Fascism
Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, refers to the authoritarian
political movement which ruled Italy 1922-1943 under the leadership of
Benito Mussolini. The name comes from fascio, which may mean "bundle", as in
a political group, but also fasces, the Roman authority symbol of a bundle
of rods and axe-head.
The word fascism has come to mean any system of government resembling
Mussolini's, that exalts nation and often race above the individual, and
uses violence and modern techniques of propaganda and censorship to forcibly
suppress political opposition, engages in severe economic and social
regimentation, and espouses nationalism and sometimes racism (ethnic
nationalism). Nazism is usually considered as a kind of fascism.
Unlike the pre-World War II period, when many groups openly and proudly
proclaimed themselves fascist, in the post-World War II period the term has
taken on an extremely pejorative meaning, largely in reaction to the crimes
against humanity undertaken by the Nazis. Today, very few groups proclaim
themselves as fascist, and the term almost universally is used for groups
for whom the speaker has little regard, often with minimal understanding of
what the term actually means. More particularly, "Fascist" is sometimes used
by people of the Left to characterize some group or persons of the far-right
or neo-far-right, though this usage has somewhat receded since the 1970s. As
George Orwell in his 1946 essay "Politics and the English Language" famously
complained, "The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it
signifies 'something not desirable.'" This negative association makes it
unlikely that the fascist label will be used or accepted by any future
regimes.
Fascism, in many respects, is an ideology of negativism: anti-liberal,
anti-Communist, anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian, etc. As a political and
economic system in Italy, it combined elements of corporatism,
totalitarianism, nationalism, and anti-communism.
Fascism is generally regarded as somehow the "opposite" to socialism or
communism. Mussolini himself characterized it as such in a 1932 paper
entitled What Is Fascism?:
...Fascism [is] the complete opposite of ... Marxian Socialism, the
materialist conception of history of human civilization can be
explained simply through the conflict of interests among the various
social groups and by the change and development in the means and
instruments of production....
Fascism, now and always, believes in holiness and in heroism; that is
to say, in actions influenced by no economic motive, direct or
indirect. And if the economic conception of history be denied,
according to which theory men are no more than puppets, carried to and
fro by the waves of chance, while the real directing forces are quite
out of their control, it follows that the existence of an unchangeable
and unchanging class-war is also denied - the natural progeny of the
economic conception of history. And above all Fascism denies that
class-war can be the preponderant force in the transformation of
society....
..."The maxim that society exists only for the well-being and freedom
of the individuals composing it does not seem to be in conformity with
nature's plans." "If classical liberalism spells individualism,"
Mussolini continued, "Fascism spells government."
--Benito Mussolini, public domain, from The Internet Modern
History Sourcebook
It is notable that the central distinctions are views of class conflict and
religious orthodoxy. A fascist government is usually characterized as
"extreme right-wing," and a socialist government as "left-wing". Others
argue that the differences between fascism and totalitarian forms of
socialism are more superficial than actual. (See political spectrum for more
on these ideas).
The most common feature of fascism cited in contrast to socialism is the
fact that neither Hitler nor Mussolini nationalized their nations'
industries. Some contend that this difference is also more cosmetic than
actual, since both leaders used extreme regulation to control industry,
while leaving them in the hands of their owners. Hitler commented on this
difference in a letter to Herman Rauschning, where he wrote:
"Of what importance is all that, if I range men firmly within a
discipline they cannot escape? Let them own land or factories as much
as they please. The decisive factor is that the State, through the
Party, is supreme over them regardless of whether they are owners or
workers. All that is unessential; our socialism goes far deeper. It
establishes a relationship of the individual to the State, the national
community. Why need we trouble to socialize banks and factories? We
socialize human beings."
It is also possible, since fascism incorporates corporatism, that a fascist
regime may de-facto nationalize certain key industries, simply by
maintaining close personal and/or business relationships with the
corporations' owners.
Practice of fascism
Examples of fascist systems include Nazi Germany and Spain under the Falange
Party of Francisco Franco, in addition to Mussolini's Italy.
Fascism in practice embodied both political and economic practices, and
invites different comparisons. Writers who focus on the politically
repressive policies of fascism identify it as one form of totalitarianism, a
description they use to characterise not only Fascist Italy and Nazi
Germany, but also communist countries such as the Soviet Union, Communist
China and Cuba (although fascists and communists identify each other as
enemies).
However, some analysts point out that some fascist governments were arguably
more authoritarian rather than totalitarian. There is almost universal
agreement that Nazi Germany was totalitarian. However, many would argue that
the governments of Franco's Spain and Salazar's Portugal, while fascist,
were more authoritarian than totalitarian.
Writers who focus on economic policies of state intervention in the market
and the use of state apparatuses to broker conflicts between different
classes make even broader comparisons, identifying fascism as one form of
corporatism, a political outgrowth of Catholic social doctrine from the
1890s, with which parallels have been drawn embracing not only Nazi Germany,
but also Roosevelt's New Deal United States and Juan Peron's populism in
Argentina.
Italian Fascism
Mussolini's Fascist state, established nearly a decade before Hitler's rise
to power, would provide a model for Getulio Vargas' later economic and
political policies. Both a movement and a historical phenomenon, Italian
Fascism was, in many respects, an adverse reaction to both the apparent
failure of laissez-faire and fear of the left, although trends in
intellectual history, such as the breakdown of positivism and the general
fatalism of postwar Europe should be of concern.
Fascism was, to an extent, a product of a general feeling of anxiety and
fear among the middle class of postwar Italy arising because of a
convergence of interrelated economic, political, and cultural pressures.
Under the banner of this authoritarian and nationalistic ideology, Mussolini
was able to exploit fears regarding the survival of capitalism in an era in
which postwar depression, the rise of a more militant left, and a feeling of
national shame and humiliation stemming from Italy's 'mutilated victory' at
the hands of the World War I postwar peace treaties seemed to converge. Such
unfulfilled nationalistic aspirations tainted the reputation of liberalism
and constitutionalism among many sectors of the Italian population. In
addition, such democratic institutions had never grown to become firmly
rooted in the young nation-state.
As the same postwar depression heightened the allure of Marxism among an
urban proletariat even more disenfranchised than their continental
counterparts, fear regarding the growing strength of trade unionism,
Communism, and Socialism proliferated among the elite and the middle class.
In a way, Benito Mussolini filled a political vacuum. Fascism emerged as a
"third way" ? as Italy's last hope to avoid imminent collapse of the 'weak'
Italian liberalism, and Communist revolution. While failing to outline a
coherent program, it evolved into new political and economic system that
combined corporatism, totalitarianism, nationalism, and anti-Communism in a
state designed to bind all classes together under a capitalist system, but a
new capitalist system in which the state seized control of the organization
of vital industries. Under the banners of nationalism and state power,
Fascism seemed to synthesize the glorious Roman past with a futuristic utopia.
The appeal of this movement, the promise of a more orderly capitalism during
an era of interwar depression, however, was not isolated to Italy, or even
Europe. A decade later, as the Great Depression led to a sharp economic
downturn of the Brazilian economy, a sort of quasi-fascism would emerge
there that would react to Brazil's own socio-economic problems and
nationalistic consciousness of its peripheral status in the global economy.
The regime of Getulio Vargas adopted extensive fascist influence and entered
into an alliance with Integralism, Brazil's local fascist movement.
Founded as a nationalist association (the Fasci di Combattimento) of World
War I veterans in Milan on March 23, 1919, Mussolini's fascist movement
converted itself into a national party (the Partito Nazionale Fascista)
after winning 35 seats in the parliamentary elections of May 1921. Initially
combining ideological elements of left and right, it aligned itself with the
forces of conservatism by its opposition to the September 1920 factory
occupations.
Despite the themes of social and economic reform in the initial Fascist
manifesto of June 1919, the movement came to be supported by sections of the
middle class fearful of socialism and communism, while industrialists and
landowners saw it as a defence against labour militancy. Under threat of a
fascist "March on Rome", Mussolini in October 1922 assumed the premiership
of a right-wing coalition Cabinet initially including members of the
pro-church People's Party.
The transition to outright dictatorship was more gradual than in Germany a
decade later, though in July 1923 a new electoral law all but assured a
Fascist parliamentary majority, and the murder of the Socialist deputy
Giacomo Matteotti eleven months later showed the limits of political
opposition. By 1926 opposition movements had been outlawed, and in 1928
election to parliament was restricted to Fascist-approved candidates.
The regime's most lasting political achievement was perhaps the Lateran
Treaty of February 1929 between the Italian State and the Holy See, by which
the Papacy was granted temporal sovereignty over the Vatican City and
guaranteed the free exercise of Catholicism as the sole state religion
throughout Italy in return for its acceptance of Italian sovereignty over
the Pope's former dominions.
Trade unions and employers' associations were reorganized by 1934 into 22
fascist corporations combining workers and employers by economic sector,
whose representatives in 1938 replaced the parliament as the "Chamber of
Corporations": power continued to be vested in the Fascist Grand Council,
the ruling body of the movement.
The 1930s saw some economic achievements as Italy recovered from the Great
Depression: the draining of the malaria-infested Pontine Marshes south of
Rome was one of the regime's proudest boasts. But international sanctions
following Italy's invasion (October 1935) of Ethiopia (the Abyssinia
crisis), followed by the government's costly military support for Franco's
Nationalists in Spain, undermined growth despite successes in developing
domestic substitutes for imports (Autarchia).
International isolation and their common involvement in Spain brought about
increasing diplomatic collaboration between Italy and Nazi Germany,
reflected also in the fascist regime's domestic policies as the first
anti-semitic laws were passed in 1938. But Italy's intervention (June 10th
1940) as Germany's ally in World War II brought military disaster, from the
loss of her north and east African colonies to U.S. and British invasion of
first Sicily (July 1943) and then southern Italy (September 1943).
Dismissed as prime minister by King Victor Emmanuel III on July 25th 1943,
and subsequently arrested, Mussolini was freed in September by German
paratroopers and installed as head of a puppet "Italian Social Republic" at
Salo in German-occupied northern Italy. His association with the German
occupation regime eroded much of what little support remained to him, and
his summary execution (April 28th 1945) by northern partisans was widely
seen as a fitting end against the backdrop of the war's violent closing
stages.
After the war, the remnants of Italian fascism largely regrouped under the
banner of the neo-Fascist "Italian Social Movement" (MSI), merging in 1994
with conservative former Christian Democrats to form the "National Alliance"
(AN), which proclaims its commitment to constitutionalism, parliamentary
government and political pluralism.
Fascism as an International Phenomenon
It's often a matter of dispute whether a certain government is to be
characterized as fascist, authoritarian, totalitarian, or just a plain
Police state.
Italy (1922-1943) - The first fascist country, it was ruled by Benito
Mussolini, Il Duce until Mussolini was captured during the Allied invasion.
Mussolini was rescued from house arrest by German troops, and set up a short
lived puppet state in northern Italy under the protection of the German
army.
Germany (1933-1945) - Ruled by the Nazi movement of Adolf Hitler, (der
FŸhrer). In the terminology of the Allies, Nazi Germany was as their chief
enemy the mightiest and best-known fascist state.
Spain (1936-1975) - The fascist Falange Espa–ola Party was led by
Generalissimo Francisco Franco, who took power in a civil war and was El
Caudillo until his death.
Portugal (1932-1968) - Although less restrictive than the first three, the
Estado Novo Party of Ant—nio de Oliveira Salazar was quasi-fascist.
Poland (1926-1939) - Marshal J—zef Pilsudski's dictature is maybe more
accurately characterized as authoritarian and militarist Nationalism,
partially in response to the security threats from Bolshevist Russia,
blocking more hard-line Nationalists from influence, curbing the powers of
the Sejm, harassing the opposition parties, arresting the opposition
leaders, and putting them on trial in 1931. His successor, Marshall Edward
Rydz-Smigly (1935-1939), didn't change the course.
Austria (1932-1945) - The Heimwehr of Engelbert Dollfuss led Austria to be
allied with Mussolini's Italy and then fall into the hands of Germany
(Anschluss). In 1997, Jšrg Haider, an extreme nationalist, became popular.
Many political commentators believe that Haider's Austrian Freedom Party is
a neo-fascist organization.
Greece - Joannis Metaxas' dictature (1936-1941) was not particularly
ideological in nature, and might hence be characterized as authoritarian
rather than fascist. The same can be argued regarding Colonel George
Papadopoulos' US-supported military dictature (1967-1974).
Brazil (1937-1945) - Many historians have argued that Brazil's Estado Novo
under Getulio Vargas was a Brazilian variant of the continental fascist
regimes. For a period of time, Vargas' regime was aligned with Pl’nio
Salgado's Integralist Party, Brazil's fascist movement.
Belgium (1939-1945) - The violent Rexist movement and the VNV party achieved
some electoral success in the 1930s and many of its members assisted the
Nazi occupation during World War II. The Verdinaso movement, too, can be
considered fascists, but its leader, Joris Van Severen was killed before the
Nazi occupation. Some of its adapts collaborated, but others even joined the
resistance.
Slovakia (1939-1944) - The Slovak Populist Party was a quasi-fascist
nationalist movement associated with the Roman Catholic Church. Founded by
Father Andrej Hlinka, his successor Monsignor Jozef Tiso became the Nazis'
quisling in a nominally independent Slovakia.
France (1940-1944) - The Vichy regime of Philippe PŽtain, established
following France's defeat against Germany, collaborated with the Nazis,
including in the death of 65,000 French Jews.
Romania (1940-1944) - The violent Iron Guard took power when Ion Antonescu
forced King Carol II to abdicate. The fascist regime ended after the Soviet
invasion.
Norway (1943-1945) - Vidkun Quisling had already during the German invasion
on April 9th, 1940, attempted a coup d'Žtat, but was appointed to head a
puppet government under Nazi-Germany first from February 1st, 1943. His
party had never had any substantial support in Norway.
Hungary (1944-1945) - Ferenc Sz‡lasi headed the extremist Arrow Cross party.
In 1944, he succeeded admiral Mikl—s Horthy de Nagyb‡nya as Head of State in
Hungary. (The government led 1920-1944 by Miklos Horthy, a staunch
Conservative, had joined Nazi-Germany in World War II, in hopes of bringing
the return of the lost territories of Transylvania, Croatia, and Slovakia,
which at the end of the war resulted in German interventions in Hungary,
forcing Horthy to abdicate.)
Argentina (1946-1955 and 1973-1974) - Juan Per—n admired Mussolini and
established his own pseudo-fascist regime. After he died, his third wife and
vice-president Isabel Per—n was deposed by a military junta.
Paraguay (1954-1989) - Alfredo Stroessner's Colorado Party made Paraguay a
safe haven for Nazi war criminals such as Mengele.
