From 1929 onwards to the present day, the universal, political and
economical evolution has still further strengthened the doctrinal
positions. The giant who rules is the State. The one who can resolve
the dramatic contradictions of capital is the State. What is called
the crisis cannot be resolved except by the State and in the State.
Where are the ghosts of Jules Simon who, at the dawn of Liberalism,
proclaimed that "the State must set to work to make itself useless and
prepare its resignation?" Of MacCulloch who, in the second half of the
past century, proclaimed that the State must abstain from ruling? What
would the Englishman Bentham say today to the continual and
inevitably-invoked intervention of the State in the sphere of
economics, while, according to his theories, industry should ask no
more of the State than to be left in peace? Or the German Humboldt
according to whom an "idle" State was the best kind of State? It is
true that the second wave of Liberal economists were less extreme than
the first, and Adam Smith himself opened the door--if only very
cautiously--to let State intervention into the economic field.
If Liberalism signifies the individual--then Fascism signifies the
State. But the Fascist State is unique of its kind and is an original
creation. It is not reactionary but revolutionary, inasmuch as it
anticipates the solution of certain universal problems such as those
which are treated elsewhere: 1) in the political sphere, by the
subdivisions of parties, in the preponderance of parliamentarism and
in the irresponsibilities of assemblies; 2) in the economic sphere, by
the functions of trade unions which are becoming constantly more
numerous and powerful, whether in the labour or industrial fields, in
their conflicts and combinations, and 3) in the moral sphere by the
necessity of order, discipline, obedience to those who are the moral
dictators of the country. Fascism wants the State to be strong,
organic and at the same time supported on a wide popular basis. As
part of its task the Fascist State has penetrated the economic field:
through the corporative, social and educational institutions which it
has created. The presence of the State is felt in the remotest
ramifications of the country. And in the State also, all the
political, economic and spiritual forces of the nation circulate,
mustered in their respective organisations.
A State which stands on the support of millions of individuals who
recognise it, who believe in it, who are ready to serve it, is not the
tyrannical State of the mediaeval lord. It has nothing in common with
the absolutist States before or after '89. The individual in the
Fascist State is not annulled but rather multiplied, just as in a
regiment a soldier is not diminished, but multiplied by the number of
his comrades.
The Fascist State organises the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin
afterward to the individual; it has limited the useless or harmful
liberties and has preserved the essential ones. The one to judge in
this respect is not the individual but the State.