Evening star., 1933-09-24
BY FRANK H. SIMONDS.


TINE recent declaration Of Chan
cellor Dollfuss that the old order
had passed forever In Austria
i must be accepted as one more
evidence Of the progress Of the
Fascist doctrine east Of the Rhine
and the Alps BY the old order the
Austrian premier meant parliamentary
democracy as 1t has long existed In
adopted in Germany and various
other Central European states after
the war.
As substitutes for the democratic
method. Russia has presented the
Communistic state, Italy and later
Germany the Fascist state. Basically
both assume the supremacy and in
finite involvement Of the state in
the economic, financial and even cul-
tural details Of national life. The
individual is subjected to the state
without regard to those rights which
democracy has held inalienable. And
majority expressing itself through
political parties and legislative ma
chinery-is abolished.
The distinction between the Moscow
and Roman systems lies in the fact that
the former is based upon the old
IdSlllUlcO lOtd VI CLASS OOtIluldIlOil
borrowed from the Marxian gospel,
its sweep, grants equality to all, but
at the same time deprives all Of the
so-called democratic rights and priv
ileges. Instead Of the dictatorship Of
one class as in Russia, in the Fascist
state there Is dictatorhip outside of
any class.
In practice the distinction is some
what hard to discover. In Russia, Italy
and now in Germany there is the
same consolidation of all former poll
tical parties into one. The state and
all other political parties have been
forcibly dissolved and have become IL
legal.
In all three instances the dominant
groups have found dictators of OBJ
viously outstanding ability. In fact,
before Stain there was Lenin in
Soviet Russia, while Mussolini in italy
and Hitler in Germany have been
equally successful in gathering all
power into their own hands and at
the same time enlisting for them
selves and the principles they profess
an almost fanatical enthusiasm.
Query Heard In U. S.
In the face Of these arresting eX-
amples one hears again and again
in Britain, America and France the
same query as to whether democracy
as it exists in all three countries is
doomed at home as it has been de-
stroyed at least temporarily in the
center and east Of Europe. There is,
too, an obvious tendency to translate
the abdication Of the American Con-
gress to the President last Spring as a
sign Of q drift in this country toward
dictatorship. while the program Of the
new deal has Just as manifestly dis
closed an approach to statism sugges-
tive of the various European expert
ments.
But while it is beyond question that
even in the democratic nations there
is drift toward government control
and regulation of the economic and
financial life of the country hitherto
undreamed of, there Is still nothing
to suggest repetition of Russian,
Italian or German events in the three
western democracies. And the reason
Is twofold, arising from conditions
peculiar to the several nations. For
the European phenomena have psyche
logical causes quite as basic as the
political or economic.
In the first place it Is essential to
note. as Guglelmo Ferrero has re-
Gently pointed out, that dictatorship
has supplanted democracy 50 far only
in those countries in which democracy
was never firmly established, or in
fact where 1t is unknown. And in the
second place it has been an accom-
paniment Of defeat or disaster in war.
In Russia the communiStic regime
sprang directly from military defeat in
q country where for all practical pur-
poses the government was Oriental in
its despotic character. The brief effort
to establish liberal democratic regime
failed abyssmally because there was nc
experience or training on which to
build. The regime which took power
and held 1t briefly, for the moment in
spring great If vain hopes in the west
ern world, had no roots. It represented
nothing but small group Of Russians
who had been more or less asSimilated
to western ideas.
Italy's Case Different.
In Italy the case was somewhat diff
ferent. For two generations the italian
people had lived under a system not
greatly different from the French.
Moreover, nominally Italy was a vic
torious and not a vanquisned nation
But in fact. democracy in Italy had
politically no great tradition. It was
the House Of Savoy which had made
itself the symbol Of national unifica-
ton. If monarchy had lost influence,
the democratic power vested In Parlia-
ment had been corruptly and inef-
ficiently exercised. Giolitti, the last
great parliamentary master, had been q
boss rather than q statesman.
Again, while Italy had emerged VIC
torious, her army had suffered colossal
defeat in 1917, her territory had been
freed only with the collapse Of the
central powers. And while the war
had failed to bring that prestige for
which the whole Italian people had
hungered, at the Peace Conference
Italian statesmen proved themselves in