Comprehensive Study Notes on World Fascism and Contemporary Fascism

Introduction to Fascism and the Persistence of Political Dualism

Fascism stands as a significant twentieth-century development, originating in Italy and maturing into an operational political doctrine in Germany. It persists as an enduring reality because of its ability to simplify the complexities of political life for the benefit of its proponents. This simplification is achieved by exploiting the exigencies of "us" and "them," where "they" are projected not only as adversaries but as essentially inferior beings. This aggressive political dualism survived the collapse of Italy and Germany following the Second World War. Historian Hugh Trevor-Roper presented an 'Epitaph on Fascism,' suggesting it began in $1922$–$1923$, came of age in the $1930s$, and ended in $1945$. However, this assessment appears premature given post-war political formations in both Western and Eastern Europe.

The contemporary rise of unresponsive state authority, hyper-socio-cultural polarities, and interpersonal intolerances suggests that fascism remains relevant. It represents more complex and perverse dimensions today than it originally displayed, posing a severe challenge to mankind. To understand fascism, one must investigate its original and altered faces, recognizing the changing ideas, facts, and processes that define it. By appreciating the pluralist reality of the world, one can creatively dispel fascist trends through a better understanding of the essence of life.

Fascism: Meaning and Ideational Profile

Defining fascism is difficult because its characterizing ideas are "untidy and inchoate," according to scholar Rick Wilford. Unlike Marxism, which has Karl Marx's Das Kapital to delineate its central ideas, fascism lacks a definitive classical text. George H. Sabine noted fascism’s "chemical indifference to intellectual honesty," which contributes to its elusive ideational categories. A fascist worldview can be constructed by examining core ideas: statism, racialism, imperialism, militarism, elitism, and a foundational core of irrationalism.

Fascism derived much of its momentum from a mood of revolt that prevailed in Europe at the end of the nineteenth century. This revolt drew heavily from the anti-thesis developed by Social Darwinists, such as Herbert Spencer, against prevailing liberal ideas they perceived as outmoded. Social Darwinists articulated a "muscular philosophy" that fostered an intellectual climate where the myth of racialism could flourish.

Core Ideas of the Fascist Worldview: Irrationalism

Irrationalism constitutes the fundamental layer of the fascist worldview. Fascism repudiates reason and objective science, arguing that the complexities of life are beyond the grasp of ordinary minds. Peace and objectivity are viewed as useless in conquering human complexities. Benito Mussolini proclaimed that reason is "barren intellectualism" lacking true meaning. Leon P. Baradat describes the fascist view of the ordinary mind as a "wasteland full of mirages that give only an illusion of reality." Truth, according to fascism, is a subjective quality available only to a few gifted individuals whose will, spirit, or personality is greater than that of the masses.

Fascism drew sustenance from varied sources including Plato, Rousseau, Hegel, and Georges Sorel. Leaders like Mussolini and Hitler prioritized stirring people for action over goal sanctity or provable values, often using the command: "Feel, don't think." They relied on rhetorical talents and myths rather than coherent written ideologies. A key myth was that of the Volk (the people), which carried abstract connotations of an immutable metaphysical ideal of people-hood. George Mosse explained that just as individuals have souls, there existed a "Volk soul" that gave the German people a unique, dynamic character based on emotions rather than "tortured intellectualising." This irrationalism was further developed through the German philosophical traditions of Fichte, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, whose works were often used and abused by fascists to stir social passions.

Core Ideas of the Fascist Worldview: Racialism

Adolf Hitler based his social theory on the works of French scholar Arthur de Gobineau, who developed a theory of racial superiority while serving as a diplomat in Germany. Gobineau identified Aryans as the original superior race responsible for great civilizations but argued that intermarrying with inferior races led to civilization decline. He labeled Germans as the purest race due to being the least mixed. This theory was popularized by Richard Wagner through music and drama, and later by Houston Stewart Chamberlain, who combined Teutonic mythology, philosophical irrationalism, and Gobineau’s theories.

Hitler capitalized on this inheritance to condemn Jews, using visceral metaphors of biological decay. He described the Jew as a "maggot in a rotting corpse," a "germ carrier," and a "vampire" or "blood sucker." Hitler categorized the world’s peoples into three racial tiers:

1. The culture-creating race: Aryans.
2. The culture-bearing race: Latins, Slavs, and Orientals.
3. The culture-destroying races: Gypsies, Negroes, and Jews.

Hitler famously stated, "We think with our blood," and fascists claimed that any knowledge dispelling racial superiority was not true knowledge. They asserted that even science was a racial product conditioned by blood.

Core Ideas of the Fascist Worldview: Statism and the Corporate State

The notion of the Volkish spirit guided fascist state formation. The Volk was portrayed as a close-knit rural society representing the "organic wholeness of the national community" where the German spirit reigned supreme over individual interests. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s writings provided further impetus; he visualized the state as an integrated community where the particular and universal coexisted based on reason, realizing the "spirit" in history.

Mussolini mutilated these Hegelian premises, proclaiming, "Everything for the state and nothing outside the state." He used the term totalitarianism and elevated the state to the "Will of Wills," the "Good of Goods," and the "Soul of Souls." In this view, the state is the creator of rights and can demand any sacrifice, tolerating no resistance. Hitler, while giving the state a somewhat secondary status compared to the race, maximized the totalitarian ethos by ensuring all media served as political tools for his regime. Fascist state authority laid the foundation for a corporate state structure.

Core Ideas of the Fascist Worldview: Elitism

Fascism drew legitimacy from elitism, with both Hitler and Mussolini arguing that humans are inherently uneven in mental make-up, physical strength, and spiritual endowments. Because people contribute unevenly to civic and state affairs, they cannot expect equal rewards. This logic was used to justify hierarchical social structures and the rejection of egalitarianism.

Operational Dynamics: Centralization and Single-Party Rule

Operational fascism in Italy and Germany is regarded as "totalitarianism of the right," as it organized in favor of vested interests and against left-wing parties and trade unions. However, it resembled communist regimes in its use of single-party ideology, mobilization, and the concentration of political power.

In both Italy and Germany, the government centralized power and dismantled provincial administrative mechanisms. There was no federalism, and the separation of powers was non-existent. Legislative organs merely ratified governmental enactments; famously, the Italian parliament voted for its own abolition. Power rested entirely with the Fuehrer (Germany) or Duce (Italy). The electoral process was controlled by the single party, with candidates often receiving over $99\%$ of the vote. All local press and political opposition were suppressed.

Operational Dynamics: Absolute Leadership and Mobilization

The fascist party in Italy and the NSDAP in Germany had highly centralized leadership. These parties organized consent through intensive mobilization and annual festive congresses designed to applaud the leader. Although the government and party co-existed, the party was the real center of power, steering the state as a subordinate organization.

The leader’s role was to amalgamate the people, party, and state into one entity based on charisma. Slogans like "Leader is the party; the party is the leader" defined Nazi Germany as a "Fuehrer-State." Mussolini claimed similar qualities, described as the "Soul of Souls" who "never sleeps" and knows the innermost thoughts of the nation.

Unlike communists, fascists did not "make" a revolution; they took power legally, facilitated by traditional elites—the King in Italy and the President in Germany. Consequently, they retained some formal institutions like the kingship or the army. Industrial and business communities in Germany also maintained some functional freedom. Fascism appealed overwhelmingly to the youth, establishing vast youth organizations for mass recruitment and the engineering of consent.

Fascism and Challenges to Contemporary Life

Fascism did not die in $1945$. Neo-fascist formations, such as the British National Party under John Tyndall, continue to promote fascist agendas. Economic recessions in Europe during the $1980s$ and $1990s$ provided fertile ground for these groups, who advocate for autarky, corporatism, elitism, and racialism.

Neo-fascism also enforces traditional views on women, as seen in Joseph Goebbels’ view that the mission of women is to be "beautiful and to bring children into the world," effectively assigning them to the "homefront." Fascism resurfaces whenever democracy fails to match developmental goals with stability. It breeds on the binary opposition of "us" versus "them," as seen in the resentment between ex-colonizers and ex-colonies or the "developed" versus "developing" dualism. These tensions are compounded by religious fundamentalism and terrorism, creating a modern fascist temper that threatens pluralism.

Evaluation: The Philosophy of War and Stagnation

Sabine described fascism as an "adventurer's philosophy" and an ideology of war and national expansion. It propagated a "transvaluation of values"—a political phase for moral cynicism. Much of its foundational thought, derived from Nietzsche, Sorel, and Hegel, was a discomforting puzzle where pieces were picked to provide authenticity to expedient solutions. For example, Mussolini, lacking a theory of state, assigned the task to Giovanni Gentile, who used Hegelian language to camouflage Mussolini's intentions. Interestingly, as late as $1920$, Mussolini had regarded the state as a "curse to mankind" before glorifying it once in power.

In practice, fascism did not bring significant structural changes; economic and social stagnation persisted. According to the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, fascism strengthened individual anarchism and prevented the modernization of quasi-feudal structures. Despite its drawbacks, it retains mass appeal during "anemic" social conditions. Ultimately, fascism fails to cater to the entirety of life processes because the fullness of life depends on pluralism and tolerance. Life blossoms in variety, requiring a "multimedia of flowerbeds" where hundreds of flowers can bloom. The sharp, cutting edges of fascism cannot nurture such sensitivity or beauty.