Evening star., 1936-03-28


In the long run they approach each
other.
Communism starts as an economic
movement, with the aim of national
izing the means Of production In the
interests of the working masses. To
make its program work it has to regi-
ment the working masses in the in
terests of the bureaucratic state which
assumes dictatorial power in their be-
half. This is accomplished by ere
ating a myth and social discipline,
and actually the power Of the move
ment resides in the vigor of the myth.
imposed by an immense propaganda
apparatus and accepted, especially by
the youth, with religious intensity.
The basis of the myth is Messianic
belief in the coming of perfect
world order. Since Russia is to be the
agent of this order, the myth is
eventually associated with an intense,
if unusual, form of nationalism, and
a high degree of economic nationalism
is inevitable because completely
socialistic state cannot otherwise be
organized in single country.
Fascism's Thesis Different.
Fascism starts from an entirely dif-
ferent thesis, and has an entirely diff
ferent goal. It is avowedly anti
economic. It repudiates the whole
idea of man as an economic creature.
It elevates instead what it calls the
heroic virtues, and regards the nation
as the supreme god. 1t Is accepted
at first as the savior of individualism
from economic collectivism. But
whereas communism, beginning with
state ownership and control Of the
economic life, eventually regiments
every individual down to his last
thought, fascism, which begins by
regimenting the individual to ma
tionalist ideal, ends by swallowing
the economic system.
Industrialists who are for the most
part notoriously incapable Of seeing
beyond their next dividend and seem
to prefer suicide to social reform
have, in Italy and Germany, clutched
at the social disciplines Of fascism,
thinking that it will keep them in
power. But fascism is only interested
in keeping its own bureaucracy IN
power.
Actually, Mussolini's step in ma
tionalizing the key industries repre-
sents no sensational change. Indus
try was already under complete con-
troll. The ownership remained the
oretically in private hands, but the
owners had little or nothing to say
about what they should do with their
property. Very early in his career
Mussolini had to take over the banks,
and the industries, as in most poor
countries, were In the hands of the
banks. They we're broke, and the
state salvaged them on its own terms.
Many New Industries Created.
Many new industries were created
by the state for purely national and
militarist purposes. Mussolini's war
policy carries him further and fur
ther in this direction. Speaking be.
fore the Fascist Assembly three days
ago, he said that Italy would have to
undertake the hydrogenation Of lig-
mites, the manufacture Of alcohol
from plants and the distillation Of
asphalt rock to take the place Of oil
imports; she would have to substitute
more electrification projects for coal
and work even her deepest lying
mines, setting research bodies at work
to find substitutes for celIulose, rub
Der and oleaginous seeds. All this is
uneconomic in the extreme. Musso-
lini blames sanctions for it, but the
Ethiopian venture itself has no eco
nomic justification. What he wants
in Ethiopia he could have bought for
far less than it costs him to fight for
it. The same amount of money in
vested in real reclamation projects in
Italy would have yielded vastly greater
material results. Mussoiini himself
has stopped the emigration Of the
surplus population, although there are
parts Of the world better than Africa
where they could 60. But fascism is
not rational. It is irrational-pa-
triotism gone haywire.
The enterprises which Mussolini Is
taking over are bankrupt. Not be-
cause Of Ttaly's essential poverty.
They are bankrupt because a rampant
nationalism makes no attempt to cut
its garment to its cloth. Marching
troops, a huge party mechanism, a
vast bureaucracy, cost money. Some
one has to pay 1t. First the common
people pay, compensated by illusions
of future grandeur. But they will
not pay forever If some one else Is
making profit. So eventually profits