Today -100: November 22, 1924: You now have this great man

Britain’s new Conservative government cancels the two treaties the Labour government negotiated with Russia and will not submit them to Parliament. It’s not clear whether the UK still recognizes the Soviet government. Foreign Sec Austen Chamberlain also tells Russia he’s sure the Zinoviev Letter was totally real. Oh sure it uses terms that the real Zinoviev would never use, but the British government has “information” that “leaves no doubt” that it’s totally real and they “are therefore not prepared to discuss the matter.” The Soviets are warned to knock it off with all the propaganda.

Mussolini has been in some political trouble because of the attacks by Blackshirts on war veterans on Armistice Day, but today a Fascist deputy who was blinded and lost both hands, Carlo Delcroix, president of the Associazione nazionale mutilati e invalidi di guerra, gives a long, fiery speech in support of The Muss: “Every great movement has found and brought to power a great man. You now have this great man. Let it not be said that Italy had at last found a great leader and that envy struck him down.” He addresses former PM Giovanni Giolitti, saying his anti-Fascist speech had “seemed indistinct and far away to me. Perhaps they were drowned by the roar of the river of blood which separates your generation from mine.” After he finishes, the session is suspended in honor of him. Delcroix will break with Mussolini only in 1943, in opposition to the alliance with Germany, but after the war his prosthetic arms will be confiscated as proceeds of the Fascist regime. He’ll return to Parliament, as a monarchist, in 1953.

Warren G. Harding’s widow Florence, aka The Duchess, dies at 64. She’s been living with her doctor.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.