# Fascism in Action

Fascism in Action (1947) A Documented Study and Analysis of Fascism in Europe Prepared at the Instance of and Under the Direction of Representative Wright Patman of Texas by Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress, Under the direction of Ernest S. Griffith. It is House Document No. 401, 80th Congress, 1st Session.

## Quotes

For the most part the study was written by members of the fulltime staff of the Legislative Reference Service. Those participating were: Part I— Political: George B. Galloway, Thorsten V. Kalijarvi, Raymond E. Manning, Howard S. Piquet, M. Loretta Stankard. Part II — Economic: Julius W. Allen, Theodore J. Kreps, John Kerr Rose. Part III— Individual: Huph L. Elsbree, William H. Gilbert, Helen E. Livingston, Francis R. Valeo. The chapter on Education and Thought Control was written by I. L. Kanael, the distinguished editor of School and Society. The chapter on Labor was written by Ludwig Hamburger, formerly of the staff of Brookings Institution. General editorial supervision was provided by Thorsten V. Kalijarvi, who also wrote the introduction and the conclusion. Editorial assistance was provided by Dudley B. Ball. Ernest S. Griffith, Director, Legislative Reference Service.

### Foreword

    by Representative Wright Patman, of Texas
* The world today is faced with a dangerous manifestation of... fascism. ...[T]here is marked agreement as to its objective characteristics.
* [F]ascism means the seizure and control of the economic, social, political, and cultural life of the state by a small group. Free speech, free press, free worship, and public meetings are ruthlessly suppressed. Blind obedience to the leader is demanded... and the slightest wavering means death or imprisonment... Restrictive policies may be carried on against... [one's] entire family. A fascist regime is... militaristic and nationalistic.
* [T]here are many strong symptoms of fascism in our own democratic society. ...[T]his movement in the United States masquerades under other names ...but ...its peculiar characteristics are alarmingly evident.
* At my request, the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress has prepared a study of Fascism in Action as an aid to the American citizen in protecting himself and his children against this most dangerous movement of modern times.
* [F]ascism... means... [e]very person must think and act at the command of a higher authority. Every school, church, home, and business is carefully controlled by the dominant party. The concentration camp or death await the citizen who offers opposition...
* To many, fascism, particularly as it operated in Germany, seemed a model of order and efficiency. ...But the cost to the individual was heavy. The price was abolition of representative government, of individual liberty, of the rights of free speech, free assembly, free religion, a free press, and the principle of equality before the law.
* Fascist Germany and Japan used the boasted efficiency of fascism to build mighty war machines to crush the "inefficient" democracies, but... Democracy and efficiency, even military efficiency, are not incompatible, and the democracies decisively defeated the fascist powers...
* [F]ascism is today an everpresent danger to our democracy. We must consider... how to recognize its manifestations but also... combat it.
* [T]he best means of fighting fascism is to recognize it, no matter under what title it masquerades. Not all "hate" organizations are necessarily fascist, but they have... trends toward such...
* [P]ersistent and fearless exposure will kill pro-fascist organizations and discredit the individuals who have formed them. However... exposure may attract new adherents.
* $100,000,000 per year is donated to propaganda organizations, some of which show very definite fascist tendencies.
* Many... feel that all agreements between American firms and foreign firms should be made public. This would... expose attempts of foreign fascists to work through American sympathizers.
* [O]ur educational system offers an excellent weapon, provided that we offer its advantages to all... regardless of... economic status or... location.
* Education... must utilize home influences... newspapers... radio, and other... public communication.
* Adult education must be given increased emphasis.
* A prime necessity in the defeat of fascism is... full employment.
* The Nation must continue to offer livelihood and hope to its citizens or they may become the prey of any demagog who offers them the promise of something better which is in reality a fascist regime.
* There must be a positive policy and a definite program for raising the national income and distributing it equitably so that people can buy the products of our economy. Some... consider this one of the most essential means for the destruction of incipient fascism.
* The working class has more to fear from fascism than any other group.
* [O]ne of the early acts of every fascist regime is the abolition of all labor organization outside government control.
* [M]ake certain that the existing government operates honestly and efficiently.
* Democracy and efficiency are compatible, but insinuations that we must choose between democratic participation ...and efficient government often emanate from fascist sources.
* Dr. Douglas M. Kelley has recently written 22 Cells in Nuremberg, a study in psychiatric terms of the Nazi defendants in the Nuremberg trials. ...[H]e describes his discovery, upon returning to America... that the same prejudices expressed in the same terms... were current in this country. He said:We can find the same ideas thinly veiled in our public press today. Even worse, we find some of our top political men, members of our highest governing bodies, making statements which would do credit to Rosenberg, Hitler, or Goebbels. ...I am convinced that there is little in America today which could prevent the establishment of a Nazi-like state.
* [T]here are dangerous tendencies toward fascism in the United States today, the present study can perform an important function in instructing the reader in the recognition of these tendencies. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
* It lies within our power to defend our chosen democratic way of life against the attack of fascism, and the study Fascism in Action is offered as a weapon in that defense.

### Preface

* This study of Fascism in Action... its scope and method were to conform in general to the earlier study, Communism in Action (H. Doc. No. 754, 79th Cong., 2d sess.), prepared at the instance of Representative Everett Dirksen, of Illinois.
* This study is appropriate because of the many similarities between fascism and communism, some of which Representative Fred E. Busbey, of Illinois, has recently listed as follows: 1. [W]iping out of all independent trade-unionism... [T]hose... permitted, exist only under the tolerance of the totalitarian state... as its servile adjuncts. 2. [E]limination of political parties except the ruling... Party. 3. [S]ubordination of all economic and social life to the strict control of the ruling, single-party bureaucracy. 4. [S]uppression of individual initiative... liquidation of... free enterprise, and a tendency toward government control of supercartels. 5. [A]bolition of the right to freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religious worship. 6. [R]eduction of wages and... living standards. 7. [S]lave labor... and... concentration camps. 8. [A]bolition of the right to trial by jury, habeas corpus, the right to independent defense counsel, and the innocence of the defendant until proven guilty. 9. [G]lorification of a single Leader or Fuehrer or Duce... all-powerful and subject neither to criticism nor removal through the ballot. 10. [U]tilization of... social demagogy—...[e.g.,] incitement of race against race and class against class—the elimination of all opposition, and the concentration of power... dictatorship. 11. [S]ubordination of... life and... needs... to the... expanding military machine seeking world conquest. 12. ...Nation-wide espionage to which the entire population is subject. 13. [S]everance of social, cultural, and economic contact between the people of the totalitarian state and those of other countries, through... censorship, travel restrictions, etc. 14. [D]isregard for the rights of other nations and... treaties. 15. [M]aintenance and encouragement of fifth columns abroad. 16. [R]eduction of parliamentary bodies to... automatically approving all decisions of the one-party dictatorship and... omnipotent Leader.
* While communism is... atheistic and intolerant of religion as an "opiate for the people," fascism does not... set itself against religion... but... attacks specific religious groups and practices...
* Communism frowns on private property, and nationalizes industries, banks, agricultural land, and all... property which may represent wealth. ...[F]ascism ...reprivatizes previously nationalized businesses, encourages cartels, and develops large private property holdings, especially in industry ...to simplify ...fascist control of the economy... [L]arge property holders... become members of the ruling elite.
* Communist agriculture tends to be state owned, operated, and directed, principally... collective farms, while fascist agriculture generally is built around an agriculture class, owning or leasing its land and producing according to a state program.
* [T]here is no fascist equivalent for the Communist program of world revolution (formerly the Third International), though the Axis alinement in the Second World War potentially had international aspects.
* Nowhere is the similarity of fascism and communism more clearly revealed than in their very close cooperation for aggression upon other states.

### Introduction What is Fascism?

* Fascism... is... a philosophy and a way of life which requires... followers serve the state with an unwavering faith and... unquestioning obedience. It makes fanaticism a virtue and weaves ideological concepts about the doctrines of race supremacy, the leadership principle, rule by an elite class, government under a single political party, the acquisition of living space, a totalitarian state, and the use of force as an instrument of national policy.
* The roots of modern fascism, especially the German, and to a less degree the Italian, may be traced to nineteenth century thought. However, it is economically a contemporary manifestation of mercantilism; politically an apologia for world conquest; and spiritually a quasi-religious cult with special symbols and ritual.
* In a narrow sense fascism is... the operation of the political, economic, and social institutions of the fascist state... [which] mobilizes all physical, social, and spiritual resources and activities... into a regimented whole. Primary emphasis is placed on power.
* In the following pages, when fascism means the movement in general or as a whole, it is spelled with a small "f"; when applied to Italy, it is spelled with a capital "F".

#### HOW IT OPERATES

* What... are the principles... that gave rise to fascism..?

#### Primacy of the people, nation, and state

* All fascist thought starts from... [an] idea... that "a people" form a "natural community" which "becomes conscious of its solidarity and strives to form itself, to develop itself, to defend itself, to realize itself." The nation and state... become the vehicles by which a people reaches its goals.
** Ref: Ernst Rudolf Huber, Verfassuugsrecbt des groMdeutschen Retches. Hamburg, 1636, pp. 158-7.
* In theory... the people and state are conceived as... inseparable... The state is a function of the people... It is the form in which the people attains to historical reality...
** Ref: Huber, pp. 165-6.
* [T]he state is the most important power in all fascist thought and action. Everything must be subordinated to the state and... assist in promoting state ends... the... fascist program and world outlook (Weltanschauung)... [T]his reduces... to government by party leaders and small influential groups... as Junkers military officials, industrialists, and revolutionary juntas.
** See below: chapter I. "Government and Political Parties"; VI, "Organization of the Economy: Germany; and VIII, "Labor".
* [F]ascist philosophy regards the state as... in a conflict to achieve its ends. ...Hitler ...spoke to the workers of the Rheinmetall-Borsig plant ...December 10, 1940...We are involved in a conflict in which more than the victory of any one country or the other is at stake; it is rather a war of two opposing worlds.
** Ref: Adolf Hitler, My New Order, edited by Raoul de Roussy de Sales, New York, 1941, p. 874.
* [F]ascism is a fighting philosophy... a power state seeking at all times to achieve the greatest possible physical might. ... Neither Mussolini nor Hitler was... inhibited in telling the world about the powerful military machines they were building. Even in peacetime they spoke of storm troopers, the battle of grain, and the labor front.
* [F]ascist leaders... use every instrument which will coerce people into obeying... propaganda and thought control... are... means of rationalizing acts of government... [and] devices for maximizing power.

#### Subordination of the individual

* [T]he individual, his rights, privileges, freedom, and even existence itself are of secondary importance.
* Compare... the democratic concepts... All men are created equal... endowed by their Creator with... Inalienable rights... life, liberty... pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights governments are instituted... deriving... just powers from the consent of the governed. ...[A] Nation "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men ore created equal." The state is not the master but the servant of the individual.
** As a Footnote.
* In a speech... February 12, 1947, Senator Robert A. Taft summarized the democratic viewpoint...Liberty... means first, liberty of the Individual to choose his own occupation in life and to live and conduct his business as he sees fit so long as he does not thus interfere with the liberty of others; and second, the liberty of communities to govern themselves, to decide what the scope of their government activities shall be and how their children shall live and be educated. Equality means equal opportunity to get started in life, and equal justice under law before impartial tribunals.
** As a Footnote. Ref: Congressional Record, February 17, 1947. p. A 582.
* Human life takes on great value only when it serves a state purpose. ...[T]he fascist citizen ...has a role to fill ...prescribed ...by the state. He is regimented... He must obey the injunctions of the state and its leaders... The state decides his living standards... He must submit to regulations, restrictions, rationing and substitute diets... [of] the fascist controlled economy. Life consists of a multitude of duties and schedules... Failure to do one's part is... punishable by penalties designed to achieve obedience and conformity. ...[W]oe to him who criticizes or opposes the government or its representatives.
* [R]eligion does not escape regimentation. Because it causes the citizen to feel reverence for a Higher Power or Supreme Being above the state and... fuehrers; because it teaches faith, hope, charity, peace, humility before God but... defiance of earthly authorities when in conflict with Divine precepts; and because it preaches dignity of the individual... [it] becomes the object of attack.
* [I]n Nazi Germany... General Erich von Ludendorff$^9$ exclaimed "I reject Christianity because it is international, and because, in cowardly fashion, it preaches Peace on Earth." Oswald Spengler... speaks of "Catholic Bolshevism more dangerous than the anti-Christian" and argues that "all communist systems in the West are in fact derived from Christian theological thought."$^{10}$ Alfred Rosenberg felt that "both the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Confessional Church, as they exist at present, must vanish from the life of our people."$^{11}$
** Ref: 9) Erich von Ludendorff, Deutscher Gottglaube. Rolf Tell, Sound and Fuehrer, London, 1939, p. 173. 10) Oswald Spengler. Jahre der Entscheidling. Deutschland and die weltgeschichtliche Entwicklung, Munich, 1933, p. 128-9. 11) Alfred Rosenberg in private speech at the Discussion on German Culture, Nuremberg Party Congress, 1938. Catholic Church. The Persecution of the Catholic Church in the Third Reich, Facts and Documents, London, 1940, p. 277.
* [T]here are degrees of religious regimentation and sometimes a workable arrangement may be reached between... Church and state as... in Italy, Japan, and Spain. But... primary consideration is the state and... [permitted] religious freedom... is determined by the state and its leaders.

#### Some Origins of Fascist Doctrines

* Professor Adolf Lasson... [i]n 1868... wrote, "A state is unable to commit any crime." This... paraphrased..l.l doctrines of Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814)... who said:in relations with other States neither law nor right exists, except the right of the strongest. These relations place in the hands of the prince responsible to Fate the divine right of the Majesty of Destiny and of the Government of the world.
* During the sixteenth century, Niccolo Machiavelli... in... The Prince (1513): "The Prince must know how to do wrong." This idea the fascist state joins with the thought that political frontiers are... power-political situations... a temporary front line held... during the lull between wars.$^{14}$ Nations... must grow or wither, expand or decline, but... cannot stand still.$^{15}$ The struggle for... space and power is unavoidable and everlasting. ...[T]he state and ...leader must do everything, regardless of... [ethics], which... promote... interests of his State. The leader "must not fear to kill nor to bear the brand of infamy."$^{16}$ Treaties which stand in the way... must be regarded as "scraps of paper"... falsehood and deceit are... instruments of international politics.
** Ref: 14) Otto Maull, Politische Grenzen (Political Frontiers). Berlin, 1928. 15) This doctrine one observer characterizes as "nihilism pure and simple applied to international relations." See Robert Strausz-Hupé, Geopolitics, New York, 1942, p. 220. 16) W. Fuchs, Medical Counsellor in Die Post, January, 1912, Ernest Hambloch, Germany Rampant, London, p. 65.
* How thoroughly these principles were applied by Hitler... he... with only apparent inconsistency, could say in 1935... "National Socialism has no aggressive intentions against any European nation";$^{17}$ in 1936, "we have no territorial demands to make in Europe"$^{18}$ (shortly thereafter to foment the international crisis over the Sudeten lands of Czechoslovakia); in 1938, "we do not want any Czechs"$^{19}$ (annexation shortly thereafter); in January 1939, "in these weeks we are celebrating the fifth anniversary of the conclusion of the nonaggression pact with Poland. Between them and us peace and understanding shall reign"$^{20}$ (unannounced invasion came 8 months later); in September 1938, "we have called upon the constructive elements in all countries to fight in common against Bolshevism"$^{21}$ (to be followed in 1939, by a nonaggression pact hailed as a "triumph for common sense").$^{22}$
** Ref: 17) Hitler, Party Rally. September 11, 1935. Rolf Tell, [Sound and Fuehrer?, 1939] p. 22. 18) Hitler, Speech to the Reichstag on the day of the military occupation of the Rhlneland, March 7, 1936 Tell, p. 17. 19) Hitler, Speech at the Sportpalast, Berlin, August 26, 1938. Tell, p. 20. 20) Hitler, Speech to the Reichstag, January 30, 1939. Tell, p. 24. 21) Dr. Goebbels. at Party Rally, September 13, 1938. Tell. p. 31. 22) Hitler, Speech on anniversary of the abortive 1923 putsch, Munich, November 8, 1939. Tell. p. 30.

#### Economic

* The economic ideal of fascism... is economic autarchy. No imports, keep out the foreigner, substitutes (Ersatz), expansion by conquest, colonization, amalgamation, barter arrangements, cartel agreements... are... favored... The era of free world trade and individualism is regarded as past. The future, they say, belongs to the giant totalitarian fortress economy.
* Such ideas go back hundreds of years to... seventeenth and eighteenth century English mercantilists... Philipp Hoernigh... (Austria a Ruler of the World If It Wills It)... Kameralists in Prussia... to Colbert and other mercantilists in France, Italy, and Spain.
* Friedrich List... is frequently held... most responsible for popularizing modern fascist or totalitarian economics. Returning from the United States where he had come under the influence of the... nationalism of Henry Clay and the protectionism of Alexander Hamilton, List in 1842, published The National System of Political Economy in which he insisted that Germany needed complete protectionism and economic isolationism coupled with expansion over... the North and Baltic Seas to the Black Sea and the Adriatic.
* When List's ideas... joined... geopolitical teachings of Haushofer... [their] program... called for a greater German Reich... [concentrating] all strategic technological skills and productivity. All other European states were to be colonies providing raw materials, and when... [needed,] low-paid labor.$^{26}$ ...Ernst Hasse spoke ...1905 of filling Germany's ...heavy and dirty work by "our condemning alien European stocks, the Poles, Czechs, Jews, Italians ...to these helot's occupations."$^{27}$
** Ref: 26) Strausz-Hupé p. 163. 27) Ernst Hasse, Deutsche Politik, vol. 1, Das deutsche Reich als Nationalstaat, Munich, 1905, pp. 61-62. For thousands of quotations documenting from German sources the political, economic, and social totalitarian views indicated in this chapter, see W. W. Coole and M. F. Potter, editors, Thus Speaks Germany, New York and London, 1941.
* [A]reas beyond fascist political dominance... for international economic relationships is... economic warfare. It is waged in times of peace, as well as during... hostilities, only in less violent form.
** Ref: Arthur Dix, Wirtschaftskrieg und Kriegswirtschaft, Berlin, 1936.
* The economy... is one of mercantilism, economic autarchy, corporate aggrandizement coupled with colonialism and imperialism, a self-sufficient area thoroughly organized and controlled, continuously waging economic warfare.
* The economic doctrines of fascism... run... counter to democratic principles. Basic freedoms... as freedom of occupation, free competitive markets, free international flow of goods, services and capital, and free private enterprise... are... greatly restricted or eliminated.

#### CONCLUSION

* [F]ascism... is deeply rooted in ancient ideas and institutions. Politically, it has drawn generously upon the theories of absolutism, the supreme right of kings, dictatorship and tyranny, ideas older than the ancient Pharaohs, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, and Caesar.
* [F]ascism reverts to a mercantilism, the supposed destruction of which, by Adam Smith in... Wealth of Nations... is often considered... the beginning of scientific economics.
* [F]ascism is an effort to turn back the spread of Christian concepts of the brotherhood of man — against all liberal, humanitarian ideas which have pioneered the emancipation of the underprivileged, racially, culturally, and socially.
* In subsequent chapters we shall see how it actually worked out...

## Quotes about Fascism in Action

* Fascism in Action: Documented Study and Analysis of Fascism in Europe. House Document 401, 80th Congress, ist Session, 1947. 206 p. 45¢ 80-1:H, Doc. 401. The tenets of fascist totalitarianism as they affect politics, economics, and the life of the individual. Illustrated by frequent references to original sources.
** W. Philip Leidy, A Popular Guide to Government Publications (1953) p. 31.

## External links

* Archive.org
** Fascism in Action (1947)
** "Fascism" Search Early works (1800-1963)
* Project Gutenberg
** Readings on Fascism and National Socialism by Various