There has been widespread praise for dictatorships. They have been claimed as regimes of “strong men who get things done.”
There seems to be some justification in this claim. In majority of the European countries parliaments and politicians miserably failed to solve the post-war problems.
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Their unsettled economic and political conditions and extreme economic distress demanded stable governments with vigour of will and action. But owing to the presence of multiple parties, divided and debased by their factiousness, they could not forge a united front.
So the people were ready to yield to the authority of any power who could give them sufficient to eat and stable and efficient government respected at home and abroad.
The dictators succeeded admirably in fostering national unity and established confidence in the people by demonstrating to them that they could act more promptly and vigorously and arrive at quicker decisions. Their firmness and determination stood in sharp contrast with the weak and vacillating policies of democratic rulers.
When Hitler was asked about the programme of the Nazi party he replied that Germany had enough of programmes; she now needed action. Americans had praised particularly the Italian dictatorship, charactersing it as a system which they intended “to run, to function, to do, and to accomplish.”
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The dictator has either no one to consult or the persons whom he consults are his own men who always dutifully submit to his will. He can, therefore, be quick and prompt in his decisions and, consequently, able to meet emergencies efficiently. The recent history of Russia, Germany, Italy, Turkey and Spain is the history of marvels which a determined dictator can bring about in the national life of his country.
Let us take the achievements of the Spanish dictator Rivera as a typical example. Jackson, in his book, Europe since the War, writes: “For the first time in their history the Spanish trains ran punctually. New railways were laid down, and a system of fine motor roads took the place of traditional mule tracks of Spain. The commerce and industry prospered under the dictator.
Agriculture flourished. Labour unrest was mitigated.” Poverty and unemployment did no longer exist indeed a remarkable achievement when it is remembered that the dictators began their careers at a time when the economic and political conditions of nearly all the Continental countries were in complete chaos.
They began in an atmosphere of national revival, and placed the high ideals of patriotism, comradeship and sacrifice constantly before their countrymen, thus, infusing in them the virtue of service. A dictator alone can brush aside ruthlessly all elements of disorder and opposition in order to rehabilitate a nation’s political, economic and social life.