ABSTRACT
The atmosphere in Montecitorio was stormy on May 30, 1924. Black-shirted Militiamen, flaunting their weapons, circulated among the galleries and the corridors. The Senate voted its confidence in the government by two hundred twenty-five to twenty-one; there were six abstentions. Once more the elites, in the blindness of their conservatism and their illusions, left Mussolini a free hand. The deputies had knelt there in tribute on June 27, and, at Turati's apostrophe to Matteotti, "young, strong, armed with all the forces of civilization, unsparing in his courage, and volunteering for death," the streets that led to the Tiber were packed with a crowd that was waiting for a word of command that was never spoken. The resolution was a pure and simple demand for the invalidation of the elections and therefore for the mass expulsion of the Fascist deputies. With a gesture the president of the Chamber stilled the clamor and granted Matteotti's request to speak.
