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Excerpts from The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism by Benito Mussolini |
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The Fascist State... reposes upon the support of millions of
individuals who recognize its authority, are continually conscious of
its power, and are ready at once to serve it... The individual in the
Fascist State is not annulled but rather multiplied, just in the same way that a soldier in a
regiment is not diminished but rather increased by the number of his
comrades. The Fascist State organizes the nation, but leaves a
sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived
of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is
essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual,
but the State alone. |
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The Fascist State is an embodied will to power and government; the Roman tradition1 is here an ideal of force in action. According to Fascism, government is not so much a thing to be expressed in territorial or military terms as in terms of morality and the spirit... Fascism is the doctrine best adopted to represent the tendencies and the aspirations of a people, like the people of Italy, who are rising again after many centuries of abasement and foreign servitude. But imperialism implies discipline, the co-ordination of all forces, and a deeply felt sense of duty and sacrifice. This fact explains many aspects of the practical working of the regime, the character of many forces in the State, and the necessarily severe measures which must be taken against those who would oppose this spontaneous and inevitable movement... Never before has the nation stood more in need of authority, of direction, and of order. If every age has its own characteristic doctrine, there are a thousand signs which point to Fascism as the characteristic doctrine of our time. For if a doctrine must be a living thing, this is proved by the fact that Fascism has created a living faith; and that this faith is very powerful in the minds of men, is demonstrated by those who have suffered and died for it. Fascism has henceforth in the world the universality of all those doctrines which, in realizing themselves, have represented a stage in the history of the human spirit. |
1Mussolini is connecting Fascist Italy and the Roman Empire to create a historical connection between the two. By doing this, he is carrying on Roman traditions through fascism |
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Excerpts from the Speech
to House of Commons of the British Parliament,
4 June 1940 by Winston Churchill |
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In a long series of very fierce battles, now on this front, now on that,
fighting on three fronts at once, battles fought by two or three
divisions against an equal or sometimes larger number of the enemy, and
fought very fiercely on old ground so many of us knew so well, our
losses in men exceed 30,000 in killed, wounded and missing. I take this
occasion for expressing the sympathy of the House with those who have
suffered bereavement or are still anxious.... Against this loss of over 30,000 men we may set the far heavier loss certainly inflicted on the enemy, but our losses in material are enormous. We have perhaps lost one-third of the men we lost in the opening days of the battle on March 21, 1918 1, but we have lost nearly as many guns--nearly 1,000--and all our transport and all the armored vehicles that were with the army of the north.... We were told that Hitler has plans for invading the British Isles. This has often been thought of before.... [W]e have for the time being in this island incomparably more military forces than we had in the last war. But... we shall not be content with a defensive war. We have our duty to our Allies.... That is the resolve of His Majesty's Government, every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and their need, will defend to the death their native soils, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength, even though a large tract of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule. We shall not flag nor fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France and on the seas and oceans; we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in streets and on the hills. We shall never surrender and even if, which I do not for the moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, will carry on the struggle until in God's good time the New World with all its power and might, sets forth to the liberation and rescue of the Old. |
1 Second Battle of the Somme. British casualties numbered over 57000 and 19,240 of these were killed in the battle. |
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Excerpt from the Quit India
Speech, 8 August 1942 by Mahatma Gandhi |
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Before you
discuss the resolution... I ask
you to consider it from my point of view.... I want you to know and feel that there is nothing but
purest Ahimsa1 in all that I am saying and doing today. The draft
resolution of the Working Committee is based on Ahimsa, the contemplated
struggle similarly has its roots in Ahimsa. If, therefore, there is any
among you who has lost faith in Ahimsa or is wearied of it, let him not
vote for this resolution.... |
1the principle of non-injury to living things | |
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Ours is not a drive for power, but purely a non-violent fight for
India’s independence. In a violent struggle, a successful general has
been often known to effect a military coup and to set up a dictatorship.
But under the Congress scheme of things, essentially non-violent as it
is, there can be no room for dictatorship. A non-violent soldier of
freedom will covet nothing for himself, he fights only for the freedom
of his country....I believe that in the history of the world, there
has not been a more genuinely democratic struggle for freedom than
ours.... In the democracy which I have envisaged, a democracy
established by non-violence, there will be equal freedom for all.
Everybody will be his own master. It is to join a struggle for such
democracy that I invite you today. Once you realize this you will forget
the differences between the Hindus and Muslims, and think of yourselves
as Indians only, engaged in the common struggle for independence. |
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Then, there is the question of your attitude towards the British. I have
noticed that there is hatred towards the British among the people. The
people say they are disgusted with their behaviour. The people make no
distinction between British imperialism and the British people. To them,
the two are one....We must get rid of this feeling. Our quarrel is not with the
British people, we fight their imperialism. The proposal for the
withdrawal of British power did not come out of anger. It came to enable
India to play its due part at the present critical juncture. It is not a
happy position for a big country like India to be merely helping with
money and material obtained willy-nilly from her while the United
Nations2 are conducting the war. We cannot evoke the true spirit of
sacrifice and valour, so long as we are not free. |
2Great Britain and its allies during World War II. | |
| I know the British Government will not be able to withhold freedom from us, when we have made enough self-sacrifice. We must, therefore, purge ourselves of hatred. Speaking for myself, I can say that I have never felt any hatred. As a matter of fact, I feel myself to be a greater friend of the British now than ever before. One reason is that they are today in distress. My very friendship, therefore, demands that I should try to save them from their mistakes. As I view the situation, they are on the brink of an abyss. It, therefore, becomes my duty to warn them of their danger even though it may, for the time being, anger them to the point of cutting off the friendly hand that is stretched out to help them. People may laugh, nevertheless that is my claim. At a time when I may have to launch the biggest struggle of my life, I may not harbour hatred against anybody. |
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