Fascism and Nazism Defined

Fascism and Nazism Defined. At least according to Britain's Channel 4. Fascism is here in America too, it wraps itself in the flag and it wears a cross.

Fascism and Nazism

In the first half of the century, there were two types of right-wing ideological response to both liberal democracy and Communism.

Fascism

'Fascism' is derived from the Latin fasces, which means a bundle of rods with a projecting axe – the symbol of authority in ancient Rome. The term was first used by an Italian anti-socialist militia, the Fascio di Combattrimento, in 1919, and was applied by Mussolini to his movement after his rise to power in 1922.

The ideological basis of the movement was vicious anti-Communism and anti-liberalism. Communists were seen as unpatriotic traitors and liberals as weak muddlers. Fascists praised the strong bellicose leader, exalted in dreams of national glory and had a nostalgic vision of the past. Although some elements among Mussolini's followers had anti-capitalist prejudices, especially focusing on decadent rich people, the ideology was not opposed to private property.

Once in power, Fascism relied on an authoritarian state apparatus, and directed discontent against marginal groups such as Jews and gypsies. Its main appeal was irrational, using emotive slogans and ancient prejudices to bolster the leader's strongman appeal. Fascism was a direct influence on Hitler's Nazism, and on several other right-wing movements, including the Falange in Franco's Spain and the Ustase in Croatia.

Nazism

The name comes from the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartie (NSDAP, German National Socialist Workers party), which was shortened to Nazi. Originally called the German Workers party, founded by Anton Drexler after World War I, it was renamed in 1920. The following year, Hitler became party leader and introduced the Führerprinzip (leader principle), which meant that all authority came from himself.

During the 1920s, Nazism had a radical socialist side, blaming rich capitalists for the country's woes, but this was eliminated when Hitler came fully into power. Nazism, as expounded in his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle), was based on virulent hatred of the Jews, wild fantasies about a world Jewish conspiracy, hatred for all foreigners and contempt for the peoples of eastern Europe as half-breeds and degenerates.

An emotional rather than intellectual theory, it borrowed from such philosophers as the 19th-century radical thinker Friedrich Nietzsche, as well as incorporating racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic ideas common in European culture. The theory that the Aryan race was superior and needed extra living space (meaning more land in eastern Europe) led to World War II and the destruction of Hitler's dream of a '1,000-year Reich'.

Nazism became attractive to the German people during the massive crisis following the economic crash of 1929, which resulted in 3.2 million unemployed in Germany by 1930. After that, the Nazis remained in power because of their innovative use of propaganda and evocative symbols such as the swastika; the economic recovery that came from rearmament and the imposition of work by a totalitarian state, whose secret police eliminated any opposition – and, not least, because of the mesmerising personality of Hitler himself. In 1945, following Hitler's death and Germany's defeat, the Nazi party was abolished and banned.

Nazi rally, Berlin: 1933

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The successors

Although both Fascism and Nazism were defeated during World War II, several neo-Fascist political parities have emerged in Europe since 1945. These include the British National Party (BNP), the French Front Nationale (National Front), the Liberal Party in Austria and the Italian Allianza Nationale (National Alliance). Although these parties are usually anti-Semitic, their main appeal is their xenophobic and nationalistic message.

From Democracy Now! this morning.

AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. Well, can you talk about who Pat Robertson is, and is this statement unusual for him?

CHRIS HEDGES: Well, this fits a pattern of essentially seditious statements that have been made by Pat Robertson since the early 1980s, when he embraced this new doctrine within the Christian right known as Christian reconstructionism or dominionism -- that's not a term that he would use to describe it, but that's how shorthand for those of us who look at it from the outside -- where he calls for the creation of a Christian America, a Christian state. And there has been an assault against the democratic system, largely unseen, I think, by the majority of the American people, ever since the early 1980s.

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