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■•.tty. JOHN T. FLYNN. (Copyright, tm, NEA Service, Inc.)P. A; The trade drive of the fascist powera in South America has become serioifaly mixed up with the ,question of the drive of fascism and liilisni there.^Travelers go to Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador ajid came back with what efeems to be wholly differing reports. Che assures us these countries have not gone, fascist. Another tells us With emphasis that they have. The contradictions arLse entirely out of a failure of the several reporters to Understand what fascism is.. Most people imagine that it is an essentially German or Italian product and that going fascist means teaming up with Germany or Italy. Therefore one writer tells as these countries have not gone, into a German gang agreement, hence they arc not fascist. The idea that a country may go fascist and yet be utterly hostile to Germany docs not sccin to occur to them..First, therefore, we must know what fascism Is. Fascism is a form of economic nationalism organized to control-and direct the capitalist economic system with the object ofThrough the present Vargas t regime in Brazil is itself fascist in principle, it was culled upon this year to crush a revolt of“Green Shirt*’ Fascists. Hero Vargas troops rat left) are pictured as they made prisoners of rebellious sailors (at right).Peruvian President Oscar Benavides has surrounded himself with a strong army to maintain what amounts to a fascist dictatorship.making it work, under the domination of a dictator. All the dramatic excesses—the mob scenes, the marching shirt bridgades. the swastikas, the hounding of Jews, the militristic jingoism—are merely the external trappings._ The central core of fascism is an attempt to make the economic system work by controlling it. This g of course is what socialism attempts. But Socialism abolishes profit and private property. Fascism seeks to preserve profit and private property. It divides the economic and political life of the nation into two sections. The political life it leaves to legislatures, public officials geographically arranged. The economic life it turns over to groups arranged by trades.Each industry has its governing body chosen within the industry. But this governing group is chosen chiefly by the employers. Labor has a voice but through certain repressive policies that voice is kopt very low. Over this economic life the political officials have little to say. But the dictator is the final authority of course.The dictator is essential to this set-up. It won't work in a democracy. It attempts minute regulation of the conduct of every business. It is impossible to get compliance unless there is n ruthless dictator. And where you have a dictator you have appeals to the basest prejudices and to violence until the dictator has killed off all opposition.Bv this standard there is no doubtthat. South American countries are on their way to fascism.In Peru, for instance, Benavides suspended the constiution, surrounded himself with storm troopers, subjected regulation to-minute economic regulation, adopted numerous social laws—cld age Insurance, collective bargaining, three months 2iotice to workers before dismissal with severance pay, restaurants for the poor, model villages, huge public works programs, military preparation.In Brazil Varga;,, by a coup d'etat, overthrows the constitution and writes his own. proclaims the corporative state, gies military In a big way. Because of this some writers said he had led Brazil to fascism. But because he took measures against German propaganda and thrir antics, others said lie had not gone fascist. These latter made the mistake of supposing that going fascist means teaming up with Germany nr Italy. Beyond a doubt Brazil is going fascist as are most of the other countries with the possible exception of Colombia.There is opposition to it. In Chile the popular front has just won an election by a slim majority. Tlie e’efeated candidal i\ oDn Gustavo Ross, lender of lhe rightists, however, would have given the stale a complete fascist rigimc had lie won.But he is violently anti-German— anti-foreign, in fact.Indeed, this is the key to South America. Her countries suffer from serious economic disintegration. They are commodity countries lik many of our states are commodity states. The dislocation of the world’s commodity markets has seriously hit countries like Brazil with her coffee, Chile with her nitrates and copper, Argentine .with her wheat ami beef.In seeking to repair their economic life they turn to the fascist pattern. They do not call it that. Indeed many do not realize it. But the fascist patsrn means nationalism. South Americans ars intensely nationalist. They are suspicious of foreigners. They dislike German penetration or American pentetra-tion, or English exploitation. They arc fascist but not pro-German.Of course the Germans carry on intensive propaganda. There arc Nazi parties. They operate a powerful short wave station which floods every country with programs interspersed with propaganda. The Trans-«ocean News Service—a German corporation— operates as a domestic South American concern. Professors are furnished to schools free. Literature. magazines, books, lecturers swarm over the country.In spots such as Santa Catherine province in Brazil, where Germans arc congregated, they turn t he .schools into Nazi propaganda hives, i r.nrh ihf* c’.hiirirrn to drill, sims the
Newspaper Details
Pampa News
Pampa, Texas, US
Thu, Dec 01, 1938
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Arkansas S.
AR, USA 10 Nov 2018
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