The purpose of
this essay is to explain what fascism is and why it emerges.
Fascism is a
political ideology that consists of an all powering totalitarian government,
which has total control of the people, the nation and the economy. The fascist
economic system creates an upper class
for the owning/ruling class and leaves the working class in a lower
state who in turn produce for the elite. To justify themselves as beneficial to
the oppressed lower class, the fascist installs an extreme sense of
Nationalisms and organicism. If these
method do not work then force is used.
Fascism emerges out of economic crisis, a revolutionary promise and
reaction to capitalism. It is often
allowed to emerge because it is usually easy to get support from the upper
class.
The fascist
political structure consists of a totalitarian government with an extreme sense
of absolutism. Absolutism is the
principle of a absolute power in control with power that transcends even the
laws itself, under the control of one main dictator who carries traits of
of a geniuses or of a hero. This
way the masses can be drawn into him through emotion and appeal. With the totalitarian government the fascist
has total control of the nation and the people.
Along with the
fascist total ruling over the people and nation came its total ruling over the
economy. Although different fascist have
had different economic structures, all regimes more or less, have had the same
model. The main defining character of the fascist economy is the principle of
goverment-buisness relationship. Like the first fascist regime in Italy, its
leader created a system where private ownership was
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allowed but state
intervention was issued on management and labour. He did this by creating grouped established
syndicates, such as "The National Confederation of Commerce" or the
"The National Federation of Credit and Insurgence". The government then controlled these under
managing agencies called "Corporations" which in turn would regulate
issues and guidelines such as supply and demand, labour disputes or what interest the business
is to aim at. Although the system is supposed
to function as a partnership, the government is always in control and dominate.
Although the
fascists claim this system is in the interest of the nation, it is only in the
interest of more empowerment for the
government. Due to this system both the
states interest and the interest of the owning class are integrated which creates
an elite. Therefore the development and
technology only serves the interest of the elite and not the working class
which is to be convinced to interact with promoting the sense that there
dedication is necessary for the wellbeing of the nation.
Nationalism is a
force which the fascist uses to eliminate conflict between social classes and
restore unity through shared values such as race, language, religion and
unifies men through symbols and traditions of a nation. It reduces the risk of liberal individualism
and focuses on funnelling aggression into a powerful force and channelling it
against outsiders so individuals will
not question the state.
Nationalism often
relies on the use of a scapegoat. The
most blatant example of this was Hitler's scapegoating on the Jews. He would blame them for the defeat of Germany
in World War 1, or claim they were the
downfall of Germany. Hitler took this
idea to an extreme and later went on to ethnic cleansing which resulted in the
death of 6 million Jews.
Another method of
motivating the masses is to present the concept of organicism. Organicism is the theory of viewing a nation
like a growing powerful single body. It
focuses on the idea that the body is
made up of individual components all having individual functions, but are
unimportant, and only important as a whole body. The fascist applies this principle to the
notion that the individual is unimportant as a single person but significant in
the fact that it's a component of the community and the interest
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of the state
which is the superior element of exisistence.
The fascist feels that all
means for the
state are justifiable and "there is no room for detachment from the cause,
for neutrality or for the luxury of being a mere spectator"(Growth,
97). The fascist also uses this
principle in justifying the rationality of the fascist economic system with
demoralising the image of the individual as a person producing for himself, and
not for the community as he should be.
If nationalism
and organicism do not supply enough motivation to create a dominant ideology,
the fascist resorts to "tapping deeper levels of motivation"(...,19)
and uses coercive force. They try to achieve a goal of breaking down the
individual spirit of liberalism and will resort to violence ways if
necessary.
The other use of
force that the fascist utilises for conformity is to misinform the masses or
not inform them at all. Examples of this
can either be the dismissal of civil rights such as freedom of speech or
assembly or controlling the means of informative sources such as newspapers
television and other sorts of communication.
These are tactics the fascist utilises if the population does not
consent to the government.
Fascism emerges
as a response to capitalism. It is a
revolutionary promise to rehabilitate a nation in economic depression or
unemployment by uniting and focusing the
economic power of all social classes.
This in turn is to restabilise a nation economically. It utilises the principle of nationalism to
try to unite the social classes and if that does not work it resorts to force,
"a coercive method of resolving
conflicts within an industrially more advanced society"(Ebenstein,81). Usually fascism reinvests economic gain into
its military with the hope of trying to mobilise the nation to its full
capacity. This system of government
usually emerges when other forms of government have failed. Where democracy lacked in a sense of hope and
faith, fascism excelled. Post war
Germany, Italy and Argentina in 1955 can all exemplify this theory of
emergence:
After World War
1, Italy had a poor economy and its national identified diminished. To build the nation and strengthen it
economically was to create a state the would take full control to accomplish
this, the people were desperate for a solution.
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World War I also
effected Germany in an economic sense.
It left the country bankrupt, millions were jobless and the Treaty of
Versailles left the nation with reparations.
The national socialists and
communists were the two main parties at the time. The Nazis utilised
their economic plan to restore the nation winning mass appeal which enabled
them to implement their plan of
imperialistic conquest which was Hitters real goal.
Another period in
which the economic condition enabled fascism to emerge was Argentina in
1930. It was at this time a
predominantly agricultural nation. The
conflict was landowners who were a comparison of feudal barons. There was also the trend of world wide
depression and the emergence of an anarchist movement that aimed at direct
appropriation of farm and land ownership.
This attempt at unifying the South American country was overthrown ten
years later.
Another factor
that helps the fascist come into power is mass support from the owning
class. They see fascism as way of
securing their wealth and corporations, and see it as protection from labour
disputes. They support the fascist into office and then they themselves claim
power as an elite.
In conclusion the
fascists main concern is power. They
take total control over the people and all issues of the nation by
totalitarianism. The economic system is
only in the interest of the state, creating an elite class and therefore
oppressing the lower classes who are made to believe in the nation while its
there blood and sweat that produces for the government, and if they do not they are violently
forced. The only reason this type of
government emerges is because it appears as a solution to economic crisis in
time of despair and gets support from the powerful upper class which benefit
from it, the lower class are oppressed.
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6
Works consulted
Aston, E.B "The Fascist and his State of
Mind". New York: William Morrow and
Co., 1937 ed.
Cohen, Carl "Communism Fascism and
Democracy". New York:Random House,
1963.
De Felice, Renzo "Interpretations of Fascism". Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1977.
Ebenstein, Alan
O. "Today's Isms" New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, 1985
"The Fascist Beast" Economist, Apr 9' 1994.
Groth, Alexander.
J "Major Ideologies: An Interpretation Survey of Democracy, Socialism
and Nationalism". Toronto: John
Willy and sons INC., 1971.
Kolinsky, Martin "Social and Political Movements In
Western Europe". London: Croom
Helm, 1976.
"The
Comparison from the Existence of Communism to the Community of Existence"
Political Theory, August 19995.
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