Literature Review
1. Walter laquer in his book “Fascism” discusses fascism and defines it clearly. In his book he described what sociology is and how it worked during that time. It talks about its poetical and social views. It gives information on Mussolini in an objective format and describes fascism’s gain in popularity and power. It mainly concentrates on what fascism is and how to define it. It talks about the good points of it and the high ideals that it first had before it became a corrupt quest for power over the people it was supposed to help. It also tells how it was supposed to make all workers equal and how it went wrong by corrupt officials.
2. Eco Umberto in his article shows today’s fascism or “Ur-Fascism” in many ways. It offers many new ideas about fascism and how it is tied to nationalism and selective populism. It offers deeper meaning in explaining fascism other than simple “contempt for others”. This site shows that fascism is faceted so that it has many different levels of oppression. It helps to understand why fascism is so object able. It also has links to other fascism sites.
3. Samuel William Halperin
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Wilhelm Reich in his book “The Mass Psychology of Fascism” described that Fascism appealed to the large “masses” of the poor and working class in the early to mid-twentieth century. They enjoyed the ideals becoming equal and the elimination of unemployment by the use of government work camps, and the idea that “their” ethnic group was the best and that all others were inferior. Also the public was brainwashed by the elimination of all other political parties. Education was also changed to favor fascism by censoring in schools and widespread propaganda. It also talks about how fascism was easily accepted by the Germans. The Germans already had a high sense of nationality and morality. Fascism took many of the basic beliefs that were held by the Germans and Italians and used them to bring popularity to the Fascist
To understand Fascism better, it is basically a spiritual attitude. It sees not only the individual but also the nation and
While both Italian and German fascism in the interwar years were very similar, they were ultimately more different due to their political ideologies, foreign policies and the structure of their respective parties. Fascism, while not having a concrete definition can be defined by multiple attributes. Fascism usually consist of a ultra right wing, oppressive and authoritarian government that places a heavy emphasis on national identity. As such, fascist governments promote violence and the expansion through wars with the intent of imperialism.
During the Second World War, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was the leader of the Italian Nationalist Fascist government. He was head of the Italian government from 1922 till 1943. The significance of Mussolini is that he played a key role acting as the Italian Prime Minister and established a totalitarian regime, during this time, as the unchallenged supreme leader, known as ‘Il Duce’. Fascism consisted of many contributors of which Mussolini with all his quirks was the key to most of its failures and successes, making him the most significant player that is worthy of being investigated. This topic is worthy of being investigated as Mussolini made a lot of decisions that lead to the death of many, but the question as to
Italian Fascism is an authoritarian and nationalistic system of government and social organization, it was the political result of the relationship between socialist and nationalist rhetoric. It is a form of governance which employs intolerant views and practices, advocating traditionalism, interventionism and sameness rather than individualism. In order to promote their totalitarian ideals during the 1930s to 1945 fascist politicians such as Benito Mussolini, who had previously been a socialist newspaper editor, employed propaganda that included virtually all modes of media: the press, posters and film. The widespread dissemination of totalitarian ideals infiltrated into the school system where young Italians born from 1910 to 1935 were taught to “obey and fight.” The purpose of this paper is to analyse the diffusion of the Italian Identity through fascist propaganda from 1922-1943 and the identity that was diffused as a result of the exploitation of Mussolini’s various propaganda mediums. Did fascist propaganda contribute to the diffusion of an Italian identity? If so, what identity was diffused?
Q6. Fascism began to rise after the fallout of World War I, this new militant political movement attracted many people who had felt angry or frustrated with the war. As you can imagine, during this time millions of people were unhappy with the turnout of World War I, many countries were on the edge of their breaking points. Countries were trying to return to the previous normal they obtained before the world had fallen into a deadly and pointless war. People were full of spitefulness and anger and they wanted answers; henceforth, the popular idea of fascism was created. Fascism was a political movement that promotes an extreme form of nationalism and militarism, the movement also relied heavily on the loyalty to the state and their one strong
Furthermore, people turned to fascism because of the Great Depression which cost many jobs and promise of a brighter future. Document A tells us that their economy fell pretty badly. It led to massive unemployment rates. There was not enough support for society because many nations were financially insecure due to the war. Fascist leaders painted a brighter picture of a booming economy and jobs to these people. The fascist leaders were able to pinpoint the supposed problems of the nations that caused them to decline. In document f, Hitler says that the Weimar Republic’s policies are to blame and the ideas that were spreading. Fascist leaders used the economic decline to their advantage by including it in their platform that they will work to bring jobs to everybody. In turn, Germany turned to fascism because they thought electing a fascist
The consolidation of fascist power in Italy in the years 1922-1929 was mainly due to the use of force and intimidation, because from all his steps to
Fascism is a 20th century form of nationalistic, militaristic, totalitarian dictatorship that seeks to create a feasible society through strict regimentation of national and individual lives. Total subordination to the service of the state and unquestioning loyalty to its leader would adjust conflicting interests. It is a modern political ideology that looks to regenerate the social, economic, and cultural life of a country by basing it on a heightened sense of national belonging of ethnic identity. Fascism rejects liberal ideas of freedom and individual rights, it often presses for the destruction of elections, legislatures and other elements of democracy. Despite fascism’s idealistic goals, attempts to build fascist
Benito Mussolini and his creation of Fascism was the glue that held Italy together. Fascism promised national unity and condemned the Socialist party. To understand how Fascism became powerful within Italy, it is imperative to acknowledge the driving force behind this regime. To put it bluntly, violence played an essential role in the development of the Fascist party. Mussolini’s practice of fierceness was able to create a formidable system of government that did not tolerate weakness. In 1919, Benito Mussolini give an Afternoon speech, where he stressed the difference between Socialism and Fascism. Here, he states, “We declare war, against socialism, not because it is socialism, but because it opposes nationalism” (Stone 2013, 38).
Benito Mussolini outlines several essential characteristics of his preferred political ideology, Fascism, in what has become known as the Doctrine of Fascism. In this paper, Mussolini outlines his vision of the ideology, and explains the major issues that Fascism will address once it becomes the leading political system in Italy. Mussolini’s major points as outlined in the Doctrine included an extreme emphasis on nationalism, organization and modernization of the state, persistent focus on religion, life as a struggle, and the notion that individuals exist only for the improvement of society as a whole. Wolfgang Schieder, after reviewing the Doctrine of Fascism, explains Mussolini’s success based on it and
Because fascism has been practiced in a variety of locations, at differing points in history, with no specific guidelines, every seemingly practical definition of fascism is simply too limiting to serve as a proper definition. Furthermore, to speak of fascism in generalizations prohibits one from truly understanding the completely confused concept. To avoid such generalizations, one must look at fascism as it was found in specific examples. Such examples include, Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany. Although these two instances are not all encompassing of the ideology, they exhibit fascism to the greatest proportions. Additionally, these instances allow one to get a vivid and practical notion to what fascism truly is.
The state of Mussolini’s Fascist Italy and Hitler’s Nazi Germany, can be highly comparable in their policies and ideologies. Fascism is a political ideology, in which the country is to be racially and culturally pure. Mussolini said himself that “Fascism desires the state to be strong and organic and to always be prepared for conflict”. Fascism includes things such as nationalism, hostility to democracy, racism, the love of symbols such as uniforms, parades and army discipline. It is a totalitarian philosophy which worships the state and nation. Fascism is an extreme right-wing that celebrates the nation or race as a pure community which exceeds all other loyalties and expectations (Downing, 2001). Most of the time it celebrates masculinity and male supremacy, rarely it will promote female solidarity (De Grand, 1995). Fascist aims are to prepare for conflict and violence and to prepare and educate the youth. Both were able to gain support from military associations,
The ideology of Fascism has been identified with totalitarianism, state terror, arranged violence, and blind obedience. Adolf Hitler established his own personal ideology of fascism while he was in prison and not yet in power. Mussolini fashioned his ideology after he took control of Italy. Despite their two different angles on the use of fascism, Hitler and Mussolini both worked similarly on how they would establish their principles in the same basic manner. Their principles came from basic responses to various issues that other leaders faced.
The Fascists’ social and economic policies up to 1939 significantly aided their control over Italy yet may not be cited as the sole cause. The Fascist party’s social and economic policies along with other factors attributed to the overall control of Italy. Through such policies it was a certainty that the Fascist party would hold complete power over the population of Italy in each aspect of an individual’s life whether it was their leisure time through the Dopolavoro or at work under the corporate state system which was formally introduced in 1934. This complete domination of the Italian peoples’ lives could be argued to have been the instrumental factor behind the Fascists’ control over Italy up to 1939. Other factors which assisted the
As a result of how Italy was created but not fully unified, the new Italian state suffered from a variety of weaknesses which the new liberal state was unable to tackle these. This made Italy susceptible to the appeal of fascism, and therefore aided Mussolini’s rise to power.