Benito Mussolini FASCIST DOCTRIN

Benito Mussolini FASCIST DOCTRINES (1929)
(Perry 358-59)

Ten years after he seized power, Mussolini, assisted by philosopher Giovanni Gentile (1875-1944), contributed an article to the Italian Encyclopedia in which he discussed fascist political and social doctrines. In this piece, Mussolini lauded violence as a positive experience; attacked Marxism for denying idealism by subjecting human beings to economic laws and for dividing the nation into warring classes; and denounced liberal democracy for promoting individual selfishness at the expense of the national community and for being unable to solve the nation's problems. The fascist state, he said, required unity and power, not individual freedom. The following excerpts are from Mussolini's article.

Above all, Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quire apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility not the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiate the doctrine of Pacifism —born of a renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in rho face of sacrifice. War alone brings tip to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to meet it. All other trials are substitutes, which never really put men into the position where they have to make the great decision—the alternative of life or death. Thus a doctrine which is founded upon this harmful postulate of peace is hostile to Fascism. And thus hostile to the spirit of Fascism, though accepted for what use they can be in dealing with particular political situations, are all the international leagues and societies which, as history will show, can he scattered to the winds when once strong national feeling is aroused by any motive—sentimental, ideal, or practical. This anti-pacifist spirit is carried by Fascism even into the life of the individual; the proud motto of the Squadrista. "Me ne frego" [It doesn't matted, written on the bandage of the wound, is all act of philosophy not only stoic, the summary of adoctrine not only political- it is the education to combat, the acceptation of the risks which combat implies, and a new way of life for Italy. Thus the Fascist accepts life and loves it, knowing nothing of and despising suicide: he rather conceives of life as duty and struggle and conquest, life which should he high and fuIl, lived for oneself, but above all for others—those who arc at hand and those who are far distant, contemporaries. and those who will come after....

.... Fascism [is] the complete opposite of... Marxian Socialism, the materialist conception of history; according to which the history of human civilization can be explained simply through the conflict of interests among the various social groups and by the change and development in the means and instruments of productio.- That the changes in the economic field—new discovers of raw materials. new methods of working them, and the inventions of science—have their importance no one can deny; but that these factors are sufficient to ex-plain the history of humanity excluding all others is an absurd delusion. Fascism, now and always, believes in holiness and in heroism; that is to say, in actions influenced by no economic motive, direct or indirect. And if the economic conception of history he denied, according to which theory men are no more than puppets, carried to and fro by the waves of chance, while the real directing forces are quite our of their control, it follows that the existence of an unchangeable and unchanging class-war is also denied— the natural progeny of the economic conception of history And above all Fascism denies that class-war can be the preponderant force in the transformation of society....

After Socialism, Fascism combats the whole complex system of democratic ideology, and repudiates it, whether in its theoretical premises or in its practical application. Fascism denies that the majority, by the simple fact that it is a majority, can direct human society; it denies that numbers alone can govern, by means of a periodical consultation, and it affirms the immutable, beneficial, and fruitful inequality of mankind, which can never be permanently leveled through the mere operation of a mechanical process such as universal suffrage....

... Fascism denies, in democracy, the absurd conventional untruth of political equality dressed out in the garb of collective irresponsibility, and the myth of "happiness" and indefinite progress….

Given that the nineteenth century was the century of Socialism, of Liberalism, and of Democracy, it does not necessarily follow that the twentieth century must also be a century of Socialism, Liberalism, and Democracy: political doctrines pass, but humanity remains; and it may rather be expected that this will be a century of authority.... a century of Fascism. For if the nineteenth century was a century of individualism (Liberalism always signifying individualism) it may be expected that this will be the century of collectivism, and hence the century of the State....

The foundation of Fascism is the conception of the State, its character, its duty, and its aim. Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation no the Stare. The conception of the Liberal Stare is not that of a directing force, guiding the play and development, both material and spiritual, of a collective body, but merely a force limited to the function of recording results: on the other hand, the Fascist Start is itself conscious and has itself a will and a personality— thus it may be called the "ethic" Stare.
... The Fascist Stare organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the Individual, but the State alone...

…. For Fascism, the growth of empire, that is to say the expansion of the nation, is an essential manifestation of vitality, and its opposite a sign of decadence. Peoples which are rising, or using again after a period of decadence, are always imperialist; any renunciation is a sign of decay and of death. Fascism is the doctrine hest adapted to represent the tendencies and the aspirations of a people, like the people of Italy, who are rising again after many centuries of abasement and foreign servitude. But empire demands discipline, the coordination of all forces and a deeply felt sense of duty and sacrifice: this fact explains many aspects of the practical working of the regime, the character of many forces in the State, and the necessarily severe measures which must be taken against chose who would oppose this spontaneous and inevitable movement of Italy in the twentieth century, and would oppose it by recalling the outworn ideology of the nineteenth century —repudiated wheresoever there has been the courage to undertake great experiments of social and political transformation; for never before has the nation stood more in need of authority, of direction, and of order. II every age has its owes characteristic doctrine, there are a thousand signs which point to Fascism as the characteristic doctrine of our time. For if a doctrine must be living thing, this is proved by the fact that Fascism has created a living faith; and that this faith is powerful in the very minds of men is demonstrated by those who have suffered and died for it.