Righteous Force
Why do we avoid the "F" word?
by Alan Bisbort

"As if a revelation had come to me, I realized that Italy would be saved by one historic agency... righteous force. Our democracy of yesterdays had died; its testament had been read; it had bequeathed us naught but chaos."
-- Benito Mussolini, "My Autobiography" (1928)

Dec. 30, 2002 -- HARTFORD (APJP) -- Benito Mussolini borrowed the Roman Empire's symbol of authority (a bundle of rods with an ax) as well as its Latin name (fasces) to bestow upon his political party a sense of manifest, unstoppable destiny. Actually, his followers, the Fascisti, were really just a power base, not a political party, since they never won an election. They did, however, hold totalitarian power in Italy from 1922 to 1943, a reign that effectively wrecked the nation and created a grim legacy from which it has still not fully recovered.

In his 1928 autobiography -- published in the U.S. by the mainstream Charles Scribner's Sons -- Mussolini introduced his Fascism to a receptive American audience. Americans were bedazzled by the new wealth of the corporations, and Mussolini and Hitler were both friends of the captains of American industry and commerce, so the "synergy" was there to justify these wolves running free in Europe, as long as profits continued to soar. Further, the release of the Godfather of Fascism's book by one of the most respected publishing houses in the United States was not seen as an ominous portent at all. (Indeed, in the 1930s, the Nazi-smitten Henry Ford would publish an English translation of Hitler's Mein Kampf for American consumption.)

Since Mussolini coined the term Fascism in its modern usage, it should be up to him to explain exactly what he had in mind.

Perhaps his version of Fascism might best be summarized by two chapter titles that appear, back to back, in the book -- Chapter 6, which is called "The Death Struggle of a Worn-Out Democracy," and Chapter 7, which is called "The Garden of Fascism." Essentially, what Mussolini has to say in this otherwise bloated propagandistic tome, is that from the seedbed of a dead democracy, composted by the bodies of discarded votes, ideologically-motivated "judicial" decisions, the homeless, the unemployed, the unfairly detained, the disappeared, faith-based pronouncements and patriotic guilt-tripping, a garden of fascism will bloom.

And, of course, Mussolini was right. Who would know better than the head Fascist gardener in Italy, Il Duce?

To underscore his appeal to unquestioned authority, he said whacked out things such as, "I am proud to know myself as one not to be suspected -- even by myself -- and feeling that my inmost moral fiber is invincible," and "I had an effect on my soldiers which seemed to me almost mystical." He also waved the Italian flag endlessly, and brandished his bundle of rods with ax, and turned his Fascist power base into a religion, with precious little resistance from the Papacy in Rome (see John Cornwell's "Hitler's Pope" for more details). As Mussolini put it in his book, "I have seen the religious spirit bloom again; churches once more are crowded, the ministers of God are themselves invested with new respect. Fascism has done and is doing its duty."

But, of course, his iron-fisted rule was not unstoppable. In fact, after he'd reduced his once great nation to rubble, Mussolini tried to flee with his mistress (so much for family values) and dressed in disguise (so much for going down with the ship). When he was captured by a group of peasants, he was turned over to the authorities, who -- after a brief trial -- ordered his execution by firing squad. It has come down to us, as part of Mussolini's myth, that he faced death bravely, jutting his proboscis jaw and bidding the shooters to aim for his chest so as not to destroy his manly looks. However, while researching my book, "Famous Last Words", I came upon the firsthand account by Colonel Valerio, in charge of carrying out Mussolini's execution. Valerio, a former schoolteacher, recounted how Mussolini wept, wailed and begged pitifully for his life (so much for his courage). The Godfather of Fascism's body was hung upside down from a meat hook in a public square in Milan while proper Italians -- his erstwhile backers -- jeered, perhaps with no small measure of guilt or at least a hangover from 20 years of brainwashing.

As Mussolini's and Hitler's examples show, fascism -- for all its gut-level, simplistic, might-makes-right appeal to the basest human instincts -- can never last and always ends badly. This may be because the fertilizer needed to maintain it eventually sickens even the most apathetic and ignorant and unquestioning. That is, fascism is brought to power by illegal, often violent means (the Black Shirt Putsch in Italy, the Reichstag Fire in Weimar Germany, the bullying of vote counters in Dade County by a hired mob of affluent Republicans, followed by the Supreme Court's single-vote-margin rejection of the "people's choice" for US President). And it is driven by a never ending sense of crisis against an easily maligned "them" (Bolsheviks, Jews, terra'ists) as well as a constant reinforcement -- through public rhetoric and military parades and secret police and a controlled media -- of what Mussolini called "righteous force."

This ugly paradigm cannot be described any more clearly than this, from Il Duce: "In certain contingencies violence has a deep moral significance... It was necessary to give timely, genial recognition to chivalrous violence."

Judging from the lack of registered voter turnout in November 2002, and the muteness of the American people in the face of their loss of privacy and due process of law, the whittling away of the Constitution's guarantees, the looting of the US Treasury for the enrichment of the top one percent of the citizenry, and the abject propagandizing of the media utilizing what were once "public airwaves," America's democracy is nearly worn out. It may even be going into its death struggle even as we speak.

As an ardent conservative friend of mine put it, "You don't have to be an ACLU leftie to be appalled at the prospect of what is coming to be with almost NO public debate at all... 'Fascism' as in common use is more or less a cant word with little meaning, but the confluence of Big Government and Big Business (airlines, pharmaceuticals, oil) is unsettling and certainly resembles the classic 'f' model. My suspicion is that it is the natural byproduct and effect of the de-evolution of democracy; the hardening into camps, constituencies and interests, fueled always by money and influence. The 'commons' of the small homogenous state is long gone, subsumed in the superstate, with supranational corporate players. The 'people', meanwhile, are lulled in their comforts and preoccupations. It is hard to be hopeful."

Or take this feedback from a union construction worker on The Smirking Chimp web site: "I work on a jobsite which has about 2000 construction workers of all trades, not one of whose best interest is served by voting for a Republican. Yet, during the 2000 election I was dismayed at the number who said they were voting for Smirky because 'Gore will take away our guns.' At this rate it won't be long till their guns will be all they have left. No rights, no civil liberties, no union protections, no jobs, no health care -- just their precious guns and perpetual war, on terrorism and the rest of the world... What little hope I had disappeared on Election Day 2002. Now my hope is for the world. Maybe eventually the rest of the world will band together and say 'Enough!' That's what happened to Germany after the German people let their government get out of control in the 1930's -- a similar scenario to what I see happening here today."

There you have it. Two perspectives, one from the right and one from the left, saying essentially the same thing about the Bush Administration and the state of our democracy.

When and where can we find a common ground?

One last cautionary quote, also from the feedback section on The Smirking Chimp: "My German friends Kurt (who was a Hitler Youth), Ute and Werner (who fought in the Wehrmacht, but hated Hitler) said it came down to a combination of fear and erosion. In 1933 especially, they saw mounting fear as the S.S. and S.A. continued to make house stops and arrest people -- or take them into detentions. Then -- add to that -- the fear and paranoia promoted by Goebbels' propagandists. To the point people barely trusted their neighbors any more. Especially Jews. Divide and conquer. Added to this -- the passivity of their politicos. As Werner noted, 'We took our cue from the leaders we elected. We saw them behave with docility and fear toward Hitler, and we reasoned that they must have a good reason to do so. If they were fearful, and they were in power -- what could we the little people do? We would be foolish to try anything if even our leaders and representatives were terrified.'"

Finally: "All those who had wondered how the German people could have stood by and allowed a patent evil to overtake their country and good sense, probably know now at last. It's happening before their very eyes."

Alan Bisbort is a columnist for the Hartford Advocate. His book, "California Beaches" (Avalon/Foghorn) -- co-authored with Parke Puterbaugh -- will be published in March.