"I could have made of this dull grey hall a bivouac for my squads: I could have nailed up the doors of Parliament and have constituted an exclusively Fascist Government. I could have done so, but I have not done so, at least not yet. I wanted — and it was not necessary for me to do so, I want you to know it — I wanted in order to give the country another possibility of stabilisation, to introduce Fascism into the life of the State in a legal fashion. I say to you that I am here to defend and reinforce the revolution of the Blackshirts and to bring to the highest pitch the power of Fascism."

Benito Mussolini, speech to the Italian Chamber of Deputies, 16 November 1922. Mussolini had become Prime Minister on 30 October 1922 following the March on Rome, in which fascist squads converged on the capital and King Victor Emmanuel III refused to declare martial law.