Rise of Fascism

I. Failure of Socialist Revolutions

A. Reliance upon Gradualist Tactics

1. Parliamentary Solutions--because the socialist political parties became vested in the bourgeois political process, they saw this “gradualist” means of rectifying and reforming capitalism as preferable to the dangers of Marxist revolution.

a) Not everyone who viewed themselves as socialists also viewed themselves as adherents to Marxism, believing in the inevitability of the proletarian revolution.

b) This reliance upon the political solution left these social democrats susceptible to attacks not only from the left, however, but also from the right--and those on the right would prove just as impatient with the pace of change as those on the left.

c) The gradualists used revolutionary rhetoric, because they felt it was what the people wanted to hear; but in political action they attempted to stay “in the middle of the road,” veering neither to far left nor right; they attempted what political scientists would term today “triangulation.” tacking to what they believed were the popular positions on a variety of tactics.


2. Problems of the postwar period--these problems were most severe in Germany, which in the early 1920s had runaway inflation reaching Zimbabwean proportions; storied were told of people bringing money in wheelbarrows to pay for the day’s loaf of bread. But even the victors experienced social dislocation.

)a) Worker militancy before the war--workers and their unions in the period just before the outbreak of hostilities were beginning to flex their muscles and contest the status quo; workers went on strike in a variety of countries and a variety of industries during this time period.

b) Sacrifices during the war--for most of the countries in Europe, the war was a time of sacrifice and privation--but these sacrifices were not shared equally by the entire population. This situation added to the class resentment that added to the feelings that European societies, as they were then constituted, were unjust and need to be changed.


3. The Failure of Gradualism--while people might have been satisfied with a gradual change in the way European societies were structured before the war, the crisis in confidence of governments throughout the region because of the horrendous cost of the war contributed to feelings that government could no longer be trusted to make the necessary changes.

B. The Socialist Split--Harman claims that there were three factors that weakened socialism as a result of the war.

1. Social Democrats--put nationalism before class solidarity. Some of these people would eventually drift into fascism; the most prominent name to do so was Benito Mussolini, who left the Italian Socialist party--where he served as editor of the party newspaper--to found fascism in Italy.

2. Revolutionary Socialists--willing to stand and fight in the streets for the socialist revolution. Many revolutionary socialist were Marxists--they believed that the proletarian revolution was the next logical step in the evolution of society. Many of these people (or, at least, the ones that survived) moved into the various communist parties. As the Russian Revolution continued to be threatened, these people continued to support it. After Lenin died, and Stalin won the power struggle with Trotsky over who would succeed Lenin, the communists supported the idea of protecting “socialism in one country,” and many willing followed the dictates of Stalin to protect the Soviet Union.

3. Independent Socialists--vacillated between the Social Democrat position and the Revolutionary Socialist position.

II. Fascism

A. Definition: 1: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition; 2: a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary).

1. Historical use--this term has become a contested political epitaph, and has lost some of its original meaning. Historically speaking, however, it has stood in counterpoise to its opposing political system, socialism/communism. Historically, the term has been used to describe some political philosophies on the right.

a) During the 1960s, it was used by members of the left as a term of disdain for many of the ideas they disagreed with on the right; it was politically potent because the best known fascist politician was Adolph Hitler. It was often coupled with the word “pig” to goad police into doing something unprofessional, as in “fascist pig!”


b) The political right in this country has spent part of this decade pushing back against this trend, accusing liberals of being fascist; this has further muddied the concept.

2. The Connection between Fascism and Socialism--despite the seeming connection--Mussolini was a socialist, Hitler called his political party the National Socialists--the two political systems are diametrically opposed to one another, and should not be confused; one cannot be a socialist and a fascist.

a) Socialism is internationalist in its outlook--it views the divisions among humans to be along class lines, rather than along ethnic or national background. Socialism also has a strong economic component--that the workers should control the means of production. It is primarily an economic/political movement.

b) Fascism emphasizes nationalism to the point of being jingoistic (extreme chauvinism or nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy). Economics is an afterthought for most fascists; the economics component mostly has to do with ensuring that order is maintained, so unions are usually made illegal. Fascism is largely a social/political movement

B. The Rise of Mussolini and Fascism

1. Root of the term--from the Latin word Fasces, which means the binding together. It was used in iconography to symbolize the binding together of a nation (see the 1916 US dime). For Italian fascists, using the iconography of ancient Rome was a way to harken back to this supposed glorious period of Italian history, and to tie their efforts in modern Italy to that period.


2. Mussolini left Socialist Party--Mussolini left the Socialist Party over his avid support for Italy’s entry into World War I. He was well known politically, but had little political popularity, except for other disillusioned socialists and some militarists who were disappointed over Italy’s being denied land from Austria and along the Dalmatian (Yugoslav) coast.


3. Occupation of factories in Rome and Turin--by 1920, economic conditions in Italy were worsening; harvest levels for both wheat and corn fell to approximately half of their war time highs. Approximately 500,000 workers occupied factories around the country, most prominently in the industrial center of Turin. The leaders of the unions, however, felt that the time was not right for a socialist revolution--or even hard bargaining with capitalists--and essentially bargained workers back into the factories with little change.



4. Mussolini mobilizes former soldiers--Mussolini mobilized many former soldiers concerned about the apparent power of “reds” in the factories into a paramilitary organization known as the “Blackshirts” for the color shirt they wore at rallies and mobilizations. With the collaboration of local police and the army, groups of Blackshirts began assaulting socialists, destroying their meeting places, forcing them to drink castor oil.

a) Because their assaults were against socialists, they had the tacit support of industrialists and the bourgeois, interested in keeping the workers under control.

b) Mussolini even gets the government to pay members to assault socialists, thereby making his organization even more attractive to unemployed or underemployed soldiers.

c) Blackshirts usually behaved like bullies, only fighting when they badly outnumbered opponents


5. The March on Rome (1922)--the Italian prime minister, trying to control this growing political movement, offered Mussolini a place in his government; Mussolini instead that he be made prime minister. The king acquiesced to this request.

C. Il Duce--despite his distaste of parliamentary democracy, Mussolini spent the next two years running the government as prime minister--although his Blackshirts came in handy to keep order.

1. Imprisonment of opposition--during the early years of the regime


2. Assassination of Matteoti--Mussolini’s henchmen kidnapped and murdered a socialist member of parliament, Matteoti, who had the audacity to stand up in front of the body and denounce the actions of the government. Mussolini declared the end of democracy in Italy, and himself at “the Leader”--and the king and army let him do so.