Englishmen, naturally, find something peculiarly Gilbertian in the Italian General
Elections held last Sunday. The structure of Signor Mussolini's " totali- tarian " State is not like any form of representative government that has _ever been known. As in Russia, the electorate is practically confined to members of organizations forming part of the State machinery, Thus, first of all the National Confederations, comprising duly authorized syndicates of employers and employees, were called upon to submit eight hundred names, to which were added two hundred from organizations outside the scope of " producers " in the narrow sense. From this list of a thousand (to be increased at the discretion of the Government) the Fascist Grand Council made a choice of four hundred " Deputies Designate " for the new Chamber, and, as was expected, the latter, according to the semi-official Stefani agency, have been " elected " by something like 99 per cent. of the electorate.
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