Thank you very much.
Well, hang on a second. I just looked through the section of of LF where I thought it was and didn’t see it, and I scanned the footnotes of the Steele piece and didn’t see it. I know I read it somewhere credible, but for the moment I can’t remember where that was. It’s possible I dreamed it or am confusing Mussolini with someone else (maybe it was Gramsci), but I don’t think so (80% sure).
Here’s piece in the Weekly Standard that references Lenin’s comments on Mussolini but doesn’t actually quote him:
http://www.theweeklystandard.com/Content/Protected/Articles/000/000/009/736jyhpe.asp
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Word got around about the young firebrand. Writing from Vienna in the newly founded Pravda, Lenin praised Mussolini for his uncompromising revolutionary stand. A few months later, Mussolini was appointed editor of the national Socialist party daily, Avanti!, and he proved he had the touch: Circulation rose from 34,000 to 60,000 during his first eighteen months. With a style that he called “electric” and “explosive,” he made a reputation as the leading popular journalist in Italy. His star was ascendant, and it was red.
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The exact quote could probably be pulled up with some strategic googling.