THE FASCIST GRIP.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 83, 8 April 1925, Page 14

THE FASCIST GRIP.

EDUCATION, PRESS AND LAW. DANGEROUS SCHEMES. UNIVERSITIES' STAND FOR INDEPENDENCE. Various events have happened in Rome lately showing the fundamental difference existing between the exponents of Fascism and those who believe ma Liberal-Democratic State. The tendency has become more and more pronounced to "fascisticise" everything, schools, Press, law, the civil service, etc. The Educational Reform Bill drafted by Senator Gentile, the philosopher which the Government has tried to wort during the last year, has finally been brought before the Senate for emendations. No one denies that the reform has great merits. It aims at a greater seriousness being brought into Italian education, at a better preparation among the teachers, the weeding out of the unfit and, through the humanistic schools, at the formation of a cultured class, representatives of the nation, imbued with a national conscience and prepared for the defence of their country. The respect for religion as an influence on national life, and the recognition of State examinations extending privileges to private schools, are not seriously contested and are precious gains to the Vatican and Catholic party. Senator Gentile has been criticised for neglecting science for an overdose of philosophy, and for the lightning rapidity with which his reform was set in motion, , resulting in something like an earthquake on the mountain of Minerva. But the fundamental criticism levelled at the reform was "that party politics had been brought on to the sacred mount and grave infringements had been made on the liberties and privileges of universities and schools. _ By a decree passed a year ago the universities and schools were deprived of their ancient rights to elect their own rectors and the representatives at the High Council of Public Instruction, with the result that the stable life of educational centres is placed at the mercy of shifting governments. By the resolution carried in the Senate, by 172 votes against 02, the autonomy of the Universities was re-established, while a warning was sounded when referring to the harm already done to science, to the universities, and in some cases, to the cause of justice, by the application of the decree whereby the executive had captured all authority. i

The Press Bill. The new Press Bill to be presented in Parliament next month raises this same question of State control in the interests of one party. The Government proposes to pass legislation seriously affecting the journalist profession, with the intention of founding a close cuild of journalists to be controlled by the State, ■which would replace the existing Federation of the Press. As the "Mattino" says, "this would be an excellent nursery for Government hangers-on to whom the State would guarantee employment at the expense of private papers."

The Federation of the Press, which is well organised, and is composed of cultured men who are jealous of the privileges specially incorporated in the Constitution, has not been consulted by the Government with regard to this idea, and in a meeting in Eome, where 2000 organised professional journalists were represented, the project was opposed because the institution of an Order of Journalists could only be accepted if the principles of ordering and functioning, laid down by the federation, were taken as the basis of the new organisation. In other words, they place the liberty of the Press above every other consideration.

The Bar. Another step wns taken by the dominant party towards State control when efforts were made to capture the vacant seats on the Order of the Bar by presenting a Facist list of candidates working under definite instructions from the polictical secretary. The triumph of the non-political candidates in Rome and elsewhere was not interpreted as being a protest against Fascism, hut rather as a reaffirmation of professional dignity, correctness, and justice on the part of the Italian Bar; it was also a call for a return to normalisation and independence from the executive power. Against this opinion of different categories it is important to remember that Signer Mussolini ,thinks that the V>est remedy for the decadence of parliamentary and otlier institutions would V>e to increase the executive power;, while Farinacei, leader of the Parliamentary majority, hopes to undermine the Civil Ferviee, replacing it by an army of dynamic young Faeis'ts.