From The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism by Benito Mussolini.
“Fascism believes in holiness and heroism, in actions influenced by no economic motives. If the economic conception of history is denied, it follows that the existence of unchangeable class war is also denied- the natural progeny of the economic conception of history.”
“Fascism denies the materialist conception of happiness being equated with well-being, which reduces men to the level of animals caring only to be fat and well fed, degrading humanity to a purely physical existence.”
Mussolini sees democracy as a doctrine of political equality. Fascism, he says, denies that the majority can direct human society, it affirms the inequality of mankind as beneficial and fruitful, and that such inequality can never be leveled through a mechanical process such as universal suffrage.
Of the State, Mussolini says it is “the custodian and transmitter of the spirit of the people”.
Dave note:
Ok, in one sense, the state, as a representative of the people, is such a thing. But this is an example of where the Fascists are just as guilty of conflation as the Marxists. The State does, in a way, represent the spirit of its citizens. But then he takes that representative ideal and uses it to invest the fascist party with owning the “will of the people”, which always leads to the consequent that anyone who disagrees with the party, is an enemy of the people.
“The Fascist State organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual, but the State alone”
“The Fascist State is an embodied will to power and government, an ideal force in action. According to Fascism, government is not a thing to be expressed in territorial and military terms, but in terms of morality and the spirit.”
Dave note:
There is a level of either deceptive, or delusional, language here ascribing dictatorial powers to the State, and masking it as the spiritual will of the people. Mussolini tells us that individuals have sufficient freedom…. to do what their told to do. Anything the state decides you shouldn’t do is only ‘useless or harmful freedom’. The state will give its citizens the essential freedom, which it will decide. But of course, there is no separate agent called the state… the state is that entity that is run by men, and those men are planning on deciding what freedom’s you will or won’t have. Their trying to hide this fact by appealing to the emotions and declaring that the state is the will of the people, but this is a lie.
Morgan gives excerpts from My Autobiography by Benito Mussolini. No quotes of interest
From Policy and Debate by Oswald Mosely.
Mosely discusses economic details of unionism and protectionism from foreign imports that are cheaper. In large international corporations, control should be returned to the workers for their own benefit. They would employ skilled managers, and both those would have their own self-interests at heart to keep the business profitable. These managers must persuade.
Mosely then discusses national policy of wage controls and protectionist import controls.
Civilization should add to nature; the strong must be free to create, but they must be kind to the weak.
From The Two Violences by Thierry Maulnier.
The two violences are capitalism and socialism. Capitalism creates class conflict and socialism exploits it.
Conservativism tries to preserve national unity by preserving the forces that are destroying it, while the revolutionary works for the destruction of the very thing it wants to liberate.
Fascism mitigates the economic rivalries of the classes, reminding both sides that life doesn’t consist in the search for material benefit. It abolishes class struggle by transforming the economic circumstances that have created class struggle.
The Marxists got it wrong in that the association of men according to economic interests was never the most complete form of human community. A better way is to see community as representing all forms of life in the common soil, blood, and language mingled within the community.
Capitalism ends up as an international phenomenon and degrades the national community at the expense of profits for finance capitalists, and the democratic spirit that pretends equality degrades culture to the lowest common denominator.
What is needed is an authority, a hierarchy, an order- a harmonious, coherent, and noble society. This can only be achieved the a national revolution both anti-liberal and anti-Marxist.
From Beyond Nationalism by Emmanuel Maunier.
Dictatorship is indispensable to any revolution, particularly a spiritual one; in order to neutralize and overcome evil forces. Liberalism is the grave-digger of liberty.
Devotion, sacrifice, virile devotion; the authentic spiritual energy that sustains these new men uprooted from bourgeois decadence, filled with an ardor that one possesses when one finds a faith and a meaning in life.
We are taking a totalitarian position against the invisible and open wound in the body of the modern world, which has completed its work of decomposition. Individualism is at the root of the evil.
After a century of bourgeois languor, the adventurous life again claims its place in the world.
Morgan gives excerpts from The New Order by Alexander Marc. No quotes of interest
From Plutocratic Satellites by Eduoard Berth
“Now people only aspire to the state of well-being of the man who has retired and is completely uninterested in anything except his pension, and lives in terror of social or international unrest and asks for only one thing- a stupid, vacuous peace made up of the most mediocre material satisfactions.”
Daves note:
Eduoard is upset that people only aspire to peace. Eduoard thinks that such a man is stupid, vacuous and only cares for the most mediocre material satisfactions. What does Eduoard propose? That men should live for adventure and sacrifice and things he thinks count for real living. That’s arrogance and hubris speaking. Eduoard thinks everyone else needs to think like he does, which is precisely why the larger community needs to be protected from psychopaths like Eduoard. Here’s the deal: if you have a deeper longing for something more, and understand, I’m not disagreeing with people who do, then excellent: go for it. Live your life on the edge and find your purpose. But when propose a political system wherein NO ONE can opt out of YOUR vision, I don’t want any part of it. Leave people to themselves. If they feel like doing something YOU think is worthless, that’s their right.
The problem I’m seeing is that these fascist ideologues see purpose in political vision, much like the Marxists. Well I DON’T find my purpose in political vision. I find purpose in Christianity. It’s not that I disagree with the fascists that there should be a higher purpose to life than material goods, I do. But as was mentioned earlier, this should only be done by persuading men. If someone wants to reject my life and philosophy, they should have that right, even if I disagree. After all, a muslim would certainly feel that I’m dead wrong about what counts as true purpose in life. But I don’t want the muslim to have control over my life to tell me what he thinks my life’s purpose should be.
But Fascism is totalitarian- it necessarily intrudes into every area of its citizens life and decides for them what they ought to think and do. It claims to be doing this for some spiritual purpose, but I think this is a lie. They accuse Marxism and liberalism of being materialistic, because those systems only concern themselves with material well-being. Marxism does. Liberalism recognizes that people’s lives are not meant to be exclusively political. Fascism says it concerns itself with the spiritual, but it only does so by referring to the State as an ideal. In reality, the Fascists too are concerned wholly with the political system as THE representative work that humans should be engaged in and towards which all human efforts need to be directed. Their either lying or deluded into believing they aren’t materialists, but they have bought into a system that places all value on a political system.
Morgan gives excerpts from Fascist Socialism by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, The Plague of Liberalism by Ziotio Garibaldi, A Tight Definitive of the Radical Extremist Center by Robert Brassilach, and The Origin of National Integralism by Richard Winter. No quotes of interest.
From the Founding 33 Points of National Integralism by Richard Winter
The meaning of life is the nation. The nation gives man its humanity and thus, significance. Without the nation, man is nothing and ceases to be human. All men have a duty to serve, endorse, and protect the interests of the nation. It is through that service the existence of a man is justified. National Integralism seeks to empower the individual, to bind the individual with something greater than one’s self, the nation.
Dave’s note:
This language is repeatedly used. Fascism pretends to ‘set individuals free’; free to do what? What they’re supposed to do, which is whatever the state says. So Fascism sets us free to do what they tell us… which sounds a lot like slavery. They tell us straight up though, the nation gives the individual his significance and existence. Outside the nation, you cease to be human. An individual’s existence is justified by his service to the nation. What’s not being said is the obvious: and if the individual is seen as not doing his service, then his existence is no longer justified. Which translated means: do what we tell you, or you’re dead.
From If Our Objectives Are Achieved by Richard Winter
It is a national interest that the state must provide for the basic needs of its citizens such as medical treatment, education, and work. (The work clause is mentioned in Our Political Outline as well.)
Dave’s note:
As I mentioned in another post: rights come with responsibilities. The entity that has responsibility for something, must have the rights necessary to procure the thing it is responsible for.
If individuals want to have rights over their retirement, then they must take responsibility for it. But if we offload the responsibility to the state, then the state automatically gains rights over our lives in order to make a retirement possible. In such an instance, we voluntarily relinquish our rights in order to obtain security. This is an inescapable fact of life. So when the program is that medical treatment, education and work are to be provided by the state, it necessarily means individuals no longer have any rights in those areas. That is the trade-off.
From On Revolutionary Myth by Hubert Beuve-Mery
150 years of individualism has emptied man of all substance.
From Beyond Democracy by H Lagardelle
Democracy only recognizes the individual; it ignores the group
From Notes from the Spanish Contingent
“In a supposedly democratic society where the corruption mechanisms atrophy, individualistic consumerism makes us forget the collective interest.”
We reject a uniform worldview, globalized and monotonous, creating true vital laboratories manufactured in large multinational companies, and we are committed to a multi-polared world.
Democratic policies committed to bringing all areas of citizen participation and social progress on the road to building a participatory democracy, where the interests of the economic or media are fully controlled by popular institutions.
From The Fascista: Friend of the People by Benito Mussolini
Discipline. Fascism is in favor of the most rigid discipline. It must be accepted. If it is not, it will be imposed. Only by obedience, and the humble and sacred pride in obedience, can the right to command be conquered.
Violence is not always immoral. Sometimes it is moral. We made use of it for 48 hours and obtained results we wouldn’t have gotten with 48 years of sermons and propaganda.
Dave note:
Love that quote. Sure, if you beat the crap outta people, you don’t have to try to convince them. And Mussolini basically admits he wouldn’t have been able to convince people.