Fascism Lecture Notes

Introduction

Fascism lecture by Michael Howe, historian of modern Europe specializing in German history and 20th-century European history.
Teaches a class on the history of Nazism, expanding on presented ideas.

What is Fascism?

Need to understand the differences between fascism and other dictatorships like communism in early 20th-century Europe.
The term "fascism" is used in different ways:
- Fascism with a small 'f': A theoretical concept describing various right-wing authoritarian ultranationalist movements.
- Fascism with a big 'F': Refers specifically to the fascist movement that emerged in Italy.
The lecture explores the usefulness of "fascism" as a theoretical concept for understanding extreme right-wing movements and regimes, including Italian fascism and Nazism.

Key Figures and Time Period

Benito Mussolini: Italian fascist leader known for the "Roman greeting" (an invented tradition).
Adolf Hitler: Nazi leader who adopted a similar salute.
Interwar period: Roughly 1918 to 1939, the period in which fascist movements emerged.

Rise to Power

Mussolini:
- Came to power in Italy during the postwar crisis, characterized by social unrest and strikes.
- Appointed prime minister in 1922 (not through a revolutionary uprising).
Hitler:
- Came to power in Germany during the Great Depression in 1933.
- Appointed chancellor by Reichs President Hittenberg.

End of Fascist Regimes

World War II:
- Started in 1939 when Nazis attacked Poland.
- Ended in 1945.
Mussolini:
- Deposed by the Fascist Grand Council in 1943.
Hitler:
- Died in 1945.

Fascism vs. Fascisms

Some argue fascism is a unique Italian phenomenon.
Others argue fascism is a useful theoretical concept for understanding multiple right-wing regimes.
Key Question: Do Italian fascism and Nazism have enough in common to be characterized as fascist?
In recent years, the term "fascism" (small f) has regained usage due to the perception of commonalities across various regimes, past and present.

Theories of Fascism: The Comintern (1933)

Comintern: International organization of communist parties controlled by the Soviet Communist Party.
Definition of Fascism: An instrument of the capitalist classes.
Fascism is the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinist, and most imperialist elements of finance capital.
Fascism secures a mass basis for monopolist capital among the petty bourgeoisie, peasantry, artisans, office employees, civil servants, and declassed elements of big cities, also penetrating the working class.
Fascism counters the class struggle, doing the bidding of the bourgeoisie.

Critique of the Comintern Definition

The Comintern definition is now viewed as simplistic.
Modern view: There was a mutually advantageous relationship (symbiosis) between fascist movements and big business.

Typological Approaches to Understanding Fascism

Leadership Principle: Movements coalesce around a single, charismatic leader (savior of the nation).
Militaristic Style:
- Born from war, often involving veterans.
- Emulation of the military through uniforms and warlike behavior.
- Belief that war is essential for national vitality.
- Desire for violent empire conquest.
Masculine Style:
- Emphasis on male dominance.
- Subordinate roles for women.
Violence:
- Celebration of violence as a demonstration of strength and national vitality.
Radical Nationalists:
- Ethno-nationalists or racial nationalists.
- Pronounced racism in Nazism; less so in Italian fascism.
Totalitarian Aspirations:
- Claim to control all aspects of society.
- Alignment of all sectors (business, agriculture, church) with regime goals.
- Intolerance of opposition.
- Nothing outside of the state (Mussolini).
Community Over Individualism:
- Rejection of liberal ideals.
- Anti-Marxist, rejection of class struggle.
- Promotion of social integration for a strong nation-state geared towards imperial expansionism.
Repression:
- Repressive police state and paramilitary organizations to intimidate opponents.

Fascism and Class Struggle

Core question: How does fascism relate to the class struggle and existing elites?
Fascists accommodate existing elites, unlike communists who aim to overthrow them.
Fascism is distinct from communism despite totalitarian aspirations.
The name "fascism" comes from "Fascis," a bundle of sticks symbolizing the tight togetherness of Italian society, derived from the Roman Republic.

Fascism According to Mussolini

Militaristic; opposed to pacifism.
Against Marxism; doesn't believe in economic determinism.
Emphasis on the primacy of the national community.
Against liberalism.
Advocated leadership in an authoritarian state with totalitarian aspirations.
Belief in transformation through violence and expansionism (imperialism).
Slogan: "Better one day as a lion than one hundred years as a sheep."

Fascism in Italy as a Movement

Carriers of the movement: the Squadristi (fascist paramilitaries).
They fought against socialists and unionists.
In October 1922, Mussolini took over as prime minister in Italy.
Fascists seized government buildings in Northern and Central Italy before converging on Rome.
Instead of crushing the movement, the king appointed Mussolini as prime minister.
The flag shows Mussolini with his fasces, the Pope, and the King, symbolizing the alliance with the old establishment.
The army, Pope, and big business had an outside influence in fascist Italy.
Mussolini had to find accommodation with these old elites.
There was symbiosis between fascism and these elites.
Accommodation with landowners, industry, and the Catholic Church.
Liberals tolerated or even supported; supported by liberals.
Government administration and police co-opted for fascist purposes.
Main goal was the suppression of the left (socialism).

Nazism

Like Italian Fascism, it was born out of a postwar crisis.
Revolution in Germany; the monarchy didn't survive.
Postwar crisis with mass inflation, unemployment.
Germany had to pay reparations as a result of the Treaty of Versailles.
The Nazis took advantage of this crisis.
Anti-Marxists, like the Italian fascists, against the socialists and communists.
Radical redemptive anti-Semites: belief that Germany's problems could be solved by eliminating the influence/presence of Jews.
Dreams of an empire.
Hitler in Mein Kampf (1925/26) talked about Lebensraum (Living Space) in Eastern Europe.
Nazism initially failed in 1923 (Munich coup).
Hitler was imprisoned and reemerged during the Great Depression.

Interpreting Nazism

Communists: Instrument of big business.
Sociologists: Result of the radicalization of the German middle class (lower middle class protest element).
Ideologically-driven movement.
Catch-all party of protest supported by a broad sector of German society (capitalists, middle class, working class).

Election Results of the Nazi Party

$1928$ , only $2.6 \%$ .
$1930$ , over $18 \%$ .
Almost $37.5 \%$ .
November $1932$ , a little more than $33 \%$ .
In January, Hitler is appointed chancellor, even though his movement was on the back foot.

Nazis Didn't Seize Power

Power was handed to them by conservatives disaffected by the Weimar Republic.
These conservatives had already undermined the republic.
They wanted an autocratic regime supported by the military, elites, business people, and landowners.
They wanted to destroy the influence of the political left.
Military wanted to play a major role in German society again; wanted a revision of the Treaty of Versailles.
They came up with the taming strategy, trying to use Nazism for their conservative purposes.
The vice chancellor said, "Within one week, we will have Hitler in the corner and make him shriek." But that didn't happen: The Nazis pushed the conservatives into the corner.

Nazi Transformation of German Society

Wanted to create a Volksgemeinschaft (people's community).
The Volksgemeinschaft would be a utopian, hierarchical community.
It was a community not a community of equals.
It was designed to end class struggle to not impede Imperial ambitions.
Workers should see themselves as racially privileged members of a German community of producers rather than as workers with distinct interests.
They promised social upward mobility based on performance at work.
The goal was to create some form of aspirationalism that would undercut working class loyalties and therefore create this sense of community.
The goal was to overcome social division in preparation for war.

German Labor Front

The German labor front was the largest organization in the world.
It included entrepreneurs and business people.
It was a community of the productive people.
The message was remain comrades (Kameraden) in the same way as soldiers.
People in elevated positions (managers, engineers) are holding hands with simple manual laborers, and they are equally valued.

Did the Fascists and Nazis Cause a Revolution?

Change in the political system: parliamentarian democracies replaced by dictatorships.
But there was a compromise with the old structures (civil service, big business).
There was an element of counterrevolution in fascism.
There was no fundamental change in inequality.
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy remained class societies with big differences in terms of wealth.
The same elites remained in power; class structure did not really change.
There was the promotion of a national community to undercut working-class loyalties.
The structure can be best described as a symbiotic relationship (mutual benefit) between the movement and the old elites (business, military, state bureaucracy).

Is Fascism a Useful Concept?

For the 1920s and 1930s, yes, there are similarities between Italian Fascism and Nazism.
Ideological goals and could also see similarities with the British Union of Fascists or Fascists in Romania to a lesser extent also in Franco Spain.
But movements had different national traditions and functioned differently.
Did fascism die in 1945?
There are neo-Nazi/fascist movements in Italy and Germany.
Now there are right-wing movements such as Fraud National (Rassemblement National) in France, Alternative for Deutschland, Trumpism, Putinism.
They have ethno-nationalist ideals/ideologies, but there are differences.

Related Subject

The rise and fall of Nazi Germany.
Nazi Germany is an example of a right-wing totalitarian movement with fascist tendencies.