direct taxes. A new land valuation was carried out with a view to raising revenue from heavier taxes on land, but so far the agrarians have succeeded in preventing this. Giolitti's government had appointed a commission to inquire into war profits. Normally, such a commission would have reported to parliament, but Mussolini directed that it should report to him personally and threatened with six months' imprisonment anyone who should prematurely publish any details of the report. When the document was published with the official imprimatur, it had been discreetly castrated to avoid offence to that section of the bourgeoisie which profited most from war conditions, i.e., the steel magnates. As a final instance of the contrast between the vote catching programme and the reality, we may note the proposal to impose a tax on ecclesiastical property. This proposal was entirely dropped when the Fascists achieved power, and a pro-clerical policy was pursued. Religious teaching was re-established in the schools—a most reactionary policy in a country where the church is so potent a weapon in the hands of the possessing classes. Next to omitting to exhibit a picture of Mussolini in the school, the most serious offence a teacher can commit is to neglect to hang up a crucifix.
The anti-militarist talk of the early Fascists soon ceased. The record of the Fascist Government is one of extensive additions to all the fighting arms. The period of obligatory military service has been raised from eight to eighteen months, thus increasing the standing army from 230,000 to 350,000 men. A big forward policy was pursued in laying in extensive Stores of arms and ammunition. The navy was increased and many new flying machines built. The whole fighting machine was developed and Strengthened at very heavy cost.
But more remarkable even than these military preparations was the policy of the government in regard to the Fascist militia. When the Fascists had attained control of the State, their own armed forces, the black shirt squadrons, were Still in being, and their disposal became a matter of no small difficulty. The thousands of young men who had been absorbed into the ranks found life there by no means unpleasant. They were paid and maintained on a generous scale. They had become accustomed to their work, which no longer disgusted even the most squeamish of them: the danger of the occupation was slight, since their numbers, their organisation and their weapons were markedly superior to those of their working-class opponents.
Many of these young men had never followed any regular employment, or had lost, in the course of their military service, all aptitude for useful work. In these circumstances, to have disbanded the Fascist squadrons would have been to throw on to the labour market
