Fascism and the Italians

Waikato Times, Volume 115, Issue 19272, 2 June 1934, Page 11 (Supplement)

Fascism and the Italians

(English Paper’s Spe ONE Of THE GOVERNING BODY of Italy’s most pro-Fascist university assured me the other day that Italy’s political condition is no more advanced than that, of England under Cromwell. A judgment in many ways true.: but also typical of t’he educated and artistic classes with whom Mussolini lias principally dealt in such a way as to inspire aversion and fear. Many university teachers showed such reluctance m subscribing to the oath of allegiance force on them in October. 1931, that many had to be pressed to sign, some never did. Occasionally, even to-day, certain families wm receive a notice saying without further particulars that their son “has been Cal ec away ” in the interests of the State. Croce and his group are in retirement in Nap es where Fascism is little accepted. A o'e alt, the official effort of Fascist art—tne Forum Mussolini, the Fascist Exhibition Rome—and the various new public buildinss. the Americanised films and the of" the “Nordic" female type in advertisements —arc Either so Repulsive or Undistinguished as in no way to represent the best artistic forces of the nation. The life, of these uninspired by the Fascist ideal, Is the same as it always was—one is surprised at what a pre-War atmosphere the Opera retain , low- necks, military uniforms ■ and • alt. Naturally in the region of art the'crudity of the Fascist ideal stands ■ most' glaringly revealed. Insistence .on . their .connection'f and continuity with ancient Rome leads to an effort to forget, and a carelessness in dealing -with, the monuments of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Churches are demolished, to lay bare a Roman wall or basilica; the Norman superstructure of the Castello San Angelo is to be pulled down to reveal the Roman work within. Panels containing the Fascist emblem are to he found inserted in spots of the most exquisite beauty in I lie Villa de-Este at Tivoli. Such vandalism is no more calculated to recommend itself lo the cultured, than is the ignorant cleaning-up of Classical antiquities to the scholars or Italy. The attitude of oilier classes, however, is more difficult to assess. Stalislics of those actively co-opcralin.g in t lie new synflicai and corporative hierarchy are misleading. Equally so evidence.of the comparative ease, with which the actual incoiporolion was effected, because very many motives ranging from pure individual selfin teest and fear to dread of a recurrence of the Chaotic Post-War Period now replaced by Fascist absolutism, might ,and did account for them. The Press is no more useful. Consequently, one can only infer from the menial background of various classes how’ certain known factors will probably have affected them. A dangerous, but, to some extent, valid method. In the first place then, there will be those who view' the regime with a coldly critical eve, regarding the political clap-trap as a nccessarv evil, and inclined to judge by practical” results. The larger employers and capitalists who were glad to see socialism overthrown, but whose entrepreneurial activities have been hit both by the deflation and the laws restricting the setting up of new businesses, to say nothing of the wide - hold on industry and finance secured by the Stale in unfreezing industry and subsidising trade in the Depression; organised and intelligent industrial labour which .was lareelv socialist, together with the, agricultural labour of the Norlh. which has benefited from increased social services and attempts to alleviate the worst hardships of capitalist wage-fixing, and has seen the large employer and land-owner regimented and generally tickled up'by their ex-Sociahst Prime ytinister; the capitalist who qua investor has benefited from the sound-money

After Mussolini What?

icial Correspondent.) '. policy and industrial peacelt is safe to say that these classes are taking an intelligent Interest in the regime and actively co-operat-ing where they see the affairs reasonably handled. They would not on the whole desire a political change if it meant reversion to the old Liheralistic days; - but because they fake, if only in private, a genu nely critical and reasoned attitude, they are likely to use every opportunity of influencing economic and political change, and if, as recent events seem to indicate, such opportunities will increasingly occur in the future, they may soon be able to create something which corresponds more nearly to English Ideas of Political Freedom, As a religion, Fascism will appeal to the more simple-minded whose ideals centie round the family, the soil, and racial community of blood. On these, constituting the lowest common factor in human sentiment, large-scale efforts to influence masspsychology are concentrated to-day, as «i Germany. Now -in Italy such a mentality is lo be found par excellence in the large class of tenant-farmers, artisans, and owners of small businesses, the piccola industria that with the ex-service officers was the very class to form the first Fasc-i of Mussolini, the backbone of his revolutionary movement, and to .prosper and augment whom Fascist economic policy has all along been directed. The Catholic piety of such classes and their innate conservatism will also incline them sympathetically toward the new hierarchio political system which moulds rather than Is moulded by the changing shape of public opinion. Finally, the wretched .peasants of the South, earning amid their incredible filth a bare subsistence, cry out that Fascism will do something'for them. It has already tackled their ancient oppressor, the absenteelandlord. 0 How far will this analysis apply to the next generation in taking over the responsibilities of the country? In Italy to-day there exists, in addition to the normal class and family influences, an incessant subjection to intensive Government propaganda and semimilitary regimenlation • from the age of six upwards. How can • the spirit or reasoned co-operation avoid being stifled toy this rank emollonaiistic credo? However, Mussolini is evidently trying to make the people swallow a- pill with his religious jam; to inculcate an austerer ideal by military, discipline and the constant reminder that hard work and expanding the national output are duties towards society. But I have little faith that the Italian stomach has done anything but Reject the Pill and Digest the Jam. Parades of .Fascist youth would make an English O.T.C. sergeant blush; the working day is as inconsequent as ever, the impotent bureaucracy enlarged. If the railwavs are safe to travel on, the sexual moralthe young and the old emotional superficiality are not improved. The boasted successes. in athletics must be put down, like those of America, to large funds available for' training up prize-winners, not to a spread of’Sportsmanship among the youths. The university student of to-day who will be the administrator, of. to-morrow, despite the sedulous attentions of the Dopolavoro cultural organisations, remains artistically negligible: his mind, under the sapping influence or the old 'Catholicism and philosophical Idealism, still shuts away it's abstract and speculative studies from practical problems, 'incapable of bringing his learning to hear, by way of constructse criticism, on his social or political life. He has been taught to memorise rather than to think. Nevertheless, no analysis of the present can make it really safe to speculate about the future. For, with the passing of Mussolini, there will almost certainly be great changes in the nature both of the propaganda and the regime.