The times-news., 1938-12-05
NEWSPAPERS OPINIONS
HOW FASCISM COMES

Of Fascism has BEEN illustrated by the national
election in this country on November and by
occu,rences both before and since in Europe" says
the Railway Age. "Spokesmen of organized labor
and radcalism in this country frequently fume
ooa;nst Fascism The real reason for its increase
;s the reaction of the middle class against the eff
forts of labor unions and their radical political al
lies +o take control of government and it to
exploit the middle class.
The peace of Munich resulted in a complete
diplomatic victory by Fascism Germany and Italy
over Democratic Great Britain and France. The
recent difficulties between government and labor
unions in France plainly indicate why the Fascist
rou,ers won at Munich. The French government
was afraid to 90 to war with Germany and Italy
booorsa Of labor difficulties at home actually oc-
..r,,r;no, or threatened which it feared would weak
ON France Thus radicasrn and the middle class
5O6La and fear of it, enabled FasciSm to prevail
over democracy with the result of greatly lncreas
irg Fascsns strength in the world and greatly re-
ducinp that of both democracy and radicalism
.sTba result of the recent election showed very
r1aiplv that the middle class in this country also
e beoinnino to dislike and fear the labor unions
and their radical allies. Is there justification for
+bsq Most labor unions pretend to be very hostile
r. the communists. But what real difference IS
thara between communism and the policies favored
bv oven the conservative labor unions? Commun-
ION, &c the specialization of all property by force.
sSocaIzstion is the transfer of property to owner
shin. and management by the state for service and
not for profit What, then, do the conservative
labor unions really advocate?
"There are supposed to be no more conservative
unions than the railway unions Their leaders JOIN
with other labor leaders, however, IN eontendmg
that human rights should be put above property
rights the assumption being that property rights
are not human rights In their application to this
nrinciple thev demand that railway arrangements,
in negotiating with them regarding wages, shall to-
tav disregard whether the wages in effect or pro-
posed will leave cent of earnings Tor railway
stockholders. or even railway bondholders. But
obviously if wages are to be made and kept so high
that no return can be earned upon stock or even
bonds, the property represented by the stock and
bonds will become valueleSs to both stockholders
and bondholders. Once property has been made
wholly improbable to private owners, they Will
abandon its management and it will have to be
taken over bv the state if it is to be continued IN
operation. Thus the objective of cOmmunsm-pup-
lie ownership and state management of property
can be as fully attained by labor union policies de-
structive of profits as by communist policies
"But the great bulk of property in every civilized
country belongs to the middle class-that is, to
small business men and farmers-and the middle
class rises fast to protect its property when 1t
realizes it is threatened. That the origin OF
Fascism in Italy. The labor unions seized the
plants in Milan, Turin and other
places in Northern Italy and started trying to op-
crate them for their own account. The small busl-
ness man and the peasant Immediately saw what
this meant for them as well as the large property
owned; and Fascism originated as middle class
movement to fight radical and contscatory organ
lied labor with its own weapons. Likewise Nazlsm
in Germany originally was middle class move
ment to transfer by whatever means might be nee
essary the control and use of government from
those trying to 'socialze' property to those who
owned property and intended to retain it.
"The Developments that occurred in Italy and
Germany are now being duplicated in France. The
outcome probably will be the establishment of some
form of Fascism in that country.
unfortunately, experience in almost every
important country in the world now shows, the rule
of any single class is almost certain to lead to the
rule of dictator over all classes.
"Of course it can't happen here. Our labor
leaders are sure they can follow radical policies
and take from the property-owners Of the country
as much as they desire without any real resistance
or reprisals being made. They regard the middle
class as too cowardly to fight and too fat to run
But the experience of Europe supports an exactly
opposite view. 1t supports the expectation that if
labor leaders and their radical allies continue 20
follow in this country the same course that they
have followed for five years, with similar effects on
property and profits, they will in due course cause
such an uprising of the middle class in the United
States as has occurred in many other leading coun-
tries. And the way the middle class voted at the
last national election indicates the same thing"