THE SCHOOL FOR DICTATORS
31
can give a solid and unshakable foundation to the shallow nationalism
of America. Instead of seeking ephemeral success, of the kind achieved
by the Townsend movement, we must have the courage to place the
real problem before the forum of public opinion, that of the organiza–
tion of the state. A discussion of the social order and the structure of
the state ...
THOMAS THE CYNIC
Let me warn you, professor, that you are on the wrong track.
In
reality Fascism is an attempt to put the social order beyond dis–
cussion, to remove it from the fluctuations of public opinion. For Fas–
cism society is eternal; it is there when the individual is born and re–
mains there after he is dead. The individual must adapt himself to
society, and not the reverse. In this sense European Fascism is
an attempt to bring the relations between the individual and
society back to the state they were in two centuries ago. Prior to the
eighteenth century, the Age of Enlightenment, the social organism as
a whole was not a subject of dispute. But then men turned their
attention to the problem of society itself. The period of political and
social rationalizations began, the period of programs. Liberalism, de–
mocracy,and Socialism were born, with all their varieties, each one of
them
representing a different conception of the relations between men.
It seemed that reason had definitely displaced tradition. It was, how–
ever, a purely platonic and decorative reign. In the nineteenth cen–
tury
society continued its intemperate evolution and development,
obeying laws other than those of reJpn. That evolution and develop–
ment was, however, itself the object of fresh discussion, giving birth
to
still more programs, and no one was any the worse for them. This
went on until the Great War created a situation in which discussion
became dangerous. The old social order was revealed as rationally
indefensible. Then Fascism emerged. It emerged from the anxiety of
the middle classes, whose social existence was threatened by technical
progress; from the disillusionment of the workers after the defeat of
their ill-organized revolutionary attempts; from the fear of the capital–
ists,
over whom there hung the meance of expropriation. Fascism did
not come forward with a new program to compete with the already
existing programs; it did not even criticize its opponents' programs. It
took up a position outside the arena of discussion, and denied that
aociety was a legitimate subject for discussion. Against the "corrupt–
ing"
reason of the politicians it appealed to the primitive instincts, to
the voice of blood; it appealed to tradition, to the mysticism of the
sheep-fold, "to the need for believing in a leader," to loyalty, to soli–
darity
in
the face of danger, to "salvation in obedience," to the ''no–
bility
of sacrifice" to "brotherhood dictated by destiny ..."
