The Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot: The Critical EditionVol. 5: Tradition and Orthodoxy, 1934-1939

The Blackshirts. To the Editor of The Church Times

The Church Times, 111 (2 Feb 1934) 116

Sir, – The letter of Mr. Pierce-Butler in your issue of Jan. 26 seems to me to express an attitude towards Fascism, on the part of pious Christians, which is likely to spread, and which therefore deserves close examination. ²

I am perfectly ready to accept Mr. Pierce-Butler’s testimony gathered among the young people of his acquaintance, and I am very glad to hear it. ³ But, with all due respect, I believe that he misses the point. The point is not whether a large number of people, with or without the inspiration and example of Sir Oswald Mosley and Lord Rothermere, are both zealous Fascists and devout Christians. The human mind is capable of containing the most contradictory ideas at once, especially when in a state of emotional excitement. The point is, not what some people at the moment actually maintain, but whether the Christian and Catholic idea and the Fascist idea are, in themselves, compatible. I am not answering this question, but putting it; for it is a question which Mr. Pierce-Butler does not answer.

The most authoritative statement of Fascist principle, I suppose, should be the one statement which Signor Mussolini has made, which he contributed to the Encyclopaedia Italiana, and which is published by the Hogarth Press for a shilling, under the title of The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism. ⁴ From it I extract the following propositions, which are relevant to the present inquiry:

1

“War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to meet it.” [11]

2

“Absolute monarchy has been and can never return, any more than blind acceptance of ecclesiastical authority.” [19](N. B. – The question here is that of the differentiation between acceptance, and blindacceptance, of ecclesiastical authority; and how this difference differs from the difference between acceptance and blindacceptance of temporal authority.)

3

“Fascism conceives of the State as an Absolute.” [21] ⁵

4

“Peoples which are rising, or rising again after a period of decadence, are always imperialist.” [25]

I am not taking upon myself to criticize these assertions; I only suggest that every Catholic who inclines to sympathize with Fascist politics should make it his business to meditate upon them. In conclusion, I should like to call attention to the excellent article by Mr. Christopher Dawson in the current issue of Theology. ⁶

t. s. eliot 24, russell square, london, w. c. 1.