The Fascist negation of Socialism, of Democracy, of Liberalism, should
not lead one to believe that Fascism wishes to push the world back to
where it was before 1879, the date accepted as the opening year of the
demo-Liberal century. One cannot turn back. The Fascist doctrine has
not chosen De Maistre for its prophet. Monarchical absolutism is a
thing of the past, and so is the worship of church power. Feudal
privileges and divisions into impenetrable castes with no connection
between them, are also "have beens." The conception of Fascist
authority has nothing in common with the Police. A party that totally
rules a nation is a new chapter in history. References and comparisons
are not possible. From the ruins of the socialist, liberal and
democratic doctrines, Fascism picks those elements that still have a
living value; keeps those that might be termed "facts acquired by
history," and rejects the rest: namely the conception of a doctrine
good for all times and all people.
Admitting that the Nineteenth Century was the Century of Socialism,
Liberalism and Democracy, it is not said that the Twentieth century
must also be the century of Socialism, of Liberalism, of Democracy.
Political doctrines pass on, but peoples remain. One may now think
that this will be the century of authority, the century of the "right
wing" the century of Fascism. If the Nineteenth Century was the
century of the individual (liberalism signifies individualism) one may
think that this will be the century of "collectivism," the century of
the State. It is perfectly logical that a new doctrine should utilise
the vital elements of other doctrines. No doctrine was ever born
entirely new and shining, never seen before. No doctrine can boast of
absolute "originality." Each doctrine is bound historically to
doctrines which went before, to doctrines yet to come. Thus the
scientific Socialism of Marx is bound to the Utopian Socialism of
Fourier, of Owen, of Saint-Simon; thus the Liberalism of 1800 is
linked with the movement of 1700. Thus Democratic doctrines are bound
to the Encyclopaedists. Each doctrine tends to direct human activity
towards a definite object; but the activity of man reacts upon the
doctrine, transforms it and adapts it to new requirements, or
overcomes it. Doctrine therefore should be an act of life and not an
academy of words. In this lie the pragmatic veins of Fascism, its will
to power, its will to be, its position with regard to "violence" and
its value.