Characteristic features of Italian fascism. Fascism in Italy and Germany. Causes of fascism
08.04.2014
World economic crisis 1929 - 1933 exacerbated all the inherent contradictions of capitalism. Social tension in society has increased, the level of class confrontation has reached a critical limit, fraught with conflicts that have unpredictable consequences. As a result, in certain circles of monopoly capital, among the upper strata of the agrarian aristocracy, as well as in the middle strata of society and among part of the working class, disappointment ripened in the possibilities of bourgeois-parliamentary institutions to provide a way out of the crisis. In most countries, political forces are being formed that are oriented towards the transfer of power to conservative reactionary regimes.
One of the models of these regimes is fascism - a system of violent political domination, characterized by the complete subordination of society, its economic, social and spiritual life to state power, organized into an integral military-bureaucratic apparatus headed by a leader. Fascist regimes, who had full power, existed in Italy, Germany, Spain and Portugal. In Germany and Italy, an all-encompassing totalitarian state-political system of domination by fascist parties was created. This system ensured class peace in their countries through merciless terror and ideological "stupefaction" of the masses. Spain and Portugal have developed a special "Iberian" model of fascism. It was characterized by an authoritarian form of government, traditionalism in ideology, and the absence of a doctrine of racial superiority.
Fascism (from Italian fascio - bundle, bundle, association, see also fascia) - this is a totalitarian political movement that arose in the 20th century; philosophical and political concept and form state structure proceeding from the priority of state interests over all others.
Fascism in Spain, Italy and Germany - Hitler
Fascism in Italy
Fascism in power- an open terrorist dictatorship aimed at suppressing democratic freedoms and social movements. Ideology of fascism- militant chauvinism, racism, anti-communism, violence, the cult of the leader, the total power of the state, universal control over the individual, the militarization of all spheres of society, aggression. A bundle of rods (fascia) was a symbol of the system of power in ancient Rome. From there, in many respects, the ideology of German fascism was drawn, and even the name: the medieval Holy Roman Empire of the German nation was proclaimed the first empire, the second - German Empire 1871-1918, the third was to be the renewed, resurrected after the defeat in the First World War and the revolution, the new national Germany, which allegedly had to exist for a thousand years (Third Reich, Thousand-Year Reich).
Fascism is considered in modern political science as a combination of three key elements:
Economic system - the economic essence of fascism lies in the hypertrophied role of the state in the presence of a market economy (i.e. the state does not own all the main means of production, but only controls the main levers of influence on the economy);
politicians are a dictatorship, usually based on the personality of a charismatic leader, the "leader of the nation";
ideology - fascism is manifested in the propaganda of national exclusivity, the "superiority" of one ethnic group over all others.
Therefore, the definition of fascism can only be given taking into account all these three levels.
In other words, fascism is a controlled market economy, dictatorship and nationalism as the official ideology of the state.
Fascism in Italy
Fascism originated in Italy at the end of World War I 1914–1918 German Nazism(National Socialism) is only one of the many varieties of fascism. Between the first and second world wars, in almost every European country there were their own fascist parties, groups and movements: for example, the Falangists in Spain, the legion of the Archangel Michael in Romania, the supporters of Ferenc Salashi in Hungary, the British Union of Fascists in Great Britain, etc. In his foreign policy all fascist regimes pursued a colonial, predatory, expansionist line. For example, Mussolini fought in Abyssinia, the Hungarian fascists dreamed of capturing the entire Danube basin, the Falangists set their sights on the African continent and even on neighboring Portugal. In most cases, fascist regimes came to power gradually, often even democratically, as in Germany. These regimes were often preceded by some kind of shock: defeat in a war, humiliation as a result of unequal international treaties, an economic crisis.
Until the Second World War, the Fascists believed they had common philosophical principles: leader, one-party system, social Darwinism, elitism, with each government adhering to its own national model of fascism - for example, the Portuguese clerical-corporate new state under the leadership of Salazar, the Spanish Falangists, the Hungarian nilashists. In 1945, the surviving fascist regimes dissociated themselves from Nazism in order not to be equated with the Nazi variety of fascism condemned by the world community.
Italian fascism - authoritarian, nationalist policy pursued in Italy from 1922 to 1943 by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) - the son of a blacksmith, a former socialist, later a dictator, the official title is Duce (it. "leader").
Etymologically, the term fascism" comes from the Italian "fascio" (league), as well as from the Latin "fascia" (bundle) - this is an ancient symbol of the Roman administration. Mussolini adopted the fascia as a symbol of the Fascist Party in 1919 when he created the "fascia di combattimento" (fighting leagues).
In political science italian fascism considered as a syncretic model of ideology and form of government from which other varieties of fascism developed.
The main ideas of Italian fascism were outlined in the book "The Doctrine of Fascism", as well as in the works of Giovanni Gentile, the founder of the theory of "actualist idealism", which became the basis for the fascists. The doctrine proclaimed a world of action in the field of humanity, rejected "eternal peace" as something fantastic. The Nazis argued that man and mankind cannot live without war.
« Doctrine of fascism» B. Mussolini was first published in 1932 in the 14th volume of the Italian encyclopedia Enciclopedia Italiana di scienze, lettere ed arti as an introduction to the article "Fascismo" (Fascism). Mussolini wrote in his work that he was disillusioned with the doctrines of the past, including socialism, of which he had been an active promoter for many years. He believed that new ideas should be sought, as political doctrines come and go, but peoples remain. Mussolini was convinced that if the 19th century was the century of individualism, then the 20th century will be the century of collectivism and, consequently, the state.
In search of his recipe for national happiness, he expressed the following theses:
The fascist concept of the state is all-encompassing. Outside of it, human and spiritual values do not exist. Fascism is totalitarian and the fascist state includes all values - interprets, develops and carries out all human activity.
Fascism is aware of the reasons why socialism and the trade union movement arose and developed, therefore it attaches appropriate importance to a corporate system in which divergent interests are coordinated and harmonized within a single state.
Fascism is absolutely opposed to liberalism both in politics and in economics.
The fascist state governs the economy to the same extent as the rest of life - through the corporate, social and educational institutions, through the political, economic and spiritual forces of the nation, organized into appropriate associations functioning in the state.
Mussolini does not accept the racial definition of a nation that forms a state: "A nation is not a race, or a certain geographical area, but a group lasting in history ..."; “race is a feeling, not a reality; 95% feeling."
On June 18, 2010, the Kirovsky District Court of Ufa ruled that the book was extremist. The court reasoned its decision on the grounds that the federal law"On counteracting extremist activity" clearly includes the works of the leaders of the Fascist Party of Italy among extremist materials. The result of the decision was the inclusion of the book in the Federal List of Extremist Materials.
Currently, various neo-fascist and nationalist organizations are developing fascist ideas - for example, the Jobbik party in Hungary. Opposition to fascist ideologies, organizations, and governments is known as anti-fascism.
Features of German fascism.
In 1933, fascism in the form of National Socialism came to power in Germany and immediately began the process of totalitarianization and unification of the entire life of the country. Racism has been elevated to the rank of state policy.
In Germany, the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers' Party), led by A. Hitler, arose at the same time as the fascist movement in Italy - in 1919. Its path to power was longer. Initially, the influence of this party was limited to Bavaria, and its attempt to seize power by force in this German land in 1923 ended in failure, Hitler even had to spend more than a year in prison.
Only the global economic crisis of 1929-1932, which hit Germany especially hard, changed the situation. In conditions when there was no leader in the country capable, like F.D. Roosevelt, to find ways to mitigate the social consequences of the crisis on the basis of democracy, the rapid growth of the influence of two totalitarian and mutually hostile political forces began: the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the NSDAP. Each of them defended their own way out of the crisis. However, the National Socialists, combining social, national and racist slogans, managed to secure wider support for the unemployed and workers who were afraid of losing their jobs, the ruined petty bourgeois.
On January 30, 1933, A. Hitler, as the leader of the party that has the largest faction in the Reichstag (parliament), became Reich Chancellor (head of government).
After the burning of the Reichstag on February 27, 1933, which was blamed on the Communists, the KPD was outlawed and its parliamentary mandates annulled. This provided the NSDAP and its supporting center parties with an absolute majority, sufficient to grant emergency powers to the government. As a result, all parties, except for the NSDAP, were banned, the opposition press was closed, "bad" Germans who did not share the fascist ideology were sent to concentration camps. The Weimar constitution was abolished, and in 1934 A. Hitler became the Fuhrer (leader) of Germany.
The social program of National Socialism - the organization of public works, the construction of roads, which made it possible to eliminate unemployment, overcome class confrontation, lower taxes for small owners, was completed. At the same time, the program of "Aryanization" of the economy became a source of funds - the expropriation of property, including banks and enterprises, of non-Aryans, primarily Jews (they made up 1/15 of the bourgeoisie in Germany). This property passed to the state, partially transferred to the German bankers and industrialists. Their gain, however, was only temporary. In 1934, the country's economy was placed under the control of territorial and industrial associations controlled by the Ministry of Economics. The range of 80% of the products that became state orders, their prices, the number of hired workers who lost the right to strike, and the level of wages were determined by the state. The maximum level of dividends on invested capital for entrepreneurs was set at 6-8%, more income could be obtained only for special services to the Reich.
The main goal of the totalitarian regimes of A. Hitler and B. Mussolini was the preparation of Germany and Italy for war, which was supposed to ensure the implementation of the program for the acquisition of living space, the conquest of "inferior races". The militaristic regime of Japan became an ally of the European totalitarian regimes, combining many features of traditional authoritarianism with militant nationalism, the desire for conquest and domination.
With the material and ideological support of the totalitarian regimes of Mussolini and Hitler, fascist parties were formed in many countries of the world with their assault squads, which were supposed to become the fifth column, head the governments of their countries after they were conquered by Germany and Italy. Fascist groups have sprung up even in countries such as the US and the UK. In France, supporters of fascism tried in 1934 to seize power. However, in the countries of the first wave of modernization, the fascist ideology could not take root. Its inherent emphasis on the unity of the nation, the special role of the state did not meet the conditions of societies with traditions of ideological and political pluralism, a limited role of the state.
Fascism in Spain
The provisional government created after the 1931 elections was made up of left-wing republicans and members of the middle class. It proclaimed the Second Republic and began social reforms. But the 1933 elections were won by a coalition of moderates and Catholics. Having come to power, they nullified the results of earlier reforms. This caused an uprising in the mining areas of Asturias, which was brutally suppressed by the army under the command of General Francisco Franco. In the elections in February 1936, the Popular Front won by a margin of 1%, uniting from moderate republicans to communists and anarcho-syndicalists. The government continued to implement reforms that were to prepare the transition to a socialist republic.
Worried about the left threat, the right, led by the top of the army, began to plot. The terrorist groups of the fascist party provoked riots, to which the left forces responded with violence. The assassination of the leader of the monarchists, José Calvo Sotelo, on July 13, 1936 was the reason for the start of the rebellion. The rebels seized power in Burgos, Salamanca, the provincial cities of Leon and Old Castile. The workers' detachments suppressed the uprising of the rebels in Madrid, Barcelona and the industrial cities of the North. In the south, in Cadiz, the rebels brutally suppressed the speeches of the Republicans. The civil war began.
The rebels at the very beginning failed to capture and transfer Franco's army from Morocco: the crews of warships rebelled and refused to transport the rebels. The military turned to Germany and Italy for help, which provided aircraft for the transfer of troops from Africa. At the same time, France, under pressure from Great Britain, renounced its promises to support the republic because of the fear of starting a world war. The Republicans had to turn to the Soviet Union for help.
During August, Franco's army reached from Seville to Madrid, where he met with fierce resistance. At the same time, General José Enrique Varela united the rebel forces in Cordoba, Seville, Granada and Cadiz. On September 21, the rebels met in Salamanca to select the commander-in-chief, and on September 28, Franco was approved by him. This allowed him to establish sole rule and begin political purges in the occupied territories. The Republicans, on the contrary, had no unity in goals and strategy.
On October 7, Franco, with his army and the German Condor detachments, launched a new offensive against Madrid. Republican troops under the command of General José Miahi, supported by international brigades, successfully held back their advance. On November 6, the government evacuated to Valencia, the defense of the city was led by the communists. By the end of November, Franco abandoned his attempts to take Madrid and changed tactics - he tried to surround the capital. But the Republicans stopped his troops in the battles of Boadilla (December 1936), Jarama (February 1937) and Guadalajara (March 1937). But by the summer of 1937, the rebels occupied all of northern Spain. During the offensive, on April 26, 1937, the Francoists subjected the Basque city of Guernica to a monstrous bombardment, completely destroying it. After the capture of Asturias by the end of October 1937, the industry of the Spanish north began to work for the rebels. During the summer and autumn, Republican troops under the command of Vincente Rojo launched a series of counterattacks in an effort to prevent the Francoists from launching another attack on Madrid. As a result of such a counteroffensive, on January 8, 1938, the Republicans occupied Teruel.
On February 21, 1938, after many days of shelling and bombing, the Francoists occupied Teruel. This defeat demoralized the Republicans, who were short of weapons and ammunition. In April 1938, the rebels descended the valley of the river. Ebro to mediterranean sea and cut off Catalonia from Madrid and Valencia. In July, Franco launched an offensive against Valencia, where the Republican government was located. In response, Rojo launched an offensive on the Ebro in order to unlock Catalonia and divert troops from. The battle lasted more than three months: at first the Republicans advanced almost 40 km, but by mid-November they were forced to retreat. capitulated on January 26, 1939. On March 4, 1939, Colonel Casado, who defended Madrid, rebelled and offered Franco a truce, which he rejected. Republican troops began to surrender, and on March 28, Franco entered Madrid.
Franco's dictatorship was established throughout the country. About 400 thousand Republicans left the country, more than a million ended up in prisons and labor camps. Spanish losses amounted to 400,000 dead in the war and 200,000 executed after it ended.
Spain, weakened by the civil war, did not enter World War II. At first, Franco supported Germany and Italy and sent a 40,000-strong Blue Division to Eastern front. After 1943, Franco moved away from supporting the Axis countries and began selling strategic raw materials to the Allies. But this did not prevent the post-war isolation of the country. It was not until 1950 that UN member states were allowed to re-establish diplomatic relations with Spain, and only in 1955 that Spain was admitted to the UN.
Franco's domestic policy led to the political passivity of the citizens. The first organized groups arose by the 1960s on a national basis. These were separatists from Catalonia and the Basque Country (the terrorist organization ETA - Basque Fatherland and Freedom). In the 1960s, the regime made some political concessions; in 1966, a law was passed introducing liberal amendments to the Spanish constitution. By the end of the 60s, the Catholic Church became less active in supporting the Francoist regime. At the same time, economic ties between Spain and Western countries began to improve: tourists from North America and Western Europe began to relax in Spanish resorts, and the Spaniards went to work in European countries. But at the political level, Spain was denied accession to the EEC and NATO.
By old age, Franco began to weaken control over public affairs. In 1969, he announced Alfonso XIII's grandson, Prince Juan Carlos, as his successor. In 1973, Franco handed over the post of prime minister, which he had held since 1939, to Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco. Six months later, in December 1973, Blanco was killed by ETA terrorists. Carlos Arias Navarro became prime minister, the first civilian to hold this position since 1939. Franco died in November 1975, and Juan Carlos I of the Bourbon dynasty took over as head of state.
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Crisis Mattiotti:
June 10, 1924 Mattiotti speaks in Parliament to expose the holding of elections. But, Mattiotti was killed and a political crisis began in the country. The deputies of the opposition parties left the Parliament and formed the "Aventine Bloc". 2 parliaments are created: fascist and anti-government. In this situation, Mussolini comes out with an ultimatum. As a result of his actions, Mussolini swears allegiance to the king. After that, Mussolini liquidates the "Aventine block".
Stage 1: October - early November 1925 Mussolini approves fascist corporations (class peace was preached). Thus, he liquidated trade union movements in the country.
Stage 2: November 1925 - Adoption of the "Higher Fascist Laws". The main law made parliament subordinate to the government. Dissolved city deputy meetings; freedom of speech and press was forbidden; all unreliable workers were fired.
November 9, 1926 - assassination attempt on Mussolini. After that, the law "On the Protection of the State" was issued. All parties were dissolved, all opposition newspapers were closed.
1927 - the repressive bodies of the fascist dictatorship were established - the Special Tribunal and the secret political police.
An Italian fascist totalitarian state is being created, but the Italian fascist state relied on the personality of Mussolini. His power was based on his position as prime minister of the government and leader of the party. The party was not included in the state and the state stood apart from the party. Nevertheless, for 20 years there has been a merging of the bureaucratic apparatus and the party.
1929 - The Lateran concordat (agreement) with the Catholic Church, under this agreement, the church received huge subsidies and huge rights in influencing the family and educating the younger generation.
Since 1926 Mussolini introduces a corporate system (there were 12 syndicates). Since 1934 22 corporations were created, chaired by Mussolini himself. Mussolini becomes a recognized and obvious leader.
In the spring of 1927 The Grand Fascist Council adopted the so-called Labor Charter, which proclaimed the basic principles of fascist corporatism.
Features of Italian fascism:
Earlier than in other European countries, fascism established itself in Italy. Here he was born. The emergence and growth of Italian fascism was determined and conditioned by specific economic, social and political problems that arose already in the 19th century and were exacerbated by the course and outcome of the First World War.
The first fascist organizations spring up in Italy shortly after the end of the World War. Italy emerged from the war on the winning side. She got South Tyrol, but she had to give up Fiume. Public opinion in Italy reacted indignantly to this decision of the Allies and to the alleged instability of the Italian government.
In the face of these nationalistic emotions, the Italian government did not dare to intervene when the Italian troops, led by Gabriele D "Annunzio, did not comply with the order to withdraw and occupied the city of Fiume in 1919. For 16 months, D" Annunzio ruled in the city, having already developed all the elements of a political style of fascist Italy. This includes mass processions and parades of his supporters in black shirts under banners with the image of a death's head.
March 21, 1919 in Milan, in the hall of the trade school, several dozen people gathered. Party leader Benito Mussolini. They were patriots, nationalists, socialists, like Mussolini himself. They became the first fascists. Mussolini's idea: to turn the Mediterranean into an Italian sea. The organization of front-line soldiers "Combat Detachments" was organized, and by 1921. The movement numbered 200,000 people. The organization adopted the political style of D "Annunzio as a model. The ideology of fascism in many ways resembled the ideology of socialism. They practiced terror and fights. For this, special detachments and assault troops were created - "squires" and "hordes". during which there were violent clashes between the left and the fascists (especially the city of Trieste and the city of Venice).Terror was a characteristic feature of this movement.In 1920, in Bologna, right at a meeting of parliament, the chairman, a deputy of the nationalists, was shot dead.In response to this, a a number of terrorist acts.After that, punitive expeditions began to be practiced.The peasants supported the fascists.In November 1921, the movement officially became the National Fascist Party (NFP).The fascists were supported not only by the peasants, but also by the unions of landowners and industrialists.On October 27, 1921, Mussolini gave order to start a campaign against Rome.Although the Blackshirts were not at all armed or insufficient armed, the police and the military again did not intervene. October 28, 1921 Mussolini became head of government. Mussolini's power was based, on the one hand, on the position of head of government entrusted to him by the king, and on the other hand, on a single fascist party subordinate to him as the "leader of fascism" with its militia and numerous organizations dependent on it.
The main features of fascism in Italy:
Before others, the tendency of "leaderism", a one-man dictatorship, was determined.
The second trend concerned the Fascist Party: it became integral part state apparatus. Party congresses were abolished, as were all forms of party "self-government".
The Grand Council of the Fascist Party consisted of officials ex officio and by appointment. The chairman of the council was the head of government. The council was in charge of constitutional issues, discussed the most important bills, and it was from it that appointments to responsible posts came.
The third trend can be defined by the word terror. The fascist regime cannot maintain itself otherwise than by means of mass suppression, by bloody reprisals. Accordingly, the significance of the police is determined, more precisely of the many police services that were created under the Mussolini regime.
National minorities were also subjected to severe harassment; but the Jews, who were very few in Italy, were not touched at first. Only in 1937-1938, in the process of cooperation with National Socialist Germany, they began to carry out anti-Semitic actions that fell under the condemnation of the Nuremberg Laws. The Italian fascists, in whose ranks, at least in the early period, there were also persons of Jewish origin, did not kill a single Jew. The "racism" preached by Mussolini had no biological connotation.
External expansion is an integral feature of the fascist dictatorship. Mussolini claimed to "resurrect the Roman Empire."
The political form of the fascist state is totalitarianism. The state is proclaimed responsible for individual destinies, both physically and spiritually. It is called upon to ruthlessly put an end to any encroachment on the unity of the nation. Fascism preached the need for strong power, based on the political domination of an authoritarian party, which provides total control over the individual and the entire society. Necessary condition political domination recognized the cult of the leader.
Fascism resolutely rejects the class struggle, which is contrary to the idea of the unity of the nation, advocates the integration of classes into a racial or corporate commonwealth. Having come to power, the fascists banned workers' parties, strikes and other forms and means of defending their interests by the working people.
By creating totalitarian terrorist regimes, fascism destroyed all democratic freedoms and institutions. There was a militarization of all spheres public life, and control over society was carried out with the help of state structures and party militias. State and party violence has become the norm.
Fascism played a decisive role in unleashing the Second World War, in which it experienced a crushing military and moral-political defeat. Soon after the end of the war in some Western states - Germany, Italy, the USA, Great Britain, France, it began to revive as neo-fascism.
Neo-fascism preaches the same ideological and political views as fascism, relies on the same social base - the strata that have been forced out by the course of social development to the margins of life, the marginals.
The strategic goal of both fascism and neo-fascism is unlimited expansion (imperialism).
The goal of fascism is unlimited domination over its own and conquered peoples. Fascism relies on social Darwinism - this was one of the trends in the sociology of the 19th century; by classifying the nation as a species in nature, it transfers Darwin's theory of the struggle for existence and space into the experiments of society. This theory has not been applied since the second half of the 20th century.
Fascism is a predominantly European political movement of the 20th century and a particular form of government.
The word "fascism" is of Italian origin. At first it was used only in relation to the Italian reality of the 20s. Subsequently, similar movements in other countries began to be called them. The German fascists called themselves "Nazis", "Nazis". Fascism as a political movement has a number of features that determine its specificity
The first is nationalism, which turns into chauvinism and racism. For fascists, the interests of the nation are higher than individual, group, class interests. The latter must certainly be sacrificed to the former. Fascism seems to have absorbed the entire wave of chauvinism and nationalism during the First World War. In addition, the greatest scope of this movement in Germany and Italy is explained by the resentment of the national feelings of the peoples of these countries, who completed their unification later than others and came out of the First World War not only weakened, but also humiliated: Germany - the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, Italy - the fact that its interests were neglected at the Paris Peace Conference.
For fascists, democracy is synonymous with chaos, the alternative to which they consider order and discipline.
The praising of the state brought the fascists closer to the traditional rightists: both of them saw in it the concentration of the national spirit, the basis of stability and order. Both those and others were against any modernization, they called for a mechanical return to the sources, roots, national shrines.
The Nazis put forward and sought to put into practice not just the idea of a strong state, but a totalitarian state that absorbs civil society. In Germany, the implementation of this idea gave rise to a conflict between the Nazis and the church, which sought to preserve its autonomy. The traditional right would not allow such a conflict because of their disposition towards the church. In addition, they were, unlike the Nazis, a small elite (patrimonial aristocrats, great financiers and industrialists). Fascism is a mass movement in which artisans, peasants, small merchants and entrepreneurs, employees, war veterans took part.
An ugly feature of the fascist movement is the propensity for violence, which they claimed made a cult of it. They sought to build a new world order on violence. The understanding of violence as a necessary attribute of political struggle made fascism related to orthodox socialists and communists.
Borrowing a number of slogans and ideas from the socialists, fascism considered the socialists and communists to be its main enemies.
Anti-communist slogans contributed to the unification of the Italian fascists, German Nazis and Japanese militarists in the anti-Comintern pact. They did not perceive the socialists for their "guilt" in the defeat in the First World War.
IN different countries The fascist movement had its own specific features. Being nationalists, his fans made no effort to create a common program.
Italian fascism considered the Roman Empire as a role model and sought to turn the Mediterranean into an "Italian lake".
Spanish fascism was largely a reaction to the revolutionary uprisings of the population and the penetration of communism. It was based on monarchism, clericalism and anti-communism.
It should be noted the main features of Italian fascism.
Before others, the tendency of "leaderism", a one-man dictatorship, was determined. Already the law of 1925 “On the powers of the head of government” made the prime minister irresponsible, independent of parliament. His colleagues in the ministry, his ministers, have become mere assistants, responsible to their head; they were appointed and removed at the will of the latter.
For many years (until 1936) Mussolini held 7 ministerial posts at the same time. The law of 1926 “On the right of the executive power to issue legal norms” granted the “executive power”, that is, the same head of government, the right to issue “decrees-laws”. At the same time, no line was drawn between the “laws”, which remained the competence of the parliament, and the “decrees-laws”.
The second tendency that quickly emerged concerned the fascist party: it became an integral part of the state apparatus. Party congresses were abolished, as well as all forms of party self-government.
The Grand Council of the Fascist Party consisted of officials ex officio and by appointment. The chairman of the council was the head of government. The council was in charge of constitutional issues, discussed the most important bills, and it was from it that appointments to responsible posts came.
The charter of the party was approved by royal decree; the official head of the party ("secretary") was appointed by the king on the proposal of the head of government. The provincial organizations of the party were led by secretaries appointed from above: the directories attached to them had advisory functions, but even the members of these directories were appointed by decree of the head of government.
The third trend can be defined by the word terror. The fascist regime cannot maintain itself otherwise than by means of mass suppression, by bloody reprisals. Accordingly, the importance of the police is determined, more precisely, those many police services that were created under the Mussolini regime. In addition to the general police, there were: “organization of protection against anti-fascist crimes” (OVRA), “special political investigation service”, “voluntary national security police.”
Opponents of the regime were under the supervision of a special secret police; the newly established special courts sentenced them to long terms of imprisonment or to internment on outlying islands. For conviction, no other motives were required, except for the suspicion of “political unreliability”.
National minorities were also subjected to severe harassment; but the Jews, who were very few in Italy, were not touched at first. Only in 1937-1938, in the process of cooperation with National Socialist Germany, they began to carry out anti-Semitic actions.
External expansion is an integral feature of the fascist dictatorship. Mussolini claimed to "resurrect the Roman Empire."
"German fascism", with all its common features, differs significantly from the "original", Italian fascism - differs in its causes, structure and, last but not least, its consequences. In German national socialism, or Nazism, the ideas of fascism received an original and larger-scale, consistent and cruel development.
crisis political fascism
Fascism(from ital. fascio- bundle, bundle, association, see also fascia) - this is a totalitarian political direction, which arose in the 20th century; philosophical and political concept and form of municipal structure, based on the priority of municipal interests over all others.
Fascism in power is an open terrorist dictatorship aimed at oppressing democratic freedoms and public movements. The ideology of fascism is militant chauvinism, racism, anti-communism, violence, the cult of the leader, the complete power of the country, universal control over the individual, militarization of all spheres of society, anger. A bunch of bars (fascia) was the emblem of the system of power in ancient Rome. From there, the ideology of German fascism was drawn in almost everything, and even the name: the first empire was proclaimed the medieval Holy Roman Empire of German civilization, the 2nd - the German Empire of 1871-1918, the third was to be refreshed, revived after the defeat in the First World War and revolution, a brand new state Germany, which supposedly had to exist for a thousand years (3rd Reich, Thousand-Year Reich).
Fascism is considered in modern political science as a combination of three important parts:
Therefore, it is possible to give a definition of fascism only taking into account all these three levels.
In other words, fascism is a controlled market economy, dictatorship and nationalism as the official ideology of the country.
Fascism appeared in Italy at the end of the First World War 1914-1918. German Nazism (National Socialism) is only one of the innumerable varieties of fascism. Between the first and second world wars, almost every European country had its own fascist parties, groups and movements: for example, the Falangists in Spain, the Legion of the Archangel Misha in Romania, the supporters of Ferenc Salashi in Hungary, the English Alliance of Fascists in England, etc. . In their own foreign policy, all fascist regimes pursued a colonial, aggressive, expansionist line. For example, Mussolini waged war in Abyssinia, the Hungarian fascists wanted to capture the entire Danube basin, the Falangists turned their eyes to the African mainland and even to neighboring Portugal. Almost always, fascist regimes were established uniformly in power, often even democratically, as in Germany. These regimes were often preceded by some kind of shock: defeat in the war, humiliation as a result of unequal international treaties, an economic crisis.
Until the 2nd World War, the fascists believed that they had common philosophical principles: favourite, one-party system, social Darwinism, elitism, with all this, each government adhered to its own state model of fascism - for example, the Portuguese clerical-corporate new government under Salazar, Spanish Falangists, Hungarian Nilashists. In 1945, the surviving fascist regimes dissociated themselves from Nazism so as not to be equated with the Nazi variety of fascism condemned by the world community.
Italian fascism- authoritarian, nationalist policy pursued in Italy from 1922 to 1943 by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) - son of a blacksmith, former socialist, then teran, official title - Duce(it. "leader").
Etymologically, the term "fascism" comes from the Italian "fascio" (league), also from the Latin "fascia" (bundle) - this is an ancient sign of the Roman administration. Mussolini adopted the fascia as the sign of the Fascist Party in 1919 when he developed the "fascia di combattimento" (fighting leagues).
In political science, Italian fascism is seen as a syncretic model of ideology and form of government from which other varieties of fascism developed.
The main ideas of Italian fascism were outlined in the book "The Doctrine of Fascism", as well as in the works of Giovanni Gentile, the founder of the theory of "actualistic idealism", which became the basis for the fascists. The doctrine proclaimed a world of action in the field of the population of the earth, rejected "eternal peace" as something breathtaking. The Nazis argued that man and the population of the earth cannot live in the absence of war.
"The Doctrine of Fascism" B. Mussolini was first published in 1932 in the 14th volume of the Italian encyclopedia Enciclopedia Italiana di scienze, lettere ed arti as an introduction to the article "Fascismo" (Fascism). Mussolini wrote in his work that he was disillusioned with the doctrines of the past, including socialism, of which he had been an active promoter for many years. He believed that new ideas should be found, because political doctrines come and go, but peoples remain. Mussolini was convinced that if the 19th century was the century of individualism, then the 20th century would be the century of collectivism and, as it should, of the country.
In search of his own recipe for national happiness, he expressed subsequent provisions:
On June 18, 2010, the Kirov District Tribunal of Ufa ruled that the book was extremist. The decision of the Tribunal was proved by the fact that the federal law "On counteracting extremist activity" clearly includes the works of the leaders of the Fascist Party of Italy among the extremist materials. The result of the decision was the inclusion of the book in the Federal List of Extremist Materials.
Currently, fascist ideas are being developed by various neo-fascist and nationalist organizations - for example, the Jobbik party in Hungary. Opposition to fascist ideologies, organizations, and governments is known as anti-fascism.
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What are the features of Italian fascism?
Fascism (from Italian fascio - bundle, bundle, association, see also fascia) is a totalitarian political trend that arose in the 20th century; philosophical and political concept and form of municipal structure, based on the priority of municipal interests over all others. Fascism in power is an open terrorist dictatorship aimed at oppressing democratic freedoms and public movements. The ideology of fascism is militant chauvinism, racism,...
Detailed solution paragraph § 10–11 on history for students in grade 9, authors Soroko-Tsyupa O.S., Soroko-Tsyupa A.O. 2016
- Gdz workbook in History for grade 9 can be found
1. Why did Italy become the first country in Europe where the fascist party managed to come to power?
Most of the country's population was disillusioned with the conditions of the post-war world. In 1919-1920. there was great unrest and unrest. Like many unemployed, demobilized soldiers (2 million people) did not find the means to live. Workers seized factories, peasants rose up in revolt against large landowners and seized land. Social discontent contributed to the spread of nationalism.
Legislative power during the war years was weakened, parliament met rarely and actually entrusted the government with making legislative decisions.
The fascist party created in March 1919 took advantage of the weakness of power. 30,000 Fascist thugs made a "march on Rome" from Naples, intending to seize control of the municipality, as had already taken place in a number of other northern cities. The prime minister invited the king to sign a decree on the state of emergency, but King Victor Emmanuel refused and on October 29, 1922, instructed Benito Mussolini, leader of the parliamentary faction of the Fascist Party, which numbered only 35 deputies, to form a government.
2. By what methods did the fascist party in Italy establish its power in the country?
In the 1924 elections, Mussolini's party won the majority of votes. Using the apparatus of state power and paramilitary detachments, the Nazis began direct terror against their political opponents.
In 1926, all political parties limited or eliminated civil and political freedoms. Rights and freedoms were interpreted as complete devotion to the regime and Duce (leader). The state apparatus was merged with the fascist party. In 1926, a Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State was established, a Labor Court was established to deal with conflicts between workers and employers, and the police corps was expanded. Concentration camps appeared on the Lipari Islands.
3. What are the features of Italian fascism?
The Fascist Party permeated all government structures and most Italian organizations. Although the fascist party became a state organ, in organizational terms it had its own officials, apparatus, its own militia and its own treasury. Party members were subject to strict discipline.
The individual can only enjoy such freedom as is granted by the state.
4. Consider whether the corporate system in Italy can be seen as a new type of state and society. What are its main differences from a society of liberal democracy?
Differences from liberal democracy: monopolization of the economy by the state.
5. How can you explain that the targets of Italy's aggressive policy were primarily Ethiopia and Albania?
Ethiopia was of military strategic importance for dominance in Africa. And the capture of Albania gave Italy control over the entrance to the Adriatic Sea. Albania could also provide Italy with a foothold in the Balkans.
GERMANY IN THE 1930s: NAZISM AND THE TOTALITAR DICTATORY
1. Which of the factors, in your opinion, was decisive for the Nazis to come to power in Germany: a) the depth of the economic crisis; b) mutual struggle in the camp of the left forces; c) the discriminatory status of Germany after World War I; d) the instability of the political regime of the Weimar Republic?
C) the discriminatory status of Germany after the First World War.
2. Why did the German fascists call themselves "Nazis" and the ideology of the party - "National Socialism"? Expand the content of this formula.
Preaching national socialism, the NSDAP claimed to express national interests, but presented them as exclusively the interests of the chosen Aryan race. The cult of power, racial superiority, anti-Semitism, anti-communism, expansion and imposition of the image of the enemy were an integral part of the ideology of Nazism.
3. Compare the ways of coming to power of the fascist parties in Germany and Italy. Think about how the similar and distinctive features of the formation of dictatorships in these countries were expressed, what is their relationship.
General: came to power during the crisis in the country. In Germany, they came to power through elections, in Italy - as a result of a coup. Hindenburg himself invited Hitler to form a government. But already on the way to establishing a dictatorship, provocations were boldly used: the Reichstag fire in 1933, which was blamed on the Communists. By removing communists from the government, changes were made to the constitution whereby the government could make any laws without the approval of the Reichstag. Then political parties and trade unions were dissolved, local self-government was liquidated.
In both states, reprisals were carried out against opponents of the regime, concentration camps appeared, laws changed in accordance with ideology.
4. What are the signs of the state structure of Germany in the 1930s. can characterize German society as totalitarian? In what specific laws did these signs find the greatest expression?
Changes to the constitution in March 1933. The Law on the Unity of the Party and the State (December 1933) introduced the principle of leaderism (fuhrerdom) at all levels of government, ceased the existence of any elective institutions, demanded the public glorification of the Fuhrer and the Third Reich, the eradication of Jewish and Marxist influence . For opponents of the regime, communists, social democrats and "inferior" peoples, concentration camps were created. Censorship and surveillance were introduced, whistleblowing was encouraged.
In August 1934, after the death of President Hindenburg, the centralization of power was completed - Hitler became Fuhrer for life and Reich Chancellor, with unlimited dictatorial power.
5. Compare methods and forms state regulation in Germany, USA and France.
State regulation has become universal in Germany. Transformations in economic policy in the first two years were mainly aimed at easing unemployment, organizing public works, and various kinds of assistance.
Totalitarian state regulation was of a fundamentally different nature than in the United States during the years of the crisis. The strategic goal of German economic policy was to ensure a calm rear, "educate" public unanimity and mobilize resources to prepare the country for war. Militarization and preparation for war began in Germany main feature exit from the economic crisis.
The General Council of the German Economy (July 1933), in which the largest industrial companies and banks were represented, became the supreme body for managing the economy. In Germany, an unprecedented degree of state regulation and centralization of the economy for militarization and preparation for war was carried out in a capitalist society.
Along with private property, there was also state property created as a result of "Aryanization" (i.e., the confiscation of property of persons of Jewish origin and opponents of the regime). So there was a giant concern "Hermann Goering".
In September 1933, all peasant organizations and cooperatives were merged into a single organization, the Food Estate. This made it possible to control small and medium production. IN agriculture Fuhrers of various ranks stood from top to bottom. Without the permission of the local Fuhrer, the peasant could not sell the chicken, because the sale was centralized, trade prices were regulated. The law on hereditary courts forbade the division of land in order to "preserve the peasantry as a source of blood for the German people." Landowners-peasants were the main social pillar of the regime.
The Law on the Organization of National Labor (January 1934) introduced the Fuhrer principle in enterprises, abolished the system of collective agreements and abolished the elected factory councils that existed under the constitution. Instead of the dissolved trade unions, the German Labor Front was created (May 1933). The Nazi organization "Strength in Joy" played an important role in it, which dealt mainly with the issues of leisure and recreation for workers - the cultivation of mass sports, the organization of cheap amateur performances, excursions, and holidays.
In 1936, a 4-year plan for economic development began to be implemented, the purpose of which Hitler declared the completion of economic self-sufficiency (autarky) and the preparation of the country for war.
In France, a peculiar policy of state regulation (dirigisme) and a liberal-reformist policy manifested itself, which made it possible to create a developed sphere of social services in the country.
In the United States, state intervention in the economy was aimed at developing fair competition, social protection for the unemployed, regulating relations between workers and employers, supporting farming, and reorganizing the banking system.
6. What explains the special aggressiveness of German fascism and the bet on starting a war?
Aggression is associated with ideology. According to German fascism, there is a superior race - the Aryans, the dominant one. The rest of the peoples are imperfect and must either serve the Aryans or be destroyed. The Jewish population was subject to complete extermination. Hitler blamed them for all the problems of Germany. It was also necessary to expand the living space of the Aryans, which was possible with the help of war.
SPAIN: REVOLUTION, CIVIL WAR, FRANCISM
1. What predetermined the split of society in Spain after the revolution in the early 1930s?
It is already known that communist and nationalist parties gained popularity during the economic crisis. The adoption of the constitution and the republican system in Spain did not contribute to the consolidation of society, because the situation in the country only worsened.
2. Describe the two socio-political camps in Spain. Consider whether the inevitability of their collision was ideologically determined.
The left camp was represented by diverse parties, organizations and groups, among which were supporters of two different versions of socialist ideas.
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the Communist Party of Spain (CPI), the Socialist Party of Catalonia, and others, as well as a number of trade unions, considered it necessary to establish state socialism with the socialization of property, centralized state administration and distribution.
Another position of the left, an alternative to the authoritarian regime, was defended by the trade union - the National Confederation of Labor (NTL), which united hundreds of thousands of anarcho-syndicalist workers. They advocated self-governing socialism, for the transfer of enterprises to grass-roots labor collectives. Liberals also partially found themselves in the camp of the left.
The right camp was also very heterogeneous. It featured a coalition of rightists and conservatives (CEDA) and fascist organizations that united in 1934 to form the Spanish Falange.
The program and ideology of the Falangists, like all other fascist organizations in Europe, were characterized by nationalism, anti-Marxism and anti-democratism, the cult of violence and leaderism.
The inevitability of their collision was ideologically determined, because the ideas of the parties about the structure of society and the state were very different.
3. What are the features of the Popular Front in Spain? Why did the republican regime evolve into an authoritarian one? Was it caused by the conditions of the civil war or other introduced factors?
The core of the Popular Front is the left parties of socialists, communists, republicans.
The civil war contributed to the evolution of the republican regime into an authoritarian one. The Communist Party, which relied on the help of the USSR, was gaining strength. With the participation of employees of the Stalinist GPU and the NKVD, a system of surveillance, control and torture was created. The idea of the Popular Front, supported by the 7th Congress of the Comintern, in practice turned out to be the struggle of the Communist Party to push back political rivals.
4. What influence did external factors have on the course of the civil war?
The rebels were supported by Germany, the Popular Front - by the USSR. With the participation of employees of the Stalinist GPU and the NKVD, a system of surveillance, control and torture was created. The idea of the Popular Front, supported by the 7th Congress of the Comintern, in practice turned out to be the struggle of the Communist Party to push back political rivals.
A struggle began between political forces within Spain, which led to the establishment of a military-authoritarian dictatorship in the country.
5. What are the features of Spanish fascism? Track the similarities and differences between Spanish fascism and the totalitarian regimes in Germany and Italy.
The regime was imposed on the country by military force with outside help from the fascist states - Germany and Italy. Therefore, winning civil war, Franco could save the regime primarily by terror, undisguised violence against society. There was no talk of national reconciliation. In turn, in Germany and Italy, fascism received wide support among the population.
Franco in his policy relied on the Catholic Church. Also in Italy, Mussolini, having concluded an agreement with the Vatican, received his support.
The state structure was similar to the Italian corporate system.
General: strict censorship, persecution of enemies, the presence of a punitive apparatus.
