Evening star., 1937-03-10

uWeu more closely the modern tech
nique Of the coup d'etat, he would
have had Windrip keep the Supreme
Court and fill 1t with his henchmen
IN order to create the show Of legality.
Congress Is Real Guard,
The advocates of the Presidents
proposals describe this kind Of argu-
ment as "hysterical." On the air the
other night Mr.. Harry Hopkins as
serted that the real guard against
dictatorship lies in the Democratic in
strument Of parliament; in Congress.
Mr.. Hopkins should study q little
more closely the history Of the last
20 years. recommend to him a
volume on the technique Of modern
revolution by the Italian, Malaparte,
who quite coldly describes exactly how
modern European states have been
captured. The modern technique Of
the coup d'etat, as illustrated by
Pilsudski, Mussolini and Hitler, is a
formula for capturing the Democratic
State by its own instruments, aided
and abetted by the insurrectional ac-
ton Of bodies Of workers, or party
adherents. Ever since Napoleon and
the eighteenth Brumaire, the date OF
his coup. the tactic has been to use
parliament as the best ground on
which Ito combine the use OF violence
with respect for law"
All parliaments, without exception,
are vulnerable. Parliamentary de-
mocracies make the mistake of placing
too much faith In the triumpns OF
liberty. whereas nothing Is more fragile
than the modern state" says Mala-
parte. 1T Is . dangerous illusion to
believe that parliament Is the best
defense Of the state against a Bona
partist venture, and that liberty can
be protectd by liberty itself. This is
what the deputies Of the Spanish
Cortes and the Polish Diet believed
befor the coups d'etat of Primo and
Pilsudski." And also it Is q great
mistake to think that these modern
relationships are inevitably impelled
by the reactionaries. Pilsudski, who
established In Poland a military die
tatorship, did 1t with the collabora-
ton Of the Socialist party and the
trade unions, with the marshal OF the
Diet as his ally in parliament and
with the general strike to keip him.
In contrast Mussolini's coup d'etat
only became possible when he had
the collaboration Of the highest SYM
Dol Of constitutionality and legitimacy
In the state-the King.
Moreover, the whole procedure by
which Hitler captured the German
republic had already been started in
motion q year before he came into
power by Chancellor Bruning. Brun-
ing was the least dictatorial of chan
cellors, modest, self-effacing and ut
terly without those namboyant quail
tiles OF personal leadership which
characterize the modern popular
leader" But Bruning faced . situa-
tion very like one which We may have
In this country in four years time If
We are not careful, and II we should
swim into another depression with a
still heavily unbalanced budget.
To pass q denationary budget
SAAA AAoAcA q IoPAioA PoAAAhlAClll u always
difficult, and therefore Bruning re-
sorted to q paragraph Of the consti-
tuition under which powers could be
vested in the President, to govern by
decree, In moment of national emerg-
ency. What Bruning did was legal
and constitutional, although he
stretched the constitutional paragraph
out Of meaning. For it had been writ
ten with the emergency OF war in
mind, not Of a budgetary crisis. He
was net dictator, and he intended to
suspend the use Of the paragraph
when the CRISIS was over. But from
that day to this Germany has never
been governed otherwise than by de-
cree! Hitler, succeeding Bruning,
found the perfect instrument for the
establishing Of complete dictatorship
already at hand and in use He merely
needed to 60 on using Hindenburg-