Fascism in general Flashcards
Paxton - Mussolini not alone
Mussolini was no solitary adventurer - similar movements were springing up in postwar Europe
They had a similar mix of nationalism, anti-capitalism, voluntarism, and active violence both against bourgeois and socialist enemies
Paxton - lack of a definition
Hard to define a phenomenon which seemed to come form nowhere, took on many forms, and varied depending on the national setting
Paxton - importance of image
‘The most self-consciously visual of all political forms’
However to think that we can understand the regime by scrutinising the dictator is wrong
Paxton - impact of fascism
Withdrew the frontiers between private and public, emphasised the necessity of participation for citizenship, unleashed aggressive emotions
Paxton - origin of antisemitism for Nazis
Could be built upon the purifying impulses of 20th century medicine and public health
e.g. Francis Galton’s 1880s invention of ‘eugenics’
Paxton - focus on drama
Conventional images of fascism focuses on moments of high drama, however the solid texture of everyday experience and complicity of ordinary people needs to be taken into account
Paxton - fascism for mass politics
Created for the era of mass politics - sought to appeal mainly to emotions through ceremonies and rhetoric
Paxton - lack of truth in fascism
Rested more upon the leader’s mystical union with the historic destiny of his people than truth
Replaced reasoned debates with immediate sensual experience (led to unquestioning zeal)
No program - power came first
Paxton - context in which fascism grew
Crisis of capitalism to which fascism was a response - should not make this a cause
Others perceive the founding crisis as the inadequacy of the liberal state to deal with the challenges of a post-1914 world e.g. mass unemployment
Paxton - general definition of fascism
A popular movement against the Left and against liberal individualism
Paxton - effect of WW1
Did not create fascism, but opened up wide cultural, social and political opportunities for it
Discredited optimistic and progressive views of the future
Spawned armies of restless veterans
Generated economic and social strains that exceeded the capacity of existing institutions to resolve
Paxton - key fears that spawned fascism
Fear of the collapse of the community, intensified by urban sprawl and immigration
Fear of enemies (foreigners and ethnic minorities)
Paxton - necessity of an enemy
Fascism needed a demonised enemy agains which to mobilise citizens
Germany - Jews, Gypsies and Slavs
Italy - South Slav neighbours, socialist, later Ethiopians and Lybians
Paxton - importance of a mood
Search for origins of fascism should prioritise the establishment of a ‘mood’ over individual precursors
Paxton - ‘mobilising passions’
Overwhelming crisis beyond traditional solutions
Primacy of a group, and subordination of individual to it, dread of its decline
Need for pure community
Beauty of violence and efficacy of will
‘an affair of the gut more than of the brain’
Paxton - necessity of collaboration
Although propagandists want us to see the leader alone on his pinnacle, it is clear they were not monolithic
Dictator must obtain cooperation of the decisive agencies of rule
Also had to share power with the conservative elites who had helped them gain power
Therefore, an ideologically pure fascist regime has never existed
Paxton - composite makeup of parties
Hitler had coalition partners
Even more flagrant in Italy, with Salvemini’s ‘dualistic dictatorship’ of the Duce and the King
Paxton - prerogative vs normative state
While Hitler never abolished the constitution, even before the war began the Nazi prerogative state achieved approaching total domination over the normative state (Fraenkel)
Mussolini accorded far more power to the normative state, keeping many features of the liberal state, and subordinating the the party to state
While Hindenburg died in 1934, Victor Emmanuel III lasted to the end
Paxton - strengths of Mussolini’s prerogative
OVRA, control of the press, economic baronies and involvement in the war strengthened
Paxton - ‘islands of separateness’
Friedrich and Brzezinski coined the term to describe elements of civil society that survive dictatorship
Hitler was able to overcome most of these islands through Gleichschaltung
Italian consolidation far slower, only press, unions and parties brought into line, and Catholic Church remained an important island
Paxton - prevalence of tension within the regime
Permanent, because none of the contending groups could dispense completely with the other
Paxton - role of parallel organisations
Fascist party duplicated every level of public authority with a party agency, however they were subordinated soon after consolidation of power
Most Italian organisations did not challenge traditional power
Nazis had parallel organisations like SA, party court, party police - threatened to usurp existing agencies
Paxton - shapelessness of the regimes
Duplication of traditional power centres caused ‘haplessness’ and the chaotic lines of authority that characterised fascist rule
Paxton - opportunists
1933 opening of PNF rules encouraged the casual Italian civic spirit - joining became a good career move
Opportunists among 1.6 mil Nazis in 1933 despite closed roles
Paxton - contrast between regimes in dominance
While Hitler managed to subject his allies to unwanted policies, Mussolini gave the Catholic Church very favourable treatment and yielded to businessmen
Passmore - failure of movement in Britain
Mosley’s British Union of Fascists (est. 1932) was modelled on fascist movements, flourished briefly under Daily Mail patronage
However failed as conservatives were more united than in Germany and very well entrenched in parliament - no need for fascist backing, also representative government barrier
Passmore - definition of Fascism
Aimed to bring a new elite to power as representative of the mobilised people, and regards defence of property and family as subordinate to the needs of the mobilised nation
Passmore - General Francisco Franco
Had a 1936 military rising
Coalition included the Falange Espanola, however it was limited by many conservatives and monarchists who had infiltrated it
Spain lacked a strong ultranationalist tradition due to its multi-ethnic composition
