Duce Defies Sanctions In Speech To Students - The scene outside the main hall of University City, during the opening ceremony by Mussolini. Signor Mussolini delivered a dramatic reply to the impending threat of economic sanctions when he opened the great hall of the new University City, now nearing completion in Rome. He said: "Faced with an economic siege of which all civilised nations should be supremely ashamed, let it be said that we will oppose it with our most implacable resistance, our firmest decision and our most sovereign contempt" . Again and again the hall rang with the cheers of the students, gathered from all part of Italy. November 2, 1935. (Photo by Keystone).