American Catholics are advised to act promptly against the dangers of Fascism by John LaFarge, S.J., in an article entitled “Is There Danger of Fascism?” appearing in the current issue of the Catholic weekly, America.
Not only does the writer urge steps against Fascism, which he believes is a sharp menace in the United States at the present time, but he recommends action without delay, holding that the opportunity to combat Fascism is here now, but will presently vanish.
In America, LaFarge writes, Fascism can mean at least seven things, which he lists as:
1. The regime in the saddle in Italy.
2. Any kind of totalitarian state.
3. The corporative state.
4. A state in which the military captures the government.
5. Anything that annoys Communists or favors militarism.
6. Anything opposed to the Jews, or manifesting anti-Semitic or other racial intolerance.
7. A primary reliance upon strong-arm methods for obtaining general political and civil ausecurity.
“Whether Silver Shirts, Red Shirts, Brown Shirts or Silk Shirts makes little difference,” LaFarge contends. “It is not the shirts nor the boots nor the pistols that are the menace, but the wrong philosophy of life that they represent: the philosophy that has abandoned the head for the hip, because the heart has gone astray.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
