Democracy And Free Markets: Is That All?

Closing

Douglass Carmichael More of what we have been talking about, and closing thoughts.

MUSSOLINI

By Nicholas Farrell

Weidenfeld, £25, pp.533, ISBN:0297819658

Review at

Click Here for Report

Nicholas Farrell has produced a fascinating biography of Mussolini which is bound to be controversial; not, one suspects, that that will worry him. The central thesis can be baldly stated: ‘the truth is that a critical mass of people in Italy did actively support fascism and an even larger proportion, a clear majority, did actively support Mussolini’. This cuts across the postwar Italian consensus which maintains precisely the opposite position. Farrell has no time for the argument (also prevalent in Germany) that all the blame for the misdeeds of fascism can be placed firmly on the shoulders of the dead leader; in his eyes the Italians were complicit in what happened: Mussolini and fascism were not inherently ‘evil’, although they ‘did do evil’. Farrell locates fascism, like its author, Mussolini, firmly on the Left as an unusually pathological variety of socialism; it was, he argues, the ‘third way between capitalism and communism’. Mussolini, who was fond of inventing ‘battles’ (for wheat, the lira and for babies), would have welcomed this ‘battle for Mussolini’.

Comment: Doug

Note the desire to put fascism on the side of left authoritarianism. There was a fascinating debate in the economics world surrounding Hayek and others on whether capitalist planning in corporations was really socialism, and that economic rationality really required, or was equivalent to, socialism. What we need to learn is how deep and theoretically unresolved these issues are, and that they are still with us. They drive our political life and, if we are not careful, will determine our future.

Over the last week I have been working with a new group of people who are looking to network around business that are concerned with sustainability as the major framework. I am all for it. My own addition is that it also has a political dimension: Bush is anti-entrepreneurial (so my argument starts), and supports old stodgy business and thwarts innovation. We need a world that is high entrepreneurial, high use of tech, risk taking and experimental, and releases lots of new energy to build businesses that are high tech while striving to meet in the best realizable way the conditions of sustainability. That means asking for a new business climate, one that favors sustainability, entrepreneurialism, and technical innovation.

The next piece is to build a culture for what rich people do with their money.

1. Experiments in education

2. Experiments in civic architecture

3. Experiments in helping the worst off enhance their life

4. A decision that it is bad for the wealthy and for the business climate to rely on arms production and driving down wages, and that business and the wealthy support a new embracing of something like "a world that works for everybody", an believe it, knowing in the heart's core that a world that doesn't breeds hatred and violence and self contempt for those who give in to it.

I wish there had been more of us, I wish that we had longer, I wish that we went deeper.

But I am so grateful to our small "my dinner with André" conversation. Especially to John for his concern to play his part the best he knew and more, and my appreciation, and actual enjoyment of that. To Don for close reading and trying to be midwife to meaningful outcomes, to Kip for his engagement and seriousness and friendship and the weekly summaries, which were always better than I would have done, and to Richard for having the faith to keep this experiment going, to keep it humane and that sense to hold on to almost old world values, and to believe that basic a decency will prevail, we will have a good time, be better citizens and business colleagues, ad take pride in our increasing wisdom when we've earned it. There have been some who presence was as readers, who may have learned the most. I would every one of you would want to, feel an urgent desire to, lead a conference on what it is you really care about and want to explore.

For me there has been daily embarrassment—Yikes, did I say that? Now what? And so it has gone, at times feeling confident, at times feeling like I was playing tennis with a badminton racquet.

And ever the question, what is the serious work to do now?

(Participant) Doug: you deserve both a medal of honor for taking us into dangerous territory and bringing us out more alive than dead; and a purple heart for all of the wounds you must have felt trying to drag us into territory that we resisted and bruising your muscles from pulling us along.

Dick and his team have a big job now in trying to organize what we have done with your piloting. We moved so fast that there was little time or opportunity to summarize what we have said, where there was consensus, and where deep disagreements still exist. I think if this could be done there would be some big surprises and even bigger education for all of us.

As a personal note: while all this was going on for us few, I perceive a new era of democracy having been born as Gov Dean ended up as the leader among much better known contenders. Electronic communication has replaced the rear railroad platform. It may also have replaced the traditional methods of fundraising that Pres Bush is depending upon. And I am sure you will not be surprised if I repeat myself in saying that discussing the future role of the citizen is no longer a trivial parlor game! :} I will even admit that the subjects for their concern are becoming ever more important.

Doug: congratulations!

(Participant) Doug, my heartfelt thanks for a superb conference on a difficult and challenging topic. I'll be reading it and following your links to other material for some time I'm sure. This has been one for the books!

(Participant) Doug, thank you for a stimulating and thought provoking discussion. Thank you also to everyone who participated, I am richer for each and every one of your efforts.

Previous Page

top