| Actually, although he was a pompous ass, the historical Benito was a bit of an intellectual, and wrote an article on fascism for the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition. He started out as a socialist journalist, the son of a school teacher, and then he was inspired by the nationalism of D'Annunzio (who agitated for the return of Trieste to Italy), and a sophomoric reading of Neitzsche. His synthesis of it all was supposed to be a Third Way between Communism and Capitalism, an "organic democracy" where the Leader expressed the people's will, and where political disagreement could exist only within a narrow boundary, insofar as all must eventually bow before that will, and cooperate in the national project. A great nation was confident, aggressive, and unified, hence those who sowed doubt, encouraged passivity, and created discord were detrimental to the nation, and must be silenced. Some political opponents were treated well- enough, by the way, as long as they agreed to go into virtual house arrest........ |
