Detroit evening times., 1945-05-15
FAIR
ENOUGH
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GAN FRANCISCO, May II
~ The only Italians more con-
temptible than Benito Mussolini,
were those who sprang through
the lines of the guards standing
over his body and that of a
young woman and kicked them
in the face, spat upon them
both and fired pistols into their
corpses.
However, these few were only
delegation, so 10 speak, repre-
senting many thousands who
stood in packed crowds and
shrieked "duce" until the tears
ran down their faces when he
was riding high. For il is part
of a deliberately false propa-
ganda. designed to give back TO
the Italian people some shred
of self-respect to clothe their
ignominy, to say now that there
were only a few Fascists and
those few were underworld
gangsters or greedy capitalists.
The majority of them ac--
cepted Fascism and no element
enjoyed and favored it more,
after the first few years, than
that faceless and dehumanized
monStrosity whom the Henry
Wallaces of the earth so loftily
refer TO as the common man.
Fascism relieved them of the
duties and responsibilities OF
manhood and humanity and II
the Axis had won the war the
Italians would have claimed
their loot and prosecuted their
victims 10 utter degradation.
TqiE facts of life under Fas.
i cism seem to have been for,
gotten by those professional
anti-Fascists in the United
States who have made the word
liberal" a disreputable politi-
cal label The he reason is that SO
much OF that which they have
praised as liberalism and
democracy In our own coun-
try was taken from Mussolinis
system and his creed.
Among American liberals"
this system has received violent
endorsement and they gave
!. their support TO a program
which, like Mussolini's. rigged
a pipeline from the treasures
OF the labor movement into the
party treasury.
Never before was the politi-
cal and -ciXic- freedom m-of-the-
Americans so defiantly Knocked
and largely under the leader
ship of unassimilated conti-
mental immigrants. at that.
AudaciouSly. Of late. the
Americans have been imposed
upon by misuse Of the word
patriot" 10 designate those
who rose against fascism after
the doom of fascism had been
wrought by the Americans.
For this term includes the
Communists who are patriotic
10 no country but Russia and
traitors 10 every other.
The same counterfeit was
passed during the Spanish Civil
War when the Communist revo-
luton. with IT'S long record OF
atrocity. was labelled the
"LoyaliSt' side
OUR best newspapers care
~ leSsly co-operated in both
of these deceptions And while
we have bethought ourselves OF
! the Monroe Doctrine 10 sbate
fascism in Argentina. we have
pretended that the Communist
penetration in Mexico and
other countries 10 the south has
been an advance OF our own
system of freedom.
Fascism in Italy was a re-
action 10 Communism and the
premonitory disorders, which
would have produced another
dictatorship as bad as Musso-
lini's. and more brutal, but for
his intervention.
The unnecessary massacres
In Russia after the Bolshevik
minority overthrow Kerensky's
revolution were about 10 DO
repeated.
So the majority OF the Ital-
ianS were relieved when the
black shirts put down the con-
spiracy and made the trains run
on time where, lately, trains
had stopped far between sta
tions and the crews had refused
to bulge until patriotic veterans
of the first World War got off
and walked.
MANY Italians. OF course,
N1 wanted no dictatorship and
yielded TO Mussolini for tho
same reason that American
communities succumbed to vio-
lent instructions which in the
organizing days Of the C1O
under John L. Lewis were called
labor strikes.
The orderly, patriotic citizens
we're unorganized, their mayors
and governors were towards or
political opportunists and the
national government, though
not helpless here, as In the time
OF Mussolini's rise in Italy, pas
sively collaborated with the
rioters.
That federation OF lawless-
ness was a political investment
which paid of in 1914 In the
form of forced political con-
tributions from the common
man and political intimidation
in the interests OF the ruling Z