THE PROGRAMME OF THE FASCISTS The programme of the Fascists differs from those of other parties, as it represents for its members not only a rule of political conduct, but also a moral code. The programme states that "the nation is not merely the sum total of living individuals, nor the instrument of parties for their own ends, but an organism com prising the unlimited series of generations of which individuals are merely transient elements ; it is the synthesis of all the ma terial and non-material values of the race." The State must be reduced to its essential functions as a legal and political organ, the powers of parliament limited to questions concerning the indi vidual as a citizen and the State as the organ for realizing the interests of the nation, whereas the activities of individuals as pro ducers should be dealt with by technical councils. Trade unions must be encouraged as a means of developing production, but they should not arbitrarily level all capacities. The prestige of the State must be restored at all costs. The national finances must be placed on a sound basis, free from all traces of demagogy. Fascism recog nizes the social functions of private property, proposes a system of State discipline over class conflicts, and demands that both employers' and workmen's organizations shall be legally recog nized and invested with responsibility; no strikes in the public services are to be tolerated. The State should restore to private enterprise all industrial undertakings which it has proved in capable of running. In foreign affairs Italy must "reaffirm her right to complete historic and geographic unity, and fulfil her mission as the bulwark of Latin civilization in the Mediterranean." The party is indissolubly bound up with its squadre—the volun teer militia at the service of the State. It was this congress that declared that Fascism would supplant the State whenever the State should prove incapable of suppressing the elements of disorder.
The organs of the party are : the Directorate—the executive organ, composed of the general secretary and ten other members elected by the national council; the central committee, composed of the various district delegates and the members of the Direc torate, elected by the national council for a year and entrusted with the conduct of the political and administrative action of the Fasci and with disciplinary authority; the national council, com posed of members of the central committee and the provincial secretaries, and invested with controlling authority over the Fasci ; the general secretariat, nominated by the national council ; the Fasci, or local sections of the party, all the Fasci of a province constituting a provincial federation; the squadre de coinbatti mento, afterwards converted into the National Militia; the parlia mentary group, composed of the Fascist members of parliament ; the various auxiliary groups, such as the women's Fasci, the Avanguardie, the Balilla, etc. ; the congress, composed of delegates of the provinces, which meets at irregular intervals to express the views of Fascism as a whole. The general conception of Fascism is based on rigid hierarchy.