He could say that he knows what is good by an ethical intuition, but he will not say this, because it
sounds too Kantian. What he can say, as an expansion of the word "desirable," is this: "If men will
read my works, a certain percentage of them will come to share my desires as regards the
organization of society; these men, inspired by the energy and determination which my philosophy
will give them, can preserve and restore aristocracy, with themselves as aristocrats or (like me)
sycophants of aristocracy. In this way they will achieve a fuller life than they can have as servants
of the people."
There is another element in Nietzsche, which is closely akin to the objection urged by "rugged
individualists" against trade-unions. In a fight of all against all, the victor is likely to possess
certain qualities which Nietzsche admires, such as courage, resourcefulness, and strength of will.
But if the men who do not possess these aristocratic qualities (who are the vast majority) band
themselves together, they may win in spite of their individual inferiority. In this fight of the
collective canaille against the aristocrats, Christianity is the ideological front, as the French
Revolution was the fighting front. We ought therefore to oppose every kind of union among the
individually feeble, for fear lest their combined power should outweigh that of the individually
strong; on the other hand, we ought to promote union among the tough and virile elements of the
population. The first step towards the creation of such a union is the preaching of Nietzsche's
philosophy. It will be seen that it is not easy to preserve the distinction between ethics and
politics.
Suppose we wish--as I certainly do--to find arguments against Nietzsche's ethics and politics, what
arguments can we find?
There are weighty practical arguments, showing that the attempt to secure his ends will in fact
secure something quite different. Aristocracies of birth are nowadays discredited; the only
practicable form of aristocracy is an organization like the Fascist or the Nazi party. Such an
organization rouses opposition, and is likely to be defeated in war; but if it is not defeated it must,
before long, become nothing but a police State, where the rulers live in terror of assassination, and
the heroes are in concentration camps. In such a community faith and honour are sapped by
delation, and the would-be aristocracy of supermen degenerates into a clique of trembling
poltroons.
These, however, are arguments for our time; they would not have