6 SEPTEMBER 1935, Page 28

• THE WAY OF THE DICTATORS

By L. Broad and Russell

Here is the story of dictatorship in Europe told cursorily but competently, by two 'writers who have taken pains to compress within the boards of a comparatively short bhok (Hutchinson, 12s. 6(1.) the tale of the nine dictators of the modern. world. In it, Hitler and Mussolini appear as the " constitutional " -dietatois, Dollfuss and King • 'Alexander as the " martyr " dictators, Kemal and Pilsudiiki. as the " military " dictators, President Roosevelt, strangely enough, as the " unconstitutional despot," Lenin and Stalin as the "dictatorship of the proletariat." The reader who wishes to have a readable and compact summary of what these rulers have attenipted; and how they rose to power. will find it'liere. But the airthors have missed the opportunity. which in their preface. they promise to seize, of examining the real nature of the challenge to democracy which the dictators of today have thrown down. The final chapter, "What,Then of England ? merely skims the surface and leaves the reader with a sense of a useful work left unfinished.