The Wanganui Chronicle. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, .1939. FASCISM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 243, 14 October 1939, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, .1939. FASCISM

—■ * r J'HE most up-to-date political doctrine is that of Fascism. It is an effort to combine Socialism, Nationalism and Capitalism. .Socialism, as has often been asserted, is the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange. This definition, however, needs further defining. Production of what? The necessities of life? If so. what arc they, and by what standarils shall they be judged to be necessities or luxuries? Again, "the means of distribution and exchange’' implies that goods can be exchanged without being distributed. Is this so? Generally it is not so. Socialism is. therefore, a vague doctrine from the start of i s fundamental definition, and it entertainment is required, get two Socialists together and ask them to define their doctrine. They are the nearest approach Io perpetual motion. Nationalism may be described as the urge Io express a national desire. Desires are very vague in their nature, and nationalism, while it emphasises the setting up of a Parliament of its own in a country, may mean much more and much less, What kind of Parliament? Again, having set up the Parliament, what is a Nationalistic Government to do? Ii seems to be the fashion at the moment for a Nationalistic Government to make a nuisance of itself to its neighbours, and to generally impair the intercourse which should easily exist between the various nations. It may be reasonably questioned whether this sort of conduct is really nationalistic, because it does no; serve the best interests of the.nations to which it is applied. It is interesting to notice that the nationalistic urge, when appDsied to Germany, Italy and Japan. Jias led such nations into a condition of bankruptcy and a dislocation of trading relations, but still it is nationalistic, and Fascism is a combination of the vague socialistic conception and the vaguer nationalistic conception. Doth being vague, they can manage to get along quite nicely together, ami Io forget all about such talk as the brotherhood of man. which Socialists used to consider an essential pqrt of their creed. Capitalism is another vague term. Generally, ii implies large aggregations of capital without enquiring how those large aggregations come to be in existence. Usually if is to be found that such large aggregations are composed of the savings of a large number of small owners. The big capitalist is an important person, but he does not dominate the State because there are a large number of small capitalists. These small capitalists have money invested in shares, on deposit with banks, and in the form of houses and small businesses. It has been found in America, for instance, that it is the huge number of small men which constitutes the important persons in the economy of that country, ami what is true of America is equally true of other countries. In a capitalist State it is supposed that the big man gets bigger and bigger—and—the Socialist hopes—until he gets so big that he bursts. History shows that such a process does not occur, hut that other businesses grow up. showing more enterprise and vigour, and that Big Business finds its own bigness a handicap. The result is that Big Business tends to shrink i.'itliei- than to get overbig. The antidote to the Big Business is the small business, and it is the duly of those who wish to see the best ot Capitalism preserved to do what is possible to preserve the rights of the small man in order ihat he can grow bigger an.! counter the bigness of the trusts and the monopolies. Fascism is an effort to combine these three isms, anil it finds it a difficult task because not one of the three is a precise entity. Ihe result is that Fascism takes refuge in mysticism. Alyst ieism is another way of saying that you believe in something but vou don t quite know what, therefore yon cannot argue about it. .Mysticism has its uses and its abuses, but. in a political philosophy it tends to be used—as in religion very often—to avoid awkward arguments. Mysticism is handy as a sort of mental putty Io plaster up the chinks in the logic of one’s posit ion. Inking the Fasces of the old Roman lictors. which implied that by binding weak sticks together the bundle became strong, the Fascist seeks to apply compulsion to the State and thus bind the individuals into one strong body. It is very simple, but it has one flaw that is tidal. Fascism is •dealing not with sticks, but with men. Very annoying, no doubt, when men continue 1o react and behave as men, and desire to exercise their God-given faculties instead of becoming inanimate automata. This annovance leads the Fascists to get quite nasty and to indulge in the practice of pouring castor oil into the troublesome ones. This, of course, increases the willingness to stick to the mass and makes good Fascists of sensible men. When Fascism fails its advocates always indulge in a purge. Its the same with the Nazis.