[tsomer]

I think you nailed it. I haven't read it yet, but expect it will draw the same conclusions.

Socialism was just a ticket to power: he rode it until, trying to steer clear of Lenin, he wound up at Hitler's feet. Benito thought that Hitler was a temporary expedient that he could get rid of later on. I guess Hitler's amalgamation of racism and state control tipped the balance; the Italians were too heterogeneous, too fractious.

And the socialists, like most intellectuals consider it all to be very scientific, very rational, all in keeping with their notion of "enlightened self-interest." This scheme never accounts for people like Mussolini. Or Bin Laden. Or Clinton.

[Eva]

Ah, I re-read what I wrote and noticed that I misspelled allegiance. I tend to spell phonetically when I type.

That reminds me of when I was little, my younger sister once asked my mother what pledgel meant, as in pledgel legence.