If Admiral Millo's rebellion had been published in the press of November
16th, it is most likely that 250, instead of 160, Socialists would have
been successful at the General Election--an election which Signor
Nitti, that very able parliamentarian, had brought about for the
purpose, amongst other things, of testing the forces and popularity of
the Nationalist party. The old Chamber had--voicing the wishes of the
people--voted for the open annexation of Rieka, without war or violence;
the Nationalists, in order to gain their ends, would seemingly have
stopped at nothing. Military adventures, the breaking of alliances,
agrarian and industrial upheaval--it was all the same to them. They
scoffed at the common sense of the imperturbable Nitti when he said that
the Italians, like their Roman ancestors, must return to the plough.
Furiously they harped upon the facts that bread was dearer now, that
coal was nearly unprocurable. And Giolitti, who in 1915 had strenuously
tried to keep the country neutral, said in a great speech before this
1919 election that the War had been waged between England and Germany
for the supremacy of the survivor and that Italy should never have
participated. He enlarged upon the fearful sufferings of his countrymen,
and he compared the gains of Italy with those of her Allies. Nor was he
deterred when Signor Salandra, the former Premier, called him Italy's
evil spirit who, devoid of any patriotism, would have sold the
Fatherland to the Central Powers for a mess of pottage. Giolitti, on
whom 300 deputies had left their cards in the tragic hours before the
declaration of war, had good reason to know that even if Giolittism had
melted away, the House had secretly remained Giolittian.
A new electoral system was introduced, whereby the people voted for
programmes and parties rather than directly for individual candidates.
This, it was hoped, would render corruption more difficult by enclosing
the individual within the framework of the list, and it was also hoped
that there would be less violence than usual. As a matter of fact there
probably was a diminution with respect to these two practices, but only
because of the large number of abstentions--merely 29 per cent. voted in
Rome, 38 per cent. in Naples, and in Turin scarcely more. The people
were tired of the excessive complexity and dissimulation of Italian
politics. There was a good deal of violence--in Milan, Florence, Bologna
and Sicily the riots were sometimes fatal--and with such an electorate,
more extensive than heretofore, so that symbols had often to be used
instead of the printed word, it was to be expected that there would not
be an atmosphere of even relatively calm discussion. At Naples 132
candidates struggled for eleven seats--their meetings were
indescribable. And it may be thought that in such conditions the
victorious parties would not necessarily reflect the wishes of the
country. The Nationalists were dispersed, the Giolittians were
routed--the Socialists increased from 40 to 156, and the Catholics from
30 to 101. Gabriele d'Annunzio had been the Socialists' chief elector.