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leader. The constant attacks within the Chamber upon Mussolinidrove fascist black shirts to further outrages against the enemies offascism, and as the culmination of a series of criminal assaults Matteotiwas assassinated by men holding high place in the Fascist partyand the charge was made that Mussolini had ordered the crime. 6 Theincident presented Mussolini with a real crisis. He met it with anextraordinary exhibition of assurance and audacity, assumed fullresponsibility for the state of the country, while denying complicityin the murder, and defied his enemies. He then unloosed upon allopposition the same relentless persecution and suppression he hadmeted out to the socialists. The more intrepid critics who refusedto comply with the new order were assaulted, jailed, or exiled. Mussoliniassumed the role of despot. To complete this, the GrandCouncil of the Fascist party was made "the supreme organ of coordinatingall activities of the regime." All its members were appointedby Mussolini and he alone could summon them to meet.Later the Chamber decreed its own dissolution and a new Chamber,in accordance with the principle of corporativism, was established.Its members were chosen as follows: The fascist syndical organizationschose 8oo candidates and other fascist groups chose 200. Fromthese 1,000 the Fascist Grand Council named 400 to be the partycandidates for the Chamber. Their names were submitted to theelectorate, which voted "yes" or "no." Thus all opposition was completelyextinguished. But the regime began with a compliance withparliamentary forms and used that form to destroy the constitution.There is a third weapon the dictatorship uses with deadly effect.This is the weapon of modern propaganda, which is quite differentfrom that mild and old-fashioned thing which in America was onceknown as "publicity." Complete control of the press is of course avital element of this along with suppression of all critical elements.But this modern propaganda is something more than the negativeforce inherent in suppression. It is a positive assault upon the mindof the people. I have said that these modern dictatorships are popularor demagogic. I do not mean that they are popular in the sense of*The evidence against Mussolini on this point has been collected and presented in greatdetail in Mr. George Seldes' Sawdust Caesar, Harper & Bros., New York, 193 j. A very fulland reliable record of the depredations of the fascist gangsters is made in Dr. GaetanoSalvemini's Under the Axe of Fascism, Viking Press, New York, 1936.64