Evening star., 1933-10-22
BY COUNT CARLO SFORZA.


BY COUNT CARLO SFORZA.
Former Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs
is THERE anything really new in
European politics when they are
studied from a strictly psyche
i logical point Of view? Yes, one
thing-and it is especially notice
able in Russia, in Italy and in Ger
many-in these three countries the
powers of emotion, the fanciful creation
Of the imagination and myth, as op-
posed to the powers Of pure intellectual
reasoning. have been appealed to in
order to create new currents of en-
thusiaSm and faith.
It Is true that this has been done
throughout history-but only for very
short periods. 1 have seen it done.
have done it myself with the soldiers
during the war. The innovation that
was introduced by the dictatorships OF
the SovietS, the Fascists and the Na2lS
was the tremendous scale on which
these powers were appealed to. All
three of these relationships have sub
stituted visionary dreams and myths
for the intellectual serenity in the
schools.
This has resulted in a generation of
adolescents who, though they are en-
tirely ignorant of the life of the world.
still swear by the historical mission
Of their country and believe with semi
religious faith in their leaders. unaware
that these leaders, drunk with their
own words. do not know in the least
whittier they want to go, or whittier
they will be able to go.
Danger Lies in Youth.
In these new generations, divorced
as they are from the traditions Of in
telIectual clearness which we thought
had become the patrimony of our times,
lies the great danger of our era.
That is why, if we want to know
what tomorrow will bring. it is wise to
begin by trying to discover the mental
and moral trends of the young genera
tions in the countries under dictatorial
rule; to find out how they react to the
new dcgmas they swallow in the schools
Let us start with Germany, not
only because Germany constitutes the
weightiest problem of the hour but
also-and eSpecially-becauSe the prob
lem of education is more essential in
Germany than it is, for instance, in
Italy; because. after all. in Italy the in
f1uence of the publicsschools can still be
counteracted by the individualistic in
f1uence of the family.
There is no such thing as this indi-
vidualistic influence of the family in
Germany. There was plenty of truth
back of the German legend which said
that it was Fichte who beat the first
Napoleon, but that it was the German
schoolmaster who defeated the second
Napoleon in 1870 And now they are
beginning to say that the Studien-rat
(the high school teacher) was Hitler's
main ally.
Studien-rat a Force.
There is little doubt but that the
Studien-rat has sprung enthusiastically
to the task of serving the Hitlerian era
Until the Nazi conquest of the state,
a deep abyss separated the Studien-rat
from the faculty professor. Neither his
scientific nor his pedagogical training
entitled the Studien-rat to university
professorship. Studien-rats are turned
out Zen masse"; faculty professors con-
stitute select body. The Studien-rat
is first and foremost pedagogue; the
professor is a man of science. And,
finally. the fact that the Studien-rat
is drawn from the lower middle classes
made him a pariah among German
university men.
The Weimar Republic. convinced of
the importance of help from an educa-
tional system was quite ready to grant
the studien-rat the position he de-
manded. But the granting of this posi-
ton presupposed adherence by the
studien-rat to the political ideas of the
democratic regime and collaboration
with a semi-labor culture. His lower
middle-class origin would not allow
studien-rat to submit to this, for the
typical German petit-bourgeois complex
has always been to despise the prole-
tarians And since the plutocratic side
of the republic. which the studien-rat
favored. entailed the survival OF the
rSeponderance of the rich merchants
and bankers. the social standing of the
studien-rat did not change much. Un-
willing to associate politically with the
democratic parties. and unable to ac-
cede materially and socially to the con-
servative clans whose political opinions
he shared, the studien-rat was dissatis-
fled and anxious: he was ready. in a
word. for a nationalistic demagogic
change.
lie Is Happy Now.
Now he is happy-happier than any
one else in Germany.
For although the faculty professor
may indeed pretend to be converted to
Hitlerism, in his heart his old culture
still rebels, occasionally, at any rate.
And this also applies to the lower END
of the education scale-to the poor
wretches, men and women, who teach
the younger children. It is hunger, the
fear of losing their salaries. which has
turned them into ardent Nazis in the
space of a day. 1t was the fear Of be-
ing dismissed for lack of national
mentality" that led them to strive to
proclaim loudly their devotion to the
national revolution" and to attempt
to outdo one another in their zeal to
prove their fidelity to Hitler and their
anti-Semitic fanaticism.
Throughout half of Germany the