What is fascism? This is the collective name of ideologies, extreme right political currents and the principle of dictatorial type of government that corresponds to them. Fascism, as defined above, is characterized by chauvinism, xenophobia, mystical leaderism, anti-communism, militaristic nationalism, contempt for liberalism and electoral democracy, belief in a natural social hierarchy and the rule of the elite, statism, and in some cases genocide.
Etymology, definition of the concept
The word "fascism" in translation from Italian "fascio" means "union". For example, the political party of B. Mussolini, distinguished by its radical views, was called the "Union of Struggle" (Fascio di combattimento). The word "fascio", in turn, comes from the Latin "fascis", which translates as "bundle" or "bundle". In ancient times, it was used to designate a symbol of the power of a magistrate - a fascia (a bundle of rods with an ax stuck in it), which was characteristic sign lictors - the guard of honor of the highest magistrates of the Romans. At the same time, the fascia gave its owner the right to use force on behalf of the entire people, and even carry out the death penalty. The image of a bunch of rods with an ax can now be seen even on the emblem belonging to the Federal Bailiff Service of the Russian Federation. In addition, fascias are present in the symbols of power in many states of the world.
What is fascism in the narrow historical sense? This is a mass movement of a political nature. It existed in the 1920s - 1940s. In what country did fascism originate? In Italy.
With regard to world historiography, fascism is also understood as ultra-right political trends in third world countries, the Portuguese regime of the New State, Francoism.
What is fascism, if we consider this phenomenon through the prism of the historiography of the CIS countries, the Russian Federation and the USSR? In addition to all of the above, it is also German National Socialism.
Currently, there are at least four directions of interpretation of the phenomenon under consideration:
Standard Soviet definition;
Fascism as a Western form of extremism;
The interpretation of the term, including the widest range of nationalist and authoritarian trends;
Definition of fascism as right-wing conservative revolutionism.
In addition, fascism, the definition of which we consider in detail, is interpreted by some authors as a pathological deviation in the individual and / or public consciousness, which has psychophysiological roots.
As the American philosopher Hana Arendt noted, the main sign of this phenomenon should be considered the formation of a cult of hatred for an external or internal enemy, fueled by a powerful propaganda machine, if necessary resorting to lies in order to ensure the desired effect.
Character traits
Under the fascist regime, there is a strengthening of the regulatory functions of the state, not only in the economy, but also in ideology. At the same time, the ruling elite actively creates a system of public associations and mass organizations, initiates violent methods of suppressing dissent, and does not accept the principles of political and economic liberalism. The main features of fascism are as follows:
Statism;
Nationalism;
Traditionalism;
Extremism;
Militarism;
Corporatism;
anti-communism;
anti-liberalism;
Some features of populism.
Often leaderism;
Statements that the main support is the broad masses of the people who do not belong to the ruling class.
I. V. Mazurov expressed his thoughts about what fascism is. He noted the following: it is wrong to compare this phenomenon with authoritarianism, since it is exclusively totalitarianism.
origins
In which country did fascism originate? In Italy. The course for an authoritarian nationalist policy was taken in 1922 by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini. He was the son of a blacksmith, a former socialist, who bore the official title "Duce" (translated from Italian as "leader"). Mussolini remained in power until 1943. All this time the dictator put his nationalistic ideas into practice.
In 1932, he first published The Doctrine of Fascism. It could be read in the fourteenth volume of Enciclopedia Italiana di scienze, lettere ed arti. The doctrine served as an introduction to an article entitled "Fascism". In his work, Mussolini reported disappointment in past courses, including in socialism (despite the fact that he was an active supporter of it for a long period). The dictator called for the search for new ideas, convincing everyone that if the nineteenth century was a period of individualism, then the twentieth will be the era of collectivism, and therefore the state.
Mussolini tried for a long time to derive a recipe for popular happiness. In the process, he formulated the following provisions:
Fascist ideas about the state are all-encompassing. Outside this current, there simply are no human or spiritual values. Fascism interprets, develops and directs all human activity.
It is not worth discounting the reasons for the emergence and development of the trade union movement and socialism. A certain importance should be attached to the corporate structure of the state, in which the current government is responsible for coordinating and harmonizing diverging interests.
Fascism is the absolute opposite of liberalism in both economics and politics.
The state must manage all areas of the life of the people through corporate, social and educational institutions.
Fascism is unacceptable in Russia. That is why in June 2010 the specified work of Mussolini was recognized as extremist. An appropriate decision was made in the Kirovsky District Court of Ufa about this.
Features of ideology
In which country did fascism originate? In Italy. It was there that the ideas about the denial of democratic values, about the superiority of one nation over all the others, about the establishment of the cult of the leader, about the justification of terror and violence in order to suppress dissidents, and also about the fact that war is a normal means of resolving interstate disputes, were first voiced. Nazism and fascism go hand in hand in this regard. The former is only one of many varieties of the latter.
National Socialism (Nazism) is the official political ideology of the Third Reich. Her idea was to idealize the Aryan race. For this, elements of social democracy, racism, anti-Semitism, chauvinism, social Darwinism, the principles of "racial hygiene" and the principles of democratic socialism were used.
Nazism and fascism were based on the theory of racial hygiene. According to it, people were divided into representatives of the so-called superior race and inferior elements. The need to make an appropriate selection was proclaimed. The ideology of fascism cultivated the idea that the existence of true Aryans must be supported by all means. At the same time, the reproduction of all unwanted people had to be prevented. According to fascist principles, people suffering from epilepsy, alcoholism, dementia and hereditary diseases were subjected to mandatory forced sterilization.
The idea of expanding the "living space" was especially widespread. They were realized through military expansion.
Germany
The organizational base of the first fascist party was formed in 1921. It was based on the "Fuhrer-principle", which assumed the unlimited power of the leader. The main goals of the formation of this party were the following: the maximum spread of fascist ideology, the preparation of a special terrorist apparatus capable of suppressing the forces of democrats and anti-fascists, and, of course, the subsequent seizure of power.
Fascism in Germany in 1923 moved to a new level. Adherents of the ideology under consideration made the first direct attempt to seize state power. This event is known in history as the "Beer Putsch". Then the plans of the Nazis failed. For this reason, the tactics of the struggle for power were adjusted. In 1925, the so-called battle for the Reichstag began and the mass base of the fascist party was formed. Three years later, the changed tactics brought the first serious results. The result of the work was the receipt of twelve seats in the Reichstag. And in 1932, the fascist party was in the absolute majority in terms of the number of mandates.
On January 30, 1933, the history of fascism was replenished with another important fact: Adolf Hitler was entrusted with the post of Reich Chancellor of the country. He came to power in the status of head of the coalition government. Hitler was supported by various sections of society. He managed to build the broadest social base thanks to those people who, after the defeat of Germany in the war, simply left the ground from under their feet. The huge aggressive crowd felt cheated. Along with the property, the majority of the population of the country lost their life prospects. In such a situation, Hitler skillfully took advantage of the psychological and political disorder of the people. He promised various social strata exactly what they most needed at that time: workers - employment and bread, monarchists - the restoration of the desired way of life, industrialists - enough military orders, the Reichswehr - strengthening positions in connection with updated military plans. The inhabitants of the country much more liked the nationalist appeals of the Nazis, and not the social democratic or communist slogans.
When German fascism began to dominate the country, there was not just a change of cabinet. All institutions of the state of the bourgeois-parliamentary type, as well as all democratic achievements, began to systematically collapse. A terrorist anti-people regime began to be built. At first, anti-fascist demonstrations were actively held, but they were quickly suppressed.
The movement in question reached its apogee during the Second World War. During that period, eleven million people objectionable to the regime were killed in fascist camps. Soviet Union play a leading role in the destruction of the cruel system.
The liberation of Europe from fascism
In order to throw off Nazi bonds from the occupied states, in 1944 and 1945 the Soviet armed forces successfully carried out several major strategic offensive operations. Troops from eleven fronts took direct part in them. In addition, four fleets, fifty combined arms, six tank and thirteen air armies were involved. No lesser contribution was made by three armies and one air defense front. The number of fighters involved reached 6.7 million people. In the same period, anti-fascist national movements were strengthening, not only in the occupied countries, but even in Germany.
Finally, the long-awaited second front opened on European territory. The Nazis, squeezed in the vise of active hostilities, were rapidly losing strength for further resistance. However, the main part of the shock troops was still concentrated on the line of the Soviet-German front, which was the main one. From August 1944 to May 1945, the largest offensive operations. They played a decisive role in the liberation of European states from fascist invaders. As a result, the Soviet army partially or completely cleared the territory of ten countries in Europe and two in Asia from the enemy. Two hundred million people, including Bulgarians, Romanians, Hungarians, Poles, Yugoslavs, Czechoslovaks, Austrians, Danes, Germans, Koreans and Chinese, got rid of the enemy.
Millions of people fought and gave their lives so that the propaganda of fascism would never again sound from the stands, in order to wipe out the remnants of a bloody dictatorship, misanthropic ideology, Nazism and racism from the face of the earth. This goal was achieved in 1945.
Millions dead
Every year on the second Sunday of September, the Russian Federation celebrates the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Fascism. In most countries of the world, those who died at the hands of bloody ideologists are honored. This day was established in 1962. The main goal with which the victims of fascism are regularly remembered is to prevent the re-spread of fascist or other misanthropic ideas.
The current state of affairs
It is believed that fascism is reincarnated today in some Western states. This is explained by the need of large capitals to obtain inexpensive labor and new raw materials through the seizure of Western European territories. In this regard, the ruling coalitions of both the States and the European Union do not prevent the revival of fascist traditions that bear hatred for the Russian world.
It is noteworthy that the ambiguity in the discussion of the phenomenon under consideration is still observed. The concept of fascism is recognized as one of the key in the twentieth century. It has its own history and, undoubtedly, influenced the course of modern history.
If we take into account the multitude of fascist movements and regimes, the predominance of the assertion that there is no single theory about the emergence of this direction becomes clear. To clearly define the phenomenon under study, we outline the main features of fascism: it is an ideology based on chauvinist, anti-socialist, anti-liberal and conservative views. Occult, mythological anti-Semitic and romantic ideas, coupled with elements of militant political culture, are of particular importance. Fertile ground for the emergence of fascist parties are capitalist systems and societies that are in the so-called transitional stage. At the same time, such trends do not develop within the limits of socialism.
The study of fascism in its classical sense has now reached a phase of balance, synthesis and systematization. However, this cannot be said about the studies of modern trends - right-wing extremism and fascism. The process is significantly complicated by complete chaos in the subject distinction and terminology. At the same time, a variety of concepts are used, including neo-Nazism, neo-fascism, right-wing populism, extremism ...
Past and present
What is the difference between the views of classical fascists and modern European far right? Let's try to answer this difficult question. So, fascism is characterized by an authoritarian nationalism that stands up for the protection of the corporate-estate version of petty-bourgeois capitalism. He controls the militarist party and the armed units. An invariable attribute is a charismatic leader. As for the current ultra-right, they sharply criticize cosmopolitanism and talk about the decline of modern society, they also do not allow mixing of races and peoples, they cultivate the myth of the enlightenment tradition. The basic ideological samples presented above are generously flavored with local prejudices and coloring.
Fascism is still unreasonably dangerous for a civilized society. Despite the fact that it was originally an Italian-German-Japanese project, many other states were infected with similar ideas. Information about the Second World War eloquently confirms this.
As we well know from school history books, the Germans are responsible for the extermination of six million Jewish people. Other peoples also suffered, but they are usually remembered less often. At the same time, society is not sufficiently informed that representatives of some nations, inspired by bloody ideas, not only helped the fascists realize their terrible mission, but also achieved their own gloomy political goals under their protection. Not everyone today can openly say that a certain part of Ukrainians, Latvians, Hungarians, Estonians, Lithuanians, Croats and Romanians were directly involved in the most cruel atrocities. To confirm this fact, it is enough to turn to history. Thus, for Croats, fascism became a widely supported national idea and the basis for the formation of a political course. The same can be said about Estonians.
It is an indisputable fact that the Holocaust would not have been realized without Hitler, Himmler and some other Germans. Nevertheless, according to the Hamburg historian M. Wild, they would not have been able to destroy a great many European Jews on their own. To this end, they undoubtedly received serious assistance from outside.
USA left out
Fascism in Russia is an unambiguously negative phenomenon. He is being fought at different levels. However, not all players in the world political arena support the desire to eradicate bloody ideas.
On December 23, 2010, the plenipotentiaries of the Russian Federation presented the Resolution in the UN General Assembly. This document called for a fight against the glorification of fascism. The resolution was supported by 129 countries. And only America opposed its signing. There were no comments from the media and US officials on this matter.
Conclusion
In the above article, we answered the question of which country fascism originated in. In addition, the characteristic features of this phenomenon, the features of ideology and the consequences of the influence of misanthropic ideas on the course of world history were considered.
After the Second World War died down, such a word as "fascism" acquired an unambiguously negative meaning, and now this term is being abused a lot, calling political opponents that way and labeling them. On the other hand, such a vague definition of this is certainly terrible phenomenon allows the revival of ultra-right parties, which, however, do not call themselves that, although in their doctrine they are very close to fascism or contain some elements of this ideology. But is it so easy to clearly define fascism and define the boundaries of this term?
Classical fascism, that is, in the narrow historical significance of this word, in 1922 became dominant in Italy after the famous "March on Rome" of the Blackshirts The name "fascism" has Italian roots, coming from the word "fascio" (fascio), that is, a corporation, a union. And the organization headed by Mussolini was called the Union of Struggle (Fascio di combattimento). Fascio, in turn, is associated with the Latin fascis (bundle, bundle) - this was the name of the honorary weapon of lictors, guards. By the way, fascias are still present in the symbols of state power in some countries (for example, in the emblem of the Russian Federal Bailiff Service). But symbols are symbols, and the swastika of the German Nazis is now considered to be the symbol of this movement. But fascism, and what are the main features of this ideology?
The Blackshirt movement can be described as definitely authoritarian, nationalistic, and also using extreme violence as a common form of political struggle. But, for example, anti-Semitism and racism in Italian fascism were not at the forefront of their ideology, as was the case with the German Nazis. However, since the Italian fascists had a clear ultra-right orientation, the parties of the left considered it necessary to stigmatize this sometimes by going too far and calling their opponents that way, even competitors from the left camp, for example, some communists called the social democrats "social fascists". The classic “left” definition of what fascism is was given by Georgy Dimitrov at the 7th Congress of the Comintern: “... this is a terrorist dictatorship of the reactionary structures of financial capital ... In foreign policy fascism is chauvinism in its crudest form, which cultivates a guttural hatred of other peoples.”
However, this definition does not quite clearly distinguish the features of the ideology of this movement, which prevents us from clearly characterizing what fascism is. modern science tried to make up for this shortcoming and compiled a list of features, the presence of which in the program or ideology of the party allows us to call it fascist. These are ardent anti-communism, radical nationalism and even extremism, militarism, traditionalism, leaderism, statism, exaltation of the “titular nation” and open discrimination against national minorities, elements of populism and declaring protection to the general population (however, many parties sin with this). But the main distinguishing feature of the fascist party that came to power is totalitarianism, that is, the total control of the state, penetrating into all spheres of human life.
However, even such a definition of the features of fascism makes it possible to call many nationalist parties and regimes with this word (for example, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan) and even brings into the arena such a term as Jewish fascism, applying it to the openly discriminatory policy of the State of Israel.
To understand (define) what fascism is, it helps to study such related movements, which arose approximately at the same time with the Italian classical type, with which Mussilini collaborated or which set the Blackshirt movement as a model of their own struggle. In Germany it was National Socialism (or Nazism), in Spain it was Falangism and Francoism, in Portugal it was the New State, in Hungary it was Arrow Cross, in Romania it was the Iron Guard, in Brazil it was integralism (although in its ideology there was no racism), Bulgarian, Austrian, Japanese and Belgian variants of fascism.
from ital. fascismo from - bundle, bundle, union) - eng. fascism; German Fascismus. The form of movements and political dictatorship, characterized by violence against the masses through a comprehensive gosud.-polit. a machine that includes a system of mass organizations and an extensive apparatus of ideological influence, supplemented by a system of mass terror, widely using pseudo-revolutionary and National Socialist slogans and forms of organizing the masses to mask total violence.
Great Definition
Incomplete definition ↓
FASCISM
fascism) is a political ideology that prevailed in the parties and movements that arose in Europe between the two world wars, which formed the basis of the extremely nationalist governments of Italy in 1922-1943. and Germany in 1933-1945. and continued by parties in many countries, starting from the 40s. Unlike other political ideologies of the 20th century, fascism has no major systematic intellectual work on political philosophy, for anti-intellectualism is constituent element his ideology. Therefore, the principles of fascism have not received a clear outline. However, the Fascists favored determinism or materialism, leading to the notion that the human will, in particular exercised by a strong leader, is designed to overcome structural obstacles and make the impossible possible. This idea has a generic resemblance to the philosophical works of Friedrich Nietzsche, from which the German fascists proceeded. In addition, fascism is characterized by the following main features: an extremely racist nationalism associated with territorial expansion; vicious anti-communism combined with intolerance towards most other political ideologies and independent working class organizations; the open use and glorification of physical violence and terror against these groups; reliance on a relatively mass party organized around a powerful leadership, occupying most areas of civilian life after coming to power and dependent on continuous mass mobilization to maintain support for the leadership; the glorification of militarism, the cult of supposed male virtues, the attitude towards a woman mainly as a mother and assistant to a man; the prevailing support of the middle classes, which constitute the main, although not the only, mass support. The experience of fascism was different. The vicious anti-Semitism of the National Socialist Party of Germany was initially absent from Italy under Mussolini. In post-war Europe, fascist parties were less open to anti-Semitism, and their racism was more often expressed towards people of non-European origin. However, the British fascists in their party documents claim that post-war immigration to England from the Commonwealth of Nations was supported by the Zionists in order to weaken its racial support. So anti-Semitism is a constant feature of fascist organization and thought. Fascism is a specific phenomenon of the 20th century. Unlike previous authoritarian and militaristic governments of the 19th century, it depends on the use of mass party organizations to gain power and keep it in their hands. Biological concepts the races on which it is based were developed only in the second half of the 19th century and were widespread in Europe at the beginning of the next century, for example, in the eugenics movement. Nationalism has also been developed as a basis for political organization and mobilization since the middle of the 19th century. Despite this continuity with other general intellectual and political thought, fascism is often thought of as unique in its power to express racism, nationalism, mass mobilization and expansionism. Explanations for the emergence of fascism remain the subject of extensive discussion on a number of issues: the role of socio-economic factors in connection with the crisis of Western capitalism after the First World War; the specifics of the political situation in Germany and Italy, caused by the relatively recent emergence of national unity and parliamentary democracy in them; general problems of industrial modernization causing social crises at certain transition points, especially from small-scale free-competition capitalism to large-scale and wider industrial capitalism; psychological features fascist leaders and their supporters (see Authoritarian personality). See Kitchen (1976) for a general introduction and Kershaw (1989) for the debate on Germany. See also National Socialism; Holocaust.
The term Fascism, in terms of the number of lies, falsifications and modifications attributed to it, is probably unparalleled. In the short period of the present, several new types of fascism have emerged: neo-fascism, Russian fascism, Islamic fascism, Ziono-fascism and, eventually, Glo-fascism. It has become the most frequently used in modern democratic media, and is almost always unjustified and inappropriate.
The whole gamut of negative activities is attributed to him: aggression, reaction, totalitarianism, violations of human rights, racism, chauvinism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, even the “holocaust” and much more.
Previously, there were publications in which attempts were made to give information about the origin of fascism, but, oddly enough, there was nothing concrete and truthful in them. This will be shown next. Therefore, there was an urgent need for a complete and objective disclosure of the history of origin, ideology and activities of the movement, called "fascism".
So. Fascism originates in Italy, its ancestor, "godfather" was Benito Mussolini.
Mussolini (1883 - 1945) came from a poor family, his mother was a teacher, his father was a blacksmith. From his father, he inherited a socialist orientation. But he did not have a clear class political platform; all the dissatisfied people who wanted to satisfy their ambitions gathered around him.
Mussolini proved to be an outstanding orator and publicist.
In 1904, he began publishing the newspaper La Lotta di Classe (The Class Struggle); in 1912 he became the editor of the Avanti newspaper and began publishing his own magazine, Utopie, but the magazine did not receive wide interest, and the Avanti newspaper became very popular in the country. Mussolini wrote a lot and spoke a lot, this brought him great fame and recognition of the masses.
At this time, Mussolini moved more and more away from socialism, while he claimed that K. Marx had the greatest influence on him. A portrait of Marx always hung on the wall of his offices (he removed it in 1917). The matter ended with the fact that in 1914 he was expelled from the Socialist Party.
The revolutionary processes in Europe that took place in 1917 caused a negative reaction from Mussolini, he spoke negatively about Lenin.
On March 23, 2019, Mussolini organized the first combat organization, the Union of Struggle, and gave it the name "Fashi", which in Russian means: "bundle, bundle of rods", but this was the name of the "dignity of the masters" sign. This factor turned out to be decisive.
The first ideology of fascism was formulated by Giovanni Gentile, Mussolini only put his signature under it.
In 1919, he first took part in parliamentary elections, but did not succeed, in 1921 he re-elected and received 35 mandates.
Subsequent events showed that fascism was not a doctrine, but a method or method of seizing power, it could not be attributed to either the left or right forces, especially to the center, it had no desire for autocracy.
From 1919 to 1922, Mussolini carried out intensive activities to increase the size of the fascist organization.
Mussolini's activities during this period were financed by big capital, presumably Zionist. With these funds, he began to publish the newspaper Popolo de Italia, the public accused him of betrayal.
On October 24, 22, the first congress of the fascist organization took place in Naples at the San Carlo Theater. At the congress, Mussolini put forward the following requirements (basic):
Dissolution of parliament, change electoral system holding new elections;
Obtaining five ministerial portfolios: foreign affairs, military, maritime, labor and public works and aviation commissariat;
It follows from this that the Nazis had no program and class affiliation.
More than 40,000 people took to the streets in support of the congress.
It is known from confidential information that Mussolini received 20 million lire from bankers, probably Zionist, to organize a campaign against Rome.
On October 30, 22, columns of jubilant fascists moved to Rome, without any interference or resistance, they entered Rome. Mussolini went to the Roman railway station as head of the new cabinet.
Once in power, Mussolini retreated from the demands announced in Naples. He did not dissolve parliament, he created a coalition government.
He began his activity with the defeat of liberalism (in culture, politics and administration). Then he proclaimed the construction of a fascist state, where "Everything should be in the state and nothing outside the state." Crushed dissent. Political parties working class: communist, socialist, unitary socialist were pushed to the margins political life. The then fashionable slogan "Freedom, Equality, Fraternity" was replaced by the principle "Order, Hierarchy, Discipline".
Fascism was gone, only Mussolini remained.
Regarding the issues that are currently attributed to fascism, the following should be noted.
The fascist state of Italy and personally Mussolini did not have anti-Semitism, racism, chauvinism, etc., there was no discrimination, persecution, executions, etc.
Mussolini did not recognize the racial theory of Hitler at all (who was not even in power in those years) and frankly laughed at it, believing that pure blood could not be found in those years.
Suffice it to say that during the war in Italy, 7,680 people were repressed. Jewish nationality (and even then not from the hands of Mussolini), in Greece 67,000 people, in France 77,000 people, in Austria 65,439 people.
It is very important to note that neither Mussolini nor his organization was engaged in the spread of fascism in other countries.
As previously noted, Italian fascism had no ideology, no program, that is, there was nothing to pass on to others. However, movements under this name appeared in Spain, Austria, Croatia, Romania, Belgium, France, England and finally in Germany. This is what Zionism did.
All these years, Mussolini was not familiar with Hitler, their first meeting took place only in 1934, when they were already heading the governments in their countries and at the same time remained dissatisfied with each other.
In Germany, the dominant, and then the state, was the ideology of National Socialism. At the third meeting of Hitler and Mussolini in 1938, it was decided “to strengthen the ties between fascism and National Socialism”, to exchange ideologies, no specific and significant agreements, of course, did not have.
In Germany, National Socialism was developing during this period.
In the fundamental program of the SS (Racial Hygiene and Population Policy in National Socialist Germany, published in 1940), there is not a single word about its connection with fascism. Moreover, in this program there is not a single word about a negative attitude towards other peoples, especially about their genocide. In the program, the word "Jew" occurs only once, and then as part of a table of statistical data. This is a very healthy program, it contains thoughtful care for its people, which provides for the introduction of such social and organizational measures aimed at reviving and improving the life of the people, which were not even in the socialist USSR. It is very probable that at the present time there is no such program in any party.
Thus, there was no fascism in Germany in any form, it is prescribed to her by ideological saboteurs. There is information that the Germans were offended when they were called fascists.
The swastika, which is now called fascist, was not such, it was only a symbol of National Socialism. The book by M. Ilyinsky contains 14 photographs of Mussolini, incl. several in military uniform, but not one of them has him with a swastika, currently called fascist. Moreover, Mussolini had his own emblem in the form of a triangle with an eagle holding a cross in the center.
A. Hitler described the origin of the swastika in his book “Mein Kampf”: “After a series of experiments and alterations, I myself compiled a completed project: the main background of the banner is red, a white circle inside, and in the center of this circle is a black hoe-shaped cross. … The color red represents the social ideas embedded in our movement. White color- the idea of nationalism. The hoe-shaped cross is the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryans and at the same time for the victory of creative work, which from time immemorial has been anti-Semitic and anti-Semitic and will remain.
From which it is clear that either he did not know, or he convinced himself, or the public, that he did not know how long the swastika existed and what exactly it meant. Hitler brought this symbol under his ideology (in other words, he stole it).
Thus, the emblem of National Socialism - the swastika - was never fascist.
Not likely, there was no fascism in Germany, there was no swastika in Italy, and as a result there was a “fascist swastika”
This is an example of ideological sabotage or ideological insanity on a global scale.
This provision is known in the modern state circles of the Russian Federation, including legal ones. So, in paragraph 3 of Article 1 of the "Law on Combating Extremist Activities" there is a correct entry: "... including the works of the leaders of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, the Fascist Party of Italy ..." (we are talking about the prohibition of publishing books).
During the reign of Mussolini, the country experienced an economic boom. He introduced state regulation of the economy; carried out effective measures to improve the health of the nation, as a result of which the population of the country increased significantly; organized the draining of swamps in the region of the Romagna Valley, which made it possible to put into circulation large areas of land; organized the construction of a public recreation center on its coast, in Rome he organized large-scale work to renew the city and conduct archaeological excavations. Until now, in the southern regions of the country, the people remember Mussolini with respect and gratitude, and in the northern regions, a cool attitude towards him.
Currently, a neo-fascist party is functioning in Italy, its leaders are represented in parliament, it is headed by Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of Benito Mussolini. And this does not cause a negative reaction in anyone.
Soviet propaganda in wartime abused the use of the term "fascism" in assessing relations with Germany. This is recognized by the Israeli definition of "fascism", it says: "...Soviet propaganda cliche, in which Hitler's ideology and the religion of the Third Reich based on it were invariably called fascist."
Modern, now democratic, propaganda continues the trend of wartime propaganda, which indicates that it comes from the same source.
Soviet Encyclopedia: “Fascism is the most reactionary political trend that arose in the capitalist countries during the period of the general crisis of capitalism and expresses the interests of the most aggressive circles of the imperialist bourgeoisie. Characteristic of fascism is anti-communism, the destruction of democratic freedoms, the cult of violence, chauvinism and racism, aggression; Since its inception, fascism has acted as the striking force of international reaction.
In the State Duma, at the hearings of the draft law “On the Prohibition of Propaganda of Fascism in the Russian Federation”, the following definition of fascism was given: “Fascism in this Law refers to the ideology and practice of the domination of some races and nations and the suppression of others, expressed in encroachments on the rights and freedoms of citizens, the cult of cruelty and violence."
The Russian Academy of Sciences; “Fascism is an ideology and practice that asserts the superiority and exclusivity of a particular nation or race and is aimed at inciting national intolerance, justifying discrimination against representatives of other peoples, denying democracy, establishing the cult of the leader, using violence and terror to suppress political opponents and any form of dissent justification of war as a means of solving interstate problems.
In the materials of the Nuremberg trials, it was noted: "Fascism is a racist political ideology aimed at territorial conquest and the physical destruction of "inferior" races."
Israeli definition (abbreviated): “Fascism is an ideology, mass movements and political regimes of a totalitarian type, based on the cult of the nation, the state and violence. Like all other varieties of totalitarianism, fascism represents the maximum reaction to the costs, contradictions and conflicts that have been found in Western society based on the principles of parliamentarism, liberalism and pluralism. Common to fascism and any other totalitarianism is the attitude towards the destruction of Western democratic society and its creation on other principles ... "
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Fascism (Italian) fascismo from fascio"bundle, bunch, association") - as a political science term, is a generalized name for specific extreme right-wing political movements, their ideology, as well as the political regimes of the dictatorial type led by them.
In a narrower historical sense, fascism is understood as a mass political movement that existed in Italy in the 1920s and early 1940s under the leadership of B. Mussolini.
In ideology, historiography and propaganda in the USSR, other socialist countries and communist parties, fascism was also understood as the Nazi movement in Germany in the 20s - the first half of the 40s. XX Art. (see Nazism), as well as political movements in the countries of the world, openly opposed to the communist ideology from the extreme right positions.
The main characteristics of fascism are: the dominance of right-wing ideology, traditionalism, radical nationalism, anti-communism, statism, corporatism, elements of populism, militarism, often leaderism, reliance on a fairly significant part of the population that does not belong to the ruling classes. In some cases, fascism is characterized by rejection of the monarchy.
Fascist states are characterized by the presence of a developed economy with a strong regulatory role of the state, the nationalization of all aspects of society through the creation of a system of mass organizations, violent methods of suppressing dissent, rejection of the principles of liberal democracy.
Fascism. The emergence and formation
Fascism arose in Italy in 1919 after the First World War out of deep disillusionment with its results. At that time in Europe, democratic cosmopolitan forces defeated conservative monarchical forces, but the victory of democracy did not bring the promised benefits, but a severe crisis erupted: chaos, inflation, mass unemployment. And a reaction began against such a democracy. By the 1930s. gg. half of the European parliaments ceased to exist, dictatorships arose everywhere - this phenomenon was remarkable for those years.
Fascism comes from the word "fascina", it is a bundle, a bunch of rods - a symbol of the ancient Roman state, which Mussolini used as a symbol of the "new Rome", as he called his state. And, in general, in fascism at first glance there was a lot of attractiveness.
Fascism as a bond proclaimed the unity of the nation in opposition to the Marxist thesis of class struggle and in opposition to the liberal-democratic party principle. Fascism proclaimed a corporate state, built not on a party principle, when parties participate in elections, gain votes, but built on corporations - this is a natural democracy that grows from the bottom up, on the basis of an industrial, professional community of people. Corporations can be, say, workers in the metallurgical industry, medicine, agriculture, and each corporation includes both management personnel and doctors, accountants, electricians, in short, all the people who are involved in it. In Japan, something similar now exists on a firm basis: a firm is built as a cell of society; about the same wanted Mussolini, calling it "industrial democracy." By the way, even such our democrats as G. Fedotov, a well-known publicist and historian of the Church, considered fascism - however strange it may sound - a democratic phenomenon, and his journal Novy Grad wrote a lot about this.
What attracted fascism? why so many people succumbed to this temptation - to see in fascism something really new, transforming the whole of Europe against the backdrop of this chaos. Here is an example from Mussolini's Doctrine of Fascism:
“Fascism is ... a spiritual position that arose from the general movement of our century against the weakened materialistic positivism of the XIX century ... This is a religious view that considers a person in his internal connection with a higher law, an objective spirit that transcends the individual and makes him conscious a member of a spiritual community... A people is not a race or a geographic area"...
It should be emphasized that there was no racism in the original fascism, which was in the Hitler regime; Italians did not consider their people better than others and the highest nation, which should belong to the world that needs to be conquered.
"A people is not a race or a geographical area, but a community that is continuously preserved in historical development, ... a person, a spiritual phenomenon." And further about what requirements fascism made of a person: “The man of fascism suppresses in himself the instinct of selfish desire, in order instead to root in a sense of duty the higher life of the nation, not limited by the framework of space and time: a life in which the individual, through self-denial and sacrifice of personal interests, even through death - realizes an extremely spiritual being, on which his human dignity is based ... Not a single action escapes moral assessment. Therefore, life in the concept of a fascist is serious, strict, religious. He creates from himself an instrument for building a worthy life ... ".
As we can see, this is the disciplining, gathering, ordering beginning in fascism against the backdrop of chaos, unemployment - it attracted a lot of people. And it should even be noted that the Catholic Church very ardently supported the fascist reforms and the very movement of fascism, because it corresponded to the social Catholic teaching, it is at its core that the corporate structure of society lies.
I will cite here the introductory article by V. Novikov to B. Mussolini's book "The Doctrine of Fascism", published in Paris in 1938. It perfectly characterizes the mood of the Russian emigration of those years:
“The greatest phenomenon in the life of the peoples of the post-war period is fascism, which is currently making its victorious path throughout the world, conquering the minds of the active forces of mankind and prompting the revision and restructuring of the entire social order.”
Fascism originated in Italy and its creator is the brilliant leader of the fascist party and the head of the Italian government, Benito Mussolini.
In the struggle of the Italian people against the coming nightmare of red communism, fascism gave the Italian youth, the foremost fighter for national rebirth, the ideological basis for this struggle.
The communist ideology was opposed by the new ideology of the nation state, national solidarity, national pathos.
Thanks to this, fascism created a powerful organization of an active minority, which, in the name of the national ideal, entered into a decisive war with the whole old world of communism, socialism, liberalism, democracy and, by its selfless feat, carried out a spiritual and state revolution that transformed modern Italy and laid the foundation for the Italian fascist statehood.
Having made a campaign against Rome in October 1922, fascism seized state power and set about re-educating the people and reorganizing the state, in accordance with the basic laws that finally fixed the form of the fascist state. In the course of this struggle, the doctrine of fascism was also developed. In the statutes of the fascist party, in the resolutions of party and trade union congresses, in the resolutions of the Great Fascist Council, in the speeches and articles of Benito Mussolini, the main provisions of fascism were gradually formulated. In 1932, Mussolini considered it timely to give his doctrine a complete formulation, which he did in his work "The Doctrine of Fascism", placed in the 14th volume of the Italian encyclopedia. For a separate edition of this work, he supplemented it with notes. It is very important for the Russian reader to get acquainted with this work by B. Mussolini. Fascism is a new worldview, a new philosophy, a new corporate economy, a new state doctrine. Thus, answering all the questions of human society, fascism went beyond national Italy. It developed and found its own formulation general provisions defining the emerging social order of the 20th century, why they have acquired universal significance. In other words, the ideological content of fascism has become common property. Every nation has its own nationalism, and creates the forms of its own being; no imitation of even the best examples is unacceptable. But the basic ideas of Italian fascism fertilize state building throughout the world. At present, the ideas of fascism are very widespread among the Russian emigration.
Careful study of fascism began around 1924, when an attempt was made to organize a Russian fascist party in Serbia. This movement was led by Prof. D.P. Ruzsky and Gen. P.V. Chersky.
In 1927, this so-called "national organization of Russian fascists" published its program, which, based on the general provisions of Italian fascism, but in accordance with Russian conditions, outlined the path of the revolutionary struggle against Bolshevism and the future course of the restoration of Russia liberated from communism.
However, this movement did not receive organizational development. But the ideas of fascism were transferred to the Far East, where the Russian emigration managed to use them and create the Russian Fascist Party in 1931, headed by a young and talented man V.K. Rodzaevsky.
Until now, R.F.P. developed a great organizational and propaganda work, publishing the daily newspaper "Our Way" and the monthly magazine "Nation".
At the 3rd Congress in 1935, a new party program was adopted, which is an attempt to adapt the principles of universal fascism to Russian reality in matters of the future structure of the Russian state.
It should be noted, however, that the ideology of Russian fascism in the Far East is heavily influenced by German National Socialism and has lately veered towards the old Russian nationalism.
But even in Europe, Russian fascist thought continues to develop, and its representative is the magazine Klich, published in Belgium.
As a follow-up to the 1927 program, "Klich" published a pamphlet by its collaborator Verista (a pseudonym); "Basic principles of Russian fascism". In it, the author, under the slogan of Russian fascism "God, Nation and Labor", establishes the general provisions of Russian fascism, which is a doctrine of the national revival of Russia on the basis of a new national statehood, formulated and approved on the experience of the Italian Empire by the creator of the fascist doctrine and the leader of Italian fascism B. Mussolini. With such an interest of the Russian emigration in fascist doctrine, the Vozrozhdenie publishing house should be welcomed, which wished to bring to the attention of the Russian reader B. Mussolini's "Doctrine of Fascism".
For his part, the translator considers it his duty to express his deep gratitude to B. Mussolini for his kind consent to the publication of the Russian translation of "The Doctrine of Fascism".
Ivan Alexandrovich Ilyin, our outstanding philosopher, gave a very good formulation of the experience of the Russian emigration learning about fascist regimes. He wrote that the Russians did not need all this, even valuable, that was in the authoritarian regimes of that time, there was no need to directly borrow from them, from foreign fascism; on the contrary, he wrote, fascism unconsciously sought to realize an ideal close to the Russian one. Quote:
“The state is not a mechanism of competing interests, but an organism of fraternal service, unity of faith, honor and sacrifice: such is the historical and political foundation of Russia. Russia began to move away from it and was distressed. Russia will return to it again. Fascism does not give us a new idea, but only new attempts in our own way to implement this Christian, Russian national idea in relation to our own conditions.
Now everyone calls Germany of those years fascist, but the regime itself did not call itself fascist, it was National Socialism. And just the word "socialism", the fact that in the name of this criminal regime there was, as it were, a socialist component - this was very unpleasant for left-wing journalists and, naturally, Soviet authorities propaganda, and therefore the word fascism was pulled very quickly on Nazism.
But the difference here is cardinal. It is that the Nazi regime was racist and aimed at mastering the world for the German nation, all other peoples had to be either destroyed or turned into slaves. The Nazis did not set themselves such goals, and, for example, such a liberal figure in the Orthodox Parisian jurisdiction, a Church historian, like Kartashev, after the war, when the Nazis had already lost everything, and it was already a utopia to build such plans, he said that two countries remained - Spain and Portugal, where the principles of Christian statehood are embodied in a new way. It was courage to say this after the war, but he said it honestly. So it would be more correct for us to say today: “Victory over Nazism, not over fascism”
