Star Turn

Benito Mussolini, indefatigable Premier of Italy, did his star turn again. Having secured a vote of confidence on his foreign policy from the Deputies (TIME, Nov. 24), another on his domestic policy (TIME, Dec. 1), having told the Fascisti that there must henceforward be "silent work, perfect discipline, and no individual or collective violence," and having received the taciturn acceptance of his commands in the spirit of "disciplined silence," Benito went to the Senate.

Of late, Benito has been a milk-and-water politician, giving the minimum of offense and overlooking much abuse. In the Senate, however, he became himself, fire-eating, bellicose, pugnacious. He had come to obtain a vote of confidence and bluntly he told the Senators: "If you have confidence in me, say so; if you have not, vote against me and I will bow and go."

But it was clear that Benito meant that he would only quit the Senate and not the Premiership. He let it be known, by an attack on Senator Albertini, Editor of the Corriere della Sera (a Milanese paper which recently reached a daily circulation of one million copies), his bitterest enemy, that he would be uninfluenced by a noisy minority opposition. Affirmed he: "It has been said that I wish to remain in power at all costs. That is not true. I have always bowed to his Majesty the King's powers. If, at the end of this sitting, the King were to tell me to go, I would spring to attention, salute him militarily and go. This I would do if his Majestiy Vittorio Emanuele of

Savoy should tell me to. But when 'his majesty the Corriere della Sera' tells me, then I say 'No.'" With his head thrown back defiantly, his white face in startling contrast to his flashing eyes, he declared: "Don't be led astray by the idea that Fascismo is approaching its end. We may pass through a crisis, we may have some dark moments, but a party like the Fascist Party, which has such a wonderful history of vitality and pugnaciousness, cannot die. If you think it can, you are wrong, and history will prove it to you." Then, with a change of tone -- a tone of kindly exhortation instead of domineering challenge -- the Premier enunciated his peroration: "The hour is grave, and you know it. But you will be equal to the gravity of this moment, because your minds are illuminated by the thought of the King and of the destinies of our country, now and in the future." The Senate showed confidence in the Premier by 206 to 54 votes. Thirty-five Senators abstained from voting.