____FASCISM____

DEFINING THEME
Idea of a unified national community, embodied in a belief in strength through unity

ORIGINS
fascismo derived from Italian word fasces, a bundle of rods tied around an axe symbolized authority of magistrates Ideas & doctrines can be traced back to 19th century Fascism emerged during & after WWI, most notably in Italy & Germany 5 Factors that Led to the Rise of Fascism: 1. Democratic governments were relatively new in Europe 2. Industrialization disrupted European society 3. After WWI & the Russian Revolution, propertied classes (Marxs bourgeoisie) feared a social revolution 4. World economic crisis of the 1930s 5. Post-WWI political climate

Sought revolution of the spirit aimed at creating a new man or fascist man Fascist man: hero, motivated by duty, honor, & self-sacrifice; prepared to dissolve himself into social whole Struggle Social Darwinism Darwins theory of natural selection: human existence is based on competition or struggle Regards war as good in itself; war is the ultimate test of human existence (competition & struggle) i.e. Nazis in Germany forcibly sterilized, then systematically murdered mentally & physically handicapped persons Expansionist National qualities cultivated through conflict, demonstrated by conquest & victory i.e. Hitlers foreign policy goals: living space in the East & ultimate prospect of world domination Leadership & Elitism Absolute leadership & elitism are natural and desirable Society is composed of 3 types: 1) Supreme, unquestionable leader 2) Warrior elite: exclusively male & distinguished by heroism and capacity for self sacrifice (i.e. Nazi SS) 3) Masses: weak, inert & ignorant, destiny of unquestioning obedience Socialism Distaste for large-scale capitalism Collectivism; community before individual Despise materialism of capitalism; wealth & profit run counter to vision of national regeneration Fascist socialism has limitations Fascist party benefited from support of big businesses More anti-communism than anticapitalism Dedicated to national unity & integration; allegiances of race & nation more important than social class Ultranationalism

CORE CONCEPTS
Fascisms structural core themes: Anti-rationalism Struggle Leadership & Elitism Socialism Ultranationalism Anti-rationalism Counter-Enlightenment thinking Human reason has limitations; actually driven by impulses Intellectual life devalued & despised Fascism addresses soul, emotions, & instincts Politics of the will: ability to elicit emotional response & spur masses into action Negative or destructive character anti-philosophy: anti-rational, antiliberal, anti-conservative, etc. Attempt to reverse the Enlightenment History, Culture, & Organic Community Communities shaped by innate loyalties & emotional bonds forged by common past

Regarded nations as rivals in struggle for dominance Superiority of one nation over all others (i.e. Hitlers Aryanism) Prospect of national regeneration & rebirth of national pride Led to expansionism, war & conquest linked to militarism & imperialism

& corrupt, particularly urbanization & industrialization Return to the land Hitlers Germany: in actuality, rapid industrialization & growth of large cities due to expansion of military industrial base necessary for conquest and empire

DIFFERENT STREAMS
Italian Fascism Fascism & the state Statism: belief that state is the most appropriate means of resolving problems & guaranteeing economic and social development Totalitarian Ideal No distinction between public & private existence Leader has unlimited, unmediated authority no distinction between state & civil society Belief in single value system, the all powerful state Corporatism Opposes both free market (capitalism) & central planning (socialism) Belief that business & labor are bound together Social classes do not conflict with one another, held together by duty & mutual obligation Mussolinis Italy, 1927: Set up 22 corporations representing employers & workers to oversee development of all major industries Little more than ideological slogan Modernization Equated national revival with economic modernization Wanted to develop advanced industrial society Nazi Fascism Fascism & racialism Racialism: belief that political or social conclusions can be drawn from the idea that humankind is divided into biologically distinct races. Peasant Ideology Opposite of Mussolinis Modernization Viewed modern civilization as decadent Fascism vs. Nazism Fascism State worship Chauvinist nationalism Voluntarism National greatness Organic unity Pragmatic antiSemitism Futurism/modernism Corporatism Colonial expansion Nazism State as vessel Extreme racialism Essentialism Biological superiority Racial purity Genocidal antiSemitism Peasant ideology War economy World domination

MODERN DAY FASCISM

Fascism breeds from conditions of crisis, uncertainty, & disorder Parallels between religious fundamentalism & fascism i.e. militant Islam as form of Islamofascism Classical fascism challenged in the post-colonialization world by multiculturalism, economic globalization, & complex postindustrial social formations.

Neofascism: democratic fascism fascism divorced from principles such as absolute leadership, totalitarianism & overt racialism. Differences: acceptance of political pluralism & electoral democracy Similarities: at the core, advance politics of organic unity & social cohesion Ex. French National Front, the Freedom Party in Austria, the British National Party, Alleanza Nazionale in Italy, antiimmigration groups in the Netherlands, Belgium, & Denmark