Join the new world

MUSIC



In this article we will be covering the foundational principles of fascism and then we will be ending the series with an examination of Anti-fascism.

Before we begin I'd like to say that there are many definitions of fascism and that I was not able to include them all here. In short, it is difficult to fully characterize or define all the principles that can be in fascist movements or parties. This is due to the fact that fascists often use the ideology and economic ideas of their particular era and can be comprised of people in all ethnic, social, class, and religious positions in a society and so it is the merger of the interests of many groups of people who are usually under populist and authoritarian notions and these can vary widely from fascist to fascist. However I can provide you with some of the characterizations provided by those who worked against and studied the ideology and that is what I would like to present to you today.





Franklin Delano Roosevelt (32nd President of the United States) said :

“The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.”





George Orwell wrote in his 1941 essay, “Shopkeepers At War” that economically:

“Fascism, at any rate the German version, is a form of capitalism that borrows from Socialism just such features as will make it efficient for war purposes... It is a planned system geared to a definite purpose, world-conquest, and not allowing any private interest, either of capitalist or worker, to stand in its way.”

He then went on to write in the Tribune saying:

“...It is not easy, for instance, to fit Germany and Japan into the same framework, and it is even harder with some of the small states which are describable as Fascist. It is usually assumed, for instance, that Fascism is inherently warlike, that it thrives in an atmosphere of war hysteria and can only solve its economic problems by means of war preparation or foreign conquests. But clearly this is not true of, say, Portugal or the various South American dictatorships. Or again, antisemitism is supposed to be one of the distinguishing marks of Fascism; but some Fascist movements are not antisemitic. Learned controversies, reverberating for years on end in American magazines, have not even been able to determine whether or not Fascism is a form of capitalism. But still, when we apply the term ‘Fascism’ to Germany or Japan or Mussolini's Italy, we know broadly what we mean.”





Leon Trotsky (Marxist Theorist, Revolutionary, and Politician) wrote a tract that was published after his death (Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It) saying:

"The historic function of fascism is to smash the working class, destroy its organizations, and stifle political liberties when the capitalists find themselves unable to govern and dominate with the help of democratic machinery."





Clara Zetkin (Marxist Theorist, Activist, and Women's Rights Advocate) did a study in 1923 for the Third Plenum stating:

"Fascism is the concentrated expression of the general offensive undertaken by the world bourgeoisie against the proletariat.... fascism [is] an expression of the decay and disintegration of the capitalist economy and as a symptom of the bourgeois state’s dissolution. We can combat fascism only if we grasp that it rouses and sweeps along broad social masses who have lost the earlier security of their existence and with it, often, their belief in social order.... It will be much easier for us to defeat Fascism if we clearly and distinctly study its nature. Hitherto there have been extremely vague ideas upon this subject not only among the large masses of the workers, but even among the revolutionary vanguard of the proletariat and the Communists.... The Fascist leaders are not a small and exclusive caste; they extend deeply into wide elements of the population.”





Zeev Sternhill (A World-Class Expert on Fascism) says that Fascism is a reaction against modernity and is regressive in opposition to liberalism and Marxism, positivism and democracy. It simultaneously rejected the values of modernity while continuing to benefit from the progress that came with it. Zeev believes that fascism uses liberal market-based economics and the violent revolutionary rhetoric of Marxism while also rejecting their philosophical principles.





Historian Stanley G. Payne wrote a list of characteristics to identify fascism (His is often considered the standard definition):

A. Ideology and Goals:

-Espousal of an idealist, vitalist, and voluntaristic philosophy, normally involving the attempt to realize a new modern, self-determined, and secular culture

-Creation of a new nationalist authoritarian state not based on traditional principles or models

-Organization of a new highly regulated, multiclass, integrated national economic structure, whether called national corporatist, national socialist, or national syndicalist

-Positive evaluation and use of, or willingness to use violence and war
The goal of empire, expansion, or a radical change in the nation's relationship with other powers

B. The Fascist Negations:
-Antiliberalism
-Anticommunism
-Anticonservatism (though with the understanding that fascist groups were willing to undertake temporary alliances with other sectors, more commonly with the right)

C. Style and Organization:

-Attempted mass mobilization with militarization of political relationships and style and with the goal of a mass single party militia

-Emphasis on aesthetic structure of meetings, symbols, and political liturgy, stressing emotional and mystical aspects

-Extreme stress on the masculine principle and male dominance, while espousing -a strongly organic view of society

-Exaltation of youth above other phases of life, emphasizing the conflict of the generations, at least in effecting the initial political transformation
Specific tendency toward an authoritarian, charismatic, personal style of command, whether or not the command is to some degree initially elective





And finally Roger Griffin (Professor of History) focuses his definition of fascism on the use of populism specifically the kind of National Rebirth rhetoric that the fascists of post world war 1 Europe used :

“[F]ascism is best defined as a revolutionary form of nationalism, one that sets out to be a political, social and ethical revolution, welding the ‘people’ into a dynamic national community under new elites infused with heroic values. The core myth that inspires this project is that only a populist, trans-class movement of purifying, cathartic national rebirth (palingenesis) can stem the tide of decadence”

He said a consensus had developed amongst English speaking social sciences in the 1990s on how to define fascism saying:

“[Fascism is] a genuinely revolutionary, trans-class form of anti-liberal, and in the last analysis, anti-conservative nationalism. As such it is an ideology deeply bound up with modernization and modernity, one which has assumed a considerable variety of external forms to adapt itself to the particular historical and national context in which it appears, and has drawn a wide range of cultural and intellectual currents, both left and right, anti-modern and pro-modern, to articulate itself as a body of ideas, slogans, and doctrine. In the inter-war period, it manifested itself primarily in the form of an elite-led "armed party" which attempted, mostly unsuccessfully, to generate a populist mass movement through a liturgical style of politics and a programme of radical policies which promised to overcome a threat posed by international socialism, to end the degeneration affecting the nation under liberalism, and to bring about a radical renewal of its social, political and cultural life as part of what was widely imagined to be the new era being inaugurated in Western civilization. The core mobilizing myth of fascism which conditions its ideology, propaganda, style of politics and actions is the vision of the nation's imminent rebirth from decadence.”





Anti-Fascism

Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist groups, governments, and individuals. The movement began in the 1920s and would spread around the world alongside (and in opposition to) the rise of fascist figures and groups in many different countries. The height of the Anti-fascist movement was during World War 2 in the form of the allied powers and many other resistance movements. Historically the Anti-fascist movement was comprised of social democrats, nationalists, liberals, conservatives, communists, Marxists, trade unionists, anarchists, socialistss, pacifists and centrists. (and in my opinion was one of the ultimate multi-partisan solutions to any issue. Fighting fascists can be one of the most unifying forces for the world and for a society if done properly and in an organized manner.)



Balkan-Italian Anti-Fascism

In Fascist Italy, Benito Mussolini would describe his political opponents as Anti-fascists and created a secret police organization to root out and destroy Anti-fascists. This organization was called the Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism.

In the Kingdom of Italy in the 1920s Anti-fascist groups from the labour movement fought against the violent Italian Blackshirts covered in the last article, in the streets.

These groups were actively fighting against the rise of Benito Mussolini. In 1922, the Italian anarchist Severino Di Giovanni organized a series of bombings against the Italian fascist community and in 1925, Italian liberal anti-fascist Benedetto Croce published Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals In response to the fascist manifesto Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals with the fascist press responding that it was “more authoritarian" than its Fascist counterpart.

Between 1920 and 1943 there were several Anti-fascist groups active in the slovenian and croatian territories annexed by Fascist Italy. The most prominent group TIGR was a militant insurgent group that carried out a campaign of sabotage and eliminations of representatives of the Fascist party and the military.

Much of this organization would be uncovered and rooted out by the Italian Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism.



German Anti-Fascism

Several Anti-Fascist and Anti-nazi paramilitary organizations existed in Germany. These organizations were:

Social Democrat-dominated Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, and the Communist paramilitary organisation Roter Frontkämpferbund (Red Front Fighters League or RFB, the Communist Kampfbund gegen den Faschismus.

The Roter Front was an Anti-fascist paramilitary organization affilitated with the german communist party and would engage in street fights with the Nazi Sturmabteilung. It’s first leader was Ernst Thälmann who would die in a concentration camp and would become honored in East Germany as an Anti-fascist.

In 1932, Antifaschistische Aktion was formed as a broad alliance between Social Democrats and Communists to protect the rights and masses from Fascist paramilitaries. It’s logo is still used today by Anti-fascist movements across the world.



Spanish Anti-Fascism

In the 1930s, before and during the Spanish Civil War, the Antifascist Worker and Peasant Militias (MAOC) linked to the Communist Party (PCE), the International Brigades, the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM), Spanish anarchist militias, such as the Iron Column and the autonomous governments of Catalonia and the Basque Country, fought the rise of Francisco Franco.

Thousands of people from all over the world travelled to Spain and joined some of these groups to fight against Francoism. Joining units such as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the British Battalion, the Dabrowski Battalion, the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, the Naftali Botwin Company and the Thälmann Battalion, even Winston Churchill's nephew, Esmond Romilly, George Orwell, and Ernest Hemingway participated.



French Anti-Fascism

In the 1920s and 30s Anti-fascists would confront Far-Right movements like the French Action movement which dominated the Latin Quarter of Paris.

When Nazi Germany invaded France, Resistance Movements popped up all over france to fight against occupation and the vichey government. These men and women were guerrilla fighters, spys, and underground news publishers. They also operated an underground railroad out of occupied areas and saved many lives.



British Anti-Fascism

Oswald Mosleys British Union of Fascists came under pressure from the British Communist Party, Anarchists, The Independent Labor Party, working class Jews, and Irish dockworkers. It would climax in the infamous Battle of Cable Street where thousands of London East-Enders turned out to prevent the BUF from marching. The British Communist Party initially called for a mass mobilisation in Hyde Park in solidarity with Republican Spain. Local party activists argued against the action in favor of confronting the fascist march. They would rally support under the Republican Spanish slogan “They Shall Not Pass”.

There was some debate in the Anti-fascist movement over the use of violence as opposed to large scale demonstrations. There are also more liberal forms of Anti-fascist action.



United States Anti-Fascism

During the 1930s there were several fascist organizations active within the United States including Friends of New Germany, the German American Bund, and the Ku Klux Klan. During the Era of Mccarthyism, the term “premature anti-fascist” came into use to describe Americans who supported or fought in the Spanish Civil War on the side of Republican Spain. The implication was that these people were communists or communist sympathizers whose loyalty to the United States would be considered questionable. However the government referred to these people as Reds, Radicals, Communists, and Subversives.

In 1939 the Mazzini Society was founded by expatriate Italians who were trying to end Fascist rule in Italy. This group had trouble choosing it’s allies but met at a conference in Uruguay to elect Carlos Saforza to become the post fascist leader of Republican Italy but this group disbanded after the fall of fascism in Italy because most of its members returned to their homeland.

Several prominent American Artists, Songwriters, Poets, and Intellectuals were antifascists and generated many cultural works in opposition to fascism.

The End!




Thank you for reading my series and if you missed any of the entries here’s a list of them.

Principles of Fascism and The People's Response I
Principles of Fascism and The People's Response II
Principles of Fascism and The People's Response III
Principles of Fascism and The People's Response IV
Principles of Fascism and The People's Response V
Principles of Fascism and The People's Response VI




I want to hear from my readers! What elements of fascism did we miss? Was there any particular subject you thought we should have covered more? Let me know.


~Chairman Max Planck~