going to play the part
of mediator between the extremes of right and left. Signori
Cocco-Qrtu, Bonomi, De Nicola, Orlando, and even. Giolitti
and Nitti were to speak. But the scheme of amalgamation
broke down, even in the form of a federation of the various
parties. Cocco-Ortu was to have made the first speech of
the series at Naples, at a conference of the southern deputies,
but he cried off on the grounds that c very few democratic
deputies have agreed to support the plan *. Later on, in
September, Giolitti delivered the coup de grace by expressing
1 p. 202.