Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1935-07-25
DICTATORSHIP
Editor AskOv American:

Editor Askov American:
Communism and dictatorship are
forms of government which one finds
back in olden times. They go far
back, and they are far back of an
ideal
Neither is dictatorship, nor Nazism
anything new. History teens with
tyrants, autocrats, and absolute rulers,
Assyrians and Babylonians, Tartars.
and Turks.-But what has become Of
their dominiOns? Poor tribes of
Bedouins pitch their tents on the
ruins of former populous cities.
The world today is haunted!
Early NOrdic society was free. Our
knowledge of early Nordic history as
sures us that the people priced free
dom highly. Dictatorship is un-Nor-
die, it threatens freedom.
Nationality and love of country are
deep and abiding foundations and
Nazism (National Socialism) builds
on them, but in an old-fashioned and
formal way, which leaves out the
deeper living, creating freedom. Ac-
cordingly, while it awakens worth
while national sentiment, it also Of
tends against the socially worth while
sense of freedom and is therefore ma
tiOnally harmful and detrimental to
society.
In olden times one man might be
lord of all that he surveyed. That
time is past. The capacity of the hui
man brain is too limited. All men
err, but where an ordinary citizen
errs usually but himself suffers.
When dictator errs, the fate of the
whole nation may be in the balance.
There are certain traits that a die
tator must have. He must be active.
alert, and remorseless. The world has
seen great dictators, for instance Gaze
sar, Napoleon, and Peter the Great.
but, their SUCCESSORS? If there is
anything a dictator fears, it is rival
and successor.
And now take countries under die
tatOrS today. How fares Germany?
The highly protected German agricul-
ture never complained more because
the cities cannot buy it's products
Taxes, debts, and tariffs impoverish
the country.
And Italy? 1t has an ordered life
no begging, it is forbidden. But what
of poverty? Public debts and taxes?
National Socialism in Germany has
raised a nations will to be itself. In
spite of mistakes it has spiritual mo-
mentum. But economic laws are
rough-necks. National spirit is a real
asset. Man does not live by bread
alone. Yet daily bread is not without
Importance.
A spiritual movement must above
all be measured by its power to estab
lish justice. If it cannot, it must be
swept away. Justice there must be
In principle Nazism acknowledges
private ownership. but when the pow
er of taxation is unlimited, what
then?
Germany is today country where
it is not permitted to speak the truth
How then may the truth be known
Science emigrates. Intelligence is
sent to concentration camps. Freedom
of speech and press is muzzled.
dictator rides on the back of the PEG
pie and cannot be shaken off, as Ions
as he has the machine guns.
Dictatorship is primitive. The lead
er of a pack of balloons is dictator
he maintains his power by brute force
Anarchism and individualism are
right in their belief in the individual
in freedom and independence, but they
minimize the value of collectivism
Henry George was right in his be
lief in collectivism, in the unity O
people and land, and in his demand.
for the individuals freedom anC
rights. He would make the state
strong by making its end and aim tC
guard the rights which will best pro
mote the life of man and the pros
perity of the nation.
One must not overlook the strength
of NaZism. 1t is rooted in natiOna
sentiment. willingness to sacrifice il
an instructive sense of the peoples
soul. 1t awakens strong and mani!
emotions, ideals of youth, war senti
ments, the heroic, all tending to fir
imagination and to intoxicate the soul
But it is entirely without the deepe
and more enduring sentiments o
justice, freedom, and humanity
LUDWIG MOSBEK.
I