THE SCHOOL FOR DICTATORS
21
to the light and frivolous customs that were fashionable elsewhere.
PRoFESSOR
PicKUP
Am
I then to conclude that this
al fresco
love-making is the
consequence of a housing shortage?
THOMAS THE CYNIC
There is no housing shortage here, and moreover those who take
part in these sylvan love-affairs are said often to be respectable mem–
bers of the middle class, which is rightly considered, here as else–
where, to be the faithful guardian of tradition and morality.
If
I am
to believe what my friends tell me, they are often decent, middle-aged
married people, who have large and comfortably furnished flats at
their disposal, equipped with every modem convenience.
PRoFESSoR
PicKuP
Are they then obeying a romantic and irresistible call of nature?
THOMAS THE CYNIC
I have pondered long and seriously on
this
pr<~blem,
and I have
finally decided that the real explanation must be far more profound
and obscure than that. One might perhaps have to go right back to
the pre-historic inhabitants of this country,
homo alpinus,
primitive
Alpine man.
This
is not the moment to inquire why long-lost customs
and emotions should re-appear at the present time. Besides, the phen–
omenon is not limited to the sphere of private life. It has been pre–
ceded ·here by unmistakable manifestations in the world of culture.
Even
if
Johann Jacob Bachofen's matriarchal theory is not relevant
to the question, Jung's psychology of t\le atavistic unconscious and Dr.
Bircher's vegetarian, back-to-nature system of medicine certainly are.
MR.W.
I am afraid these people's atavistic inclinations will not pre–
ent them from getting rheumatism as a result qf lying on the wet
PROFESSOR
PICKUP
I think it is time we left these trivialities aside and talked of
'ous
things.
If
I remember rightly, the subject suggested for today's
ussion was Fascist ideology.
THOMAS THE CYNIC
We are nearer that subject than you imagine, my dear professor.
I certainly do not wish to imply that Fascist ideology is merely an ex-
ression of atavistic impulses; but the
links
between the fomier and
e latter are innumerable, and are stronger than in the case of any
Other political movement. In
all
the countries in which Fascism has
'umphed, the
axis
of political life has been shifted and problems
ve been revived which seemed to have become obsolete; and they
ve been imposed also on Fascism's opponents. It is, of course,
