of society, an instrument which they
use so long as it functions and which they subordinate when no longer
serviceable. In this guise Fascism solves the eternal problem of
economic freedom and of state interference, considering both as mere
methods which may or may not be employed in accordance with the social
needs of the moment.

What I have said concerning political and economic Liberalism applies
also to Democracy. The latter envisages fundamentally the problem of
sovereignty; Fascism does also, but in an entirely different manner.
Democracy vests sovereignty in the people, that is to say, in the mass
of human beings. Fascism discovers sovereignty to be inherent in
society when it is juridically organized as a state. Democracy
therefore turns over the government of the state to the multitude of
living men that they may use it to further their own interests;
Fascism insists that the government be entrusted to men capable of
rising above their own private interests and of realizing the
aspirations of the social collectivity, considered in its unity and in
its relation to the past and future. Fascism therefore not only
rejects the dogma of popular sovereignty and substitutes for it that
of state sovereignty, but it also proclaims that the great mass of
citizens is not a suitable advocate of social interests for the reason
that the capacity to ignore individual private interests in favor of
the higher demands of society and of history is a very rare gift and
the privilege of the chosen few. Natural intelligence and cultural
preparation are of great service in such tasks. Still more valuable
perhaps is the intuitiveness of rare great minds, their traditionalism
and their inherited qualities. This must not however be construed to
mean that the masses are not to be allowed to exercise any influence
on the life of the state. On the contrary, among peoples with a great
history and with noble traditions, even the lowest elements of society
possess an instinctive discernment of what is necessary for the
welfare of the race, which in moments of great historical crises
reveals itself to be almost infallible. It is therefore as wise to
afford to this instinct the means of declaring itself as it is
judicious to entrust the normal control of the commonwealth to a
selected elite.

As for Socialism, the Fascist doctrine frankly recognizes that the
problem raised by it as to the relations between capital and labor is
a very seriou