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AN ANALYSIS OF 20TH CENTURY
FASCISM - (1)
The previous chapter examined the cultural
roots of fascism, how the ideology was a re-awakening of pagan ideas
reinforced by Darwinism. These facts are most important for understanding
the roots of the fascism and fascist movements which sprung up in the
20th century. However, we must also consider how these movements were
able to come to power in so many countries in the 20th century, what
methods they employed once they had done so, and the nightmare that
resulted.
Right after the end of the First World
War, the first fascist regime of the 20th century was established in
Italy by Benito Mussolini. Hitler's Germany and Franco's Spain followed.
In the 1930s, fascism became a popular political ideology, fascist parties
both great and small were set up in many countries, and fascists came
to power in Austria and Poland, thus the whole of Europe was affected
by it.
There are numerous similarities between
fascism in Europe, where the clearest examples of fascism were seen,
and Latin America and Japan, where the movement also took root and flourished.
Generally speaking, fascism made use of chaos and instability within
a country to impose itself on its inhabitants, by presenting itself
as an ideology of salvation. Once fascist governments were established,
the people were kept under control by a mixture of fear, oppression,
and brainwashing techniques.
Social Crises:Fertile
Ground for Fascism
There were great similarities in the
social and psychological backgrounds of those countries where fascist
states came to be established. Most of the countries concerned had been
defeated and heavily damaged in the First World War, and thus its people
were worn-out and weary, having lost their husbands, wives, children,
and loved ones in the war. As well, these countries suffered from a
shattered economy, political instability, and a general feeling that
the nation was in a state of collapse. People were suffering materially;
the various political parties were incapable of rectifying the nations'
problems, in addition to fighting amongst themselves.
Essentially, the poverty Italy was faced
with as a result of the First World War was the most important factor
in the rise to power of Italian fascism. More than 600,000 Italians
had died as a result of the war, and up to half a million people were
crippled. The greater part of the population was made up of widows and
orphans. The country was beleaguered by an economic recession and high
unemployment. Although the Italians had suffered great losses in the
war, they had achieved very few of their aims. Like many other nations
exhausted by the war, the Italian people longed to recapture their honor
and former glory.
Actually, this was a feeling that had
been gathering increasing strength since the end of the 19th century.
Modern Italy looked back with nostalgia at the greatness of the Roman
Empire, and felt it had a right to former Roman territory. Furthermore,
there was a feeling of rivalry with the major powers of the world, and
Italy hoped to raise itself to their rank, or, to rise to "the position
it deserved." Affected by these aspirations, the Italians hoped to become
as powerful as Great Britain, France and Germany.
Social, political and economic crises
also played the major role in the establishment of Nazism in Germany,
which had been defeated in the First World War. Unemployment and a financial
crisis added to the disappointment of defeat. Inflation rose to levels
that had seldom been equaled. Small children played with banknotes worth
millions of marks, because money, which lost value by the hour, had
come to be worth no more than pieces of paper. The Germans wanted to
restore their lost honor and return to a better standard of living.
It was with the promise of fulfilling such wishes that Nazism would
emerge and win support.
Pre-fascist Spain also demonstrated
close similarities to these counties. The loss of its colonies on both
sides of the American continent at the beginning of the 19th century
had led to a serious diminishment of self-esteem. By the beginning of
the 20th century, Spain was in a state of semi-collapse. Its economy
was failing, and the privileges accorded to the aristocracy opened the
way to great injustices. The Spanish looked back to the days of a great
and powerful Spain with great longing.
Another country where fascism came to
have enormous influence was Japan. In pre-fascist Japan, the higher
strata of society were very concerned about the spread of Marxist ideas
among the young. But they were unable to determine how to rid themselves
from that pernicious ideology. In addition, such social changes were
very disconcerting for a society so tightly bound to its traditions.
Family bonds loosened, the divorce rate rose, respect for the elderly
diminished, customs and traditions were abandoned, an individualist
tendency began to emerge, degeneracy among the young reached grievous
proportions and there was an alarming increase in the suicide rate.
In these conditions, the future stability of the Japanese society was
regarded as in jeopardy. All of the above led to a backward-gazing nostalgia.
Longing for the glory days of the past, and attempts to revive them,
was the first trap the people fell into leading to their becoming fully
ensnared by a fascist regime.
Neither must we ignore the menace of
communism, which at that time was threatening to overtake the whole
world. It may be that a number of nations submitted themselves to fascist
regimes in order not to fall victim to that brutal, ruthless and oppressive
ideology, escaping one evil only to be trapped by another, believing
fascism to be the "lesser of two evils."
The Uneducated:Fascism's
Hapless Prey
Another factor that opened the way
to fascism was the ignorance and lack of education of many communities.
Education had suffered heavily during the chaos of the First World War.
A great number of young educated people had lost their lives on the
battlefield. In general, this led to a lowering of the level of culture
in society. It was largely the ignorant who supported fascism, fought
in its name, and became pawns of its chauvinistic policies. Because
the fundamental ideas on which fascism were based (in other words, racism,
romantic nationalism, chauvinism and fantasy) could only be widely accepted
by the uneducated, susceptible as they were to crude, facile slogans.
Such people, seeing themselves as trapped,
looked for easy way out. They embraced fascist leaders, as if they were
a kind of lifebelt, as Eric Hoffer says in his book The True Believer:
For men to plunge headlong into an undertaking
of vast change, they must be intensely discontented yet not destitute,
and they must have the feeling that by the possession of some potent
doctrine, infallible leader or some new technique they have access to
a source of irresistible power. They must also have an extravagant conception
of the prospects and potentialities of the future. Finally, they must
be wholly ignorant of the difficulties involved in their vast undertaking.34
An examination of the societal conditions
that preceded fascism makes light of the fact that many people had just
such a psychology.
The Methods
by Which Fascism Came to Power
Fascism had its first successes in Italy.
Mussolini took advantage of the social tensions and longing for change
among the Italians, and after the war, mobilized former soldiers, the
unemployed and university students, with slogans calling for a return
of the glory days of ancient Rome. Mussolini organized his supporters,
known as "Black Shirts," in a quasi-military format, and whose methods
were founded on violence. They began to carry out attacks in the streets
against groups they identified as their rivals. With their Roman greetings,
songs, uniforms and official parades, they aroused the emotions of the
uneducated and the disenfranchised.
On October 29, 1922, 50,000 fascist
militants under the command of six generals marched on Rome. Because
the king knew what the force that opposed him was capable of, and that
there was no way he could oppose them, he called on Mussolini to form
a government. As a result of the developments that followed, the Italian
fascists finally came to power. A while later, Mussolini banned all
other political parties. Some of the opposition leaders were sent into
exile abroad, and others were imprisoned.
Hitler came to power by similar methods.
The Nazi movement was born in the early 1920s, and carried out its first
violent act in the Munich Beer Hall putsch. On November 8, 1923, Hitler
raided a meeting at the Munich City Beer hall where Bavarian State Commissioner
Gustav von Kahr was speaking with military units, no different from
an organized gang, and 600 SA troopers. Hitler entered the meeting in
a great rage and occupied the premises. Firing at the ceiling, he said
that he was announcing a national revolution. But this coup was a failure.
Hitler was arrested and lived as an exile for nine months. Nonetheless,
in later years, the Nazis grew stronger by terrorizing their opponents
and inciting anti-Semitic hatreds. Eventually, the Nazi Party became
an important party in parliament. Throughout all this, of course, the
Nazis frequently resorted to illegal methods, much like the Italian
Fascist party. On January 30, 1933, Hitler was made chancellor. The
post was conferred upon him by the elderly President Hindenburg, who
was aware that the growing power of the national Socialist Movement
was increasingly menacing, and therefore, made Hitler chancellor in
order to avert a civil war. When Hitler again ran for election in March,
like all fascist administrations, the Nazis employed terror, intimidation,
and deception. After the elections, the German parliament immediately
passed the Enabling Act, which made Hitler dictator of Germany for four
years.
In this manner, the administrative and
law-making power came into Hitler's hands. But, shortly thereafter,
the extent of his powers were increased still further. In August 1934,
at the death of Hindenburg, the offices of president and chancellor
were joined together, with Hitler assuming them both. Hitler followed
policies much like those of Mussolini. In addition to brute force, Hitler
also made use of various types of anti-democratic methods. For instance,
he banned all opposition parties, and outlawed trade unions, thereby
completely eliminating personal freedoms. Nazi influence was felt in
all walks of life. Even university professors were required to take
an oath of loyalty to Hitler.
In Spain, Franco came to power in the
aftermath of a bloody civil war. Supported by Hitler and Mussolini,
Franco's army defeated the communists after a long and fierce war, and
took power over the entire country. Franco then set up a particularly
oppressive regime, and ruled the country with an "iron fist" until 1975.
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