the functions of trade unions which are becoming constantly more
numerous and powerful, whether in the labour or industrial fields, in
their conflicts and combinations, and 3) in the moral sphere by the
necessity of order, discipline, obedience to those who are the moral
dictators of the country. Fascism wants the State to be strong,
organic and at the same time supported on a wide popular basis. As
part of its task the Fascist State has penetrated the economic field:
through the corporative, social and educational institutions which it
has created. The presence of the State is felt in the remotest
ramifications of the country. And in the State also, all the
political, economic and spiritual forces of the nation circulate,
mustered in their respective organisations.

A State which stands on the support of millions of individuals who
recognise it, who believe in it, who are ready to serve it, is not the
tyrannical State of the mediaeval lord. It has nothing in common with
the absolutist States before or after '89. The individual in the
Fascist State is not annulled but rather multiplied, just as in a
regiment a soldier is not diminished, but multiplied by the number of
his comrades.

The Fascist State organises the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin
afterward to the individual; it has limited the useless or harmful
liberties and has preserved the essential ones. The one to judge in
this respect is not the individual but the State.


12. The Fascist State and Religion.

The Fascist State is not indifferent to the presence or the fact of