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

THEORY OF FASCISM 625
defend hearth and home, but because they are imbued
with "the devouring flame of higher patriotism, which
embraces the nation as the vesture of the eternal, for
which the noble-minded man joyfully sacrifices himself
and the ignoble man, who only exists for the sake of the
other, must likewise sacrifice himself". Although among
Germans there is a distinction between the noble and
the ignoble, a distinction which deprives the ignoble of
all claim to existence on their own account and permits
them to live only in order that they may render service to
the noble, it is, nevertheless, laid down that in comparison
with other races all Germans are noble; for " to have
character and to be German undoubtedly mean the same ".
The outstanding trait of the noble is strength of will,
which Fichte calls "the very root pf man". The will chiefly
affirms itself by postulating not only itself, but everything
else. Thus "the universe", says Fichte, "is myself".
While the superiority of the noble is manifested by development
of will, the inferiority of the ignoble is emphasized
by the deliberate suppression oftheir wills by the noble. Thus
the new education which is designed to mould Germans
into $ corporate body "must consist essentially in this,
that it completely destroys freedom of the will". It is,
however, only the ignoble whose wills are destroyed*
Strength of Will as the Distinctive Characteristic of the
Noble. That the will is at once the distinguishing
characteristic of the noble and the determining force in
history is a doctrine common to all forms of Fascism.
Speaking foi himself and Hitler in the Olympic Meadow,
during his visit to Berlin in the autumn of 1937, Mussolini
affirmed their "common conviction and belief in the will
as the decisive factor in history", while General Goering
announced to the Public Prosecutor and State attorneys
in 1934 that "Justice and Hitler's will are one and the
same thing". It is by means of the will that in modern
fascist S&tes the noble dominate and inspire the ignoble.
Thus Mussolini's victorious general on the Biscayan front