The Totalitarian State Signor Mussolini's speech on Monday to the
National Assembly of Corporations was worthy in manner and matter of the Totalitarian State. With resonant refer- ences to " banners flying to victory," and " the enemy armies crushed," and " incredible historic errors," he an- nounced that the shadowy Chamber of Deputies had been abolished, and replaced by the shadowy Chamber of Fas- cists and Corporations. More significant than these moves given to political dummies is the nationalisation of all the great key industries, and perhaps even more interest- ing was Mussolini's explanation of why this final step had been taken in a process that had gone on since 1931. Italy aims at political autonomy and this requires economic autonomy, with the nationalisation of industry and the discovery of new raw materials. Further, " the wheels of Destiny are moving fast " towards the total war, in which " the great industries will have neither the time nor the power to work for the private consumer." It is impossible not to recognise the honesty of this analysis of the relation between the Totalitarian State and the total war. Indeed we are hearing from our own statesmen something not so very different in their speeches about defence, industry and the future.
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