Ten Years of Fascism T EN years ago the political and
economic experiment known as Fascism began its constructive phase with the peaceful capture of Rome by Mussolini's Black- shirts, and the Duce's • speech at Turin on Sunday, to which reference is made below, .may be taken as the opening of the celebrations of the decennium. It is an experiment which, by its very nature, has aroused the extremes of admiration and of antipathy. Since Fascism sets out to be a political and economic religion, it is highly intolerant of impartiality, and it presents inevitable difficulties to an English writer in attempting to review impartially a regime which is clearly incom- patible with long-nurtured British ideas, but which may well be differently viewed by a very different people. Ideas survive longer than races, and though there may be little trace of Roman blood left in Italy, the. Roman idea of authority survives strongly.; and though the Liberal ideas of the nineteenth century. persuaded the people to revolt against foreign authority, the innate sense of obedience to a national authority largely explains both the success and the survival of FasciSm. The question how Fascism would suit other countries is very different from the question how Fascism has suited Italy. And the foreigner who attempts to answer either question impartially is hard put to it to avoid obsession by propagandists on the one side or on the other.
But, in the first place, when all is said and done, Fascism has lasted ten years and Mussolini is by far the oldest Prime Minister in the world, measured by years of office. It has survived several crises, notably one, short and sharp, after the murder of 'Matteotti, and another, far less visible, but potentially equally dangerous, which was constituted by its quarrel with the Partito Popolare, or Catholic Party,—a quarrel which at one time threatened to embroil the Fascist State with the Vatican. Moreover at the end of ten years the personnel of Faseisth is undoubtedly stronger. It no longer rests on an individual ; at any rate Mussolini has generally speaking a better type of lieutenant than he had at the beginning. For some years it was quite certain that, if Mussolini had disappeared, Fascism would have disappeared also. That is probably no longer true. The reason for the change is not necessarily any greater degree of popular support—there are few means in Italy of judging what is the degree of popular support for anything—but the fact that the regime during ten years has buttressed itself with a strong framework of law and system. For example it has made peace between the State and the Vatican, it has estab- lished the corporative state in industry, it has eradicated i!:e friction between the militia and the Army, it has up its own system of education, and it has suppressed of!i effective internal criticism. Political prophecy is dangerous, but it can at least be said that no regime ever looked less like being ephemeral.
In the second place the Fascist Government has certainly &Me much practical work for Italy. There is no such contrast- between Fascist infallibility and lore-Fascist incompetence as the panegyrists of Fascism would -have the world believe: Italy had begun her economic recovery before ever the Fascists came on the scene. On the other hand; it is equally foolish. of the c'TiPenents of -Fascism to pretend that the energy and 7''rnircefulness of Mussolini did not speed up the recovery "rid has not parried to some extent the subsequent world depression. Even the most fantastic "slogans" have - had some practical result, and though the spectator May smile when he sees the Fascists pretending to be Romans he can only applaud when he sees .old Rome laid bare by a well-directed scheme of excavation, or the revival of agriculture in the Campagna. Probably any Government would have done something, but no GoVernment could have done better, in the matter of restoring the national finances, of meeting the problem —a very formidable problem for Italy—of restricted opportunities for emigration, and of promoting economic self-sufficiency. The most interesting experiment of all—that of the organization of industry into corporations covering the whole nation—is still in its early stages, but on paper it is a remarkable effort to avoid the dangers both of collectivism and of laissez faire.
The Fascist Government has made Italy • a land fit • for anybody but a democrat to live in ; but the exception is damning. The so-called Rocco laws of 1926—they were framed by Signor Rocco, the Minister of Justice. at that time—have in effect outlawed the political critics of Fascism. The tragedy of the exiles in the islands is in many ways a tragedy for Italy, who has thus lost the services of many of her most intelligent sons. A policy which condemns such persons to he marooned or exiled might well be fatal in a country accustomed to democracy, but democracy in Italy is an imported and ill-nourished plant. The amnesty announced on Tuesday is welcome, but in this matter Fascism cannot unwritc its record. The plain fact is that the Fascists from the very be- ginning determined .to found their regime on a com- pulsory education in political dogma--hence their fonu- dation of the Balilla and hence the elaborate politico- philosophical pronouncements of their Ministers of Education. They are determined to run no risk that this education should be questioned either for children or for adults, and the islands and the exiles have been the consequence.
The last question to be answered in this brief review is what place Fascism has given Italy in international affairs. The answer at the moment is that Fascism is no longer a potential menace to the peace of the world. Signor Mussolini's speech at Turin on Sunday was highly significant. lie stamped finally and decisively on the rumour that his country contemplated withdrawal from the League of Nations. He declared no less decisively for that equality of status which Germany has been demanding in the matter of armaments. Ile made a dignified appeal to the United States for generosity in its treatment of the debt question. And he pointed to the co-operation of his own country, Great Britain, France, and Germany as the essential basis of European peace—a thesis entirely sound if (but only if) the conception- is of leadership within a general society, not of domination by four Great Powers. This is not the language of a disturber of European peace. There has been a good deal of sword-rattling during the past ten years, and there arc still great potential causes of friction with France and with Jugo-Slavia. But it may well be argued that these tactics have given the Italians what the Scot;; call a good conceit of themselves without leading that feeling into dangerous channels. Mussolini is a tremendous realist, who thoroughly appreciates the character of his countrymen ; and he has established such a reputation as a nationalist leader that he can now well afford to be a man Of peace. The march on Rome may well prove to 'be the first and the last aggressive • march -of -Fascism.-
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