The Fascist Aristocracy
The autocracy of Mussolini moves along unimpeded on the enthusiastic support of the Italian masses. The women, who were given the vote in municipal elections some months ago, find the right amounting to nothing, as the local governments for which they were to vote are now appointed by Mussolini.
The abolition of popular elections has raised the question of providing properly trained administrators for the dictatorship. Fascist intellectuals propose a special training school for a governmental aristocracy, to which youths shall be sent who have been adjudged by the Duce from among candidates-suggested by the officers of the Fascist militia to be of proper character to exercise authority as he may see fit to permit to others besides himself. By this method of “investure from above” it is hoped to make eternal the blessing of a people’s forgetting to govern itself. These future masters of the state are to be instructed in “the analysis of political phenomena, the science of organization, and Roman and Italian history with special attention to the dictatorial periods,” and are to be tried in minor administrative posts.