|
FASCISM'S HATRED
OF RELIGION - (2)
The
Two Faces of Mussolini
In order to analyze the
fascist character, the second example that must be considered after
Nazis, is the Italian dictator Mussolini, the true originator of the
concept of "fascism." When we consider his career, we see in it a prime
example of a hypocrite who bore a great hatred of religion, but who
wore a mask of religion to suit his political ends.
Another truth revealed by
Mussolini's career is that the line that divides communism from fascism
is a very fine one, even though they might appear to be totally opposed
ideologies. However, they are quite similar to each other, both being
cruel, oppressive, totalitarian, oligarchic (based on minority rule)
systems, exhibiting enmity towards religion, and espousing a Darwinian
perspective of reality. (See Communism in Ambush by Harun Yahya, March
2001) So there is actually very little difference between a communist
and a fascist, for one can very easily turn from one into the other.
A communist who spills blood dreaming of a proletarian revolution can
later begin to exhibit the same behavior for fascist ideals. Because
violence is an indispensable element of both ideologies.
Mussolini spent years as
an atheist communist, an enemy of religion and a fanatical Darwinist,
trying to make a place for himself in Italian politics. When by these
means he was not able to achieve his aims, he became a fascist.
Mussolini's
Communist Years
Mussolini was born in a
small village in 1883. His father was an avowed Marxist, an ideology
he passed on to his son. According to the Oxford historian Denis Mack
Smith, in his book Mussolini, "his father used to read parts of Das
Kapital to the family."114
Mussolini received a communist
education from his father, and was known at school as a difficult and
aggressive boy, and a smart-aleck. He had almost no friends.
In his 20s Mussolini became
a fanatical communist, supporting anarchism, an even more radical and
fanatical revolutionary ideology than communism. Denis Mack Smith writes:
By 1903 he was calling himself
an 'authoritarian communist'. From
his father he had learnt to have little patience with sentimental, reformist
socialism or with democratic and parliamentary methods; instead he preached
revolution to expropriate a ruling class that would never voluntarily
renounce power and possessions. Parliament should be abolished; class
struggle must replace class collaboration; private property should disappear
altogether. Socialists should never collaborate with bourgeois governments
and never pursue a policy of strikes merely to get better wages, but
should be ready to use terrorism and mob violence to effect a wholesale
social revolution.115
As we have seen, in his
youth Mussolini was a fanatical communist. The model of "revolution
by violence and terror" closely resembled the terrorist methods of Lenin,
which he would put into practice in Russia later on. Actually, Mussolini
had established a relationship with Lenin during those years. According
to his own later account, he met Lenin, who was in Switzerland at that
time, and even won his approval.116 Mussolini emphasized his loyalty
to Marxism by saying, "Marx was the greatest of all theorists of socialism"
and frequently quoted from Marx in his writings.117
One of the defining characteristics
of the communist Mussolini was a fanatical hatred of religion. Denis
Mack Smith has this to say on the subject:
From his father he had
learnt to be a thoroughgoing anti-clerical. He proclaimed himself to
be an atheist...He forcibly denounced those socialists who thought religion
a matter for individual conscience... Christianity in particular [he
said] was vitiated by preaching the senseless virtues of resignation
and cowardice, whereas the new socialist morality should celebrate violence
and rebellion.118
It is important to make
a careful estimation of Mussolini's state of mind as set out here. As
we have seen, he revealed his hatred of and total lack of belief in
God with open declaration of untruth about Him. As we shall soon see,
Mussolini felt the need to support the Church the entire time he was
in power, and so, sometimes portrayed himself as a religious man.
Furthermore, even during
the years of his fanatical communism, he tried to wear a mask of religion.
While he produced fanatically anti-religious writings and speeches in
his own country, he invented a story about the depth and firmness of
his religious beliefs when writing for an Anglo-Saxon audience.119
Mussolini's hatred of religion
and his communist militancy lasted throughout the 1910s. In 1908, he
wrote for the communist magazine La Lima under a false name, and thus
clashed with the weekly Il Giornale Ligure, the publishing organ of
the Catholics of Oneglia. The interesting thing is that after Mussolini
came to power, the collection of La Lima in the local library disappeared
mysteriously, because, after he came to power, he decided to use religion
for political ends, and concealed his true face, his hatred of religion.120
The
Men Who Inspired Mussolini: Nietzsche and Darwin
Mussolini's devotion to
communism was rooted in both his tendency to violence and personal psychological
problems. Denis Mack Smith describes Mussolini's personality in these
words:
Despite his continuing allegiance
to Marx, there was little precise doctrine in his eclectic brand of
socialism. He sometimes called himself a syndicalist, but in private
spoke unkindly about most other socialists and to some acquaintances
seemed above all an anarchist.121
Another historian who has
studied Mussolini's life, Angelica Balabanoff, thought his views were
"more the reflection of his early environment and his own rebellious
egoism than the product of understanding and conviction; his hatred
of oppression was not that impersonal hatred of a system shared by all
revolutionaries; it sprang rather from his own sense of indignity and
frustration, from a passion to assert his own ego and from a determination
for personal revenge.''122
Actually, Mussolini's only
definite beliefs were the principles of "conflict" and "war." These
he had learned from the ideological founder of fascism, in other words,
from Friedrich Nietzsche, and his mentor, Charles Darwin.
There is considerable evidence
for the admiration Mussolini felt for them both. He admitted to his
admiration for Nietzsche, whom he said filled him with a "spiritual
eroticism."123 Denis Mack Smith writes:
In Nietzsche he found justification
for his crusade against the Christian virtues of humility, resignation,
charity, and goodness and it was also in Nietzsche that he found some
of his favourite phrases including 'live dangerously', and 'the will
to power'. Here, too, was the splendid concept of the superman, the
supreme egoist who defied both God and the masses, who despised egalitarianism
and democracy, who believed in the weakest going to the wall and pushing
them if they did not go fast enough.124
Mussolini clearly referred
to his ideological link with Darwinism in the pages of the communist
weekly magazine La Lotta di Classe (Class Struggle), of which he was
editor for a time. Pictures of Marx and Darwin were on the cover of
the very first edition. The first issue of La Lotta di Classe referred
to these two materialist ideologues as "The greatest thinkers of the
past century," and was full of praise for Darwin's theory of evolution.125
Mussolini wrote a great deal for La Lotta di Classe on Darwinist, communist
and anti-religious themes, but after 1922, in other words, after he
came to power, all copies of this paper suddenly disappeared from local
libraries.126
Mussolini's
False Piety
Mussolini underwent a sudden
personal change at the end of the 1910s. After having been a radical
communist for so long, he then emerged as the leader of the ideology
known as "fascism" as it set out on its way to power. This movement
took the "axe" of ancient Roman paganism as its symbol. However, Mussolini
did not himself discover "fascism," but rather developed it from the
racist trends which had been escalating in Italy during that period.
But, even though he did not invent the ideology, he soon made it his
own and turned it into a political movement. Just like Hitler, he gathered
ignorant people around him, street thugs, adventurers, and instigators
of violence. He grouped them together in a quasi-military organization
known as the "Black Shirts," which he employed as a weapon of terror
against his rivals. By these methods, he was able to seize power a few
years later. By 1922 he was Italy's prime minister. Shortly afterwards,
he began to be known by the term "Il Duce," or leader, and became an
outright dictator.
As Mussolini was emerging
as the leader of fascism, he decided first to conceal his enmity towards
religion, and even to appear as a devout Catholic. He made great efforts
to create the image, particularly in the early years of his rule. On
the one hand, he had all magazines in which he had written against religion
collected and destroyed, while on the other, he made divinity lessons
compulsory again after an absence of half a century, and decreed that
pictures of the cross and the Virgin Mary should be hung in schools.127
He took great pains in all his speeches to come across as a religious,
conservative figure, who was devoted to national customs and traditions.
In Mussolini's new view, religion was an institution that owed the state
its assistance in order that it should grow stronger.
Mussolini's hypocritical
piety was effective, in as much as he won the support of the Church.
His "conquest of the heart of the Church" was described in the Encyclopedia
of Modern Leaders:
The Church's support
for the fascists began with the election of the former Cardinal of Milan
as Pope. In Pius XI's view, it was Mussolini who would rescue Italy
from anarchy. Relations with Mussolini, who had once waged war against
the Church in articles which he signed "A true atheist," and the pro-fascist
Pope were always directed towards cooperation. The Vatican newspaper
L'Osservatore Romano wrote in February 1923, "Mussolini has been applauded
as the man who will restore the fortunes of Italy. This is a victory
for religious traditions and national civilization." Cardinal Vicaire
called upon the public to support the fascists in the same year. The
Vatican withheld its approval of the Catholic Partito Popolare's [People's
Party] anti-fascist attitude and had Don Sturzo removed from his post
as party leader. In return for this, Mussolini demonstrated his respect
for the Church at every available opportunity, staging a religious wedding
ceremony for him and his wife, whom he had married 12 years before,
and having his children baptized� In February 1929, he restored the
Church's rights which had been taken away in 1870 by signing the "Lateran
Pact" in the name of the King, with Cardinal Gaspari signing in the
name of the Church. Under this agreement, the Church won complete freedom
of belief and worship, and Catholicism became the official religion
of the state. The Vatican was officially recognized and awarded considerable
benefits, the Pope was recognized as head of the state and granted such
rights as compensation payments to the papacy, the recognition of Church
marriages, and religious lessons in primary schools. In return for these,
the Pope awarded Mussolini the order of the "Golden Spur" in 1932, and
described him as the "incomparable prime minister."128
But, despite these theatrics,
Mussolini was nevertheless an atheist. Once having rallied Italian society
behind him, he began to show his real aim, that of completely doing
away with religion. In the 1930s, religious doctrines were slowly eliminated,
and in their place a form of paganism that revered Mussolini as a divine
being was put in place. Mussolini's only true religion was his egotism,
which he tried little by little to make the Italians accept.
The slogan mentioned below,
during this period, is a testament of the "cult dedicated to Mussolini":
"Do not delay for an instant in loving God. But remember that the god
of Italy is the Duce." 129
Mussolini belittled religious
notions and re-interpreted them according to his own pagan belief system.
The fact that he called the decrees and pronouncements he issued the
"Fascist Decalogue," reveals the scale of his arrogance and hypocrisy.
However, Mussolini's arrogance
did not endure long. Italy entered the Second World War on the side
of Germany, but was defeated, collapsing much earlier than Germany.
In 1943, Mussolini was arrested by his own countrymen and imprisoned.
He was rescued with Hitler's support, and held out against the opposition
in the North for some time longer. Towards the end of the war, he was
once again arrested as he tried to cross the border in a German uniform,
and was shot with his mistress at his side. His corpse was suspended
by one foot in a square in Milan. Such was the dreadful end of a psychopath
who claimed he was a "divine being."
How
Spanish Fascism Used Religion
As we have seen, fascism
is an ideology fanatically opposed to religion, but which may sometimes
conceal its hatred for political reasons, and even present itself as
actually committed to religion. The aim behind fascists' wish to appear
God-fearing is to pervert religious concepts from their true meaning,
and employ them as tools for their political goals.
The degree of fascism's
commitment to religion fluctuates according to the nature of the society
it finds itself in. Nazism felt little need to put up such a front,
because it had developed itself within German society, which had already
been distanced far from religion. But, in Italy, Mussolini attempted
to control a far more religious society, and thus felt a greater need
to play such a hypocritical role. When we consider the example of Spain,
we once again see a religious society and a fascism with a religious
face. The leader of this brand of fascism was Francisco Franco.
Franco's ideology is known
as "Falangism." The term comes from the word "Falange," (or the Falange
Espanola Tradicionalista Y De Las Juntas De Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista,
to give it its full name) which was founded in 1933. The party was established
by a fascist ideologue called Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, in imitation
of Italian fascism, and was opposed to democracy, the Constitution,
leftist movements and the Church. In fact, the word "Falange" (Phalanx
in Spanish) was a martial concept taken from pagan cultures. The name
referred to the arrangement of a regiment of soldiers, as practiced
first in ancient Sumeria, and then in ancient Greece and Rome. General
Franco, the commander-in-chief of the Spanish army at the time, took
over control of the Falange party in 1936, when the civil war erupted
as a result of fighting between right and left in the country. However,
he softened the party's anti-religious stance, in an attempt to make
his brand of fascism appear compatible with religion.
Franco waged a particularly
bloody civil war, not hesitating even to bomb civilians when he thought
it necessary. He won the three-year war in 1939, and the dictatorship
he set up afterwards lasted until the 1970s. In order to maintain the
regime, he pursued policies to ensure the support of the Catholic Church.
At the same time, the Church was given a capitalistic role in the economic
life of the country. Franco's approach was always to defend the Church,
and to use it for his own ends. On the other hand, all religious movements
that emerged and that were outside fascist principles were ruthlessly
suppressed by the government.
The book Who is Franco?
What is Falangism? explains how Spanish fascism used religion in order
to succeed:
Fascism needs the masses
in order to attain its ends� It is sufficient to use words such as religious
truths and monarchy to motivate the masses� Catholics were always powerful
in Spain: Most priests are outspoken supporters of fascism� So it was
necessary to find and publicize a theory of Spanish fascism. This was
done by Gil Robles. Robles has close connections to Spain's greatest
landowners. He was educated in Catholic Jesuit schools, and began his
first political activities in these same organizations� When fascism
came to power in Germany, Robles rushed there at once. His aim was to
learn German working methods. Robles tried to imitate German fascism
in a number of areas, but he was unable to put forward the "superior"
and "Aryan race" theory. So what was Robles to do? He resorted to an
extreme chauvinism, which he harmonized with Catholicism. "Spain comes
before everything. God is above Spain. You are as Catholic as you feel
yourself to be Spanish!" This Catholic chauvinism of Roble's came from
various characteristics of Spain itself� Robles used Catholic bodies
and cooperatives and Catholic youth groups. The Catholic press also
entered the service of fascism. Robles also ran the newspaper El Debate,
which was well-known among conservative circles.130
The Church also served the
fascists in other ways. Spaniards in Latin America and other fascist
groups set up their own versions of the Falange, so these countries
could be brought under Spanish control. The Catholic Church in these
countries was a primary motivating force in this scheme.131
The story of how various
fascist regimes came to power is generally very much the same. For fascists,
religion is an important tool to help them achieve their ends. As a
result of tactics similar to those employed in other fascist countries,
the Church in Spain supported Franco. However, as we have already seen,
fascists only maintain this positive attitude towards religion until
they are in power, after which they generally lose no time waging war
against it. The same happened in Spain.
George Orwell describes
the situation in revolutionary Barcelona six months after the revolution:
Almost every church had been gutted and its images burnt. Churches here
and there were being systematically demolished by gangs of workman.132
When we examine Franco
as an example of how fascists openly use religion, we find ourselves
once again face to face with one of the truths mentioned earlier in
this book. Fascism is an ideology that seeks to turn European societies
back to the pagan religions of pre-Christian Europe. And not just in
Europe. Everywhere in the world the true religion of fascists has been
paganism. Every fascist movement takes its own society's pagan beliefs
as a model. Their slogans, symbols and the like, all bear the features
of a particular society's pagan past. Fascists try to generate an emotional
fervor in their peoples by referring to their ancestors and traditions,
contributing to a kind of mass hypnosis. They continually promise a
return to the "glorious days" of the peoples' past. Essentially, they
turn fascism into a religion, employing religious terms and symbols
from their societies' pasts. No matter how much they may give the impression
of being religious, they are nothing more than pagans.
Fascist
Morals Are the Opposite of Koranic Morals
It is perfectly obvious
that fascism has only ever led to bloodshed and suffering for mankind.
The history of the 20th century is proof of this. But, despite this
fact, there are still people in many parts of the world who are sympathetic
to fascism. Fascist movements in our own time are spreading rapidly,
under the name of neo-Nazis and hooligans. Legal measures taken against
these fascist gangs are ineffective, where such powerful countries as
Great Britain and Germany are unable to suppress them. This reason being
that they use ineffective methods. It is impossible to restrain and
bring into line people who have been brought up with no knowledge of
religion, leading them to become utterly irresponsible, uncontrollable
and aggressive. The only way to stop this aggression and terrorism that
persists in many countries today, is to inoculate people with the morality
taught by religion instead of the pagan or atheistic ideologies that
are at the root of fascism.
As will be clear from the
content of this book, fascism opposes peace, friendship, brotherhood,
compromise and tolerance. The essence of religion, however, is good
morality. So fascism is an ideology completely at variance with religion.
* For instance, fascism
approves of racism. Fascists have always claimed that their own race
or nation are superior to others, and have used the claim as an excuse
to seize their lands and property. This racist claim results in countless
wars, killings, and "ethnic cleansing." However, as we have seen, the
Koran teaches that superiority is not subject to race, color or any
other feature, but is founded in closeness to God and living by faith
and proper morals. The Koran makes light of this truth:
Mankind! We created you
from a male and female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that
you might come to know each other. The noblest among you in God's sight
is that one of you who best performs his duty. God is All-Knowing, All-Aware.
(Koran, 49:13)
In another verse, God describes
racism as the "fanatical rage of the time of ignorance", and reveals
to believers that He will protect them against this provocative ideology:
Those who disbelieve
filled their hearts with fanatical rage-the fanatical rage of the Time
of Ignorance-and God sent down serenity to His Messenger and to the
believers, and obliged them to respect the formula of heedfulness which
they had most right to and were most entitled to. God has knowledge
of all things. (Koran, 48:26)
As the above verse makes
clear, God has divided people into different races and ethnic groups
so that they may interact with one another and live in peace, brotherhood
and tolerance. In other words, contrary to what fascists think, different
races and ethnic groups are not a tool for Social Darwinist conflict
and a "struggle for survival." There can be no question of biological
superiority among different races and ethnic groups. God ascribes the
only superiority among human beings to closeness to Him, and living
according to faith and morality. In a situation where people adhere
to the Koran, therefore, there will be no conflict of race, color or
tribe, nor will such claims of superiority ever be able to find fertile
ground in which to grow.
* History reveals that "fanatical
rage" is a sickness that originated in pagan or atheist societies, where
claims based on the superiority of a race, ethnic origin or tribe, and
the conflict that results from them, have always existed. These people
have always sought to determine their superiority in such physical features.
The Koran however says, "All might belongs to God." (Koran, 10:65) Human
beings are created by God with no distinction between race or skin color,
but as helpless creatures utterly dependent on God. They will all someday
die. So, no individual or society has the right to claim superiority
over another. In death, these claims will be proven unfounded. A holy
verse on the subject of the Day of Judgment reveals this fact:
Then when the Trumpet
is blown, no ties of kinship will exist between them on that day, nor
may they question one another. (Koran, 23:101)
As the verse makes clear,
at the moment of death, the Day of Judgment or in the hereafter, concepts
such as race, color and ethnic origin will be unimportant. The only
thing of any importance then will be closeness to God and whether a
person has won His mercy. On that day, nobody will be in a position
to ask anyone about his race or ethnicity. Those people who are now
passionate about their ethnicity, who kill others for it and even burn
them alive, will understand how helpless and dependant they are, no
matter what their race.
* Another distinguishing
feature of fascism is its tendency to violence. Fascists regard violence,
the use of brute force, war and conflict as sacred concepts. That is
not possible for someone who lives by the Koran. God wants the faithful
to live by good morals, which he describes in the Koran. For instance,
a Muslim is charged with returning good for evil. God says this in one
of the holy verses on the subject:
A good action and a
bad action are not the same. Repel the bad with something better and,
if there is enmity between you and someone else, he will be like a bosom
friend. (Koran, 41:34)
It is out of the question
for a person who behaves in accordance with the above verse to feel
any sympathy for fascist logic and methods, or to show even the slightest
tendency towards fascism.
* Another feature of fascist
morality is that it is quite capable of sacrificing thousands of innocent
people without hesitation for the sake of those aims that it perceives
to be sacred. Fascists, who think that "the end justifies the means,"
carry out all kinds of brutality for an end that is in itself utterly
unjustifiable. However, the Koran says that attacking people unjustly
and killing the innocent is a great crime. According to fascism, human
life is worth nothing, whereas religion sees the life of even one person
as being of the utmost importance. God commands:
�if someone kills another
person-unless it is in retaliation for someone else or for causing corruption
in the earth-it is as if he had murdered all mankind. And if anyone
gives life to another person, it is as if he had given life to all mankind�
(Koran, 5:32)
Bearing in mind that killing
an innocent person is like murdering all mankind, it is clear what a
great sin all the killings, murders and genocide carried out by fascists
has been. God reveals what awaits the cruel fascists in the hereafter:
There are only grounds
against those who wrong people and act as tyrants in the earth without
any right to do so. Such people will have a painful punishment. (Koran,
42:42)
* We also mentioned that
fascists are excessively impassioned, for which reason they can easily
be provoked, angered and incited to violence. Fascist groups tend to
operate in the form of street gangs, become consumed with anger at even
the slightest incident, and immediately resort to fighting at the slightest
provocation. Naturally, this emotionally fuelled violence is completely
contrary to what the Koran commands. The Koran speaks of intelligent,
mild and moderate people who can restrain themselves when they become
angry. Nothing that happens can make them aggressive or angry:
Those who give in times
of both ease and hardship, those who control their rage and pardon other
people-God loves the good-doers. (Koran, 3:134)
* Another tendency possessed
by fascists is a group-mentality. Many poorly educated and ignorant
young people in fascist groups, who do not even know why they do what
they do, get carried away by a kind of hysterical emotion under the
effect of crowds, slogans and martial songs. They get carried away by
the herd mentality and involved in group crimes that they would never
carry out of their own free will. They can attack a foreigner for no
reason, or pillage a workplace. Most people who engage in such actions
do so because they have become part of the "herd," just one part of
the psychology of the group, because their wills and consciences are
weak. But God warns people against the deviance of the majority:
If you obeyed most of
those on earth, they would misguide you from God's Way. They follow
nothing but conjecture. They are only guessing. (Koran, 6:116)
For this reason, instead
of going along with the majority, the faithful act intelligently and
according to their better conscience. This is only possible by living
in accordance with the Koran.
* Another point of disparity
between religion and fascism is the Koran's requirement of peace and
compromise. These concepts are the exact opposite of fascism, which
promotes aggression, conquest, war, brute force and oppression. God
disapproves of all of these, presented in the Koran as cruelties. On
the contrary, God commands people to live according to what is good
and to establish good relations between each other:
There is no good in much
of their secret talk, except in the case of those who enjoin charity,
or what is right, or putting things right between people. If anyone
does that, seeking the pleasure of God, We will give him an immense
reward. (Koran, 4:114)
Conclusion
In conclusion, when we examine
the basis of fascism, we come to see a system of ethics that is the
exact opposite of those virtues that are inherent in religion, such
as love, affection, compassion, humility, co-operation, and being content
with what one has. However, fascism is a school of thought that systematizes
the very opposite, and, under the influence of Darwinism, portrays itself
as a "scientific" and rational approach. "Cruelty," which has always
been condemned by religion, is praised and sanctified systematically
in fascism.
This cruel and ruthless
ideology has been the root of the genocidal acts carried out by Hitler,
Mussolini's ruthless conquests, the bloody civil war waged by Franco,
Pinochet's brutalities, Saddam Hussein's killing of 5,000 civilians
by nerve gas, the inhumane savagery meted out to the Bosnians and Albanians
by Milosevic, and many other current atrocities. The fascist ideology
plays a role, not only in state-sponsored violence, such as mentioned
above, but also in every-day instances. The stabbing, beating or killing
of people because of a simple misunderstanding are the product of a
culture that sees and portrays violence as a kind of heroism. The source
this mentality is the influence of the idea of a "struggle for survival,"
once professed by such ideologues as Darwin and Nietzsche.
The cause of this sickness
is the lack of religion in these people. They may perhaps claim to be
religious if asked, but they have not the slightest inkling of the true
beauty and nobility that religion bestows on people. And for the same
reason, the cure for this sickness is for people to learn the true meaning
of, as well as understand and live by, Koranic morality.
-
|