Fascist Ideology and its global implications
Fascism is an effective political ideology whose central theme is the notion of an organically combined national community, exemplified in a belief in ‘strength through unity’. The individual, in a factual sense, is nothing; individual identity must be completely absorbed into the community or social group. To simply elaborate, Fascism is an authoritarian Nationalist political ideology that promotes nation above the individual, and that stands for a centralized autocratic government controlled by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regulation, and powerful suppression of opposition. It often claims to be concerned with concepts of cultural decline or decadence, and seeks to achieve a national rebirth by subduing the interests of the individual, and instead promoting cults of unity, energy and transparency.
In historical terms, fascism can be defined as a movement and a regime. Emilio Gentile – who, with Zeev Sternhell and George Mosse,2 is the most insightful historian of fascism – presents fascism as a modern revolutionary phenomenon that was nationalist and revolutionary, anti-liberal and anti-Marxist. Gentile also presents fascism as being typically organized in a militaristic party that had a totalitarian conception of state politics, an activist and antitheoretical ideology as well as a focus on virility and anti-hedonistic mythical foundations.
Fascism is a highly nationalist, militaristic, totalitarian political ideology in which one person has absolute power. World War I was the major event that procreated fascism. The war was the first major war fought between industrialized nations, which were armed with technology such as machine guns and chemical weapons. The result was complete destruction. Millions of people died, entire countries malformed, and those who survived were often deeply disillusioned. For many people, the war presented that contemporary ideas had failed and that a new way was required. The majority of European fascist states developed from the amalgamation of and as a consequence to a multitude of significant events, including a troubled society with destabilised governments, the detrimental effect caused by the impact of World War and, by some, the disappointment caused by signing the Treaty of Versailles. Fascism was the movement and political response which offered European people the ability to reconstruct their nation and escape the existing dilemma. Fascism emerged in Italy in the 1920s. Italy had battled on the winning side of World War I, but it had agonised greatly. Many Italians were annoyed and disappointed that the country gained very little for the price it paid. Some war veterans felt alienated from society: They had grown accustomed to the fears of war, and now normal life seemed unreal and incomprehensible. Some of these war veterans began to rally together, trying to re-create the companionship of the war. Their meetings led to the increase of fascism. In its original form, fascism was neither racist nor anti-Semitic. Undeniably, some early Italian fascists were Jewish. Although Italy was the origin of fascism, it expanded to other countries. In the mid to late twentieth century, the Spanish government under General Francisco Franco was fascist, as were the Argentinean government under Juan Peron and some of the governments in Eastern Europe before World War II. The Japanese government before and during World War II also shared some fascist thoughts.
The fascist model is that of the ‘new man’, a hero, inspired by duty, honour and self-sacrifice, prepared to devote his life to the magnificence of his nation or race, and to give unquestioning obedience to a top leader. In many respects, fascism establishes a revolt against the ideas and values that dominated Western political thought from the French Revolution onwards in the words of the Italian Fascist slogan: ‘1789 is Dead’. Values such as rationalism, progress, freedom and equality were upturned in the name of struggle, leadership, power, heroism and war. In this respect, fascism has an ‘anti-character’.
Fascist ideology based on national unity behind a single revered ruler and for the idea that citizens must serve the state (as opposed to most forms of liberal democracy, which have an inverse view of this relationship). Fascism is principally remembered for its oppressive treatment of citizens, infringements on personal freedoms and cruel crushing of opposition. It usually requires unusual of personality around a single central figure, hero worship, and a strong emphasis on a particularly militaristic view of national security.
The theory of fascism makes society to be ordered in a corporatist fashion, favouring collective bargaining for all groups in society, such as workers, farmers, employers, clergymen, etc., in practice, this transformed to the fascist states simply favouring and strengthening the largest and most sympathetic businesses, exercising heavy state control on them in return. In contrast to communism, these businesses will remain formally under private ownership, with their profits going to the owners rather than the state.
The French Revolution and its political inheritance had profound influence upon the expansion of fascism. Fascists interpreted the French Revolution as a largely negative event that resulted in the entrenchment of liberal ideas such as liberal democracy, anticlericalism, and rationalism. Challengers to the French Revolution initially were conservatives and reactionaries, but the Revolution was also later disparaged by Marxists and racist nationalists who opposed its universalist principles.
Fascism emphasizes:
- Action: Human beings find meaning and purpose by acting, not by reasoning or thinking.
- Community spirit: People need to be part of a community. Individualism is dangerous because it turns people away from their community.
- Nationalism: The community that matters the most is the nation. People should work together to promote the glory and power of the nation.
- Militarism: The nation must have a strong, powerful military. The nation displays its power by expanding its territory.
- The future: Fascists love the speed and power of technology. They look optimistically to the future.
- One party: The nation must be unified and speak with one voice. Therefore, only one political party is allowed, and that party rules with absolute power.
- Violence: The government rules its people through violence or the threat of violence.
Fascism usually involves in the following elements:
- Nationalism (based on the cultural, racial and/or religious attributes of a region).
- Totalitarianism (state regulation of nearly every aspect of public and private sectors).
- Statism (state intervention in personal, social or economic matters).
- Patriotism (positive and supportive attitudes to a “fatherland”).
- Autocracy (political power in the hands of a single self-appointed ruler).
- Militarism (maintaining of a strong military capability and being prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests).
- Corporatism (encouragement of unelected bodies which exert control over the social and economic life of their respective areas).
- Populism (direct appeals to the masses, usually by a charismatic leader).
- Collectivism (stress on human interdependence rather than on the importance of separate individuals).
Types of Fascism: There are several kind of fascism. Italian Fascism: It is the dictatorial political movement which administrated Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the headship of Benito Mussolini (1883 – 1945). It is the original model which motivated other Fascist ideologies, and is generally denoted as Fascism. It grew out of Mussolini’s desire to re-affirm Italian national identity and pride after several centuries of disagreement leading up to the amalgamation of 1870.
Nazism refers to the philosophy and practices of the German Nazi Party (or National Socialist German Workers’ Party) under the headship of Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) between 1933 and 1945. It was a powerfully nationalist, totalitarian, racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Communist movement, which grew up in the repercussion of German humiliation after World War I, which was partly blamed on Germany’s Jews. Hitler published his political beliefs in “Mein Kampf” in 1925 and, stimulated by the Italian Fascism of Mussolini, assumed dictatorial powers as Chancellor in 1933.
Another category of fascism is clerical Fascism. It is an ideology that combines the political and economic principles of Fascism with theology or religious tradition. The term initially arose in the 1920s referring to Catholic support for the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, but has since been applied to various regimes and movements, particularly in Europe and South America.
Neo-Fascism is any post-World War II creed that includes noteworthy elements of Fascism, or that expresses specific admiration for Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism, again particularly in Europe and South America.
Socialist approach and Total Revolution
Socialist approach
- In simple language socialism can be regarded as a movement against the inequality existing in the present social order.
- It is a plan for a new social order based on justice, equality, free from exploitation of man by man, a co-operative commonwealth of mankind.
- Though socialists differ among themselves on a number of points, there are certain basic principles, on which every socialist agrees.
- These are –
- Socialism wants to establish the importance of the society over the individual.
- It wants to abolish competition.
- It wants to abolish private enterprise.
- It wants to establish a proper system of distribution.
Nehru and Socialism
- It is well known that Nehru was vehemently opposed to doctrinaire Socialism, but for almost half a century he was trying to formulate a set of mutually consistent principles and ideas, which, if adopted as a whole, would ensure a socialist reconstruction of society through the democratic process, rather than insurrectionary violence or a cataclysm, and without democracy being undermined in the process of achieving the goal.
- To him the question of method was more important than anything else.
- When some people lost their patience with Nehru’s reference to the ‘pragmatic approach’, they hardly appreciated his anxiety to take account of the compulsions in the objective situation in India, which make radical economic transformation impossible for various reasons, including the lag in social transformation.
- Any general attack on the problem of poverty, any movement in the direction of an egalitarian society, any basic change in the socio-economic institutions concerning the masses of the population, requires the agency and support of a political organisation like the Indian National Congress, which is India in microcosm with its divergent pulls of ideas and interests.
- Any one who thinks of Nehru in the context of Socialism would do well to study how he tried to influence this peculiar political organisation in favour of broad and simple ‘socialistic’ principles which have become accepted principles of democracy in capitalist countries with free enterprise economies.
Marxian Approach and Socialism
- THE Marxian approach to socialism is based on a philosophy of history where the social order changes as the process of historical progress reveals itself through the dialectical relationship between the means of production and production relations. Socialism here emerges out of capitalism as an objective necessity, not because some people will it as a better and just social order, although once it is established it does prove to be so.
- But there is another approach to socialism which is quite rational, where a socialist makes his value judgment explicit at the very outset and declares his preference for socialism defined in terms of socio-economic categories.
- Socialism may be desirable because it is a rational, just, equitable and least wasteful social order, and in an underdeveloped economy in addition to all these because it is most helpful for rapid economic progress, and not simply because it is the “necessary” outcome of a historical process.
- Having accepted socialism as a preferred system, one has to think of the best means for achieving it and for that one has to study objectively the prevailing economic and social conditions, the role of different classes, their relationships and conflicts, the stage of development of production forces, etc
Fundamental Transformation & SOCIALISM
- SOCIALISM, after all, involves a fundamental transformation of the society and a struggle against the forces of status quo deeply entrenched in the social organisation.
- Reliance on the state or administrative machinery and a bureaucracy, working within the bounds of legal institution cannot bring about a social revolution unless there is a strong sanction of mass movement behind it.
- A political organisation or a party has to enthuse the masses to socialist action, and unite the progressive sections in the struggle against the vested interests to enable the socialist policies to be implemented.
- In a parliamentary system the importance of a strong socialist party is increased, for then in addition to being a vanguard organistion for determined action, it has to explain and justify its action to broad sections of the masses so that they can carry it into power.
- The possibility of peaceful, parliamentary method of achieving socialism does not imply that the state or bureaucracy is neutral or auto-nomous, and that it can function independently of class struggle.
- On the contrary, for any implementation of a socialist policy, it can be effective only when it is aligned with the progressive classes and when a political party, which formalises and upholds the interests of these classes, organises them to united action.
Total Revolution
- The germs of the concept of Total Revolution lie deeply embedded in Gandhi’s teachings to which Jayaprakash Narayan, the leader of Total Revolution turned as a result of his disillusionment with what might be called “conventional wisdom of revolution and conventional technique” of change.
- Total Revolution is a further extension of Gandhi’s thought on socio-economic problems and technique of change in the context of contemporary social, economic and political reality.
- Total Revolution is a further extension of the Gandhian approach to social change. Social change in the Gandhian paradigm is a very comprehensive and inclusive term. According to Gandhi, a partial change in any one component of the social matrix is likely to produce disequilibrium in society.
- Society, therefore, will tend to move towards a state of constant instability. In order to ensure that the social organisation maintains a steady and dynamic homeostatic state, an all-round change is needed. By an all-round change Gandhi did not mean only a change in the social framework but also a qualitative change in the behavioural-attitudinal-valuational and psyche texture of the individual. Gandhi, like Hegel, believed that revolution begins in the minds of men. But Gandhi enlarged the Hegelian concept. Gandhi’s primary emphasis was that an individual wanting to change the society must first of all change himself.
- Gandhi’s revolution was evolutionary and a process of purification. Gandhi’s approach was not limited to a change in individual’s lifestyle, thought-structure, and behaviour-pattern only. Thus, together with a revolution in the individual, society must also change. It spans the entire continuum along which values as well as social and institutional structures are ranged. The emphasis is on each one of the elements constituting the continuum.
- Gandhi talked of changing the society, he conceived of far-reaching and novel changes in the entire social organisation which consisted of the economy, polity, technique of production, personnel system of both the polity and economy, and, above all, the means to be adopted for effecting the change.
- There are seven components of Total Revolution –
- Social
- Economic
- Political
- Cultural
- Ideological
- Intellectual
- Educational
- These numbers may be increased or decreased. JP himself thought that the cultural revolution could include educational and ideological. Similarly, social revolution, according to him, in the Marxian sense can cover economic and political revolutions and even more than that.
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