Mussolini: Son Of The Century Series Exclusive -

The Birth of the Trauma

Mussolini dispatches his first squadristi —not soldiers, but avengers. They drive trucks painted black, carry castor oil and wooden clubs. Their leader: a brutal, illiterate thug named Amerigo Dumini (later known as “the executioner”). mussolini: son of the century series

“Fascism was not an idea. It was an emotion—the emotion of a generation that had seen the abyss and decided to become it.” — Benito Mussolini, The Doctrine of Fascism (1932) The Birth of the Trauma Mussolini dispatches his

The crowd erupts. Not applause—howls. A man in a black fez stabs a table with a dagger. Another throws a bottle at a portrait of Karl Marx. Mussolini watches, impassive. Inside, he feels nothing. That is his secret. “Fascism was not an idea

The fog is a wet shroud over the cobblestones. Benito Mussolini, 35, stands alone before a locked wooden door. He wears a black shirt, unbuttoned at the collar, a French army helmet from the 12th Bersaglieri regiment, and a face that has not slept in three days.

He hangs up. He pours a glass of red wine, holds it to the light. It looks exactly like blood.