Fascism: outline/objectives Enlightenment thought Counter-Enlightenment Counter-Enlightenment and Fascism Fascism – Italian and German Fascism and freedom Fascism and democracy Fascism as ideology

Fascism defined

More negative than positive What it is against, opposed to Reactionary ideology

Reaction against other ideologies Eighteenth-century Enlightenment Liberalism and Socialism (Enlightenment

ideologies)

Enlightenment thought

Humanism – humans source and measure of value; human life valuable in and of itself Kant – sovereign "kingdom of ends"; unjust to use another human

being as means to one’s own end or goal

Rationalism – humans are rational; reason (especially scientific inquiry) will solve mysteries, reveal solutions to problems

Secularism – religion not absolute, unquestionable truth; where science and scripture conflict, science trumps

Progressivism – history story of progress and improvement (perhaps even inevitable improvement) in human condition

Universalism – single, unified, universal human nature binds whole human race together, despite differences of race, color, or religious creed; human beings equal, share same essential nature

Origins of Fascism

18th and 19th Counter-Enlightenment Reactionary intellectual current

linguist Herder royalists de Maistre and Bonald libertine and pornographer, Marquis de

Sade racial theorist, Arthur Gobineau

According to Keynes, these “intellectual scribblers” supplied themes for 20th Century fascists

Contrary to Humanism

Differences – sex, race, language, culture, creed, and nationality – run very deep

Define who and what people are, how they think of themselves, of other people, and interrelationships

Contrary to Kant, people do treat one another as means to their own ends

Contrary to Rationalism

Prevalence of superstition, irrational prejudice shows reason is weak

Most people, most of the time, cherish and cling to unexamined beliefs

Do not want to allow themselves, or anyone else, to examine them closely, much less criticize them

Contrary to Secularism

Religious beliefs are socially necessary and useful

Good that people believe there is heaven to reward good and hell to punish wicked

To question or criticize these beliefs is to endanger social stability

If people came to doubt existence of afterlife, all hell (so to speak) would break loose on earth

Contrary to Progress

Faith in inevitability of progress is misplaced or mistaken

Innate human limitations make substantial progress impossible and illusory

Imperfect human beings live in, and perpetuate, imperfect human practices and institutions

“Progressive” move would be regressive; return to earlier, better, condition than decadent, corrupt, or perverted present

Contrary to Universalism

No universal human nature to transcend and override differences of race, religion, and creed

Differences define who and what we are – Jew or Aryan, Catholic or Protestant, man or woman, master or slave, child or adult, black or white

Our natural predilection is to associate with people like us, and to shun those who are different

Between those who are different in race, religion, language, nationality, etc., conflict is inevitable and cannot be eliminated

Counter-Enlightenment and Fascism Taken together, Counter-Enlightenment

ideas form backdrop for 20th Century Fascism

Italian Fascism (Benito Mussolini) reflects all aspects of Counter-Enlightenment Natural for strong to dominate weak, men to

dominate women, superior nations (like Italy) to dominate weak and inferior nations (like Ethiopia)

Other differences – especially class – subordinated to nation

Nation’s embodiment is the state; symbolic/emotional embodiment is all-powerful Duce, or leader Focus of love, loyalty, and authority

Democracy unnatural and unworkable

Fascist freedom (Italian) Agent = nation Goal = national power and glory

Unquestioning loyalty of citizens; nation's power over other nations

Obstacles = Enlightenment ideas – especially liberal notions of individual “rights” against the state and Marxists notions of divisive class struggles Not overcome by rational debate or

“parliamentary bickering” Overcome by sheer force and powerful

propaganda, which appeals to people's patriotism and love of country

Force supplied by Black Shirts and propaganda by state ministry of propaganda

Italian Fascism

Mussolini believed Italians had deep-seated need to believe in and to follow all-knowing and all-powerful leader

Innate “will to believe” once vested in God and religion

Now more likely to be directed toward political leaders like himself

History is story of a few Great Men – Alexander the Great, Caesar, Napoleon, and now Mussolini – able to mobilize myths and tap sentiments which inspire and motivate particular peoples in particular times and places

German Fascism

Adolf Hitler believed Fuhrerprinzip (leadership principle) bound masses to all-knowing leader

Became obedient body, and he the head and heart

Just as body follows head and heeds the heart, so must people or Volk follow their Fuhrer blindly, unquestioningly, obediently

Democracy is dangerous delusion Fuhrer thinks and acts as Volk would if they

were racially pure, free of “foreign” ideas and ideals, and bent on realizing innate racial destiny

Volk need Fuhrer to represent and act on behalf of their racially higher selves

Nazi freedom

Agent = Volk, essence/spirit represented by Fuhrer Goal = Volk to realize its destiny; volkish or racial

purity and supremacy Aryan Volk – blond, blue-eyed Teutons of Germany,

northern Europe destined (if they have the “will”) to dominate other, lesser peoples or races – particularly Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, and other “inferior” races or nationalities

Obstacles = Jews and other “inferior” peoples; “Jewish” ideas about equality “Jewish” ideas include Liberalism and Marxism,

Enlightenment ideas “Soft” ideas about equality, humanity obstacles to Aryans

bent on destroying enemies of racial purity Hitler and Nazis used propaganda to deadly effect Ideas led to burning of books; burning of temples and

synagogues; arrests and deportations; and, finally, burning of people by the millions

Death of Fascism?

Hitler and Mussolini are dead Legacy lives on in various white

supremacist and anti-Semitic groups in U.S. Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nation, gangs of

“Skinheads,” and Neo-Nazi militia groups Some are inspired by The Turner Diaries,

chilling fictional portrait of white supremacist revolution that produces racially “pure” America

Fascism hardly relic of bygone era; still with us, unfortunately

Key terms

Fascism Reactionary ideology Enlightenment Counter-Enlightenment Nationalism Elitism Irrationalism Italian fascism German fascism Fascism as ideology Fascism and democracy

Discussion questions

1. What are the main features of Enlightenment thought?

2. What are the main features of the Counter-Enlightenment?

3. What is the connection between the Counter-Enlightenment and the several varieties or variants of twentieth-century fascism?

4. What are the main tenets of fascism as found in the Italian and German variants?

5. What is the view of human nature and freedom found in the several variants of fascism?

6. What is the fascist conception of, and attitude toward, democracy?

7. How does Fascism operate as an ideology? (explanation, evaluation, orientation, program)