Il Piccolo
- The First Session of the Grand Council
- The von Seeckt Case in Germany
- Bulgaria and the Neighbouring States
Il Piccolo of Trieste reported on 8 October 1926 that the Fascist Grand Council had opened its October session in Rome at 10 p.m. the evening before. The report listed those present, from party secretary Turati and the quadrumvirs Balbo and Bianchi to all the ministers and the Militia's representative, and said the sitting, which heard a detailed report on the provinces, would resume the next night. Alongside it ran General Prince Gonzaga's farewell order to the Militia legions, announcing that the Duce would personally take effective command. A Berlin dispatch described the indignant right-wing German press blaming the Republic for General von Seeckt's resignation over a former imperial prince's military training, and a Rome item began reporting Bulgarian Foreign Minister Buroff's statements to the press. A stray fragment at the top argued that Italy was right to look to the Mediterranean. Only the opening line of the Buroff item could be read.
Translation
The First Session of the Grand Council
of reality, and it is right that he should look to the Mediterranean and seek to increase Italian influence wherever it could legitimately be extended. Italy's attitude is all the more logical in that
The first session of the
The command of the Militia to
ROME, 7 — At 10 p.m. the first sitting of the October session of the Fascist Grand Council began. Present were: the secretary general of the Party, Hon. Turati; the deputy secretaries Hon. Arpinati, Ricci, Starace, Comm. Melchiori and Dr. Bonelli; the members of the Directorate Hon. Blanc and Maraviglia and Comm. Marghinotti; the administrative secretary general of the Party, Comm. Marinelli; the secretary of the Grand Council, Hon. Giunta; and the quadrumvirs of the March on Rome, Hon. Balbo and Hon. Bianchi. Also present were all the ministers; General Bazan, representing the General Command of the Militia; the secretary general of the Fasci Abroad, Hon. Bastianini; the president of the Confederation of Fascist Corporations, Hon. [?]; the president of the Con-
The von Seeckt Case in Germany
Italiana, Trieste, Piazza Carlo Goldoni 1, Telephone 801. New Series – No. 2131
The von Seeckt case in Germany
Loud outcry from the right-wing press
BERLIN, 7 — No better argument could have presented itself to the right-wing papers for laying the blame on the Republic for the more or less spontaneous resignation on which General von Seeckt has resolved. The chorus is indignant as never before. Is this how one sends away a general who rendered great services on every front during the war, and who after the war helped you republicans yourselves? And why, after all? For having allowed a prince of the former imperial house to get a little training in military service? So this, of all things, is a great danger to the Repub-
Bulgaria and the Neighbouring States
hours, giving a diligent and detailed report on the situation in the various provinces. The full communiqué will be published in the Foglio d'Ordini. Tomorrow evening the sitting resumes at 10 p.m.
His Excellency General Prince Gonzaga, on taking leave of the legions of the M.V.S.N., has issued the following order of the day: “Officers, non-commissioned officers and militiamen of the M.V.S.N.! The Duce has decided to assume personally the effective command of the
Bulgaria and the neighbouring States
Statements by Minister Buroff to the press
ROME, 7 — This morning Mr. Buroff, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister, received the repre-
Context
In 1926 the Grand Council was still a party body
The Grand Council whose October session Il Piccolo reported was in 1926 still an organ of the National Fascist Party. It had been created as a party body in 1922 and became a state body only on 9 December 1928, so the sitting of 7 October took place before it acquired that constitutional status. Under the regime its meetings were convened by Mussolini as head of government, and decrees and laws needed his approval. The roll call printed by the paper shows the council bringing the party machine and the government into one room: party secretary general Turati and his deputies, the March on Rome quadrumvirs Italo Balbo and Michele Bianchi, all the ministers, and General Bazan for the Militia's General Command. The council was also tied directly to the Militia, having approved by resolution on 12 January 1923 the draft law founding the MVSN. The same body later turned against Mussolini: in a vote on the night of 24–25 July 1943 it passed the motion against him by 19 votes to 8, with one abstention.
Mussolini takes personal command of the Militia
The order of the day issued by General Prince Gonzaga and printed in this column was addressed to the Voluntary Militia for National Security, the MVSN or Blackshirts, the paramilitary wing of the National Fascist Party. A list of the Militia's commanders records Maurizio Ferrante Gonzaga as Commandant-General from 12 September 1925 to 9 October 1926, and Benito Mussolini as holder of the post from 12 October 1926 to 25 July 1943. Il Piccolo of 8 October thus printed Gonzaga's farewell one day before the end date the list gives for his command and four days before Mussolini's recorded start. The order itself presents the change as the Duce's own decision to take effective command, and the column's broken headline about the command of the Militia points the same way. Mussolini then kept the post for almost seventeen years, until 25 July 1943, the day his rule ended after the Grand Council vote.
Why General von Seeckt was forced out
Hans von Seeckt had led the German Army since 1920 and resigned in October 1926. A chronology of the Weimar Republic dates his removal as head of the Army Command to 6 October and states that he was forced to step down at the insistence of Defence Minister Geßler and Reich President Hindenburg. The trigger was the participation of the Hohenzollern Prince Wilhelm in a Reichswehr manoeuvre that had not first been approved by the Defence Minister and the President. This is the episode that the right-wing papers quoted in the Berlin dispatch dismissed as letting a prince of the former imperial house get a little military training. The chronology adds that relations between Seeckt and the Reich leadership had already deteriorated because of his open opposition to the government's Locarno policy. The paper's phrase about a 'more or less spontaneous' resignation fits this record of a forced departure, while the right-wing chorus that blamed 'the Republic' passed over the fact that Hindenburg himself was among those who insisted on it.
Seeckt's war record, his monarchism and the Locarno backdrop
The right-wing press praised Seeckt for great services on every front. With Mackensen's 11th Army he helped direct the Gorlice–Tarnów offensive of 1915 and was credited with engineering Mackensen's breakthrough. He was also a monarchist who encouraged the retention of traditional links with the old Imperial Army, a stance that connects with the episode of a Hohenzollern prince taking part in a Reichswehr manoeuvre. His opposition to the Locarno policy came as that policy reached its high point. On 10 September 1926 Germany was admitted to the League of Nations, a step Seeckt had opposed in a memorandum of 1919. On 17 September the foreign ministers Stresemann and Briand met at Thoiry, where Briand agreed to return the Saar Basin early and to end the military control and occupation of the Rhineland early. Scholars often see Thoiry as both the peak and the endpoint of the Locarno policy. Seeckt's fall came less than three weeks later.
Original
La prima seduta del Gran Consiglio
della realtà ed è giusto che egli guardi al Mediterraneo e cerchi di accrescere l'influenza italiana ovunque questa legittimamente potesse venire estesa. L'atteggiamento dell'Italia è tanto più logico in quanto La prima seduta del Il comando della Milizia a ROMA, 7 Alle ore 22 è cominciata la prima seduta della sessione di ottobre del Gran Consiglio fascista. Erano presenti: il segretario generale del Partito, on. Turati, i vicesegretari on. Arpinati, Ricci, Starace, comm. Melchiori e dott. Bonelli, i membri del Direttorio on. Blanc e Maraviglia e comm. Marghinotti, il segretario generale amministrativo del Partito comm. Marinelli, il segretario del Gran Consiglio on, Giunta, i quadrumviri della Marcia su Roma, on. Balbo e on. Bianchi. Erano presenti inoltre tutti i ministri, il generale Bazan, rappresentante il Comando generale della Milizia, il segretario generale dei Fasci all'estero, on. Bastianini, il presidente della Confederazione delle Corporazioni Fasciste, on. [?], il presidente della Con -
Il caso von Seeckt in Germania
Italiana, Trieste, Piazza Carlo Goldoni 1, Telefono 801. Nuova Serie - N. 2131 Il caso von Seeckt in Germania Alti clamori della stampa di destra BERLINO, 7 Nessun argomento migliore poteva presentarsi ai giornali di destra per dare la colpa alla Repubblica, delle più o meno spontanee dimissioni cui si è risoluto il generale von Seeckt. Il coro è quanto mai indignato. Si manda via in tal modo un generale che durante la guerra ha reso grandi servigi su tutti i fronti e che dopo la guerra ha aiutato voi stessi repubblicani? E perchè poi? Per aver permesso ad un principe dell'ex casa imperiale di educarsi un po ' al servizio militare? Proprio questo è un grande pericolo per la Repub -
La Bulgaria e gli Stati finitimi
ore, facendo una diligente e dettagliata relazione, sopra la situazione nelle diverse province. Il comunicato complessivo sarà pubblicato sul Foglio d'Ordini. Domani sera la sedùta riprende alle ore 22. S. E. il generale principe Gonzaga, nel prendere congedo dalle legioni della M. V. S. N. ha diramato il seguente ordine del giorno: " Ufficiali, graduati e militi della M. V. S. N.! Il Duce ha determinato di assumere personalmente l'effettivo comando della La Bulgaria e gli Stati finitimi Dichiarazioni del min. Buroff alla stampa ROMA, 7 Questa mattina il signor Buroff, ministro degli Esteri bulgaro, ha ricevuto i rappre -
Source: Source: Internet Archive