Evening star., 1936-04-12


presidential campaign as If it
i were an ordinary election be-
tween two parties. If the Republican
leaders cannot see it is much more
than that, will they be able to make
the public see?
The aspirants or possibilities for the
Republican presidential nomination, in
such speeches as they make, dwell
upon the ordinary issues of American
campaigns: Gov Landon on economy,
Senator Vandenberg on the same,
Senator Borah on big business and
monopoly. Senator Dickinson on the
reciprocal treaties and other aspects
of the tariff Occasionally they dwell
on spoils and patronage.
Even ex-President Hoover, who is
making by far the best speeches, has
not, since about a year ago. focused
his thought primarily upon the deeper
issue. Mr.. Hoover's book, THE Chal-
lenge to Liberty" published during
1884, analyses and reveals better than
any other source so far the true issue
that the New Deal presents to Amer
lea. The Challenge to Liberty had
an extremely large sale; many per-
sons must have read and digeSted it.
But still, there is not evidence of any
wide consciousness that the choice
before America is whether we shall
adopt, or reject, variation of the
new conception of society which has
taken foothold, in varying forms, in
Italy, Germany and Russia.
Fer the failure of the people to un.
derstand, and for leaders of thought
adequately to explain and emphasize,
one can see several reasons: To ana
lyze and make clear is an extremely
difficult task-I know, for have tried
The mechanics of social organization
is an intricate subject. To trace the
parallels, the identity of principles,
between the new conception of society
in Europe and the innovation being
attempted here, is laborious for the
writer to do, tedious for the reader
to follow Many who attempt the
analysis become baff1ed by the diff
Guilty of it. In something like despair
they give up. and merely express their
sense that the identity exists by ap-
plying controversial words and epi-
thets to the American innovation,
such terms as "fascism," socialism, -
dictator" augmentation" Use OF
these terms as argumentative epithets
carries within itself the suspicion of a
bias which is merely alf-informed or
wholly partisan. The words have be-
come stale to the American ear; they
do not register, they do not arouse
thought. Instead of a Paul Revere
cry of warning, they are rather an in
citement to skeptical boredom. The
hearer or reader turns to the base
bill score or the current motion pic
ture.
Faith in Roosevelt.
Another impediment to awareness
Is the widespread feeling. in large
part correct, that President Roosevelt
has no conscious, deliberate intention
of taking America into a variation of
the new European conception of So
ciety. Even when Mr.. Roosevelt. in
his messages to Congress and else
where, uses such phrases as new
order" and "old order" and "a per-
manent readjustment of many of our
ways of thinking and therefore of
many Of our social and economic ar
rangements." even then the public
thinks either that these words are
mere political rhetoric, or else that
Mr.. Roosevelt does not fully under
stand the implications of what he
says. In thinking thus the public is
right. I suspect many of those
phrases. particularly the one about
permanent readjustment of many of
our ways of thinking" are given to
the President by some of his radical
advisers, who are always at his ear.
But if Mr.. Roosevelt does not fully
understand, nor concretely intend
the implications of his words and ac-
tions, the radical advisers understand
we'll They know what they want and
they know how to bring it about.
They, more than any other group in
America, are intimately familiar with
the European experiments. They
know the technique of bringing about
revolution without the use of vio-
lence-revolution by the device of
setting up mechanisms of government
which are based upon the collectivist
principle, and which, once set up in
America, must automatically grow
and slowly stifle our individualist
conception of society and the form
OF government that goes with it.
One reason for American failure
to recognize the attempt to set up
here variation of the new European
conception of society lies in failure
to understand the European concep-
tion itself. The European conception
profits greatly by the insidiousness of
it and by the protection which lies
in the fact that it takes three differ
ent forms.
Systems Really Same.
The average American thinks that
the three-Fascism in Italy, Nazism
in Germany and Communism in Rus
sia-are utterly seperate things, even
mutually hostile things There is not
space here to show that the three
are really one, that they seem differ
ent only because the three are vary
ing stages of development of the fun
damental and ultimate conception.
put the reason for not making this
clear at this point on the ground of
space, yet in doing so I am conscious
myself of a slight evasion, for actual
ly I am deferred, as respects this ar
ticle, in part by the difficulty and
intricacy to which I have already
alluded.
Perhaps it Is sufficient to say, very
briefly and incompletely, that all three,
Fascism. Nazism and Communism, are
negations of democracy, that all three
60 on the assumption that government
Is omnipotent, that the individual has
no rights which government need re-
spect, that government has unlimited
power to compel the individual to do
what government demands; that all
three include enormous concentration
Of power in an individual or group,
going so far as fairly to be called die
tatorship; that all three include sus-
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