364 THE RISE OF ITALIAN FASCISM
up any new possibilities, betrays its own nature and its
real and only claim to superiority. The adoption of the
amoral means and ends of fascism implies the abandonment
of the historic role of the proletariat, which is the c fulfilment
of philosophy 5. Its mission is to bring back into the world
that sense of universal and human needs which other .classes
refuse to admit. Socialist society and the action leading to
it can only be conceived of sub specie philosophic, which means
sub specie generis kumani.1 The worth of the working class
lies in its philosophical and, consequently, its human content.
By sacrificing this it prepares its own collapse and defeat,
and delivers itself into the hands of fascism. This is not a
merely academic point. The world to-day is suffering from
a profound confusion of material and spiritual values and
from the lack of a common truth and a common task.
Exaggerated nationalism is only one aspect—the most
formidable—of this confusion : each country writhes in
isolation like a sick man. Fascism glories in this situation,
intensifies it, and recognizes no connection with the rest of
the world except through war. Consequently it detests
anything that brings nations together in any other way,
be it international socialism, Christian ethics or the League
of Nations. Thus it marches on, dragging us with it towards
the abyss. There can be no illusions about this. The human
race was barely able to endure the war of 1914-18, though
it possessed great material and spiritual reserves, accumul-
ated over a long period, which saved it from collapse.
To-day we should begin a new war with less resources and
greater powers of destruction, after a prolonged period of
crisis which in several places has nearly cracked the thin
crust of civilization on which we live. The chances are that
the next war will be a purely fascist one, introducing and
compelling the general adoption of fascist methods ; a war
carried on with the finest technical equipment backed by
the mentality of the cave man.
In face of this threat more is needed than to meet * auto-
matism * with ' automatism3, coercion with coercion, cor-
1 * Philosophy cannot be fulfilled without the suppression of the proletariat,
and the proletariat can only be suppressed when philosophy is fulfilled.'
Marx, Contribution to the Critique of the Philosophy of Law.