Well, neofascists who once again stand in the shadows and listen, I boast that I ordered the execution of Mussolini, because I and the others did not… - Sandro Pertini

I say to my opponent: "I fight your [political] faith which is contrary to mine but I am ready to fight to the price of my life so that you can freely express your thoughts". That is my position. That is, I am not a believer but I respect the faith of believers. I for example am a socialist but I respect the political faith of others and I discuss it. I debate with them, I argue with them but they are free to express their thoughts. I am democratic in that sense, really.
["Do you also respect the political faith of fascists?"] No. I fight it with a different spirit. Fascism for me cannot be considered a political faith. It sounds absurd what I say but it is so, fascism, in my opinion, is the antithesis of political faiths. Fascism is at odds with true political faiths. One cannot talk about political faith by talking about fascism. Fascism oppressed all those who did not think like it. Those who were not fascists were oppressed and therefore one cannot speak of true political faith to those who oppress the faiths of others. I fight but I fight on democratic ground.

The fate of the Italian working people was as close to Joseph Stalin's heart as the fate of his own people and that of all the peoples of the earth. He always fought for peace, aware that those who pay the highest tribute of blood and suffering, in war, are his peasants and workers. And as a good socialist, he knew that one should not want war in order to destroy what the present society has built, but should strive to transform the old society in order to build a new one. This was his firm will; this is what he fought for in his later years. He has always rejected any provocation, he has always renounced acts of force in order to defend this good that belongs not only to his people, but to all mankind.

We are dismayed at this death because of the void that Joseph Stalin leaves in his people and in humanity as a whole. Gentlemen, if you abandon your political hostilities for a moment, as I am abandoning them at this moment, you must recognise with me that this man's life coincided for thirty years with the course of humanity itself.