GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

608 ETHICS AND POLITICS: THE MODERNS
grams into practice. So translated, the philosophies
are found to aspire to lay down the whole duty of man;
they prescribe Ids ideals as an individual and his loyalties
as a citizen; they define for him what is good and reveal
to him what is true. Thus General Goering recently
assured an audience of lawyers that "Justice and Hitler's
will are one and the same thing", while a Bishop of the
German Confessional Church, Bishop Dietrich, has pointed
out that "since Hitler has been presented to us by God,
those who do not place themselves at his side are evil-
willed". Fascist theory is reluctant to admit that the
individual may possess ideals as an individual, and
recognizes only such as are comprised in his loyalties
as a citizen. To these generalizations there is in the con-
temporary world one exception, namely, the philosophy,
if philosophy it can be called, of Individualism, and the
system of government which is usually found associated
with Individualism, namely, Democracy.
Common Characteristics of Fascism and Communism.
In contradistinction to Individualism and Democracy
both Fascism and Communism exemplify the identifica-
tion of ethics and politics, exemplify it more closely,
perhaps, than any other political philosophy past or
present. The degree of this identification may be inferred
from the following characteristics which both doctrines
exhibit (i) An insistence upon the fact that citizenship
is not passive but active. It is not a mere obeying of laws
or a counting of votes, but a realization of ideals in a parti-
cular way of life. (2) The attempt to exclude all parties
and sections who do not subscribe to the ideal of the
dominant party from a share in the government, and
even to deny to them the right to express their dissent.
(3) The co-ordination under the State of all forms of
voluntary association and communal life. (4) The determination
to give to that party in the State, whether large
or small, which professes the tenets and subscribes to the
ideals of a particular philosophy, whether Fascism or