V. I.

Lenin

Representatives of Italy and Turkey have signed preliminary
terms of peace, according to telegraphic reports.

Italy has “won” the war, which she launched a year ago to seize
Turkish possessions in Africa. From now on, Tripoli will belong to
Italy. It is worth while taking a look at this typical colonial war, waged
by a “civilised” twentieth-century nation.

What caused the war? The greed of the Italian money bags and
capitalists, who need new markets and new achievements for Italian
imperialism.

What kind of war was it? A perfected, civilised blood bath, the
massacre of Arabs with the help of the “latest” weapons.

The Arabs put up a desperate resistance. When, at the beginning of the
war, the Italian admirals were incautious enough to land 1,200 marines, the
Arabs attacked them and killed some 600. By way of “retaliation”, about
3,000 Arabs were butchered, whole families were plundered and done to
death, with women and children massacred in cold blood. The Italians are a
civilised, constitutional nation.

About 1,000 Arabs were hanged.

The Italian casualties exceeded 20,000, including 17,429 sick, 600
missing and 1,405 killed.

The war cost the Italians over 800 million lire, or over 320 million
rubles. It resulted in terrible unemployment and industrial stagnation.

The Arabs lost about 14,800 lives. Despite the “peace”, the war will
actually go on, for the Arab tribes in the heart of Africa, in areas far away from the coast, will refuse to submit. And for
a long time to come they will be “civilised” by bayonet, bullet, noose,
fire and rape.

Italy, of course, is no better and no worse than the other capitalist
countries. All of them alike are governed by the bourgeoisie, which stops
at no carnage in its quest for new sources of profit.

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