1942: Fascism

The year 1942 brought the first definite setback in the history of Fascism. By Fascism we understand not only the Italian movement under the leadership of Benito Mussolini for which the term was coined in 1922, but all movements which are united with Fascism in their absolute rejection of liberalism and democracy, freedom and dignity of the individual, equality of all men and all nations, and which concur in the glorification of war. During the past twenty years Fascism has become a world-wide movement. It came to power in Japan, Germany, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, Spain, and to a lesser degree in Vichy France. But even in countries where it did not attain full power, Fascist parties of varying strength existed, so that Fascism could proclaim itself a few years ago a triumphant movement which will determine the fate of mankind, the 'wave of the future.'

With its contempt for peace and the peaceful life Fascism had from the first prepared for war. The prompt mobilization of the whole nation and all its resources for total warfare from the beginning in Fascist countries gave Fascism such an advantage over peaceful democratic nations, that the friends of Fascism not only praised its high efficiency and military superiority, but were convinced of its ultimate victory. These friends of Fascism endeavored to spread a spirit of defeatism in the democracies. The myth of the efficiency of Fascism and of the invincibility of the National Socialist armies and airforce became an important weapon in the psychological warfare, the 'war of nerves,' waged by Fascism against democracy.

In 1942, the very year when Fascism was celebrating the twentieth anniversary of its rise to power in Italy, this pretence was definitely shattered. The democracies regained their confidence and were now convinced not only that the democratic idea was of a higher moral and spiritual order but that democracy was more efficient than Fascism even in the art of warfare. The wave of the future seemed now to be revealed as that which the friends of democracy had always believed it to be, a backwash of the past, a denial of that liberty and equality for which the English, American and French revolutions in the 17th and 18th centuries had striven, and which in the 19th century had become accepted as a general creed by the progressive portion of mankind.

Fascist World Conquest.

Within the past decade Fascist forces in all countries were united, under the leadership of Germany, Japan and Italy, for a world-wide assault on democracy and on free peoples everywhere. By the spring of 1940 it seemed as if the Fascist goal of world domination were almost achieved. At that moment the splendid and unexpected resistance of the democratic British Empire broke the 'wave of the future,' and thereby frustrated Fascist designs for world domination and saved mankind. Most friends of Fascism had believed and proclaimed that British democracy had no chance of survival against the German army and airforce. The myth of this invincibility was insidiously fostered by Fascist propagandists who advised Great Britain to submit to the allegedly inevitable German triumph. Yet England's resistance while England stood entirely alone made the awakening of the democracies and their rearmament possible.

In 1942, two years later, the Fascist new world order was opposed by the United Nations of the world, thirty nations united — in spite of their differences of tradition, government and habits of life — in the determination to defend their freedom and survival against the imposition of the Fascist new order, and to create a peaceful world.

By the end of 1942 the myth of the invincibility of Fascism was definitely broken. Democracy, and faith in democracy, were everywhere in the ascendancy. In the military field the German armies had been unable, during 1942, to achieve even one of their military objectives: they were halted and even pushed back in the Soviet Union, and they were routed by the British and the Americans in North Africa. The German airforce no longer threatened Great Britain. Instead, the British airforce began to make the German and Italian people understand what air bombardments mean. Within one year American industrial mobilization had surpassed that of the Fascist Powers and had proven again what free enterprise and free labor can achieve. The Japanese, after great initial successes, due to the unpreparedness of the United States and the concentration of British forces in Europe and the Near East, were halted at the frontiers of India as well as in the Pacific.

Generally the conviction spread that a world-wide Fascist victory was out of the question. This conviction was especially strong in the small European democracies which had survived in spite of their close vicinity to Germany — as in Switzerland and Sweden. On Sept. 20 municipal elections were held in Sweden. They were a test whether Sweden would cling to an outspoken rejection of Fascist and National Socialist ideas and aims, or whether she would show some signs of Nazi infiltration or of a defeatist collaborationist policy. The answer was clear cut. The Swedish Nazis did not dare to put up any candidate of their own, and a pro-Nazi group which called itself the Socialist party, lost all their seats. The social democrats and the conservatives lost some seats while the agrarians and the Communists made slight gains. All these parties are violently anti-Fascist and all, with the exception of the Communists, democratic. Thus the only truly popular vote held in Europe in 1942, in spite of the neighboring Nazi menace, brought a triumphant reaffirmation of faith in democracy.

Decline of Fascism in Italy.

Most characteristic of the breakdown of Fascism was the situation in Italy. There Fascism had first risen to power. For twenty years it had been praised for its efficiency in armament and management, for the building-up of a powerful Italian army, navy and air force. When Fascist Italy entered the World War in June 1940 she expected the world-wide triumph of Fascism and easy gains. Yet British resistance in Great Britain and in the Near East frustrated these hopes. The Italian army was defeated in Greece, in Italian East Africa and in Libya; the Italian fleet proved no match to that relatively small part of its fleet which the British could spare for the Mediterranean; British air planes destroyed important Italian industrial centers without Italy's air force being able to make itself felt, and the whole Italian empire in Africa was lost. Successful Anglo-American operations in North Africa threatened Italy herself with the specter of invasion. Italy had become a vassal of Germany without gaining in the process any territory or any increased security. Under these conditions the morale of the Italian people was reported at a low ebb. The Fascist party was discredited in the eyes of the people and all its efforts to regain its strength proved in vain. In May and August many members were ousted from the party on charges of economic speculation, or of refusal to take part in Fascist activity. On Dec. 19 Premier Mussolini, on the proposal of Aldo Vidussoni, the Fascist party secretary, signed a decree naming a new national directorate of the party. The number of vice-secretaries was raised from three to four, members of the party directorate from 17 to 21. This reorganization was aimed at the home front, especially at the growing labor unrest. The failure of Fascism in Italy had become only too evident by the end of 1942.

Fascism in Other Countries.

The hold of Fascism on Germany was infinitely stronger than the hold of Fascism on Italy. That can be explained not only by the greater efficiency of German administration, but also by the fact that National Socialism appeals to certain historical traditions of Germany. Yet even in Germany the first signs are visible that parts of the German population have begun to doubt the wisdom of Fascism, the more so as the often-promised triumphant German victory over 'decadent democracy' seems to withdraw more and more into a distant future. In most European countries, in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Denmark, Yugoslavia, Greece, Netherlands and Belgium, Fascist influence has not gained in spite of Nazi occupation. Only in France has the Vichy government of Pétain, Laval, and Darlan helped to promote Fascist feeling. There are also strong Fascist movements among the Boers in South Africa, and in Argentina, where the Spanish governmental party, the Falange, has kept Nazi and Fascist influences alive. In other Latin American countries, however, democracy has gained.

Fascism in Japan.

In a number of articles by the New York Times correspondent in Tokio, Mr. Otto D. Tolischus, which appeared at the end of August, it was made clear that Japan had aligned herself with European Fascism not for economic reasons, but for psychological reasons. In Japan a Fascist tradition has long been very strong, and at least as deeply rooted in Japanese history as German Fascism in German history. Many western observers have regarded the Fascist trend in Japan as too fantastic to be taken seriously. Nevertheless the conviction is deeply ingrained in the Japanese mind that by divine origin Japan is the center of the universe and that it is a part of 'cosmic truth' that Japan is the absolute life-center of mankind and that peace can only be assured by reorganizing mankind into one all-embracing family under Japanese guidance. The counterpart of the Fascist party in Japan is the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, of which Premier Tojo is President and Lieut. Gen. Kisaburo Ando, Executive Vice-President. The Japanese parliament has become a rubber stamp for the military Fascist rule. The similarity of German and Japanese Fascism was stressed in a Berlin broadcast on February 4th according to which Wotan, the old German god, and Amaterasu, the Japanese goddess of the sun and ancestor of the Japanese imperial house, are similar in character and meaning and represent an actual bond between Germany and Japan.

1941: Fascism

Under the term Fascism, as it is being used at present, we understand not only the movement started by Benito Mussolini in Italy immediately after the First World War, but also Nazism or National Socialism as it is practiced under Adolf Hitler in Germany and a number of similar movements, all of which are united in their complete rejection of all the fundamental beliefs underlying democracy as it had developed through the American and the French Revolutions. Fascism regards itself as the categorical rejection of the spirit of 1776 and of 1789, of faith in the rights and dignity of the individual, in the equality of all men irrespective of creed or class, birth or race, in the fraternity of all peoples and in the desirability of a peaceful world order. Fascism demands the complete subordination of the individual to the nation-state or to the racial community, and it believes in the exclusive rights of this nation-state or racial community at the expense of all other states or races. Fascism glorifies authority, discipline, obedience, and fosters the spirit of aggression and national expansion. Since the rise of National Socialism, the German variant of Fascism, to power in Germany, and then, backed by the German military might, to hegemony in continental Europe, Fascism has become a world-wide movement, and Fascist parties and organizations have shown strength in practically all countries.

Fascist Cooperation.

An outstanding fact of the last few years has been the united cooperation of all Fascist governments and movements under the leadership of Nazi Germany, and their joining hands with the military government of Japan in a world-wide attempt at the destruction of democracy and the imposition of the Fascist way of life on all the peoples of the earth. According to an identical pattern of conquest, the foremost Fascist powers have attacked one democratic country after the other by surprise. Their successes have been due to the fact that the democracies did not understand the nature of Fascism and the world-wide character of its aspirations, and instead of uniting together in a common defense, waited in isolation until their turn came. Even in 1941 some nations still waited, in so-called 'neutrality,' until a surprise attack in violation of international decency, and despite solemn pacts of friendship and non-aggression, woke them up. Thus in June 1941 the Soviet Union found itself suddenly faced by a treacherous invasion by the German armed forces, in spite of the startling pact of friendship and non-aggression concluded by Germany with Soviet Russia in August 1939. On Sunday, December 7, the United States was subjected to a sudden and devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii by Japan with whom she was conducting at the time negotiations for a peaceful settlement of matters in dispute.

Thus a new situation was created in the world-wide struggle between Fascism and those who would not accept Fascist world domination. The United States, the British Commonwealth of Nations, the Soviet Union, China and some of the smaller European democracies found themselves united in a common fight for freedom against Fascist aggression, a war involving all the six continents and all the seven seas of this earth.

What Fascism had foreseen, had arrived: the supreme crisis in human history when the future of free men everywhere was to be decided. The question was whether the democracies would be ready and willing to rise to the occasion and to unite their economic resources and their armed forces unreservedly for the common purpose of defeating Fascism everywhere. For that purpose not only an aggressive military strategy on land, sea and air, would be needed, but also a spiritually aggressive spirit which would oppose the ideas of Fascism with a renewed faith in the principles of democracy and a renewed vigor and will to fight for them.

Democratic Cooperation.

The fact that at the end of 1941 a council of the twenty-six nations opposing Fascism met in Washington, under the chairmanship of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain, aroused great hopes for such a world-wide cooperation. Washington became as it were the capital of all the peoples who were resisting Fascism, much as Berlin is the capital of all those who hope for a Fascist-dominated world. Thus a democratic and anti-Fascist 'international' was coming into being by the end of 1941, while a Fascist 'International' had been in existence for several years. The latter renewed its alliances at a meeting in Berlin on Nov. 25, 1941. The same date in 1936 had seen the signing of the first anti-Comintern Pact between Germany and Japan, directed against Soviet Russia. Now five years later thirteen nations of Europe and Asia came together in Berlin to sign a prolongation of that Pact for five more years. The leader of the Fascist 'world international,' the German Reichsführer Hitler, had hoped that by this time the war would have been victoriously over, with the hoped-for speedy conquest of the Soviet Union, and that the long-promised 'New Order' for all Europe and Asia could be proclaimed. Instead of that, the two great Fascist powers of Europe and Asia, Germany and Japan met there with their satellites — governments entirely dominated by them — to reaffirm their objectives. Those who renewed their adherence to the Anti-Red Pact were the original signatories, Germany and Japan; with the later signers, Italy, Hungary, Spain, and the puppet government of Manchukuo. Those who signed for the first time were Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Rumania, Slovakia, and the puppet government of Nanking. (See also NEW WORLD ORDER.)

Fascism and Religion.

Turning from the worldwide aspect of Fascism, to the development in the single countries, it should be noted that Fascism did not develop any new traits in Nazi Germany during the last year. The most interesting fact is that the hostility to Christianity, which is inherent in National Socialism, was expressed more and more openly during the last year, with the growing triumph of National Socialism and with the mounting expectations of an approaching National Socialist world-order (see GERMANY). The religion of charity and universal brotherhood, of the Prince of Peace and universal love, is, of course, fundamentally incompatible with all the principles of Fascism and of National Socialism. It is therefore understandable that Chancellor Hitler's claim of conducting a crusade on behalf of Christianity against godless Communism, when he crossed the borders of the Soviet Union in the early morning hours of Sunday, June 22, 1941, did not find any echo in Christian centers. The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Pius XII, who broadcast a sermon on the following Sunday, June 29, refused absolutely to endorse Chancellor Hitler's claim of a Christian crusade against Communism by refraining pointedly from any statement which could be interpreted in that way. A relentless struggle against National Socialist domination was also conducted by the churches and religious bodies of many countries occupied by the National Socialists' military machine. In Norway the Protestant bishops and ministers steadfastly and sometimes violently rejected any compromise with National Socialism. The resistance of the Catholic and Protestant Clergy in the Netherlands and in Belgium was no less outspoken. The Greek Orthodox Church in Yugoslavia went even beyond it: the Patriarch of the Church, the bishops and the priests put themselves at the head of the fight against National Socialist oppression, even after the Germans had succeeded in defeating the Yugoslav army. In the same way the Patriarch and head of the Russian Greek Orthodox rallied with the whole church unhesitatingly and unreservedly to the full support of the Soviet government in its struggle against National Socialism. The official stand of the Catholic Church in America was made clear in a statement by the Catholic bishops of the United States, issued on November 17 by the administrative board of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. Their pronouncement began with the words: 'Christianity faces today its most serious crisis since the Church came out of the catacombs,' thus rejecting absolutely the belief then still accepted in America, by many that the present war was nothing but a 'foreign war' or a 'war between two imperialisms.' The statement further recalled that 'Pope Pius XI with prophetic vision had declared that the machinations of Nazism, from the beginning, had no other aims than a war of extermination,' and that he had branded the 'Nazis as the nullifiers and destroyers of the Christian West.'

The violent Fascist negation of democracy, of Christianity and of western civilization, finds its expression also in the anti-Semitism which is propagated by the National Socialists and Fascists and which is used by them as an entering wedge in their efforts to destroy the democracies. Wherever Fascists are in control or where Fascist propaganda is active, anti-Semitic propaganda is one of its main instruments. Naturally all those who try to undermine resistance to Fascist aggression, or to divert the attention of the democratic peoples from the threatened Fascist aggression by their preaching of 'neutrality' or 'it cannot happen here.' make good use of anti-Semitism. On Nov. 14 the German propaganda minister, Paul Goebbels, published an article in the leading German weekly, Das Reich, in which he accused the Jews of being the enemies of Germany and demanded their complete destruction. The fate of extermination not only threatened the Jews, but all whom Fascism regarded or declared as its enemies all over the world. The important Italian newspaper, Regime Fascista, declared in its issue of Oct. 21, 'war against the enemies of Fascism has now assumed a clear totalitarian character. We therefore demand to know with the greatest possible accuracy who are our enemies, both at home and abroad.... The hour to settle all accounts is at present. The Jews have always been hostile and opposed to our progress. They have attempted to strangle us in the luminous moment of our revolutionary affirmation on a world plane. They must inexorably pay.'

Fascism in Italy.

While the triumphal tone of German Fascism changed somewhat towards the end of 1941, with the mounting reversals in Russia and in North Africa, and with the sudden realization of the essential unity of the American people and their understanding of the true issues involved in this war, the mother nation of Fascism, Italy, had throughout the year witnessed a fast eclipse of the prestige of Fascism. After eighteen years of preparation it was revealed to all that Fascism had brought about a régime of military inefficiency and incompetence, in the very field which Fascism regarded as its very own. The loss of Italy's African empire, the defeats of Italy's armies in Greece and Libya, the inability of the Italian navy and air force to assert themselves in the Mediterranean against the numerically much inferior forces of Britain, and finally the state of inferiority and vassalage in which Italian Fascism found itself in its relations with Nazi Germany: all that did as much to reveal the weakness of Fascism as did the successful resistance of the British in 1940 and of the Russians in 1941 against the German war machine which was superior in men and material. It did not help that in January 1941 some of the leading Fascist cabinet members enlisted in the Italian army and were sent to the front line in Albania. According to official reports from Rome, among the members enlisted were the Foreign Minister Count Ciano, the Minister of Popular Culture Alessandro Pavolini, the Minister of State Roberto Farinacci, the Minister of Education Giuseppe Bottai, and the Minister of Corporations Renato Ricci. Though their departure to the front was announced with great emphasis to bolster up the dwindling Fascist morale, nothing was heard of their deeds on the front, nor did their arrival help the Italian army to start its counter-offensive against the Greek troops in Albania. Frequent shakeups in the high Fascist administration and in the Fascist high command of the Italian army, navy, and air-force, did not improve the situation.

Nor did it help that Signor Mussolini preached undying hatred for the enemies of Fascism. It was noteworthy that the official newspaper of the Catholic Action groups of Italian University students was confiscated because it published an article by a priest named Pignedoli who addressed the Italian soldiers in the following way: 'Hatred is one of the most base feelings, and dishonors any uniform. Your Christian faith tells you that your enemy does not cease to be your brother, who is performing, as you do, a duty toward his fatherland. And he would — as you would — be a traitor if he did not make the greatest possible effort to defend his country. Respect him, therefore, and do not utter words of hatred. Hatred is the brother of impotence. It is never a factor of true victory, even though it may produce gestures of superficial and incomplete heroism.' Needless to say, that these words, reflecting the Christian attitude, brought punishment to the paper, while the Fascist attitude was expressed in a speech by Roberto Farinacci on Oct. 12 which was published by the Regime Fascista on October 14, in which he placed emphasis on the need of a world-wide triumph of the Fascist idea and asked the Fascist comrades to employ strong-arm methods against all their enemies. The degree of hatred expressed even in the moderate Fascist newspapers may be seen in the fact that the most respectable Italian newspaper, the Corriere della Sera, spoke on Oct. 23 of the 'boorish falsity of Cordell Hull' and referred to Mr. Roosevelt as 'that vulgar blackguard in the White House.'

Spanish Fascism.

Fascism in France, Spain, Rumania and other small European countries showed the same traits as in Italy. Spanish Fascism was full of the desire to revive the glories which had made the sixteenth century the great century of Spanish history, the claim to world domination based upon the common civilization of Hispanidad and of the Spanish Catholic Church. This imperial dream of the Spanish Fascist organization, the Falange, embraced especially the whole of Latin America and the Philippine Islands, which were regarded with Cuba and Puerto Rico as the most important outposts of this coveted new Spanish Empire.

Japan and Fascism.

It is interesting to note how closely Japanese Fascism resembles the European brand, not only in its aspirations, but even in the words used to express them. Japan's racial idea of a chosen race destined to govern the world is very similar to the ideas of National Socialism. On Feb. 11, on the 2,601st anniversary of the founding of the Japanese Empire, the home minister Baron Kiichiro Hiranuma addressed the school teachers on the meaning of the day: 'Dynasties in foreign countries were created by man. Foreign kings, emperors and presidents are all created by men, while Japan has a sacred throne inherited from the imperial ancestors. Japan's imperial rule is therefore an extension of heaven. The dynasties created by men may collapse, but the heaven-created throne is beyond men's powers.' Toshio Shiratori, the adviser of the Japanese foreign office and a former ambassador to Rome, expressed the Nazi idea when he alluded to 'plutocrat Jews and democrats' as Japan's enemies. On June 15, 1941, he wrote: 'The greatest reason for Japan's participation in the triple alliance lies in the fact that the three signatory powers ... have the same position, the same interests and entertain the same political views. China is not Japan's real enemy in the present incident. In reality Japan is fighting Britain and America. The first thing we now are required to do is to carry out our southward advance. When Europe and Asia are placed under the New Order, America will be unable to maintain her capitalism.'

On Nov. 25 before a mass meeting of the Imperial Rule Assistants Association, the official totalitarian Japanese organization, the president of the Planning Board, Lieut. Gen. Teiichi Suzuki, stressed the necessity of creating a 'New Order.' The decadent Anglo-Saxon order said he, 'is about to be replaced by a 'New Order.' Should the European War develop into a world conflict, responsibility will rest with Roosevelt and Churchill. We have full confidence in the strength of our country to fight against them.' Thus towards the end of 1941 it became more and more clear, that Fascist forces everywhere, in Asia as well as in Europe, with their friends in the western hemisphere, were all bent upon one aim. The issue was joined beyond any doubt on Dec. 10, when Germany declared war upon the United States, and the alignments in this worldwide attempt at the creation of the Fascist 'New Order' were clearly revealed. See also articles on COMMUNISM; GERMANY; ITALY; JAPAN; WORLD WAR II.

1940: Fascism

Tripartite Pact.

The year 1940 was the culminating point of the power and spread of Fascism. Many hitherto democratic countries succumbed to Fascism, among them France, who for the last one hundred and fifty years had been the inspiring example of democratic development all over the European continent and in the Near East. The conclusion of a close alliance, or Tripartite Pact, between Germany, Italy and Japan, on Sept. 27, 1940, documented the will and hope of the Fascist Powers to establish their control over the whole world. Though this alliance represented a revival of the old anti-Comintern pact, it was this time directed not so much against the Soviet Union, with which Fascist Germany cooperated closely, as against the democracies, Great Britain, and especially the United States. This alliance had as a result the definite transition of Japan from a liberal constitutional state to a totalitarian government.

Democracy versus Fascism.

On the other hand the almost world-wide success of Fascism awakened in the democratic countries a strong will to resistance, and made the democratic peoples realize the tremendous implications of any further growth of Fascism. The heroic resistance of the British Isles in face of the threatened Fascist invasion and in spite of the vast losses inflicted by the German air attack, the defeat of the Fascist forces in Greece and in Egypt, the resolute stand taken by the American people in their determination to put the immense resources of the United States at the disposal of the nations fighting against Fascist aggression and to transform America into the 'arsenal of democracy' — all these factors dimmed Fascist hopes of world domination by the end of 1940.

Fascism Changes Face: New Order of German World Domination.

Until 1939, Fascism in Germany, Italy and Spain had always proclaimed itself as the defender of all conservative interests against Communism and against social revolution. On the strength of this propaganda the German, Italian and Spanish Fascists had enlisted the sympathy and frequently the cooperation of some conservative circles in the democracies. Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco were often regarded as defenders of the established order, as a bulwark against Bolshevism or, as in the case of General Franco, as 'Christian gentlemen.' This illusion was dispelled not only by the conclusion of the pact of friendship between National Socialist Germany and Communist Russia and their cooperation in economic and diplomatic fields, but even more by the fact that Fascist propaganda in 1940 stressed more and more the social revolutionary character of Fascism and proclaimed itself the true bearer of proletarian revolution against democracy, plutocracy and capitalism. The former vitriolic attacks against 'Jewish Communism' ceased entirely; they were replaced by vitriolic attacks against 'Jewish capitalism' which was seen as especially dominant in London, Washington and, until the downfall of France, in Paris. The official organ of the National Socialist Elite Guard, the Schwarze Korps, published on Feb. 3 a leading article in which it declared that Protestantism of the Anglo-Saxon Calvinist type was the modern version of the Old Testament, that the existence of Germanic racial ties between Germany and England was a myth, and that in reality the English were a nation of 'white Jews.' 'The dream of Anglo-German cousinship has been dispelled for good. Experience has taught us that Latin peoples, yes, even the peoples of distant Japan, are incomparably closer to us in their attitude toward life than our 'Germanic cousins' on the British Isles.'

When Chancellor Hitler, who formerly had stressed union with Great Britain in the fight against Communism, mobilized Communism in the fight against Great Britain, the National Socialists used the slogans of the 'Communist Manifesto' by Marx to interpret the present war as a class struggle for the 'liberation' of labor under Fascist leadership from the 'yoke' of capitalism. Dr. Robert Ley, the head of the German Labor Front, appealed on Feb. 13 to the workers of the world in the following words, which combined Marx with Richard Wagner: 'Workers of all lands, unite to smash the rule of English capitalism! You young upward-striving nations of the earth, combine to annihilate the old English dragon, who blocks the treasures of the earth and withholds from you the riches of the world! The young revolutionary nations must necessarily unite in this struggle to drive from the field the old petrified world of the money bag. We Germans, and therewith the German workers, are proud to form an advance guard in this young world. We are accustomed and willing to hit capitalism on the head wherever we find it and in whatever form or person it appears, and we shall not rest until the capitalistic center of England and its City are smashed and annihilated. Workers of all lands, including the English and French workers, unite!' Thus Dr. Ley stole the thunder of Karl Marx in his appeal to the proletarians of the world.

The 'new order' will be an 'order' based entirely on domination by the Germans as the mightiest and most creative cultural lords of the Occident. The new age that began for the whole world, according to German Fascist opinion, with Adolf Hitler, will be a German age in which everything will be subordinated to the needs and the leadership of this master race. Small nations will have only a right of existence under the protection and command of the great nation; whatever space Germany needs to insure the wants of her people will be taken and settled by German farmers and artisans. As Dr. Ley said, 'It is the fate of every single German to belong to his high race. A lower race needs less room, less food, less culture than a higher race. The German cannot live under the same conditions as the Pole and the Jew.' This principle, which had first been applied only to the Jews within Germany, was after the conquest of Poland applied to the Poles. From all districts which the Germans wished to annex, all Poles were ejected, and their lands were resettled by German farmers and artisans. As far as Poles were allowed to carry on, they were only allowed to do it in complete submission to this new order and by putting all their efforts at its service. The same system was then applied in the West, where all French people were expelled from Alsace and Lorraine to make room for German settlers and artisans. For other conquered lands a similar relation of the master race and the subject races was planned, without political rights for the latter and with strictly limited economic and educational opportunities.

Italian Fascism.

Fascism in Italy has created two great national holidays, the 28th of October, the anniversary of the march on Rome, and the 21st of April, the anniversary of the foundation of Rome, which now takes the place of May 1 as the workers' day. On April 21, 1940, Mussolini in a speech to the Italian working class declared, 'In this moment I wish to tell you only one word: work and prepare yourselves for the greatness of the nation. That is the order of the day for the Italian people.' On March 1 the Fascist militia was incorporated into the Italian army to be used there in time of war, mainly as 'shock troops.' In a programmatic editorial published Jan. 13 in Mussolini's Popolo d'Italia and probably written by him, the three main points of Fascist policy were restated as struggle against democracy, against Bolshevism, and against the bourgeoisie. On the same day Giovanni Ansaldo wrote in Count Ciano's newspaper, the Telegrafo of Leghorn, that Italy controlled the Mediterranean. 'No nation can today navigate the Mediterranean, a sea created by God for submarine warfare, against the will of Italy.' On Oct. 10 Raffaelo Riccardi, the Italian Minister of Foreign Exchange, published an article in which he declared the new economy for all Europe would be autarchy, based on the Italian lira and the German mark. 'There will have to be a hierarchy of nations, and each of these will have the right to its quota of raw materials and natural wealth. Existing colonial empires will be redistributed. The autarchic concept in the Fascist sense will be continued integrally. The two Axis countries will divide their tasks in Europe and Africa, each achieving its own autarchic goal. Naturally the two directing powers will have to fix the tasks, initiatives, and goals of each controlled state. Free trade must be considered absolutely outmoded. Multilateral exchanges will be developed, payments will be effected with the two European currencies.'

It may be that the defeats suffered by Italy in the late fall of 1940, at least temporarily, relegated these high plans to the background. It is doubtful whether after having revealed her whole military and economic weakness and unpreparedness, and having had to appeal for German help and protection against Greece and Great Britain, Italy will be allowed any longer to regard herself as an equal of Germany in the Fascist world; not only has her domination of the Mediterranean been proved a vain boast, but the division of Africa which Italy claimed for herself encountered sharp opposition from the counter-claims of France and Spain. Thus in spite of the fact that France was defeated in June when Italy entered the war, Italy at the end of 1940 had not achieved even the least of her war aims — Corsica, Tunisia, Nice, and Savoy — nor any control of the Mediterranean and of the Suez Canal. Within the Fascist triangular group, it may be said that the year 1940 brought a complete eclipse of Italy.

Fascism in Spain.

In Spain the Franco government continued its persecution of all liberal, progressive and Socialist elements. Several of the republican and Catalan leaders who after the defeat of the republican government had taken refuge in France, were extradited by the semi-Fascist government in France; most of them were executed by the present Spanish government. On March 2 a law of extraordinary severity was published threatening heavy punishment for all Spanish members of Masonic orders. The law is retroactive and concerns all persons who have ever belonged to the Masons. Any former member who cannot clear himself to the satisfaction of the government is liable to six years' imprisonment, or in case he held higher degrees, to twelve years; any person who cannot exonerate himself entirely from the charge of Masonic allegiance is barred from holding any post in national or local government. Spanish Fascists encouraged claims for a revival of the Spanish Empire and demanded not only parts of Northwestern Africa, but also the former Spanish colonies in Central America, the Philippines, and, at least in the domain of cultural and economic hegemony, South America.

South America.

Spanish propaganda also helped German and Italian Fascist propaganda throughout Latin America, but most Latin American governments exercised a stricter vigilance than in former years and were aware of the dangers implied in such propaganda. In all these countries, however, the embassies and consulates, and also the German- and Italian-operated airlines were centers for the infiltration of Fascist influence in cultural, economic and strategic fields. Some of the Latin American governments, like the dictatorship which General José Felix Estigarribia set up on Feb. 18 in Paraguay and that of President Getulio Vargas in Brazil, which can look back on ten years of existence, contained some Fascist elements, but most of them, especially Brazil, confirmed at the same time their friendship with the United States and their readiness to cooperate in hemispheric defense against the threat of Fascist invasion. The Brazilian government also took special care to supervise schools having children of German, Italian and Japanese descent, and to insist upon their assimilation as Brazilian patriots and upon the exclusion of all alien influences and ideologies. On the other hand, a speech by President Getulio Vargas on June 11 contained much of Fascist ideology, and lauded virile peoples who bring about a new epoch and remove the debris of old ideas and of sterile ideals. On Oct. 5 Francisco Campos, Minister of Justice and Interior in the Brazilian government, published a book in which he described the democratic way of life as decadent. The book, called 'The National State, Its Structure and Ideological Content,' subjected democracy to severe criticism and praised the 'new state' created by Vargas, as a totalitarian democracy. In a subsequent interview Dr. Campos reinterpreted his views in the sense that he was only against the abuses of democracy, and that he was wholeheartedly in favor of cooperation with the United States.

Practically, Brazil is siding with the United States in view of the imminent danger of Nazi domination which was revealed by government investigations not only in Brazil but also in Argentine and in Uruguay. Everywhere the activities of large colonies of German descent were integrated into strong fighting groups to establish the new German 'living space' in South America and thus to disintegrate the unity of these countries. In Uruguay government investigations of 'fifth column' activities provided documentary proof of an almost unbelievable Fascist political penetration into South America. In June, under pressure from the Uruguayan government, the German National Socialist organizations in Uruguay were, at least outwardly, dissolved, and a number of German leaders in Uruguay were arrested. The Uruguay government cooperated closely with the United States government, and American press correspondents did much to reveal the whole extent of Fascist penetration and control in Latin American countries. (See also ARGENTINA; BRAZIL; MEXICO, and URUGUAY.)

Transition in Japan.

Japan hesitated a long time before deciding upon an out-and-out adoption of Fascism in the country. The great success of Germany in the European war, and the seeming weakness and vacillating policy of the United States, finally confirmed Japan in the decision to reach out for joint world domination together with Nazi Germany. The racial mysticism of the Japanese people had long kindled in them the fire of a missionary zeal to establish a Japanese-ruled world order. In July Prince Fumimaro Konoye formed a government whose task it was to transform Japan. By August the last political party in Japan, its largest one, the Minseito, formally dissolved itself to pave the way for the new political structure, so that the nation's total power could be regimented for the attainment of its aims in a period when the world had entered a revolutionary stage unprecedented in history.

Japan's liberal era had come to a definite close when on Feb. 2 one of the most respected elder statesmen of Japan, Tako Saito, a leading member of the Minseito and a most popular orator, who had studied at Yale at the beginning of this century, had in a speech in Parliament mildly criticized the army's Chinese policy. His 'critical views on the objective of Japan's holy war were found by the army to be scornful of the ideals of the present incident,' as an influential statesman expressed it. As a result Mr. Saito was forced to resign the Parliamentary seat he had held for nearly a lifetime, although his speech had been couched in mild and harmless terms. Indeed, until the army complained, neither the Speaker nor the Prime Minister had taken any exception to it.

The new totalitarian régime brought about also a recrudescence of emphasis on the patriotic religion of Japan, the Shinto, and demanded, as in all Fascist states, the complete devotion of the individual to the nation. Christianity was expected to compromise with this attitude, and a special brand of Japanese patriotic Christianity was to develop, especially after all foreign Christians and their influence were eliminated from Japanese Christianity. All Japanese Christian sects were to be unified in a Japanese Church, to conform with Japan's nationalist and totalitarian ideals. The most famous Japanese Christian, Toyohiko Kagawa, was arrested in September on a charge of violating the military code. The Rotary clubs in Japan decided to dissolve themselves, and the Japanese Women's Suffrage Union voted its own dissolution after sixteen years of existence.

The mainspring of Japan's totalitarian movement is the 'Imperial Rule Assistance Association,' the aim of which is to establish a new order in Greater East Asia and also a new world order in accordance with the spirit of the founding of the Japanese Empire. The outcome of the European War will decide whether Japan will pursue a purely Fascist course, determined to build a 'new world order' together with Germany, or whether Japan will slowly return to the more moderate and liberal policy of the last decades. Meanwhile Japanese propaganda and economic activities in Latin America were coordinated with those of Germany and Italy. See also JAPAN.

Fascism in Conquered Lands.

In France, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium, the German conquest introduced or strengthened Fascism. None of these countries went as far as France, where in June the defeat of the French army was used to put a semi-Fascist group in control of the state. This group, headed by Marshal Pétain, Pierre Laval, M. Flandin and other anti-democratic generals and politicians, abolished the Third Republic and all democratic institutions in France, established an authoritarian régime modeled after Fascist examples, and completely discarded the achievements and slogans of the French Revolution, including 'liberty, fraternity, equality' (See FRANCE). In the other conquered countries free governments continued to function outside National Socialist control, and the peoples themselves, loyal to their governments abroad, showed bitter resistance to the intrusion of Fascist ideals and ways of life. Nevertheless there were efforts toward such intrusion with the help of Germany.

Norway.

In Norway at the end of September a new government was instituted under Major Vidkun Quisling which tried to model Norwegian life entirely after German patterns and which violently attacked Great Britain and the government of King Haakon. In November Major Quisling published a collection of his speeches and articles under the title, 'Quisling Has Said,' with a preface by his Propaganda Minister Gudbrand Lund, who emphasized the fact that it was Providence that sent the Major to the Norwegian people at the moment when they needed him most. The Fascist Party, called Nasjonal Sammling (National Rally), became the only party; all trade unions and organizations were dissolved; the party organ Fritt Folk set the pace for all other newspapers; and many arrests and persecutions followed. However, the resistance remained unbroken, especially in the schools where the Nazi youth organization (the Unghirden) tried unsuccessfully to make converts. In the Netherlands, the local National Socialist party under Anton Adrian Mussert and Rost van Tonningen got open support from the German Reich.

Resistance to Fascism.

In the few remaining free European countries Fascism was kept under control. In Sweden the elections of 1940 resulted in a decisive victory for the profoundly democratic Social Democrats; the Swedish National Socialists were unable to gain even one seat. In Yugoslavia at the beginning of November the police raided the headquarters of the Fascist movement, Zbor (Rally), under the leadership of Dmitri Lyotitch, a former Minister of Justice. In Switzerland the local National Socialist party presented in November an ultimatum to the authorities, demanding the right to publish newspapers and to conduct its propaganda openly. On the ground that it attempted to overthrow democracy, the party was dissolved by decree and all further Fascist activities were forbidden.

The United States.

In the United States, Fascist activity, both by groups under direct German or Italian influence and by native Fascist groups, showed in 1940 some restraint in view of the strong awakening of democratic consciousness and the greater vigilance of the public against subversive activities. Fascist and pro-Fascist sympathizers worked largely to keep America isolated, and to contrive that help for Great Britain and the embattled democracies should be either too little or too slow. Representative Dies of Texas, Chairman of the House Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities, released in November a White Book documenting the evidence to substantiate the charge that Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia are working in the United States to prevent it from preparing quickly for defense and for giving more active aid to Great Britain. Activities of Fascist agents were revealed, directed not only toward propaganda and military espionage but toward penetration into the economic structure of this country and of the Latin American republics.

The growing will of the American people to reassert democracy and to give speedy 'all-out' aid to Great Britain, a tendency in which President Roosevelt and the Republican presidential candidate, Mr. Wendell Willkie, found themselves in complete agreement, weakened the impact of foreign and native Fascist propaganda in the United States. See also WORLD PEACE.

1939: Fascism

Fascism in Spain.

The year 1939 may be regarded as a turning-point in the history of Fascism. In the first part of the year Fascism scored a definite victory in Spain. The Government of General Franco was able in March 1938 to break the resistance of Catalonia, occupy Barcelona, and force the surrender of Madrid, a city which had withstood siege for almost two and a half years with great heroism. The Republican Government of Spain and all its adherents, insofar as they had not been able to leave the country, were liquidated. The Nationalist Government of General Francisco Franco was established as the only legal government of Spain. It was recognized by Great Britain on Feb. 27, 1939, and by the Government of the United States at the end of March. The Government was largely under the control of Ramon Serrano Suñer. Minister of the Interior, of the Press, of Propaganda, and of the Fascist organization of the Phalangists. Some of the leading generals with monarchist tendencies, and also some of the leading prelates of the Church objected to this predominant influence of the outright Fascist group. The internal situation in Spain remained obscure during the months following as the result of the strict censorship introduced by General Franco's government, established, possibly, because of the severe treatment meted out to many of the defeated Liberals and Republicans in Spain, and the general misery prevailing among the population. In her foreign policy, Spain sided with the Fascist Powers, Italy and Germany, and declared her readiness to cooperate in the Anti-Comintern Pact which was regarded as the backbone and unchangeable principle of international Fascist policy. The struggle in Spain had been conducted by General Franco with the aid of Germany and Italy as a part of the general fight against Communism and the Soviet Union.

Anti-Comintern Pact.

The so-called Anti-Comintern Pact, which in reality represented a Fascist triple alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan, apparently grew in importance during the first half of 1939. The close cooperation of the three Fascist nations had enabled them to achieve great diplomatic and strategic victories during the year 1938. These successes continued in the first part of 1939, not only in Spain, but also in the Far East and in Central Europe, where Germany completed the absorption of Czechoslovakia and acquired the territory of Memel, and Italy made Albania a part of her Fascist Empire. As the result of pressure exercised upon Hungary by Germany and Italy, Hungary joined the Anti-Comintern Pact and in April announced its withdrawal from the League of Nations. Public opinion in the democracies, however, refused to acquiesce in the further spread of aggression. After the experiences of the preceding years it awoke to the recognition that only a concerted and determined action on the part of the democracies could save democracy in the world, preserve peace and liberty for the nations who desired them, and prevent the continuous expansion of aggression, anarchy and lawlessness in the world. This awakening resulted in the renunciation of appeasement policies and in the declarations of the British and the French Governments that they were ready to assist nations unjustly attacked.

Japan cooperated in March with the expansionist aims of the Fascist powers in Central Europe by the occupation of the Spratly Islands, situated about 1,000 mi. south of the Island of Taiwan, between French Indo-China and the Philippine Islands. Their position makes them a strategic base for possible advance against the Malay Peninsula and the Dutch East Indies. This step was taken by the new Japanese Government which had come into power in January 1939. It replaced the preceding Cabinet of Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoye who, when he took the premiership in June 1937, had been described as the last ace of the old order. His resignation was due to the insistence of the army, unwilling to permit any interference with the measures it deemed necessary for building a 'new order' in Japan as well as in China. The new Cabinet was headed by Baron Kiichiro Hiranuma, the founder of the rightist Kokuhonsha Patriotic Society. He maintained the closest relations with the army high command and with other Fascist and semi-Fascist patriotic groups in Japan. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hachiro Arita, was the chief promoter of Japanese adhesion to the Anti-Comintern Pact, and of close cooperation with Germany and Italy. The idea for which the new Cabinet stood was the regimentation of the nation in conformity with the new order of Nipponism, which was said to include all the advantages of Nationalism, Fascism and Communism. The new Japanese Government put its hope in the Anti-Comintern Pact, and tried therefore to force Great Britain and France to accept Japanese demands since she felt herself backed by Germany and Italy.

Italo-German Alliance.

The new spirit of resistance shown by the western democracies to Fascist aggression in Europe and in the Far East strengthened in the Fascist Powers the desire for closer cooperation and for the transformation of the Anti-Comintern Pact into an outright military alliance. The first step in this direction was taken in May 1939 by the conclusion of a formal offensive and defensive military alliance between Italy and Germany. Both nations pledged themselves to complete diplomatic and military cooperation, and to coordination of all their activities. Later it became known that at the time of the conclusion of this alliance Italy had informed Germany that the Italian army would be unable for a period of three years to fulfill any military tasks of major importance. Therefore, it was secretly agreed that the two allied Fascist powers should keep peace for the coming three years, and increase meanwhile their military and economic preparedness to such an extent that they would then easily be able to impose their will upon the democratic countries. During the summer of 1939 Japan made an effort to join this military alliance. At that time it was still assumed that the Soviet Union was friendly towards the efforts of the democracies to check Fascist aggression and might even cooperate with them in that effort. The Japanese ambassadors to Berlin and to Rome were especially eager to conclude a firm and definite alliance with the two leading European Fascist Powers.

Nazi-Soviet Pact.

Under these circumstances the conclusion late in August of a Pact of Non-Aggression and Friendship between National Socialist Germany and the Communist Soviet Union came as a great surprise. It doomed the Anti-Comintern Pact. Germany had previously been the leader, and wished so to regard itself, of the international struggle against Communism and the Soviet Union. Many conservative circles in the democracies had looked with complacency upon National Socialist Germany and had forgiven many of its excesses because they saw in National Socialism a bulwark against the spread of Communism. Many radicals and Marxists, on the other hand, saw in National Socialism the last stand, as they called it, of capitalism, and could therefore not believe that National Socialism and Communism had arrived at some form of cooperation.

The Pact of Friendship between Germany and the Soviet Union was primarily dictated by strategic considerations. Germany tried by this pact to impress upon Great Britain and France the futility of their promised assistance to Poland. The pact was designed to give Germany a free hand to annihilate Poland without the danger of Anglo-French interference. Should this hope not be realized, however, then the pact would make it possible for Germany to concentrate all her forces on the western front, and would at the same time open to her the vast resources of the Soviet Union, thus diminishing the effects of the blockade established by the democracies against Germany. The Soviet Government on the other hand expected that through its agreement with Germany the Soviet Union would find it possible to stay out of war, to inaugurate a policy of complete isolation, and to acquire, with the consent of Germany, certain territories and especially certain strategic outposts which would strengthen the isolation of the Soviet Union and make her more impregnable against attack. Soon, however, it became apparent that cooperation between Germany and the Soviet Union was to go further than momentary strategic advantages.

To understand that possibility, two facts should be kept in mind. First, the Soviet Union has developed under Stalin a cult of personal leadership which is completely at variance with Marxism and Leninism and which, in spite of some fundamental differences, brings the Soviet Union closer to the Fascist countries with their adherence to personal leadership. Secondly, National Socialism implied always the promise of a new 'socialistic' order, of a collectivism on a strictly nationalistic or racial basis to be sure, but nevertheless in its practical consequences approaching very closely to Communism. This element had already been represented by forces in Germany which had been called Nationalbolschewismus, and by leaders like Gregor Strasser and Ernst Roehm. When Chancellor Hitler still needed the cooperation of the conservative elements in Germany and in the democratic countries, he had to liquidate these Communistic groups within the National Socialist movement, but now they could be given free scope. Whereas official Soviet circles spoke, as National Socialist propagandists did, of Great Britain and France as capitalistic imperialists and plutocracies, but denied any ideological elements in the present international conflict, the National Socialists began to stress more and more the socialistic mission of Fascism and the new Germany. This was clear in the New Year's proclamation issued on Dec. 30, 1939 by Chancellor Hitler.

Formerly the National Socialist attacks had been concentrated upon 'Jewish Communism,' upon an alleged 'Jewish plot' which aimed at world revolution, with Moscow as its center and Marxism as its ideology. One of the leading propaganda organs of Germany, the Contra-Comintern, had published in August 1930 a leading article entitled 'The Bolshevik Offensive against the World.' The article was a violent attack against the Western democracies which were accused of letting Communism penetrate westwards through their friendliness towards the Soviet Union. This issue of the periodical was, however, the last under its old title. A new organ was to be devoted to an attack against 'Jewish capitalism' and the conservative forces, instead of the former attack against 'Jewish Communism' and world revolution. The heavily subsidized anti-Communist propaganda in Germany and in foreign countries suddenly stopped. Vast exhibitions intended to show the 'horrors' of the Soviet régime disappeared. Both the Germans and the Russians were now regarded as 'young and productive nations to whom belongs the future' and who are 'waging this war to build up a new world.' The war was presented as a great 'international revolution' destined to put an end to capitalistic society in favor of socialistic planning within and among nations. The words spoken on Aug. 31 by Mr. Molotov, Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, seemed to be justified: 'It would be difficult to underestimate the international importance of the Soviet-German treaty. It is a date of historic importance. It marks a turning point in the history of Europe, and not only of Europe.'

German Racial Theories.

Although German National Socialism now made its peace with Communism and accepted its pseudo-Socialistic or pseudo-Communistic methods and even its slogan of a world revolution, one fundamental difference was maintained by Germany and was evident in her newly conquered territories. Whereas the Soviets recognized the complete equality of all races and admitted the inhabitants of the annexed territories, Ukrainians, White Russians and Jews, to full partnership in the Soviet State on an equal footing, Fascism maintained the doctrine of the inequality of the races. In Poland and in Czechoslovakia the Germans regarded themselves as the master-race, and assigned to the non-Germanic peoples a purely subservient role. Their aim was to deprive the Czechs and the Poles of their intelligentsia, and of any possible future leadership, and to take away from them all opportunities for economic and social rise so as to keep them forever in the helot status which German racial theory assigned to them. All schools of higher education for Poles and for Czechs were closed. The alleged difference in the cultural levels was to be clearly expressed in the future in the different political and social status of the various populations, even in respect to property rights. Thus the racial theory of National Socialism which had been primarily applied only against Jews, was now applied with similar intention against Poles and Czechs, and was threatened against other peoples who came under the domination of National Socialist Germany.

Repatriation in the Reich.

Another measure adopted by German Fascism marked a departure from previous policy. It aimed at the repatriation in Germany of the German minorities living in Central and Eastern European countries. A similar step had been previously taken by Italy for the repatriation of some thousands of Italians living in France. But this repatriation never reached extensive proportions. The repatriated Italians involved had been relatively recent emigrants. But in the case of Germany the transfer of very large numbers was envisaged, many of whom had been settled for many centuries outside Germany and had become deeply rooted in the country of their birth. A beginning was made in the summer of 1939 with the transfer of German residents of that part of South Tyrol which had been assigned to Italy by the peace treaties after the World War despite the purely German character and the historical traditions of the territory. This transfer was intended to remove one of the possible causes of German-Italian friction. The example served as a precedent for later and more far-reaching plans of bringing the German minorities of Eastern Europe into the German Reich. Such a policy was a completely new departure, because hitherto German National Socialism had regarded these minorities as a most important vanguard for German cultural and economic penetration into the respective countries. In the fall of 1939 came the repatriation of German minorities from Latvia and Estonia. These Germans were to be settled in formerly Polish and Czech territories to strengthen German domination in these newly acquired possessions.

Italian Reaction to Nazi-Soviet Pact.

Because of the new German-Soviet alliance Germany's partners in the now extinct Anti-Comintern Pact were confronted by difficult decisions. On the outbreak of the war in September, Italy did not immediately join Germany. The official utterances of the German Government referred generally with greater warmth to the Soviet Union than to Italy. The Italian Foreign Minister, Count Galeazzo Ciano, explained in a speech on Dec. 16 the reasons why Italy had not yet joined her ally in the war. His words made it clear that the conclusion of the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact had come as a distinct surprise to the Italians, but also that the Rome-Berlin Alliance was just as valid now as in the period before the outbreak of war. Nevertheless, German-Italian relations were strained by the fact that Italy expressed her determination of resisting Soviet expansion into the Balkans. As regards Germany, the Italian position was stated by the influential Resto del Carlino of Dec. 17 which declared, that 'the clear and unequivocal pacts with Germany do not pledge us to immediate intervention.'

Italy and the Vatican.

During 1939 a closer cooperation was evident between the Vatican and Italy. The Resto del Carlino of June 24 praised the special friendship shown by Pope Pius XII for Italy. It added that 'for Italians the whole attitude of Pius XII in these early months of his pontificate indicates how potentially fruitful the Lateran Accord (between the Vatican and Fascist Italy) can be.' The growing cooperation between Italy and the Holy See, developed as the result of conversations between the Papal Secretary of State, Cardinal Maglione, and the Italian Ambassador to the Vatican, Dinio Alfieri, led to parallel actions on behalf of peace and against the spread of Communism. Late in December the Pope awarded to Count Ciano the Order of the Golden Spur for his efforts in the cause of peace, and King Victor Emmanuel III awarded a similarly high decoration to Cardinal Maglione. On Dec. 28, Pope Pius XII returned the earlier visit of the Italian sovereigns to the Vatican. This marked an innovation in the history of the Catholic Church since 1870. In his official address at the Quirinal Pope Pius XII praised Italy for 'the peace which has been safeguarded by the wisdom of her rulers and is making Italy great, strong and respected in the face of the world.' Understandings between the Fascist Government and the Vatican, which have not been embodied in a formal agreement, provide for an exchange of views regarding parallel peace efforts.

Effect of German-Soviet Pact on Japan.

The repercussions of the German-Soviet pact were even greater in Japan than in Italy. The result there was the complete disorientation of Japanese policy, and the action of the United States in denouncing its trade agreement with Japan made matters still more awkward. A new Cabinet was formed under General Nobuyiki Abe which comprised mostly unknown personalities whose task it was to permit Japan to adjust herself to the new situation. The action of the majority of the members of the Japanese Parliament in calling for the resignation of the Cabinet was an indication of Japan's growing difficulties.

Generally it may be said that at the beginning of 1940 the situation of Fascism throughout the world was far from being satisfactory. The will to resistance in the democracies had grown, and had shown appreciable results. The economic situation in Germany, Japan and Italy was growing worse. The Japanese war against China had come practically to a standstill, and the successful resistance of Finland against Soviet aggression encouraged the will to resistance of all smaller nations against any aggression. It may be said that the future of Fascism and democracy depends entirely upon the outcome of the present war. A victory for the democratic nations will eliminate the danger of Fascism everywhere. On the other hand a victory for the aggressor nations will necessarily increase the prestige of Fascism.

Setbacks to Fascism in European and Latin-American Countries.

Meanwhile, in 1939, in the democratic countries of Europe, the small Fascist and National Socialist groups suffered a definite setback. In the Belgian elections of March 1939 the Fascist party led by Léon Degrelle saw the number of its representatives diminished from thirty-three to nine. In Denmark the National Socialist group received only 3 seats out of 149 in the lower chamber. There were similar results in Finland and in Switzerland.

In South America a definite lessening of Fascist influence could be noticed. That was partly due to the energetic measures taken by some of the South American Governments against Fascist and Nazi influence in Italian- and German-speaking schools. Greater emphasis was laid upon educating the children of German and Italian immigrants in the patriotic tradition of their new countries. In Mexico at the beginning of April, the Government expelled three leading members of the rightist Fascist Phalangist organization who conducted propaganda on behalf of General Franco's Government and its ideas. The Spanish Club, where 3,000 members of the Phalangist organization had cheered Chancellor Hitler, Premier Mussolini and General Franco, was stoned by angry demonstrators. Thousands of Spanish Republican refugees were admitted to Mexico, to settle there. They may be regarded as a force opposing the spread of Fascism there. At about the same time the Argentine police raided Nazi headquarters in Buenos Aires in an effort to discover facts about reported espionage and propaganda. In Chile the fact that a number of Germans refused to send their children to Chilean schools aroused much resentment. The Director General of Primary Education in Chile published a report in which he pointed out that in spite of important concessions by the Chilean government in property rights and other facilities, the Germans have systematically refused to mix with the Chileans. It was found that German boys and girls brought up in the country could not speak Spanish and knew nothing about Chilean history, geography or local conditions. German parents, when asked to send their children to Chilean schools, declared to the Director that they did not recognize the slightest obligation to do so, and that they desired no other teaching but that given at the German schools in Santiago. Under these conditions the Chilean government decided that it would close all foreign schools, regardless of protest from any quarter, if due respect to Chilean nationality and authorities were not in evidence. The European war curtailed to a certain extent the possibility of National Socialist activities in Latin America, as the sympathies of the population in general were largely on the side of the democratic countries. Cultural and economic cooperation on the part of the United States also helped to counteract Fascist influences in Latin America and to strengthen the democratic ideals of the Latin-American peoples.

Fascist Activities in United States.

In the United States a number of Nazi, Fascist or semi-Fascist organizations, generally characterized by a strictly isolationist attitude in foreign policy and by their unrestrained anti-Semitism, were conspicuous in 1939. Among them were the German-American Bund, whose leader, Fritz Kuhn, was sentenced by a New York Court to prison in November for embezzlement of Bund funds; the Knights of the White Camellia, under the leadership of George Deatherage; the Christian Mobilizers; the Crusader White Shirts; and many others of passing importance. They were supported by a number of personalities, among them Major General George Van Horn Moseley. Father Coughlin voiced frequently in his radio addresses and in his weekly organ Social Justice, opinions which resembled some of the doctrines propagandized at that time by National Socialism. The Congressional Committee under the Chairmanship of Representative Martin Dies directed its efforts towards uncovering Fascist and more especially Communist activities which were regarded as un-American.

Fascism and Italian Youth.

On the cultural side of Fascism in Italy may be noted the educational reforms drafted by Italian Fascism in February 1939. Such reforms directed by the Minister of Education, Bottai, envisage the complete coordination of the schools and the Fascist youth organizations. All Italian children must be members of the Fascist youth organizations from the fourth to the fourteenth year, after which date they have to serve until their twentieth year according to their vocational status. This new order, which is called the Carta della Scuola, by contrast with the Carta del Lavoro, aims to establish complete coordination of intellectual and military training with labor service. All the youth of Italy are to be submitted to the same intellectual, physical, military and political discipline. The youth organizations and the schools are to make every effort to abolish class spirit. Children of all classes must live and work together, not only in the schools, but especially in the training camps, the workshops, and in the field of labor service. The young Italian will be trained above all as a soldier and as a workman. The spirit of comradeship is especially to be fostered.

A new class of Fascist elite is to be formed in Italy with the creation of the Center of Political Preparation for Young Men. Party members under twenty-eight years of age who can meet special physical and political requirements receive there during two years training in the doctrine and history of fascism, in corporative economies, racial policy, military training and foreign languages.

Fascist Code of Law.

In the field of law reforms have been inaugurated similar to those in the field of education. In July the provisions of the first book of Italy's new Civil Code were put into effect. The old Italian Code of 1865, which had been based on the liberal principles of the Napoleonic Code was thereby superseded. The first book of this 'True Fascist Body of Laws' which, according to Premier Mussolini, is intended to set a world-wide example of new forms of justice as the Napoleonic Code had done in the nineteenth century covers chiefly family relations and other questions of personal status. The articles of the new Code embody the Fascist concept of the complete subordination of the individual to the state, the ethical basis of all life and all justice.

Nazi Doctrine of Aggression.

German National Socialism goes even further than Italian Fascism in its new doctrines. On Dec. 4 Reichsminister Dr. Hans Frank, head of the Academy of German Law, proclaimed the abolition of all objective justice and the supremacy of the law of war as the new legal principle of the world order created by the might of the German army. Dr. Frank declared. 'The maxim, 'Right is whatever profits the nation: wrong is whatever harms it,' marks the beginning of National Socialist Justice. Pale phantoms of objective justice do not exist for us any more. The Fuehrer has placed us in a world of reality filled with values that are independent of formal rules. The deciding principle is: Who is stronger, who is more determined, who has better nerves? Whoever does not admit this is a pale theorist and is no good for politics or, in the deepest sense, for creative law-giving. The decisive issue in this war is the supremacy of the National Socialist principle of war.'

1938: Fascism

During 1938 Fascism has been considered by many to have made great forward strides, to have entirely eclipsed Communism and to have put democracy definitely on the defensive. This view does not correspond entirely with the facts. Undoubtedly Communism is on the wane and has ceased to be a danger to democracy, and undoubtedly democracy has lost somewhat in her international position and prestige, for the victories of Fascism have been international. They can be easily explained by the concerted cooperation and the resolute energy of the Fascist powers, Japan, Italy and Germany, who are united in the so-called Anti-Comintern Pact. Their strength was augmented by the disunity of the democratic countries and the weak leadership of democratic statesmen who made one concession after another to Fascist demands and surrendered one strategic position after another.

Although the prestige of Fascism increased during the year, and many democrats began to doubt the vitality of democracy and its ability to survive, as an actual fact Fascism was not strengthened in the Fascist countries themselves. The economic situation in the three Fascist countries, Japan, Italy and Germany, showed increasing signs of strain, and many observers believed that the financial and economic structure of these countries was nearing a breakdown, and was only being maintained by diverting public attention from the difficulties of the internal situation to successes in the field of foreign policy. Fascist groups operating in the fundamentally democratic countries met nowhere with success; on the contrary wherever they found a resolute opposition on the part of democracy they not only lost in their position but in several cases were practically wiped out.

Fascist Triple Alliance.

The year 1938 strengthened the Rome-Berlin Axis, the name of the alliance between Fascist Italy and National Socialist Germany, and also the ties with Japan, the Far-Eastern partner in the so-called Anti-Comintern Pact. This Pact is ostensibly directed against the Communist International, or the Comintern, but in reality it is a basis for the close cooperation of the Fascist Triple Alliance in extending their territory and spheres of political, economic and cultural hegemony, at the expense of the democracies and the League of Nations. Through this close cooperation and the weak opposition offered by the democracies, all three Fascist powers scored great diplomatic and strategic victories during the year 1938.

Germany.

Germany annexed Austria, in March 1938, and by the Pact of Munich at the end of September not only increased her territory by the annexation of the Sudeten provinces of Czechoslovakia, but forced the whole of remaining Czechoslovakia into her political, economic and strategic orbit. She established her undoubted hegemony over all of Central and Central Eastern Europe, over the Danubian basin and the Balkan Peninsula. Fascist Germany thus gained a position superior to that held by Bismarck's Germany, and the influence of democracy and of the Western democratic powers ceased entirely in these regions. Germany also scored a decisive victory over France whose international prestige has been, at least for the time being, gravely damaged. That France has been put entirely on the defensive is shown by the Franco-German declaration of non-aggression signed at the end of November in Paris. The end of the year saw France encircled by Fascist Powers which were established beyond the Rhine, the Alps, and the Pyrenees Mountains where more and more Spanish territory had passed under the control of General Franco and his German and Italian allies. At the end of the year Nazi Germany, having supposedly settled her relations with Great Britain and France in such a way as to assure for herself a free hand for expansion in the East, made preparations for an advance into Rumania and the Ukraine, using Czecho-Slovakia and Hungary as stepping stones on the march to the Black Sea.

Italy.

Compared with Germany, Italy gained relatively little during 1938. The war in Spain, in which she was most interested, dragged on, and the expectation that General Franco who was backed by Italy and richly supplied with Italian arms and men would win the war during the early summer of 1938 proved futile. Italy secured a treaty of friendship with Great Britain in April 1938, a treaty based upon the expectation, then jointly shared by Mussolini and Chamberlain, of Franco's early victory. Although this victory did not materialize, the Anglo-Italian Pact went into effect in November 1938, and at the end of the year General Franco was reported to be launching a great decisive offensive against Valencia and Barcelona. This was to furnish Chamberlain, at his forthcoming visit to Italy on January 11, 1939, with an accomplished fact and so remove the main obstacle to Anglo-Italian friendship, which was Italian intervention in Spain. Italy herself was most eager for the victory of General Franco as she hoped that his Government would allow her to use certain islands and ports as strategic positions in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, to establish Italian hegemony in the Mediterranean against France and Great Britain and to threaten communications with their overseas empires. A similar hope was held by Germany with regard to Spanish islands and ports on the Atlantic.

In spite of these advantages, Italy had not expanded her territory during 1938 as Germany and Japan had done. On the contrary, Italy had to register a definite loss in Central Europe and in the Balkans. Austria had been practically an Italian protectorate since 1934; now it had passed definitely from Italian control into German possession. German troops stood guard on the Brenner Pass, commanding the descent into Italy, and were within easy reach of Trieste which had been for many centuries the Adriatic port of Germanic Central Europe. A few years earlier, Italian influence had been predominant in Hungary and in the Balkan countries. As the result of the annexation of Austria by Germany and of the Pact of Munich, Italy found herself losing her position of dominance to Germany. Therefore the eyes of Italy were directed more and more from the Adriatic and the Balkans to the Mediterranean and Northern Africa. At the end of 1938 Italy started a campaign for the conquest of a number of French possessions: Tunisia, a French protectorate in Northern Africa and the seat of ancient Carthage; the Island of Corsica. Napoleon's birthplace; the two French Southeastern Districts of Savoy and Nice; and French Somaliland with the port of Djibouti which Italy wished to annex to her Ethiopian Empire. At the same time Italy demanded a large share in the private Suez Canal Company, of which the majority of stock is in French hands. Italy thus hoped to gain a decisive influence on the administration of the Canal and its tariffs, which would facilitate for her the exploitation and aggrandizement of her African Empire and make her position in the Mediterranean and in the Red Sea equal, at least, to that of Great Britain.

The Italian demand for expansion in the Mediterranean which was held, at least officially, in abeyance before the fateful day of the Pact of Munich, was voiced publicly for the first time on November 30th, when all the deputies in the Italian Chamber shouted for several minutes in a great frenzy for the annexation of Tunisia, Corsica, Nice and Savoy. Experienced observers described the enthusiasm shown by the deputies as reminiscent of the day of Italy's declaration of war against Austria-Hungary in 1915. The manifestation occurred during the speech of Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano, the youthful son-in-law of Mussolini, when he spoke of Italy's still unsatisfied aspirations. This patriotic fervor, in which not only the deputies but all present in the Chamber had participated, was kept alive for many following days by numerous street demonstrations of Italian students and by the Italian press which persisted in stressing the deep and fundamental hostility existing, according to the Fascists, between Italy and France, and the decay and cowardice into which French democracy had sunk and which was making it impossible for her, to resist the demands of virile Italy. Thus the repeated declarations of Hitler and Mussolini to the effect that Germany and Italy would march on to the very end together, and that there could be no standstill in the unceasing struggle of nations and continents for dominion, seemed to drive both Fascist countries to further conquests and far-off goals.

Japan.

The same spirit of unlimited expansion animated the third partner in the Fascist International, Japan. The Far Eastern Island Empire established, during 1938, her grip on the Asiatic continent in a much more extensive way than had been expected at the beginning of the year. She was not only able to conquer Hankow and dominate the Yangtze Valley, but also to conquer Canton in southern China and render the situation of the British stronghold of Hongkong most precarious. Japan openly proclaimed her intention of subjugating the whole of China as she had done previously with Korea and Manchuria. A much discussed question was whether Japan after the conquest of China would turn to the North and, in cooperation with Germany, fight Russia and try to gain control of Mongolia and Eastern Siberia, or whether she would turn southward toward French Indo-China, British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies.

In spite of the immense financial and economic strain under which Japan suffered as a consequence of her expansionist militarism, much as did Germany and Italy, Japan continued her war-time spending. At the beginning of December the new budget for the financial year starting on April 1st. 1939, was announced as totalling almost 4,000,000,000 yen, an increase of 380,000,000 yen over the current budget, and the highest ever reached by Japan. The expenditures for the war are met by supplementary appropriations which amounted, by the end of 1938, to about 7,000,000,000 yen and which are expected to amount for the new year to about 5,000,000,000 yen. Under these circumstances, which find their parallel in the present budgetary expansion of Italy and Germany, it is easy to understand that the Fascist countries are looking to Great Britain and to the United States for loans and credits to avoid their own financial and economic breakdown.

Germany's Leadership.

In Japan.

An interesting development in Fascism during 1938 has been the fast growth of the influence of Germany and her Nazi ideology in both Japan and Italy. Japan had until recently preserved all the external forms of modern progressive states which she had acquired in her period of Europeanization. Toward the end of 1938 the Japanese press insisted more and more upon a fundamental transformation of the still-existing pseudo-democratic Constitution and of the existing parties. It was proposed to form a single party under the leadership of Prime Minister Prince Kohoye, or a more openly Fascist successor; this single party to replace all existing parties and also to transform Japan externally into a totalitarian one-party state. The Japanese Parliament, the influence of which has constantly been on the wane since 1931, would sink into complete insignificance, thus preparing the way for its later total abolition.

In Italy.

A similar development has taken place in Italy during the past year. On October 8th the Grand Council of Fascism decreed the abolition of the Chamber of Deputies, which met for the last time on November 30. With its death, all elections and all last vestiges of Italy's democratic past came to an end. The place of the Chamber of Deputies will be taken by the Chamber of the Fasces and Corporations, a body which will be composed exclusively of appointees by the Government and the Fascist Party. This new Chamber will not be renewed at fixed intervals by elections or by nominations, but will be a perennial institution. As soon as a new man is appointed to the National Council of the Fascist Party or the National Council of Corporations he will automatically become a member of the Chamber, and on the termination of his appointment he will cease to be a member.

The growing Nazi influence in Italy expressed itself also during 1938 in the introduction of the Prussian goose-step, under the name of passo Romano, into the Italian army, and in the order that henceforth all officials and servants of the State in Italy must wear uniforms instead of civilian clothes, as heretofore. In November 1938 cultural agreements were concluded between Germany and Italy, and between Germany and Japan, to provide for the coordination of all intellectual and artistic activities in these countries with the aim of creating 'the necessary basis for a real mutual understanding.' This cultural pact will extend to the schools and universities of the three countries, to a regular exchange of professors and students, to a study of their respective cultures and languages, to a revision of textbooks in the new spirit and to all activities in the realm of the radio, cinema, literature, and music. 'Repressive measures to be used against the politically mendacious literature of political exiles, directed against the institutions and regimes of the Fascist countries' are as much envisaged as 'efficacious collaboration of these countries for international scientific meetings and congresses.' In the words of the leading Italian newspaper commenting on the Italo-German pact, 'the forces of the two peoples are now coordinated to make their common culture the exemplar of the new world civilization itself.'

Anti-Semitism.

In Italy.

This cultural pact between Italy and Germany was also declared to be an effort at 'training popular mentality along parallel lines in order to make the Italo-German Association on instinctive national reaction.' This is also the main reason for the introduction into Italy during 1938 of anti-Semitism after the German-Nazi model. The transformation in this respect of the Italian governmental attitude, the press and public opinion within a very short time is one of the most astonishing facts of contemporary history. Italy until 1938 had been remarkably free of any anti-Semitism. The number of Jews in Italy is insignificant, little more than one tenth of one percent. Italy had never known a Jewish problem, nor had the Fascist Party. There had been many Jews in leading positions in the Fascist Party until the middle of 1938, and many Jews had formed part of Mussolini's personal entourage. Fascism had not laid any stress upon race and racial factors. As recently as February 16, 1938, the official Italian Informazione Diplomatica declared in an official statement that 'the Fascist government had never thought, nor will it ever think, of introducing political, economic or moral measures against the Jews, except so far as individuals are concerned who are opposed to the régime.'

But the visit of Hitler to Rome in May, 1938 produced a surprisingly quick and radical about-face in Italy. On July 15th a declaration of ten Fascist university professors, few of them well-known in their field and most of them of the rank of assistant-professor or lecturer, was published in the Italian press, defining the position of Fascism with regard to the problem of race. According to them a pure Italian race now existed and it was time that the Italians frankly proclaimed themselves racialists. 'The conception of racialism in Italy must be essentially Italian and Aryan-Nordic in trend.' From that time on a violent anti-Semitic campaign was started in the Italian press. The Jews were depicted as enemies of Italy and of Fascism, both in Italy and in the whole world. The first official measures against the Jews in Italy were taken on September 5. According to the new laws all Jews, who had established themselves after the World War in Italy, or her possessions, had to leave within six months; they were forbidden to make their permanent abode there in the future, and all grants of Italian citizenship to Jews since the World War were revoked. The Italian Jews themselves were excluded both as teachers and as pupils, from all Italian state or private schools, Jews were dismissed from all teaching positions as well as from membership in academies and associations of science, literature and art.

These measures were only the beginning. Decree followed decree and in November new 'racial laws' had aggravated the situation in Italy so much that conditions resembled those which had existed in Germany at the beginning of 1938. Jews were excluded from membership in the Fascist Party, from the possession of real estate above a very moderate value, from all professions, and from participation in commerce and industry. Racial laws after the German model prohibited intermarriage. Thus Fascism had fallen entirely in line with the Nazi intellectual goose-step. Mussolini had derided anti-Semitism on several occasions and had declared in 1927 that anti-Semitism and Fascism were incompatible. 'Fascism means unity; anti-Semitism means destruction and discord. We in Italy find it utterly ridiculous when we hear how the anti-Semites in Germany seek to flourish in the midst of Fascism. Anti-Semitism is a product of barbarism.' As recently as 1932 he had his official biography written by the Jewish writer Emil Ludwig, and was as friendly to Ludwig as the latter was to him. Now, on the contrary, Mussolini has become the second leader in the world crusade started by the National Socialists against Judaism, a crusade directed primarily against liberalism, democracy, and the spirit of Christian brotherhood.

The Catholic Church immediately protested against the Italian racial decrees. Pope Pius XI several times expressed his disagreement with Mussolini's new policy. Even before the Italian Government decided upon any measures against the Jews, Pope Pius XI delivered on July 28 a remarkable address in which he declared that the word Catholic means universal, not racial or nationalistic in the separatist sense of these two terms. 'Catholic life means activity on the basis of charity. Catholicism repudiates every separatism, it does not wish to separate the members of the one human race. Men should never forget that all men form primarily a great and united family, so that the whole human species is a single, world-embracing Catholic race.' The Pope asked how it could happen that 'unfortunately Italy was imitating Germany.' 'The human reality consists in the fact that we all are human beings, not wild beasts; human dignity consists in the fact that we all form a single great family.' Later the Vatican tried again and again to warn Italy against the introduction of racial theories, and also to protest against interference with the marriage laws of the Church, but all these efforts proved in vain. They led, rather, to attacks by the extremely Fascist press against the Catholic Church. The sudden rise of anti-Semitism in Italy may be partly explained as an effort of the Italian Government to expropriate Italian Jews to the profit of the Italian State, to counteract the Italian feeling of inferiority by the new racial theory, and to lessen the growing discontent among the middle and professional classes by the prospect of eliminating their Jewish competitors. However it is due primarily to an effort at complete coordination with Nazi Germany and can be viewed as one of the symptoms of the subordination of Italian Fascism to German National Socialism.

In Other Lands.

Under similar circumstances anti-Semitic legislation has been introduced in Hungary. There, under the influence of growing Fascism, the Hungarian Parliament adopted in May 1938 a law enacting sweeping restrictions on the economic, cultural and social position of the Jews. In commerce, industry, banking, the press, stage and cinema and in all the liberal professions, their number was strictly limited. Practically all liberal professions were closed to Jews in the future. A very large number of Jews were deprived of their livelihood. Towards the end of 1938 further sweeping restrictions against the Jews were announced. The growing influence of Nazi Germany after the Pact of Munich was responsible for this aggravation of the situation. A similar development had already taken place after the Pact of Munich in Slovakia where the local government introduced a radical, anti-Semitic policy based on the plan of Nazi Germany.

Fascism in Democratic Countries.

As against the gains of Fascism in the international field may be set the losses of Fascism in practically all of the democratic countries, in spite of frenzied Nazi and Fascist propaganda generally carried on by residents of German and Italian nationality or descent within these countries. This decline of Fascism was even noticed in some of the semi-Fascist countries. In Yugoslavia, where the Government pursued a distinctly pro-Fascist policy in foreign affairs, the election of December 11 practically wiped out the only Fascist party which went openly to the polls, the Zbor. In Rumania, the end of the year witnessed resolute action by the Government to suppress the Fascist Iron Guard whose leader Codreanu, was killed by Government forces.

In Poland the efforts of Colonel Koc to make the Government Party, or Camp of National Concentration, into a totalitarian single party of the Fascist system, met with a complete failure. The Polish workers, and especially the Polish peasants who form the large majority of the nation, remained untouched by Fascist propaganda. The Polish Peasant Party remained loyal to its exiled leader, the former Premier Vincent Witos, and did not cease to claim complete democracy in Poland and cooperation with the left democratic opposition. New Parliamentary elections were held in Poland in November, but as they were held according to the existing anti-democratic electoral law, the opposition parties boycotted the elections. The newly elected Parliament had the task of democratizing the electoral law. Meanwhile in December municipal elections were held in the Polish cities on a democratic basis and resulted in a sweeping victory for the left-wing opposition parties, thus proving that the general sentiment in the country, both in the cities and in the villages was strongly anti-Fascist. In Estonia the new Constitution which came into effect in 1938 reintroduced certain democratic elements, and the Fascist movement of the 'Fighters for Freedom,' which had seemed so strong in 1934, has lost all influence.

In the smaller democratic countries of Europe the Fascist parties everywhere practically disappeared during 1938. In Belgium the Fascist group, the Rexists under the leadership of Leon Degrelle, were completely eclipsed. In Switzerland the Federal Council prohibited in November the further publication of three Nazi papers in Switzerland, Angriiy, Schucizerdegen, and Schucizervolk, and dissolved the three pro-Nazi organizations, the Volksbund, Bund Treuer Eidgenossen, and the ESAP. By the energetic action of the Federal police several centers of Nazi and Fascist agitation and espionage were discovered. Swiss democracy accepted the slogan of 'moral rearmament' against the influences which penetrated the country from neighboring Germany and Italy, and, on the whole, the sturdy character of the ancient peasant democracy of Switzerland proved an unassailable barrier to Fascist influence.

Even more energetic was the action taken by the Finnish Government in the fail of 1938. The Government forbade and dissolved the Patriotic Popular Movement, a radical right-wing group under German-Nazi influence. All its eighteen newspapers were suspended, all its branches and youth organizations, outlawed. The movement had had a certain influence on Finnish students who had organized a youth militia with blue-black uniforms. The party counted according to its own records more than fifty thousand registered members. The energetic action of the Government stopped the growth of Nazi propaganda in Finland. The Finnish Government, in which the Social Democrats participate, wish to preserve a close cooperation with the Scandinavian democracies in which the Social Democrats are the leading party and the Fascist groups have never risen above complete negligibility.

Democratic Scandinavia found herself, like Switzerland and Holland, on the defensive against attempts of Nazi Germany to dictate the internal policies of her neighbors. This effort of Nazi Germany was especially felt after the great triumph at the Conference of Munich. Nazi propaganda material swept through these countries, and Germany repeatedly exercised pressure upon their newspapers to refrain from any criticism of Germany. Germany tried to have all international events presented and commented upon in a way friendly to Germany and Italy and unfavorable to Great Britain and France. In case of noncompliance with the German demands, commercial reprisals were threatened against the country, or in minor cases against the newspaper in the form of the loss of all German advertisements. Thus the democratic press has been effectively muzzled by the Nazi Government, even in the democracies outside of Germany. The gradual coordination of democratic countries was due not to the strength of any native Fascist movements, which are completely negligible, but to the brutal and unscrupulous use of Germany's power and influence after the peace of Munich.

With her growing influence Germany has tried to enforce her anti-Jewish attitude in the democratic countries. Sweden's Foreign Minister, Richard Sandler, charged that the Swedish concerns doing business with Germany have been informed that it is not proper for them to have 'non-Aryan' staffs, and that German subsidiaries of Swedish concerns have been asked to furnish information on the 'Aryan' character of their staff and capital, not only of the German part of the concern, but also of the parent company located and registered in Sweden. Thus Fascism tries to undermine the strong foundations of democracy in traditionally democratic countries.

The same efforts were made, although of course in a much lesser degree, in France and Great Britain. There, too, the native Fascist movements proved entirely ineffective and did not appeal to the overwhelming majority of the people. The British Fascist movement under the leadership of Sir Oswald Mosley, and the two Fascist or semi-Fascist groups in France, the Croix de Feu under the leadership of Colonel La Rocque, and the French Social Party under the leadership of Jacques Doriot, made no headway whatsoever. But since the Pact of Munich the weakness of democratic leadership has been a stimulant to Fascist propaganda. The Nazis have tried to impose restrictions upon the freedom of the press and upon public utterances which criticized the Nazi régime, and also to propagate anti-Semitism. It should be said, however, that Colonel La Rocque has frequently and officially repudiated anti-Semitism and all racial theories. Now however anti-Semitism, under Nazi propaganda and Nazi pressure, has found entrance into France as well.

Fascism in South America.

There has been much talk lately of the invasion of Latin America by Fascist propaganda. There is no doubt that Fascism has made strenuous efforts at political, economic and cultural control of the Latin-American countries. Japanese, German, and Italian propaganda have cooperated in the closest way, and their propaganda has been supported by the large German and Italian colonies in the Latin-American countries. The local newspapers were provided with articles, news and pictures stressing the Fascist view and praising Fascist achievements. The radio and the moving pictures have reflected the same influence. The system of economic penetration used so successfully by Germany in the Balkans has been repeated in Latin America, and barter agreements with these countries have provided the necessary raw materials for Germany and flooded the Latin-American countries with German exports, followed by German engineers and technicians.

The propaganda in these countries was not only pro-Fascist, it was, at the same time, anti-democratic. It tried to convince the Latin Americans of the decay of democracy and the democratic countries, and to instill in them a deep dislike and distrust for France, Great Britain and especially for the United States. The Latin Americans were told not to believe in the Good-Neighbor policy of the great North American brother and to see in its appeal for cooperation nothing but a veiled imperialism. The Pan-American Conference at Lima. Peru, in December 1938 furnished the United States with an opportunity to reaffirm her Good-Neighbor policy. At the conference, the United States tried to establish a common front of all the Americas against the menace of Fascism. But Fascist counter-propaganda was active before and during the Conference, and induced a number of South American states, especially Argentina, to offer strong opposition to any far-reaching declaration of solidarity.

In spite, however, of all Fascist machinations a declaration of the solidarity of America, called the Declaration of Lima, was signed on December 24. (See INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES.) Although this declaration did not go nearly as far as the creation of an American League of Nations or of a Pact of Mutual Assistance, which had been hoped for by some of the American democracies, it went further in stressing anti-Fascist solidarity between the United States and Latin America than the stand of Argentina had at first allowed one to hope.

Repression of Fascism in South America.

Fascist movements within the Latin American countries did not fare too well during 1938. In Brazil President Getulio Vargas introduced an open dictatorship by his coup d'état on Nov. 10, 1933 (see BRAZIL). This dictatorship was regarded by many as the open introduction of Fascism into the largest South American State. In a similar way the Nazi uprising in Santiago, Chile, on Sept. 5, 1938, seemed to point toward the domination of Latin America by Fascist groups. But the régime of President Vargas cannot be called Fascist. At the first anniversary of the régime. President Vargas declared that Brazil will continue its policy against foreign 'isms' and for Pan-American collaboration. He stressed that immigration was welcome and that Brazilians favored no racial prejudice.

There was a native Fascist movement in Brazil, the Integralistas, who tried one uprising during 1938, but this was quickly suppressed by President Vargas. As a consequence of alleged ties between the Integralistas and official German circles, the Brazilian Government recalled its Ambassador from Berlin and at the same time asked the German Government not to return the German Ambassador Dr. Karl Ritter to Brazil. Dr. Ritter had been suspected of close cooperation with the Integralistas. Since then the Brazilian Government has suppressed with great energy not only the remnants of the Integralist movement but also all foreign political and cultural activities. Its measures were especially directed against the very large and very influential German colonies in Southern Brazil, which had maintained their own German schools and had remained practically unassimilated to Brazilian life.

The present German Government looks upon these South-American Germans as a national minority which it wishes to make racially conscious. The Brazilian Foreign Minister Dr. Oswaldo Aranha, whose sympathies are with the democracies and the United States, has energetically repudiated all efforts to create a German minority problem in Brazil. In 1938 the Brazilian Government prohibited the use of pictures of Hitler, of German flags and anthems in the German schools in Brazil. From now on all text-books and all illustrative material must be in Portuguese and must express Brazilian mentality and aspirations. No school in Brazil may now be supported or maintained by a foreign Government or institution. Thus the Brazilian Government, in a newly awakened Brazilian nationalism, is making a definite effort to assimilate German and other foreign-born elements and their descendants and to wean them away from their old loyalties.

Similar efforts are being made in Argentina, where, in the German private schools, the history of the National Socialist Party was taught more fully than Argentine history or the Spanish language. The Argentine Government published two decrees in May and July 1938, directing emphasis, in the whole educational system including private schools, on the national Argentine character as against all foreign influences. All political propaganda, and especially all racial doctrine, has been strictly forbidden in Argentine schools. The teachers are ordered to teach above all a deepened knowledge and understanding of Argentine history and of the Constitution. All private schools must display only the national symbols and the portraits of national heroes of Argentina. The curriculum and text-books of all private schools are to be submitted to the Government for approval. Private schools are licensed only for one year with renewals only when such schools fulfill all the requirements. In this way it is expected that the great influence of German and Italian Fascist teachers upon the youth in Brazil and Argentina will quickly disappear.

In the fall of 1938 Uruguay became more democratic after a dictatorship under former President Gabriel Terra. The new President, General Baldomir, declared that the democratic spirit has been the strongest bond between Uruguay and the United States and that it will continue to be so. 'It would be absurd even to think that exotic and extreme tendencies could filter into America, where the atmosphere is so propitious for political liberty and respect for human personality. Recent world events have fortified even more this natural tendency of our peoples, whose temperament rejects any solution not based on right and justice. Our peoples have been born only to understand each other and to progress together under the great banner of democracy, which covers us all alike.'

In Chile the National Socialist party staged a revolt in September 1938. This National Socialist Party, under the leadership of Gonzalez von Marecs, wished to give the executive power greater influence, but it seemed otherwise free of the racial or religious ideologies characteristic of European Fascism. The uprising was quickly suppressed. In the subsequent presidential elections this National Socialist Party, which had only a few followers, allied itself with the left-wing groups, the Radical Liberals, the Socialists and the Communists, to form a Popular Front. This Popular Front succeeded in electing its candidate. Pedro Aguirre Serda, as President of the Republic against Gustavo Ross, the candidate of the rightist parties, who was supported by the Conservatives and the Moderate Liberals. The new president, who took up his office on December 24, heads the most left-wing government in South America at present. The new president declared after his election that the Chileans have long been friends of the United States and that they desire to cooperate with President Roosevelt in making this hemisphere a bulwark for democracy, thus setting up a barrier to the advances of Fascism.

United States and Fascism.

With the weakening of democracy in Europe, caused by the stand taken by the British and French Governments at Munich, and with the growing threat of Fascist propaganda in Latin America and of Japanese domination of the Far East, the center of democracy has definitely shifted during the last year to the United States. This new situation has not only increased, in an unprecedented way, the importance of the United States in world politics and in the world movement of ideas, but has also made the United States the leader in the struggle for democracy. The Fascist countries have begun to look upon the United States as the main obstacle to Fascist world domination. They have therefore made it the chief target of frequently violent and scurrilous attacks. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull have in many of their speeches and proclamations shown that they regard the United States as determined to look upon democracy as the only human and reasonable way of national and of international life.

In spite of vehement Fascist propaganda conducted in this country by small groups, made up mostly of American citizens of German or Italian descent. Fascism has made little headway in the United States. Its main agent was the German-American Bund under the leadership of Fritz Kuhn. Occasionally it has been suggested that the radio addresses and the weekly journal of Father Coughlin support Fascist tendencies. In general however Fascism has made probably more progress in certain parts of Canada, especially in French Canada, although it did not achieve, outside the province of Quebec, any outstanding success. On the whole the people of North America remained during 1938 not only faithful to the ideas of democracy, but, in face of growing threats to democracy, they became more conscious of the implications and the dignity of democracy. Their horror at the excesses of Fascism in Europe and at the orgy of persecution in Fascist countries was outspoken. The vacillating and weak attitude of democratic statesmen in Europe, in the face of bold Fascist aggression, was generally deprecated by the American press and public. Most Americans probably agree with the declaration which Secretary of State Cordell Hull made in a remarkable address before the Bar Association of Tennessee in June 1938. There he said, speaking of the situation of democracy and international relations in the world today:

'There was never a time in our national history when the influence of the United States in the support of international law was more urgently needed than at present — to serve both our own best interests and those of the entire human race. The world is today in the grip of a severe upheaval the outcome of which will affect profoundly the future of mankind. . . . At this crucial juncture of history, it is our nation's duty to itself to make its appropriate contribution toward preservation and advancement of the principles of international law and of the orderly and cooperative processes of international relations, which have evolved with — and have, in turn, promoted — the development of civilization. In the years which lie ahead, the chances that international anarchy and lawlessness will be replaced by order under law, largely depend upon the sincerity and firmness with which some nations, at least, maintain their devotion to the principles of international law, resting in turn upon the foundation of cooperation, justice and morality. I can wish for our country no more glorious course than to be a leader in devotion to these principles and in service of their preservation and advancement.' See also ITALY; GERMANY; JAPAN.