Evening star., 1935-02-17
FASCIST VETERANS BLOCK
ADMISSION OF NEW BLOOD
Party Face Lifting With Aid of Barber
and Tailor, Makes Jobholders Younger
Looking, but Youth Is Not Silenced.

help carry out the tack, newspapers
suggested that for one week they,
and particularly the provincial press
should get the privilege of publishing
the names of those who had accumu-
lated a large number of jobs. The
was not carried out, but 1t
is said that the order from party
headquarters has met with moder-
ately prompt obedience.
The unloading Of jobs" however,
has been only minor step in the
effort to reconcile the conflict Of gen.
erations. The most original effort
has been the institution of a regular
system of schools for political train
ing and Of periods Of temporary Serv-
ice for young men as assistants in the
more important offices.
Schools New Development.
The schools are just beginning to
function. They are to be night
courses, open to selected candidates,
and emphasizing as much as possible
the practical side of political job
holding, in stead of abstrlIse political
theory.
This is the first time the problem
ever has been approached in such a
practical manner" the magazine
Gerarchia said when the courses were
announced. THE selection Of leaders
has in fact until now meant almost
exclusively the utilization of men who
went through the early days Of the
revolution or were in the ranks at the
moment of the conquest Of power"
Should the training efforts prove
successful it may turn out that Fas-
cism has created something new in
the way of developing an able gov
arning class. Its theatrical advantages
over other methods are that it should
not. as in the case Of democracies.
mean a change of policies with every
change of men: nor. as in the case OF
aristocracies. should 1t lead TO rule
by a closed caste
Even to the least observant out
slider it is evident that beneath the
surface unity of Fascism turks certain
Jeolousies. AS political organization
the Fascist party was at the outset a
combination Of many groups. Regional
differences as we'll as differences Of
policy often divided them.
Most of these conflicts have been
wiped out. Perhaps the greatest sin
gle accomplishment of MusSolini has
been the welding of truly national
spirit in a country where for CEN
turies regional loyalties we're stronger
than national loyalties.
The Fascist party has had large
part in the process. Starace is spoken
Of as the secretary who has "deper-
sonalized' the party. 1t would be as
accurate to say that he has deere
gionalized" it. Regional bosses have
surrendered their authority to Rome
or have gone to the islands for their
obstinacy The provincial secretaries
of the party usually are posted far
from their native districts and are
changed frequently.
Secretaries Mostly Veterans.
OF the SO federal provincial secre-
taries of the party, only became
Fascists after 1922. The 80 federal
secretariat was made necessary by the
creation of the new Province of Lit
toria out of the reclaimed portions
of the Pontine Marshes. The news
papers accented heavily the fact that
the man to fill the post had been
chosen from among the "Sansepol-
cristi" OF the 10 members of the
national directorate of the party. only
one was not wearing a black shirt
at the time of the march on Rome,
and only two are less than 35 years
old. In the higher Offices for the
corporate state organization there is
a similar alignment.
The Council of Ministers Is the
most obvious. and perhaps the least
fair, target for those who criticize the
Fascist political system. For it is
there that the theory of "GiovaneZza"
runs afoul of the peculiarities of the
dictatorship. Whatever the implica-
tionS may be. it now appears estab-
lished that Mussolini has not had
great success in the delegation of au-
thority.
Mussolini in his "Colloquies" with
the German writer, Emil Ludwig, men,
toned Balbo, Grandi, Bottai and
Leandro Arpinati as outstanding ex-
amples of the Fascist ability to de-
velop young men. Arpinati at that
time held the important post of
undersecretary for the ministry of
the interior and the other three had
full cabinet rank
At present Arpinati is in confne-
ment on an island for failing to
realize that the district political boss
was out of date; Balbo is governor
of Lydia; Grand, Ambassador to
England. and Bottai, after a period
of obScurity, has Just been made gov
ernor of Rome. None of the latter
three could be described as actually
in disgrace. Yet each Is far re-
moved from the headlines and the
contact with Mussolini, which once
was his privilege
Recently there has been another
ministerial shakeup, in accordance
with the policy of rotation in Office
which MuSsolini and the party have
tried to establish for the double pur-
pose of training capable young men
and reducing jealousies.