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Entry: A New Humanism in Europe Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/a_new_humanism_in_europe#6227 Post contents: I am still deeply troubled by Mr. Cundiff's dismissal of Dollfuss and Mussolini as somehow "bobbsie twins" of Fascism, which was indeed the term he first used when this particular line of discussion began. I have stated, albeit briefly, some dramatic differences between Mussolini's conception of Fascism (as explained in his long article from the Enciclopedia Italiana), and Dollfuss's reliance on a very long and rich Catholic tradition socially, economically, AND politically. I would be most pleased to quote from Pius XI's famous encyclical Quadragesimo Anno where the pontiff, himself, endorses the idea of "intermediate corporative bodies"; I would be most happy to cite the literally dozens of orthodox Catholic theologians and social and political; writers who endorsed and wrote at length about Catholic corporativism---not to mention the implications of Chesterbelloc "distributivism" (see for example the works of Father Cahill SJ or Father Denis Fahey CSsP). And, of course, there are the warm messages of support from Pius XI, himself. Would Mr. Cundiff suggest that this pontiff, whom he praises for Mit Brennender Sorge, was also a "fascist" because, to phrase it as Mr. Cundiff did earlier: Mussolini and Dollfuss had the same economics; but Pius XI praised Dollfuss's ideas; therefore, voila!, Pius XI, must be...a FASCIST! Indeed, in the world today there are numerous polities that claim to be "democracies." To read their written constitutions one might find phrases that would appeal to Americans; but there is a world of difference in the "democracy" practiced by some states and that that exists in others....As I pointed out earlier, there is a world of difference between the corporative state that Dollfuss attempted in Austria and Mussolini's "Stato Nuovo." There is a fundamental difference in the conception of the state, its role in society, the rights of lesser communities and organs within the society, etc. I repeat: to have called Dollfuss a fascist is a calumny that demands an apology. And, yes, he did indeed die a martyr's death, as the accounts of his death all agree. The sooner those on the so-called "Right" give up the failed pipe-dream of "Christian Democracy" [read, by the way, both the studies of Charles De Koninck and Ernesto Palacios which literally shred to pieces the post-1930 Maritain advocacy of "Christian Democracy" as inevitably leading to the destruction of Christian states and society---which has indeed happened], the better we all shall be. It is time that we looked again at Dollfuss's Austria and the Portugal of Antonio Salazar (see for instance, Michael Derrick's superb study of corporativist Portugal,from a very Catholic point of view). Sent at: 2008 11 22