FASCISM IN EUROPE

– A UNIQUE PHENOMENON –

Authors:
Daniel Coman
Resul Rzayev
Szilard-Istvan Papp
Razvan Voicu
Horatiu Nica

1
Contents

1. Introduction
2. Italy – the cradle of fascism
3. Nazism
4. Limits of fascism
5. Extremism in Romania
6. The nationalist movements in Hungary
7. Ideology
8. Conclusion
9. References

2
 Fascism in Europe – a unique phenomenon

1. Introduction

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries nationalism in Europe took various forms, on one hand
with the so called ‘nation-building’ nationalism, on the other with radical nationalism. In this
essay we shall try to investigate the extreme form of this movement, namely the fascism.

The term ‘fascism’ does not have a unique definition, because it had several manifestations
that differ. Establishing a sharp definition is more difficult due to the fact that in the period
after the First World War a tendency to “apply the term ‘fascism’ or ‘fascist’ to any form of
right-wing authoritarian movement or system”1 appeared. Morover, the Soviet Stalinists
started to use the term for every political enemy. Nevertheless a limited consensus exists
about the main characteristics of fascism. Thus, “fascism may be defined as a form of organic
revolutionary ultra-nationalism seeking national rebirth, based on a primarily vitalist and
non-rationalist philosophy, structured on a seemingly contradictory combination of extreme
elitism and mass mobilisation, emphasising hierarchy and the leadership principle, positively
valuing violence to some extent as end as well as means, and tending to normalise war and/or
military virtues”2. Another definition is provided by John Breuilly: fascism is a “radical, anti-
bourgeois, anti-liberal, anti-marxist movement of national-imperialist integration”.3 These
two definitions also describe the main ideological characteristics of fascism. Though the
ruling positions are occupied by a small group of ‘chosen ones’, fascism is based on popular
support and mobilization. Fascists used several methods, which were not traditional political
methods, but by those they managed to obtain the support of the population. Among these
means are marches, demonstrations, and street fighting. Fascists positively valued heroism
and military virtues and tended to normalize this in the whole society.

1
BALL, Terence and BELLAMY, Richard, eds., 2003, The Cambridge History of Twentieth – Century Political
Thought, Cambridge University Press, p. 123
2

BALL, Terence and BELLAMY, Richard, eds., 2003, The Cambridge History of Twentieth – Century Political
Thought, Cambridge University Press, p. 124
3
BREUILLY, John, 1993, Nationalism and the State, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, p. 290

3
Fascism is an ultra-nationalist movement based on the excessive valuation of the nation. This
implies the hatred of other nations, in other words racism and xenophobia. The roots of this
way of thinking can be found in the nineteenth century, when ‘scientific racism’ emerged.
According to this the different racial and ethnic groups have different psychological
characteristics. The next step in the development of this set of ideas was the tendency
according to which the psychological character of a person can be ‘read’ from the physical
characteristics. For example, a theory called ‘Aryanism’ claimed the superiority of the
Aryans, which were described as tall, blond and blue-eyed. The Aryan race was identified
with the Germans and certain other people living in northern and north-western Europe.

Generally, fascist movements had non-rational, idealist philosophy, and denied materialism,
liberalism, Marxism. Fascists had seen the nation as a classless body, whose members were
united by their blood and language and other mystical elements. They believed in historical
necessity and acted as if they knew the law of history. The Nazis for example claimed that the
law of the history shows the absolute superiority of the Aryan race, and leads to its final
victory over the other races. The non-rational character can also be observed in the
paradoxical combination of elitism and mass mobilization realized by fascists.

Another common characteristic of fascist movements was the anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism

meant hostility towards Jews and had long traditions in Europe. The traditional anti-Semitism
had religious roots related to the conception of Jews as the ‘murderers’ or ‘killers’ of Christ.
The anti-Semitism of fascism was based on racial principles. Jews were seen as an ‘anti-race’,
a malevolent race conspiring against humanity.

Fascism can also be considered an extremely authoritarian ideology. To the vision of the
strong nation was attached the image of strong leader, whose heroism enabled the ascension
of the nation. Fascists also opposed every form of liberalism. They denied the idea of the state
power restricted by laws, and of the politics organized in a pluralized way.

Fascist or ultra-nationalist movements existed even before the First World War, but their
‘golden age’ was the inter-war period. After the Second World War these movements lost
their influence upon the political life. The two most important and influential radical
nationalist part parties were the Italian Fascist Party and the German National Socialist Party
(NSDAP). These two organizations managed to obtain the sate power. Beside these ones,

4
fascist and ultra-nationalist parties emerged in the inter-war period in almost every state, but
no party became as powerful as the former two examples. In two more states – in Romania
and Hungary – fascist-like organizations became dominant but only for a short time. What are
the causes of this phenomenon? We shall examine this question by looking at the fascist
movements in Italy, Germany, Romania and Hungary and in other parts of Europe as well.

2. Italy – the cradle of fascism

The political and economical environment created by the First World War determined a series
of changes all over Europe (and not only Europe) which propagated throughout the first half
of the 20th century culminating with the Second World War and the transformations brought
by this conflict also. Avoiding the First World War might have prevented some ulterior
occurrences from developing – like the evolution of the socialism towards the Bolshevik
revolution and the arising of the fascism as a reaction to the socialist movement.

The name of the fascist phenomenon has its origins in Italy and it has been given by Benito
Mussolini and the philosopher Giovanni Gentile, inspired by the ancient roman fasces or
fascia which meant “bundle” or “union”. The fascia was a symbol of the power of magistrates
and it was actually a bundle of rods used to punish if necessary but it was also illustrating the
idea of “strength through unity” – one single rod is easier to break than a whole bunch of
them.

In the beginning (before 1920) fascism had small influences in Italy. The factions were
manifesting themselves in a climate of social commotions reflected also in the way the parties
were propagating their policies without setting clear goals meant to help them assume power.
At first, the fascist program had strong socialist elements, which disappeared later, like
progressive tax on capital, universal suffrage (including women), a minimum wage or
confiscation the church properties. The ones that were kept, like formation of national militia
or nationalization of the munitions industry were closer to the ideas that were starting to
become clearly contoured in the minds of the fascist leaders.

Right after the First World War the Italians were unhappy with the Paris Peace Treaty
requirements in terms of compensations and territorial claims. On a background of economic

5
crisis and social disorder the president of the Socialist Party has been killed and Benito
Mussolini, at that time the director of the “Avanti” newspaper, was appointed his successor.
In 1919 in the Italian Socialist Party there were three major trends: social democrat, the left
and the national-socialist (represented, among others, by Mussolini). After the third Socialist
International came to being the Italian Socialist Party has been dissolved. After that,
Mussolini founded the National Italian Party which had an ideology based on unity – Fascio
di Combattimento – and a propaganda consisting in national rebirth and economic
development. Another party emerged from the Italian Socialist Party was the Communist
Party which represented the adversary of Mussolini’s ideas.

On a very disturbed political context, in October 1922, Mussolini started the March on Rome
by gathering a large number of people, some of them even of democrat or communist
orientation. By the end of the month, the king Vittorio Emanuelle The Third appointed
Mussolini Government Chief thus creating the basis of the fascism in Italy in absence of any
kind of parliamentary elections even though the general suffrage had already been established.

The state institutions were controlled by Mussolini, “Il Duce”, by appointing in the key
functions people from his party with the help of fascist militia.

Based on the main fascist ideas regarding morality and development some measures have
been taken in order to prevent abuses and corruption, to annihilate Mafia and to improve the
education system, the economy and the means of communication. The general purpose was
that of unifying Italy by all means and, on some level, this has been achieved by establishing a
stronger centralized government system.

Even though there were successful in some areas, like obliterating the Sicilian Mafia and the
Neapolitan Camorra, the Italian fascist regime’s main historical feature is that it has initiated
the counter-revolution and, by doing this, it represented the inspiration for Hitler’s actions and
ideas.

The thing that differentiates the Italian fascism from other radical right movements is the
somewhat tolerant attitude – for example, until 1938, Mussolini did not embrace the anti-
Semite doctrine.

6
By 1927, by successfully applying a series of programs, the unemployment rate had
diminished a lot through industrial development especially in areas like machine construction
and war industry (weapons, aeronautics, naval, chemical). Due to the fact that economy was
going on the right direction the economic crisis that struck the world in the late 1920s did not
affect Italy very much hence increasing the fascist regime’s popularity.

The Nazi propaganda coordinated by Gabriele D’Anunzio and Edmondo de Amicis was
meant to stir up in the hearts of the Italians the pride of being the descendants of the Romans.
In order to prove to the World that Italy has become a great power Mussolini ordered the
army to occupy Abyssinia (1935 – 1936) and also to participate in the Spanish civil war (1936
– 1939).

By becoming closer to Germany, in ideas, Italy invaded Albania in April 1939, followed by
the attack on Greece in October 1940. The purpose of these actions was that of restoring the
great Roman Empire.

In Italy, where the right totalitarianism manifested itself for the first time, the social,
economic and national aspects prevailed and this is why the state’s control over the economy
was meant to bring the country to uniformity according to fascist ideals and programs. Thus
the main purpose was to ensure that the internal resources and production capacity existed in
order to manufacture products meant only for the internal market.

The features of the Italian fascist regime, based on national unity and economic development
made it different from the German system. Compared to the Nazism and Bolshevik regime,
the Italian fascism was moderate which made the democracies from other European countries
react less vehement to its actions.

After extremist actions started to manifest themselves and, especially after Italy took
Germany’s side in the war thus engaging in actions well beyond its resources, the fascism lost
public support on a large scale, this culminating with the fall of the fascist regime in 1943.

7
3. Nazism

The social and economic climate in the post First World War Germany was governed by crisis
and instability. The fact that war had been lost made people resent the political regime. The
Dolchstosslegende (“stab in the back”) theory described by the national-socialists convinced
many people that the war efforts have been undermined from within the country, by Jews and
that the lack of patriotism created an appropriate environment for this defeat.

After the German Communist Party has been created in 1918 Bolshevik revolutions took
place in cities like Bremen or Hamburg and also in the south, in Bavaria. Adolf Hitler
participated in the Bavarian campaigns but, after 1 year, he participated in the defeat of the
revolution and founded the National-Socialist Party with Hermann Goring and Ernst Rhome
by his side.

In November 1923 Hitler ended up in jail after trying organizing a coup which was
unsuccessful. During the time he spent in jail, Hitler wrote “Mein Kampf”, paper which
became the most important source of inspiration for the Nazi ideology.

Under the Weimar republic and on a background of economic collapse, the fascism began to
rise among other political parties. The scene was not dominated by a certain group so the
majority in parliament was a difficult goal to achieve thus making democracy appear as a
weak governing system in the eyes of the people. The reason which made fascism seem
appealing to the population was the very well presented propaganda based on the fear of
communism and the resentments determined by the loathed Versailles Treaty. Also, there

8
were some German parties which did not support democratic ideas therefore representing
potential allies for fascists.

Fascists were seen as the ones who can stop the communist threat from developing. There are
historians who claim that there would not have been a Hitler or Mussolini without Lenin. But
it is absurd to sustain the idea that the manifestation of barbarism can be justified by the
previous barbarian acts, that the answer to extremism is yet another form of extremism.

The rising of nationalist movements in Germany was not based solely on mass propaganda.
They were also using violence in order to intimidate opponents and eliminate all resistance,
most of the times with the complicity of police and army. The education system was under
strict control and so were all media sources. All non-fascist movements and organizations
were banned as well as the strikes and Unions. So, the power became centralized thus
evolving towards a totalitarian regime.

The first chosen for recruiting were the ex-soldiers who were used to discipline and sacrifice,
the ones who believed that weapons were the mean to achieve power and to make life worth
living. The chance fascism got was based on the decay of the old democratic, liberal,
moderate parties and on the economic crisis. Extremist movements that idealized war,
violence and intolerance, represented by bloodthirsty people who’s only dreams were those of
land and their great nation ruling over it have existed before the First World War also but they
could not become very powerful because of the political, social and economic context at that
time. The optimum environment has been offered by old states with rusty governing systems,
with citizens who were disappointed, disorganized, undependable and unhappy, where
socialists represented a relatively important threat.

As in Italy, in Germany fascism did not assume power by force but with the permission of the
old regime, in an almost-constitutional way but not by means of suffrage. The difference
between fascism and the previous regimes was that, whenever possible, the fascists took over
all power and, by doing this, they have eliminated all internal political boundaries thus
creating the supreme populist leaders – Il Duce and the Fuhrer.

The people that took the “socialist” component (present in the party’s name) too seriously
have been eliminated. The utopia of returning to some sort of medieval age where old

9
traditions were followed was not something that one could even try to achieve in a modern
age, list of all when it involved racial purification. As in Italy, the good thing Nazism
achieved in Germany was that the economic crisis ended faster and more painless than in
other countries allowing the society to take several steps toward progress – for example, the
“people’s car” (Volkswagen) appeared as a social-economic development initiative.

In the 1928 elections the national-socialists got only 2,5-3% of the votes, way less than the
communists and the social-democrats. Two years later the nationalists got over 18% of the
votes as a result of their increased popularity achieved by their strong propaganda which
promised common people that the unemployment rate will decrease and that the German
people’s dignity will be reinstated. This is how the party managed to obtain seats in Reichstag
and, after two more years (in 1932) to form the majority in Parliament with over 37% of the
people’s votes.

At the end of January 1933 Hitler became the German Chancellor and, after Hindenburg died,
he assumed the title of Fuhrer (supreme leader), in August 1934. This moment marked the
birth of The Third Reich. This is how, by democratic means, the Nazis came to power. The
fall of the Nazism happened at the end of the Second World War thus eliminating any threat
the expansionist ideals were posing.

The successful politics that the fascists developed in Europe, sustained by the political regime
in Japan dominated the international scene for a while and influenced the right and extreme-
right trends in other countries, especially throughout Europe.

4. Limits of fascism

In other European countries the threat represented by the communists was not as prominent as
it was in Germany, Italy or Romania, countries with an unstable political class and
economical problems caused by the fact that they have being defeated in the First World War.

In Britain there were no great political problems because stability was maintained by the
Conservative Party, the Labour Party and, somewhat, by the liberal Party. Hence British

10
fascism developed on a background of economic crisis but did not evolve because of the
political system.

The French political and economic environment had different characteristics then the one in
other countries – a well defined communist party existed and the population was frustrated
about the results of the war and was feeling threatened by Germany and forgotten by the
allies. This situation became worse during the 1930´s when depression started to manifest
itself in France. The political parties were very well defined as was the system of
parliamentary democracy which had existed since the 19th century, this being the main reasons
why neither the communists nor the fascists were successful in assuming the power without
external influences.

A slightly different situation occurred in Spain as the first political movement responding to
the socialism was the “Falange Española” (The Spanish Phalange) – founded by Jose Antonio
Primo de Rivera in 1933. Their ideology was similar to the Italian fascism but when the party
was taken over by Franco and consolidated together with the Carlists, the fascist character
ceased as Franco was conservative.

During the interwar period some fascist or quasi-fascist organizations were appearing also in
some democratic nations such as The United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands
and, even outside Europe in Lebanon, Canada, Australia and The United States, their source
of inspiration being of course, Mussolini’s and Hitler’s regimes. It is clear though that all the
fascist movements were different from one another in ideology or nature.

5. Extremism in Romania

The situation of Romania after the First World War was at many points similar to the one of
Germany and Italy. Nonetheless, there were major differences as well. The territory of
Romania was doubled as a consequence of the Peace Conference of Paris (1919-1920).
Another important difference was the economic level of the country. Romania, being mainly
an agrarian state, had one of the weakest economies of Europe. The sudden growth of the
territory and population caused several huge problems. The Constitution of 1923 introduced

11
universal male suffrage. The majority of the population consisted of peasants, whose lack of
political experience made the Romanian political system in the inter-war period extremely
instable.

Fascists in Germany and Italy gained popular support by emphasizing the threat from the
extreme-left. In case of Romania this threat was not a large issue. Although a Communist
party was created at the beginning of the `20s, but this organization was banned by the
government. However the Soviet Union could be seen as an external threat.

Soon after 1918 a heavy social problems – the poverty of the peasants, the lack of industry –
caused some revolts among the lower classes. In abolishing these revolts the future leader of a
Romanian fascist movement, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, was involed.

The main political actor of this era was the king, Carol II. (ruling 1930-1940). He tried to
impose his will upon the whole political life of the country. The two most important parties in
the `20s were the National Liberal Party and National Peasant Party. Ultra-nationalist
movements emerged in the years after the First World War. In 1923 Alexandru C. Cuza, a
professor of the University of Iasi, creates an organization called Liga Apărării National
Crestine (LANC). In 1927 Corenliu Zelea Codreanu establishes the Legion of Archangel
Michael, which becomes the main manifestation of the fascist, radical nationalist ideology.

A peculiar characteristic of the Romanian political system was the fact that every political
organization had nationalist rhetoric. Thus, the ultra-nationalist movements did not have such
an effect as in the two countries described previously. In the third decade of the nineteenth
century the National Peasant Party had the greatest popular support. At the end of the decade
the party became fragmented and was weakened, as well as the National Liberal Party. This
phenomenon caused a political vacuum, which enabled the rise of extremist parties.

The Legion of Archangel Michael and its paramilitary wing the Iron Guard had similar
ideology to the German National Socialist Party: ultra-nationalism, idealism, authoritarianism
etc. Nevertheless, Codreanu`s movement had a very unique character. “What made Codreanu
especially different was that he became a sort of religious mystic, and though the Legion had
the same general political goals as other fascist movements, its final aims were spiritual and

12
transcendental.”1 Another peculiarity was the extreme emphasis put on self-sacrifice and
death. The Legionary movement claimed that the enemies of the Fatherland must be punished
and destroyed even at risk of the Legionnaire’s personal salvation. This characteristic made
the movement unusually morbid. In conclusion the Legionary movement was more irrational
and unpredictable than the other fascist movements.

The question of nationalism and racism was also an ambiguous problem in the case of
Romania. The state’s economy on a large scale depended on the foreign capital and on the
Jewish population. The Transylvanian economy was mainly controlled by German - and
Magyar – speakers, and the majority of qualified workers consisted of Jews. Although strong
anti-Semite feelings can be discovered, the restrictions were merely symbolical. The situation
changed after 1939, but the discrimination of the Jews led to economic crisis. The
Legionnaires killed several politicians and Jews.

At the end of the `20s the movement was banned by the government. For this reason the
members of the movement created a party named All for the Fatherland. In the elections of
1937 the party obtained 15.58% of the votes. Though the leaders of the movement came from
the middle class, many of them were students, the basic support came from the peasantry.
Codreanu started campaigning in this social class. The peasants were impressed mainly by
Codreanu`s personal style, and not by his political ideas. Nonetheless after 1937 his
movement became the third most popular fascist movement in Europe. Its sudden ascension
was due to the German influence and to the fact that the traditional parties became weak. A
major obstacle in obtaining power was the king, Carol II. The Constitution of 1938 created an
authoritarian system, giving great political power in the hands of the king. Carol II. was also
considered nationalist. He created a party, the Front of National Rebirth, and he governed
with the help of this party. Carol did not want Romania to become over-dependent on any
other state. Due to this fact, in 1940 Romania was forced to cede territories to the USSR,
Hungary and Bulgaria. These territorial losses caused loss of popularity for the king. Carol
was removed by German pressure and by military officers. In an alliance with general Ion
Antonecu, the movement was able to form the government.

1
PAYNE, Stanley, 1995, Four Major Variants of Fascism, in idem., A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, Madison:
The University of Wisconsin Press, p. 280

13
However, the Legionary movement changed radically in the years before 1940. On 16. April
1938 Codreanu was arrested together with many other Legionnaires. The leader of the
movement became a young lawyer, Horia Sima, “known more for fanaticism than political
judgement”.1 Sima wanted to free Codreanu and to overthrow the government of Armand
Călinescu. His attempt failed. But, after this attempt Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and thirteen
members of the movement were executed. As revenge, Armand Calinescu was murdered in
the train station of Sinaia, by the Legionnaires. Many leaders of the movement went in exile
after this assassination. Therefore, the movement which obtained political power lost its elite
character was more unpredictable and aggressive. During their short rule the members of the
organisation killed many Jews. In the pogrom of Bucharest more than 100 people were killed.
They also imprisoned and murdered public officials, for example the poet and politician
Nicolae Iorga and the economist, politician Virgil Madgearu.

The Germans found the Iron Guard (this name was frequently used by the late period of the
Legion of Archangel Michael) very unreliable and ordered Ion Antonescu to annihilate the
movement. In January 1941 defeated the Legionnaires. This moment meant the end of the
movement.

6. The nationalist movements in Hungary

Hungary’s situation after the First World War was more disastrous than in the case of
Germany: it lost the majority of the former territories and population. In 1919 a communist
republic was established on similar in principles to the Soviet communism. This regime did
not last long, being abolished by a former admiral of Austria-Hungary, Mikos Horthy. He was
supported by the governments of England and France. The inter-war period of Hungary is
marked by the personality of Horthy. Entitled as regent of Hungary, he established a
democratic regime, but with some conservative, autocratic aspects.

The great losses had an extremely strong effect on the population and caused the emergence
of nationalist and revisionist feelings. The extreme-right, ultra-nationalist parties appeared on
the basis of this atmosphere.

1
PAYNE, Stanley, 1995, Four Major Variants of Fascism, in idem., A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, Madison:
The University of Wisconsin Press, p. 288

14
In Hungary several such parties existed but they did not become large parties with mass
support. The only organization which was very influential was the Hungarist or Arrow Cross
movement leaded by Ferenc Szálasi.

As Carol II of Romania prevented the movement of Codreanu to gain power, in Hungary the
extremist movements were suppressed by Horthy. In 1939 the Cross Arrow Party obtained
more then 35% of the votes, so it had much bigger popular support than the Iron Guard in
Romania.

Ideologically this movement was almost similar to the Nazi ideology, but instead of the Aryan
supremacy, preached the primacy of Hungarian race. The other characteristics –
authoritarianism, militarism, charismatic leadership, idealism, anti-Semitism – were the same
as in the Nazi ideology. In 1944 Horthy attempted to turn against the Germans, but he did not
succeed. He was forced to designate Szalasi as prime minister and to leave the country.
Szalasi’s rule can be regarded as a puppet regime given the fact that he was following the
orders given by Hitler. The fascist regime did not last long in Hungary, either. It was put to an
end by the Soviet troops occupying Hungary in the dawn of 1945.

7. The ideology

There is no doubt that fascism became significant at times of economic crisis. However, such
crises were not peculiar to the countries in which fascism became significant.

John Breuilly pointed this out: economic problems can create political crisis but the type of
crisis they implement and the means available for resolving them vary according to the nature
of the political system.

Another debatable subject he rested upon was the statement that in terms of activist support it
is reasonable to argue that fascism draws upon lower middle-class groups, although only upon
small minorities within them. The term lower middle-class only makes sense if taken to cover
every large social group apart from unionized industrial workers, meaning more passive
support.

15
Fascism’s big popular support method is that it offers a solution to a generalized political
crisis. This generalized solution was bringing fascism’s ability to mobilize temporary support
from a very wide range of social groups.

Along side the advantages of fascism there are the weak points of this political ideology. We
underline here that a major disadvantage is the lack of commitment to parliamentary
democracy. This lack of commitment led to a predisposition to extremist ideas. If this is
accepted, the course of the search to define fascism will have to concentrate on the ideological
origins and those conditions in a society that open the perspective for an fascist ideology. To
explain this predisposition, some studies have to be conducted regarding the anti-Semitism,
racism, anti-nationalism and other things that find their sense in the fascist melting pot.

By emphasizing the week points of Italian and German politics and by pointing to particular
personality types that require rather authority then participation, it is being emphasized that
these aspects are meant to weaken the hold of parliamentary democracy.

There were a few attempts at a greater level of detail to the actual subject of fascism and more
specific, “the investigation of the impact of fascist ideology and the reasons for its appeal to
make one even more suspicious of general interpretations which stresses ideology and its
relationship to particular patterns of culture or personality.” A possible mistake of this
approach is that it confuses the condition for the emergence and existence of fascism and the
moment when fascism becomes politically significant.

A distinction has to be made between activists and passive supporters. The main idea is that
the activity of an activist must be placed in a different light from that of a simple voter in a
single year. Fascist ideology would be equally proportioned to the degree of involvement one
has in the movement.

If the support was passive, the appreciation of and concern with fascist ideas would be vague,
seen as faintly contoured and its consideration would be very general. For the Nazis the term
of support could range from full blooded commitment to the erg for a pure “Volk” – racism.
Also, the decisions or ideas they would advance would vary from abolishing the Jewish
conspiracy and the assertion of the interests of the German race against all enemies to a very
briefly sketched frame of mind that what the country was lacking was a strong government

16
and the ideal one would come from Hitler and his party. The link between latter point of view
and some specific sort of culture or political attitude is difficult to establish

The fact that fascism had supporters, even for one single vote, but especially the commitment
of a core of activists which sustained the ideology when it was just an alternative form of
politics put fascism in the position of offering itself as an alternative to other structures of
politics. From this we can say that ideology was playing an important role even though it
didn’t seem like it.

There are several researches involving the role of the activist core mentioned earlier. The
most elaborate study of the ideology has been done by Merkl. From the research we will
underline a few reasons for the explanation of why fascism became politically significant. It
should be well known that anti-Semitism is a major feature of Nazi ideology. It’s an almost
obsessive concern of Hitler’s writings and vocabulary. Although anti-Semitism isn’t the main
ideology in all of the fascist regimes, there is no doubt that it is in position of centrality in the
declared and official Nazi doctrine. He drowned two tables in which we can find some
clarification of those mentioned earlier.

According to Merkl, the “Main ideological themes”, analysis tends to show some strong
prejudices. Two of these themes are most surprising. The first one would be that anti –
Semitism is the major ideology concern of a small percentage – 8.5%. The second one is a
more general remark because it refers more to a tendency rather than a specific fact. That is
the fact that a significant amount of prejudices of the Nazis were above from an importance
point of view others like the ones against Jews. It is notable that the predominant ideologies
were either, general and positive ideas about a strong and unified nation or simple faith in
Hitler.

Another point analyzed by Merkl is “Shadings of anti-Semitism” – anti-Semitism is not only a

minority between ideologies of respondents but that is quite irrelevant to half of them. If we
combine the above with the fact that the specific and positive features of Nazis ideology: the
“volkisch identity” and the related thoughts about blood, history and soil, are the ideological
concepts of a small group of respondents leads to the idea that half or more of the activists in
the Nazis party had no specifically Nazi ideas at all. Another conclusion would be that the
younger the activists are, the more general their ideology will be.

17
The second major theme of Merkl’s findings is to find out and explain why people have the
ideas they do. Another characteristic of anti-semitism is that of finding scapegoats for one’s
problem. This need of scapegoats comes linked in turn with misfortune and of course with
ways of seeing misfortune.

We can say without doubt that strong ideological themes are present and take an important
role in the early membership of fascist movement. There are a lot of debates around the
subject that some societies have a larger amount of themes and potential early fascist than
others. The war experience is influencing the early mentioned, and leaves a greater mark
when a humiliating defeat or a disappointing victory is added. The result is a large pool of ex-
soldiers and others who could not adjust to post-war conditions. The social settings of the
post-war ruined many small businessmen. For these people and others that are part of those
who failed at a professional level, the new democracy could be seen as a sham, something to
be deeply opposed. They were embarked in many right-wing organizations and took up a
large and varied prejudices and construct upon ideologies that were elaborated before 1914.
These were the key elements that led to the emergence of fascism and of course, its existence
was a necessity of its success.

Fascism was nevertheless a changing system. It deed more than linear expanding between its
origins and its rise to power. Fascism underwent a series of changes along its historical path:
political strategy, the organization, its members to enumerate a few.

The central idea of fascism, that of a strong, united and active nation, is a composite mirror
image of these various types of politics. Only because of their failure that fascism becomes
significant in the political arena. Nevertheless, it had influenced the failure of those systems
and offered a different perspective for the masses to perceive it.

In conclusion, viewed from an angle of comparative analysis approach aimed at

understanding why fascism becomes important, such political failures are linked to a certain
extent to the preceding political system making its historical path blurry. It is only in and
trough the political systems which have these “defects” that fascism becomes significant.
8. Conclusion

18
The world crisis after the First World War transformed fascism into a movement which could
have become a global threat. In its German version – national-socialism – fascism was the
beneficiary both of the intellectual tradition which had been hostile to liberal economic
thinking and the government’s determination to eliminate unemployment at all costs.

Nazism is a phenomenon that cannot be subject to a rational analysis. Under the control of a
fanatic leader who used apocalyptical pitches in his dissertations regarding global politics or
destructions and a regime founded on the basis of racism one of the Worlds’s most advanced
countries from cultural and economic point of view started a global conflagration that had as
result over 50 million lost lives, not to mention the material damages, some of them still
present today as a reminder of the atrocities which culminated with the mass killing of
millions of Jews.

The Italian fascism kept a rather moderate act and this is why the democratic countries of the
world did not take stand against it. The mistake made by Mussolini is that he took Hitler’s
side in the Second World War and this is what led to the fall of fascism in Italy.

Since at first fascism appeared as a response to socialism it can be assumed that, if Lenin
wouldn’t have existed probably both Mussolini’s and Hitler’s ideals wouldn’t have been
embraced by so many people because there would have been no threat which would have
made this type reaction necessary. However, the answer to something as dreadful as
communism was perceived at that time shouldn’t have been something even worse because,
in terms of elementary laws of the Universe, an equilibrium needs to be established and all
things have the tendency of going towards that state, regardless of the time, the place or the
circumstances.

9. References

19
1. BALL, Terence and BELLAMY, Richard, eds., 2003, The Cambridge History of
Twentieth – Century Political Thought, Cambridge University Press
2. BREUILLY, John, 1993, Nationalism and the State, Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press
3. PAYNE, Stanley, 1995, Four Major Variants of Fascism, in idem., A History of
Fascism, 1914-1945, Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press

20