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<blockquote data-quote="wkmac" data-source="post: 2606106" data-attributes="member: 2189">So we can always tell ourselves, &quot;well at least the trains run of time&quot; as a reason to excuse the whole thing?&nbsp; Problem is, even in time that lie is exposed for what is really is.&nbsp; We should just man up and admit the whole thing is sick and not offer any excuses for it.&quot;SAY WHAT you like about Mussolini, he made the trains run on time. That was the famous last excuse for Fascism, conveying the idea that while dictatorship might not be very nice, at least it got things done.It is an argument we may hear again following the election triumph of Silvio Berlusconi&#039;s Forza Italia and its allies, who include neo-Fascists. After all those years of chaotic politics and corruption, perhaps what the country needs is the smack of firm government. Mr Berlusconi, people may be tempted to say, could be just the man to instil punctuality in those recalcitrant Italian train drivers.But did Mussolini really do it? Did Il Duce, in his 20 years of absolute power, really manage to make the railway service meet its timetable? The answer is no.Like almost all the supposed achievements of Fascism, the timely trains are a myth, nurtured and propagated by a leader with a journalist&#039;s flair for symbolism, verbal trickery and illusion.In 1936 the American journalist George Seldes complained that when his fellow-countrymen returned home from holidays in Italy they seemed to cry in unison: &#039;Great is the Duce; the trains now run on time]&#039; And no matter how often they were told about Fascist oppression, injustice and cruelty, they always said the same thing: &#039;But the trains run on time.&#039;&quot;<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/rear-window-making-italy-work-did-mussolini-really-get-the-trains-running-on-time-1367688.html" target="_blank">Rear Window: Making Italy work: Did Mussolini really get the trains running on time?</a></blockquote>

[QUOTE="wkmac, post: 2606106, member: 2189"] So we can always tell ourselves, "well at least the trains run of time" as a reason to excuse the whole thing? Problem is, even in time that lie is exposed for what is really is. We should just man up and admit the whole thing is sick and not offer any excuses for it. [I]"SAY WHAT you like about Mussolini, he made the trains run on time. That was the famous last excuse for Fascism, conveying the idea that while dictatorship might not be very nice, at least it got things done. It is an argument we may hear again following the election triumph of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia and its allies, who include neo-Fascists. After all those years of chaotic politics and corruption, perhaps what the country needs is the smack of firm government. Mr Berlusconi, people may be tempted to say, could be just the man to instil punctuality in those recalcitrant Italian train drivers. But did Mussolini really do it? Did Il Duce, in his 20 years of absolute power, really manage to make the railway service meet its timetable? The answer is no.[/I] [I]Like almost all the supposed achievements of Fascism, the timely trains are a myth, nurtured and propagated by a leader with a journalist's flair for symbolism, verbal trickery and illusion. In 1936 the American journalist George Seldes complained that when his fellow-countrymen returned home from holidays in Italy they seemed to cry in unison: 'Great is the Duce; the trains now run on time]' And no matter how often they were told about Fascist oppression, injustice and cruelty, they always said the same thing: 'But the trains run on time.'" [/I] [URL='http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/rear-window-making-italy-work-did-mussolini-really-get-the-trains-running-on-time-1367688.html'][I][COLOR=#ff0000][B][SIZE=6]Rear Window: Making Italy work: Did Mussolini really get the trains running on time?[/SIZE][/B][/COLOR][/I][/URL] [I] [/I] [/QUOTE]

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