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54 Similarly, when he wrote about Italian fascism in 1936, Jabotinsky claimed that fascist Italy was a true ally of the Jewish people and that under fascism Jews in Italy did not experience outbreaks of antiSemitism. 55 As a professional writer, poet, translator, and journalist, Jabotinsky earned his living through words and was well aware of their power and importance. 56 In his political activities this master of many languages—he seemed to have working knowledge of at least nine—was always conscious of the words and terms that he used and carefully calculated the image that they would convey to the general public.

65 “Democracy” was useful as a political symbol, but when he examined it in the harsh light of reality, Jabotinsky questioned its practicality, exposed its fundamental limitations, and embraced alternative programs. ’ Jabotinsky regarded hadar as an essential Revisionist virtue, and he wanted it to be the principal tenet of Beitar. 66 He explained that by hadar he meant that, at all times, the cadets had to be courteous and well dressed, mind their table manners, and respect all school rules. They should also, he wrote, become fluent in Italian and in the local customs and refrain from getting involved in disputes with the local population on either political or personal matters.

74 He claimed that the ability of a group of people to show discipline and sacrifice their individual interests for the good of the group was the greatest human attribute. Moreover, he stated that without ceremony Revisionism in Zionist Politics 27 there was no liberty. True liberty, to Jabotinsky, was the ability of individuals to give up their own subjectivity and realize themselves as part of a greater subject, the nation. This was also his view of the true merits of democracy, a tool to channel the wills of the masses into one national will.