The union of economic oligarchy and political democracy worked well enough so long as capitalism was in its phase of expansion. But the period of contraction set in after the last War. It resulted in widespread unemployment and gave rise to a curious phenomenon of ‘poverty in the midst of Plenty.’ The masses tried to exercise their political power for the amelioration of their material well-being. This was a direct challenge to the economic privileges of the owning class. Hence the birth of fascist dictatorships and totalitarianism. Even the so-called democracies of Britain and Union States are intrinsically fascist. The difference between Britain and Germany was only of degree and not of kind. Where the socialist danger was greater, as in Italy and Germany, Fascism was more aggressive and dictatorial.
