[To the Editor of ME SPECTATOR.] SIR, —May a member
of the British Union of Fascists, and one of the post-War generation, be allowed a few comments on Mr. Robert Bernays' article ? Mr. Bernays says: "Sir Oswald has begun his campaign with the handicap that at least half his programme has already been carried out," and he further remarks that "it was indeed little more than the programme of tariffs and trade bargains." Now, Sir Oswald expressly said that tariffs were utterly useless, as they penalized the consumer without imposing any obligation on the producer to set his house in order. He advocated complete prohibition of certain imports—a very different thing.
I will not go into this further, as my chief point in writing this letter is to voice a plea for open and honest discussion. How can Fascists debate their policy with intelligent people when leading newspapers and weeklies either present a travesty of what was said, or else suppress altogether the most important points contained in speeches outlining our pro- gramme ? The main part of Sir Oswald's speech was devoted to explaining the reasons why Fascists consider that England's great export trade has gone for ever, and that our only remedy is to build up a great home market by the prohibition of most imports and the development of an extremely vigorous agri- cultural policy. This latter point also seems to have escaped Mr. Bernays. Finally, Sir Oswald explained that the great measures he proposed could only be carried out through the machinery of the Corporate State—the corner-stone of the whole Fascist edifice. Mr. Bernays was apparently not interested in this either.
Extraordinary though it may seem to Mr. Bernays, Fascists "dedicate themselves" to the cause for the reason that they believe in the policy, the main features of which anybody of average intelligence can easily comprehend by reading our literature or listening at our meetings.
To all our detractors who talk of dictatorship, concentration camps and other unpleasant things, I only wish to say this.: "We Fascists have a policy which we would like you to study, but no criticism is of real value to us which does not show some comprehension of (1) our diagnosis of the present trouble —i.e., the extinction of most of this country's export trade ; (2) our remedy in the building up of a great home market—i.e., the prohibition, as far as practicable, of most imports, the development of agriculture, &c. ; (3) our contention that only the setting up of the Corporate State can make the remedy possible of execution.
• It is in the pages of a respected national weekly like The Spectator that we should prefer most to see such matters of national importance fully discussed.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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