ABSTRACT

Within a few short years fascist totalitarianism has assumed the proportions of a major world revolution. The attempt to understand rationally the phenomenon of fascism is not, as is frequently asserted by people whose emotion gets the better of their judgment, a defense of and apology for fascism, but on the contrary the only basis from which a successful fight against its world-wide spread can be waged. To the anti-fascist the world is still unchanged in its essentials and fascism must fit in somehow. Actually, fascism has already changed or destroyed the essentials of yesterday, as is shown by the fact that every nation would have to go totalitarian in the event of war. Nothing shows better how far the totalitarian revolution has already gone than the general acceptance of this new maxim throughout Europe as a matter of course. Freedom and equality have been Europe's basic spiritual ideas ever since the introduction of Christianity.