Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-04-19
Benevolent Dictatorship

The word "fascisnn" has been used to describe some things that it
is not. So, far that matter, has the word democracy"
Our purpose here is to warn all who care to read and think against
the seeming benevolence of some of the spokesman for the wages and
profit-or free entcrprne-system. Also to urge that people should
refuse to be blinded by a word to the degree that they are incapable
OF seeing a condition.
Not necessarily. Neither is it necessarily prosecuting Jews and mis-
treating Poles. We can have fascSm just IS we had chattel slavery
in this country less than a century ago, ard sim have a society in which
some degree of consideration is given to inferior peoples. When we
consider that all values ar comparative, we can see that a fascist state
can also be a benevolent state-so long as the exploited and controlled
class within that kind of society submit to the authority of the super
class.
We have vi own definition of what fascsm is. To u it is a class
society in which people are controlled by the State in such a manner
that the master class is secured by the State in its rights to rule and
the exploited class is held by the State in the service of the masters.
1t is inconcefvable that such a system would work without checks and
balances which would impose certain duties upon the masters and make
certain concessions to the exploited. But such checks and concessions are
unimportant to people who wish to be free.
With our definition, it is natural that we should look with dis
approval upon the satisfaction expressed in some labor circles when
President Eric Johnston of the U, S. Chamber of Commerce testified in
favor of price control before the Senate Banking and Currency Com
nittee.
1t may be only that Mr.. Johnston is wiser than the average big
business executive when he welcomes one of the controls that govern
were likewise slavery advocates who vigorously declared that the in
stituton of slavery would have to be controlled and humanized for it's
own good. They were the wise ones The Ignorant ones were those
who thought they could be rugged individualsts' forever.
But when the institution of slavery was attacked, then both the wise
and the ignorant among the master class fought to the death for the
preservation of the system.
We're not grateful for the kind words of a spokesman for the
master class. We may be pretty much the fool in some things, but not
to the extent that we accept a nod from a private-proft lord as a sub
stiute for a good breakfast.
In the slavery days there wre some people who didn't merely want
slavery cleaned up and contro1ed.They wanted it abolished. That's
how we feel about the profit system.
If some people think we're utopans, dreamers and worse-well,
that's what the Slaveowners used to say about the abolihoniss. More
over, fol- a long time the laws of Northern, as well as Southern states
backed up the institution of slavery.
But in the end slavery was abolished, although it took a bloody
war to do that historicallynecessary job.
We want none of Mr.. ,Johnston's compromises. We want the frees
dom from human exploitation that Socialists always have stood for.
And we want it more than ever before because we are convinced that
the time has come when Fascism II Socialism is the choice that this
generation must take-Reading Labor Advocate.