Fascism and Religion

One of the greatest obstacles that confronts the Fascist Movement in Britain to-day is the opposition of the British public to its arch-enemy. Because Communism is a ‘totalitarian’ doctrine and it is also the very essence of Fascism that ‘a Kingdom divided against itself cannot stand’ the two are lumped together as both standing for a tyrannous ‘dictatorship’ over the citizen by an all-powerful State, extraneous to himself and assumed to be coercive of his will. Nothing could be more unjust to Fascism.The Fascist conception of the State is not of a thing extraneous to the citizen. To the Fascist the State is himself ‘ with a plus.’ As a man—if he is fit to have one—regards his family, or a soldier—if he be worthy of the name—his regiment, or a footballer—if he is fit to be in it—his team, so, in the Fascist conception, must the citizen—if he is worthy to be accounted as such—regard his country. Thus a man works for his family, which includes himself, a footballer plays for his team, which includes himself, a soldier fights for his regiment, which includes himself, and a citizen must work, play or fight for his country, which includes his family, his team, his regiment and himself. This is the corporate spirit which is Fascism, in contradistinction to the individualistic spirit of ‘liberalism,’ which regards the association as to be valued and worked for by the individual only in so far as it serves his individual ends—the doctrine of ‘enlightened self-interest'—and its natural outcome in the ‘class war ‘of Communism.