FASCISM

What the heck is it, or was it?Overview – Italy - Germany

Fascism Fascism was unique among the radical forces produced by

the early twentieth century, developing out of World War I without any clear predecessor in the nineteenth century.

It first emerged in Italy in 1919, catapulting its leader, Benito Mussolini, into the premiership three years later and then to the creation of a new political dictatorship beginning in 1925.

The term fascism, however, would later be applied to an entire cluster or genus of new revolutionary nationalist movements in Europe between the world wars, of which the most important was German National Socialism, or Nazism, for short, so that the Italian origins of the first fascism would often be overlooked, attention focusing primarily on Germany.

The initial, or "paradigmatic" fascism nonetheless had specifically Italian roots and characteristics.

FASCISM: An Italian Creation The term fascism was first

used by Mussolini, and it comes from the Italian word fascio, which means "union" or "league", and from the Latin word fasces (fascis, in singular), which means rods bundled around an axe. The fasces was an ancient Roman symbol of the authority of magistrates, and the symbolism of the fasces suggested strength through unity: a single rod is easily broken, while the bundle is very difficult to break.

AND AN ITALIAN END On April 27 1945 in the

afternoon, near the village of Dongo just before the Allied armies reached Milan, as they headed to board a plane to escape to Austria, Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were caught by Italian Communist partisans.

The day after Mussolini and his mistress were both shot, along with their fifteen-man train, mostly ministers and officials.

The bodies of Mussolini and his mistress were found hung upside down on meat hooks in Piazzale Loreto (Milan), along with those of other fascists, to show the population the dictator was dead.

Mussolini’s Fascist Creed “My Doctrine is

action”

Modernity (Trains, planes, radio, propaganda)

A strong man to lead The ‘old guard’ has

failed us Classless and anti-

red. Completely Anti-Bolshevik

BUT WHAT IS IT? Unlike traditional right wing it

mobilized the masses from below, ‘popular’ politics and popular theatre. (Rallies and speeches) (Piazza Venetia) Note Peron and Chavez

Appealed to the victims of society, whoever they may be.

Rhetoric of harking back to a non-existent invented past.

Denounced Liberal emancipation. (i.e. Women) but mainly ignored it in practice

A ‘Peter Pan’ solution to an infantile political system

Without Nazism it would have been a small almost one country mass movement. Italy almost the only Fascist movement before 1933

And it is? “A hodgepodge of ideas for countries

that need a nanny” Roper The Corporate State: Capitalism in

the service of the state Revolutionary, classless, anti-clerical Stanley Payne: ‘Fascism is anti

Liberal, Anti socialist, anti communist, anti conservative.’

Nothing Simple in Explaining This Fascism is a form of extreme right-wing ideology that

celebrates the nation as an organic community transcending all other loyalties.

It emphasizes a myth of national or racial rebirth after a period of decline or destruction. To this end, fascism calls for a "spiritual revolution" against signs of moral decay such as individualism and materialism, and seeks to purge "alien" forces and groups that threaten the organic community.

Fascism tends to celebrate masculinity, youth, mystical unity, and the regenerative power of violence. Often, but not always, it promotes racial superiority doctrines, ethnic persecution, imperialist expansion, and genocide.

Fascism's approach to politics is both populist--in that it seeks to activate "the people" as a whole against perceived oppressors or enemies--and elitist--in that it treats the people's will as embodied in a select group, or often one supreme leader, from whom authority proceeds downward. No planned Succession

Why did it appear after WW1? Collapse of old regimes and ruling classes in

young countries which could no longer function. A mass of discontented citizens owing little

allegiance to the central ruling government. “Brotherhood of the Trenches” Economic upheaval and high unemployment

(usually with little social security in a ‘broken’ political system)

Note: Fascism was a revolutionary movement but in both Germany and Italy Fascism did not ‘conquer’ power. In both cases they came into power with the connivance of the old regime in a Constitutional fashion.

Compare: No Flight to Extremes in Britain Communist Party Party Membership approx:

15,000 Labour Party anti

Communist Fascists NOTE Mosley in favour of

‘Keynesian policies’ Party Membership at peak

40,000 Govt. always in control Social Benefits Unity Mitford

NOTE: Italian People not Particularly Racist up Until 1938 But to keep balance Out of a Jewish population that by 1943

had been reduced by emigration to slightly over 40,000 (of whom 6,500 were foreigners), 6,746 were deported from Italy proper, and another 1,820 from the Italian possessions in the Aegean. An additional 303 Jews were killed on Italian soil.

Italian Racial Laws of 1938. 7,000 Italian Jews, as well as the 200,000 Jews who took refuge in Italy and were subsequently returned to Hitler's concentration camps

But, the Italian Army refused point blank to deliver any Jews to the Germans from Italy or any of the territories they occupied.

Patrick Cavaliere (UNB) Anti-Semitism in Fascist Italy: From the Rise of Fascism to the Racial Laws of 1938 and the Politics of the Final Solution

Mussolini’s Path to the Stars Born Romagna Like his sister, who was a member

of the first Socialist International, Benito became a socialist.

In 1902 he emigrated to Switzerland to escape military service. During a period when he was unable to find a permanent job there, he was arrested for vagrancy and jailed for one night. Later, after becoming involved in the socialist movement, he was deported and returned to Italy to do his military service. Not an uncommon resume for a Fascist

After return (prompted by his mother's illness and death) he joined the staff of the "Central Organ of the Socialist Party“ AVANTI ("Forward!").

Change of Direction (A ‘Magpie’ Intellectual) A section of revolutionary

SYNICALISTS broke with the Socialists over the issue of Italy's entry into WW1. The ambitious Mussolini quickly sided with them in 1914, when the war broke out. He joined the Milan fascio. Mussolini claimed that it would help strengthen a relatively new nation (which had been united only in the 1860s in the Risorgimento, although some would say that he wished for a collapse of society that would bring him to power. Italy did join the war in 1915, as Mussolini wished, on the side of Britain and France.

Mussolini served at the front between September 1915 and February 1917.

Foundations of the Party Fascism became an organized

political movement following a meeting in Milan in March 1919 (Mussolini founded the Fasci di Combattimento on Feb. 23). After failing in the 1919 elections, Mussolini at last entered parliament in 1921.

The Fascisti formed armed squads of war veterans called squadristi to terrorize anarchists, socialists and communists. The government rarely interfered. In return for the support of a group of industrialists and agrarians, Mussolini gave his approval (often active) to strikebreaking, and he abandoned revolutionary agitation.

Everybody Thought they Could Employ him for their own ends Italy lost 500,000 dead in WW1 for little territorial gain.

A poor rural country. Huge fear of Bolshevism Socialists won Parliamentary seats in the Po Valley. Big

Landowners supported the Fascists. Socialist Govt. wanted his support to get rid of the King. King refused to face down Mussolini fearing lack of army

support. Industry paid their bills as insurance against

communists and unions. Church saw them as a bulwark against the left (even

though Fascists anti-clerical) Paid off in 1929 with treaty with the Pope establishing Vatican City.

Fear of ‘Laissez Faire’ economics with rising unemployment

The stroll on Rome When the liberal governments failed to stop

the spread of chaos, and after Fascists had organized the demonstrative and threatening Marcia su Roma (march on Rome) (October 28, 1922), Mussolini was invited by Victor Emmanuele III to form a new government. At the age of 39, he became the youngest Premier in the history of Italy on October 31, 1922

Contrary to a common misconception, Mussolini did not become prime minister because of the March on Rome .the King knew that if he did not choose a government under either the Fascist or Socialist party, Italy would soon be involved in a civil war. Accordingly, he asked Mussolini to become Prime Minister, obviating the need for the March on Rome. However, because fascists were already arriving from all around Italy, he decided to continue. In effect, the threatened seizure of power became nothing more than a victory parade.

Fascism was a product of a general feeling of anxiety and fear among the middle-class of postwar Italy, arising out of a convergence of interrelated economic, political, and cultural pressures. Italy had no long-term tradition of parliamentary compromise.

ETHIOPIA: Not quite a Roman Conquest (While reinforcing Italian colonialism, Fascism originally embraced national liberation and rejected extreme imperialism and racism.)

In December 1934, a dispute about the border between Abyssinia and the Italian Somaliland flared into fighting.

The invasion of Ethiopia was carried out rapidly (the proclamation of Empire took place in May of 1936) and involved several atrocities such as the use of chemical weapons (mustard gas and phosgene), and the indiscriminate slaughter of much of the local population to prevent opposition.

Britain and France refused to intervene. In December 1935, news leaked out about the Hoare-Laval Pact - a secret plan made by the foreign secretary of Britain and the prime minister of France to give Abyssinia to Italy.In the end, the League did almost nothing. By May 1936, Italy had conquered Abyssinia

The Usual Mix of Propaganda based on the family, the made up past and supposed military glory

A RATHER BAD MISTAKE BY MUSSOLINI Though Fascists were at first

wary of and even hostile to Hitlerism, the Nazi leader sought Mussolini as his chief ally.

The Duce allowed himself to be convinced by the end of 1937, introducing Nazi-style racist and anti-Semitic legislation in Italy despite the membership of many Jews in the Fascist Party.

Participation in World War II as Germany's ally produced the downfall of Mussolini in 1943, but in German-occupied northern Italy the Duce was installed as leader of a new puppet Fascist-based Italian Social Republic, which waged a savage civil war against Italian anti-Fascists in 1944-1945.

Not Finished Yet The official purge of Fascists conducted by the new democratic system in Italy was limited and half-hearted. Thus the great majority of Fascists survived.

Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (Nazism): Fascism, Totalitarianism or Unique? Was Fascism just a handy

label for those who did not understand the nature of this regime or is there a direct path from Bismarck to Hitler?

Hayek (Road to Serfdom) Grossdeutch Eastern Expansion Diplomacy by war

But Nazism depended upon Hitler

TOTALITARIANISM Totalitarian regimes seek to establish complete political, social and

cultural control, whereas dictatorships seek limited, typically political, control.

Two types of totalitarianism can sometimes be distinguished: Nazism and Fascism which evolved from "right-wing" extremism, and Communism, which evolved from "left-wing" extremism. Traditionally, each is supported by different social classes. Right-wing totalitarian movements have generally drawn their popular support primarily from middle classes seeking to maintain the economic and social status quo. Left-wing totalitarianism has often developed from working class movements seeking, in theory, to eliminate, not preserve, class distinctions.

Right-wing totalitarianism has typically supported and enforced the private ownership of industrial wealth. A distinguishing feature of Communism, by contrast, is the collective ownership of such capital. Totalitarian regimes mobilize and make use of mass political participation, and often are led by charismatic cult figures.

Right-wing totalitarian regimes have arisen in relatively advanced societies, relying on the support of traditional economic elites to attain power. In contrast, left-wing totalitarian regimes have arisen in relatively undeveloped countries. Violence and terror are the primary tools of right-wing totalitarian regimes to maintain compliance with authority.

TOTALITARIANISM WAS THE ‘NORM’ FOR MUCH OF 1930s EUROPE

The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given in English to an ultra-nationalist anti-semetic, anti Hungarian, Fascist movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. Germans had to step in to slow the destruction of Jews

Hungarian Arrow Cross Party. pro-German anti Semitic, national socialist. 80,000 Jews, including many women, children and elderly were deported from Hungary to their deaths. It subscribed to the Nazi ideology of “master races" which, included the Hungarians and Germans, and it also supported the concept of an order based on the power of the strongest – what wasi called a "brutally realistic étatism".

SPAIN: A FASCIST STATE?

FRANCO CAME TO POWER WITH GREAT ASSISTANCE FROM NAZI GERMANY AND ITALY

Adolph Galland

Galland was the youngest general grade office of either side in World War II. He survived both the Spanish Civil War and World War II, and worked for Argentinian dictator Juan Peron.

A holder of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, Galland died in 1996 at the age of 83.

THE CONDOR LEGION

The conflict represented European politics of the 1930s Left of politics on one

side and Fascists on the side of Franco.

But Franco saw it as a Civil War not an Axis alignment

ANTAGONISMS REMAIN

A Brief Tour of German Fascism and its leader Hitler was born April 20

1889 at Braunau am Inn Austria, bordering Germany, (still the Austro-Hungarian Empire).

His father, Alois, was a customs official in Austria-Hungary on the border with the German Empire.

Moved to Vienna with dreams of becoming an architect. Lived in a man’s shelter (lodging house)

He said his greatest moment was the outbreak of war

WWI – A Defining Moment Hitler soldiered in France and Belgium as a

runner for the 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment which exposed him to enemy fire. Unlike his fellow soldiers, Hitler never complained about the food or hard conditions.

Hitler was twice decorated for bravery. He received the Iron Cross, Second Class, in December 1914 and the Iron Cross, First Class, in August 1918, an honour rarely given to a Gefreiter.

However, because the regimental staff thought Hitler lacked leadership skills, and (according to Kershaw) Hitler's unwillingness to leave regimental headquarters (which would have been likely in event of promotion), he was never promoted to Unteroffizier. Other historians say that the reason he was not promoted is that he did not have German citizenship.

During October 1916 in northern France, Hitler was wounded in the leg, but returned to the front in March 1917. He received the Wound Badge later that year, as his injury was the direct result of hostile fire. Hitler had long admired Germany, and during the war he had become a passionate German patriot, although he did not become a German citizen until 1932

IDEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT In both popular thought and academic scholarship, Nazism is

generally considered a form of Fascism - with "fascism" defined so as to include any of the authoritarian, nationalist, totalitarian movements that developed in Europe around the same time.

The debate focuses mainly on comparisons of fascists movements in general with the Italian prototype, including the fascists in Germany. The idea mentioned above to reject all former ideas and ideologies like democracy, liberalism, and especially

However, Italian Fascists tended to believe that all elements in society should be unified through corporatism to form an "Organic State"; this meant that these Fascists often had no strong opinion on the question of race, as it was only the State and nation that mattered.

German Nazism, on the other hand, emphasized the Aryan race or "Volk" principle to the point where the state simply seemed a means through which the Aryan race could realize its "true destiny."

Political Agitator with unformed Ideology This poster announces a

Nazi meeting in Munich in May 1920. Hitler is to speak on the topic "What do we want?" The text below the title reads: "Citizens! Do not believe that the Germany of misfortune and misery, the nation of corruption and usury, the land of Jewish corruption, can be saved by parties that claim to stand on a foundation of facts. Never!"

But by the 1930s an Ideology shot through with Race This poster comes from

the 1932 presidential elections, The caption on top, in pseudo-Hebraic lettering, translates as: "We are voting for Hindenburg!" The pictures are of a variety of Jewish socialists and communists, sex researchers, etc. The caption beneath: "Look at these faces and you'll know where you belong!" The pictures are of leading Nazis.

So What is Nazism? All of the Totalitarian

‘bits’ of Fascism Feb. 1924 Hitler’s trial

for treason 24 day trial, sentenced to 5 yrs, served under a year.

A ‘Martyr to the cause’ Allowed him time to put

his thoughts together in ‘My Struggle’

Weltanschauung (The detritus of centuries – Hugh Trevor-Roper)

Continuity of ideology from 1920s to the very end.

Crude Social Darwinism A Succession of Human

Ages (The Aryan Race) “He who wants to live

must fight, and he who does not want to fight in this world----has no right to exist”

Development of the Creed Western Civilization Decadent Germany must be strong to take her

place over others fighting for theirs. Must conquer a new empire in the east

for German ‘living space’. Jewish-Bolsheviks cannot maintain a state The state is only a means to an end.

Its end and its purpose is to secure the existence of the race. The state is only a vessel and the race is what it contains.

To Direct this Racial State The Fuherprincip with the concentration of

power in the hands of a leader unlimited by parliamentary or constitutional control. With the authority to direct the state to give priority to foreign policy and the securing of living space.

“Foreign policy is the art of safeguarding the momentary, necessary living space in quantity and quality for a people. Domestic policy is the art of preserving the necessary employment of force for this in the form of race vale and numbers. AH 1928

Within the Nazi State Fascism was merely the framework to secure the racial policy

Racial policy was a twisted mixture of attainment of living space, hatred of Bolshevism using anti-Semitism as the key.

“ Should the Jew with the help of his Marxist creed conquer the nations of the world, his crown will become the future wreath of mankind”

1938 Anschluss referendum: The Start Step by Step

Adolf Hitler ripped up the dictated Treaty of Versailles!

1933 Germany leaves the League of Nations created by Versailles1934 Reconstruction of the Wehrmacht, the navy and the Luftwaffe begun!1935 Saarland brought back home! Armed power of the Reich regained!1936 Rheinland completely liberated!1937 The myth of war guilt ceremoniously extinguished!1938 Germany and Austria united in the Reich! Greater Germany achieved!

Therefore the whole of Germany will acknowledge their liberator on 10th April.Adolf Hitler All say: YES!

PURGING OF THE JUNKERS ELITE

“I would shoot everybody with a ‘ Von’ in front of their name” Adolf Hitler

Note: Only assassination attempt on Hitler’s life came from this group

Real Propaganda (Heinrich Knirr)1936

“The very first condition which has to be fulfilled in any propaganda is a systematically one sided attitude----Propaganda must not investigate the truth objectively----it must present only that aspect of the truth which is favourable to ones own side. AH 1924

Propaganda at its Peak

Kursell

1941

55 – 7 – 1

The Image is ReinforcedWomen as Mothers and ‘Home

Warriors’

But Black got Waylaid Schutzstaffel: Loyal

Pretorian Guard, an elite. Hitler admired the organisation of the Jesuits. Called Himmler ‘my Ignatius Loyola’

A Knight of Fascism Brown shirts not Black were

the Nazi Party Culture matters to

Totalitarian regimes. Power and Authority. Black the colour of Italian (And British) Fascism as being neutral, classless and not red)

APPEASEMENT GOT A MUNICH AND CHAMBERLAIN BAD IMAGE

BUT: THE BIGGEST APPEASERS OF THEM ALL. Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact: What was it?

By: Jennifer Kendrick

Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact

Also known as: 1. Ribbentrop- Molotov

Pact2. Nazi-Soviet Pact 3. Hitler- Stalin Pact

Formally known as The Treaty of Nonaggression

The Coming & Ending

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed in Moscow on August 23, 1939 by the Soviet foreign minister (Molotov) and the German foreign minister (Ribbentrop).

It lasted until Operation Barbarossa of June 22, 1941, when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

Molotov signs the Pact

Vyacheslav Molotov - Leading figure of the Soviet signatory

Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact.- Protégé of Joseph Stalin.- Key political and diplomatic member of the

Soviet union.- Leading figure in the Soviet government

between 1920s- 1950s.- Chairman of the Council of People’s

Commissars from Dec. 19, 1930- May 6, 1941.

- Appointed to Foreign Minister in May 1939.

March 9, 1890- Nov. 8, 1986

Joachim von Ribbentrop - Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938-

1945.- Awarded the Iron Cross in World War

One.- In 1930 he met and impressed Hitler

Ribbentrop’s later decline in influence changed Hitler’s views.

- The signing of the Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact was the most significant contribution of his career.

- Ribbentrop was hanged on October 16, 1946 for war crimes.

April 30, 1893- Oct. 16, 1946

What was the Pact? Was a ten year non-aggression pact with

provisions that included: Consultation Arbitration if either party disagreed Neutrality if either went to war against a

third power No membership of a group "which is

directly or indirectly aimed at the other”.

However, there was a secret protocol….

Secret Protocol Revealed on Germany’s defeat in 1945; Soviet union

denied the existence of a secret protocol until 1988. Independent countries of Finland, Estonia, Latvia,

Lithuania, Poland and Romania were divided into spheres of interest of the parties- areas east of river boundaries went to Soviet Union; west to Germany.

Assumed territorial and political rearrangements in the areas of these countries.

It turned out that all the above countries were invaded, occupied or forced to surrender part of their territory by either the Soviet Union, Germany or both.

What Went Wrong? The Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact began to deteriorate in

April 1940. Both sides were stepping over their spheres of influence:

Germany invaded Denmark and Norway; Soviet Union annexed both Bessarabia and Bukovina from Romania.

In 1947, Stalin announced that he would continue working with Germany if Hitler allowed. Stalin had more advancements if Germany cooperated with him

Stalin thought that if Germany was at war with the west it would leave the Soviet Union alone. He believed that “no German would be so foolish as to engage in hostilities on two fronts”. He was wrong!

FASCISM

What the heck is it, or was it?Overview – Italy - Germany