In late 1931, Gandhi accepted an invitation to visit Mussolini in Rome while the Mahatma was touring Europe.
The two men -- the Italian Fascist and the modest Indian ascetic -- got along extremely well and admired each other.
Among other things, Gandhi reviewed a black-shirted Fascist youth honor guard during his visit.
“Mussolini hailed Gandhi as a 'genius and a saint,' admiring ... [Gandhi's] ability to challenge the British Empire”.
Regarding his visit with Il Duce, Gandhi wrote in a letter to a friend: Mussolini is a riddle to me. Many of his reforms attract me. He seems to have done much for the peasant class. I admit an iron hand is there. But as violence is the basis of Western society, Mussolini's reforms deserve an impartial study.”
Gandhi's further stated: “[Mussolini's] care of the poor, his opposition to super-urbanization, his efforts to bring about coordination between capital and labor, seem to me to demand special attention ... My own fundamental objection is that these reforms are compulsory. But it is the same in all democratic institutions. What strikes me is that behind Mussolini's implacability is a desire to serve his people. Even behind his emphatic speeches there is a nucleus of sincerity and of passionate love for his people. It seems to me that the majority of the Italian people love the iron government of Mussolini.
Gandhi also hailed Mussolini “one of the great statesmen of our time.”
Mahatma's affection for Mussolini was echoed by many unlikely sources.
In the mid-1920s, Winston Churchill, who met Mussolini and was impressed by his sense of apparent order and efficiency in Fascist Italy, once gushed: “If I had been Italian, I am sure I would have been with you from the beginning.”
George Bernard Shaw, the famed Irish playwright and Socialist (and avowed enemy of Churchill) once declared: “Socialists should be delighted to find at last a Socialist [Mussolini] who speaks and thinks as responsible rulers do.”
From an Indian Nationalist perspective, Mussolini's Italy was viewed not only as bulwark against British imperialism, but it was widely admired for creating a strong, economically robust nation out of the wreckage of WWI and its resultant devastation.
Tarak Nath Das, an Indian revolutionary, wrote glowingly of Fascist Italy in 1931: “Italy, under the leadership of Signor Mussolini, is roused to its very depths of national consciousness. It feels that it has a mission of introducing a higher type of civilization. It had the urge of becoming a great power again ... Italy must be great through her national power, achieved through the authority of an 'ethical State' supported by national co-operation and solidarity.”
Das added: “Every Italian citizen must think first of his duty towards his self-development, [his concern for the] welfare of the state and society ... and [he must] make his or her supreme effort to attain the ideal. Class harmony must take the place of the ideal of class-war. So-called democracy must give way to the rule of the aristocracy of intellect. ... Some superficial and prejudiced observers of new Italy have spoken of 'Fascist tyranny' and condemned the Fascist regime.
It is clear that racism in fascism exists only in the propaganda of commuists; Fascism stands for liberty with responsibility and it is opposed to all forms of license. It gives precedence to Duty and Strength, as one finds in the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.
For more information visit the official website of MFL - PSN:
http://fascismoeliberta.info/
BOOKS ON FASCISM:
Benito Mussolini - The Birth of the New Democracy:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0857CGSPH/
What Italy owes to Mussolini:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086PPHRMV
Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera: The Foundations of the Spanish Phalanx:
https://www.amazon.com/Jose-Antonio-Primo-Rivera-Foundations/dp/1724155768/
