Human Rule Weighed in the Balances

Part 6​—Blackshirts and Swastikas

Fascism: Government by dictatorship, marked by State control of the economy, social regimentation, and an ideology of belligerent nationalism; Nazism: Fascism as practiced by the National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Hitler.

THE word “Fascism” generally conjures up images of black-shirted Italian military squads and of swastika-bearing, brown-uniformed German storm troopers. But other countries have had their experiences with Fascism too.

During the 1930’s, Fascism gained prominence in Hungary, Romania, and Japan. During the Spanish Civil War, Fascist support helped Francisco Franco gain control of Spain, although most historians do not view Franco’s dictatorship (1939-75) as having been genuinely Fascist in nature. The Argentine dictatorship established by Juan D. Perón (1943-55), on the other hand, was.

Worshiping the State

“Fascism” comes from the Italian word fascio and refers to an ancient Roman symbol of authority. Called fasces in Latin, it was a bundle of rods from which the blade of an ax projected, an apt symbol of the unity of the people under the supreme authority of the State.

Although some of the roots of Fascism go back to the time of Niccolò Machiavelli, not until 1919, or 450 years after that one’s birth, did Benito Mussolini use the word for the first time. The political corruption of his day, Machiavelli claimed, could only be overcome by an authoritarian ruler, one who would exercise power ruthlessly but with prudence.

A Fascist government needs just such a strong, opportunistic, and charismatic leader if it is to be effective. Appropriately, both Mussolini and Hitler were known simply as “the leader”​—Il Duce and der Führer.

Fascism elevates the State above all other authority, both religious and civil. French jurist Jean Bodin of the 16th century, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes of the 17th, as well as 18th- and 19th-century German philosophers Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Heinrich von Treitschke, all glorified the State. Hegel taught that the State occupies a position of supremacy and that the individual’s supreme duty is to be its loyal supporter.

By their very nature, all governments must exercise authority. But Fascist states are designed to exercise it to the utmost, demanding blind obedience. Viewing humans as little more than slaves of the State, Treitschke said: “It does not matter what you think, so long as you obey.” Typically, Fascism replaced the cry, “Liberty, equality, fraternity,” heard during the French Revolution, with the Italian slogan, “To believe, to obey, to fight.”

Fascism Glorifies War

To fight? Yes! “War alone brings up to their highest tension all human energies and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to meet it,” Mussolini once said, adding: “War is to the man what maternity is to the woman.” He called perpetual peace “depressing and a negation of all the fundamental virtues of man.” In saying these words, Mussolini was simply mirroring the views of Treitschke, who contended that war was a necessity and that banishing it from the world, besides being profoundly immoral, “would involve the atrophy of many of the essential and sublime forces of the human soul.”

Against this background of war and dictatorship, we may not be surprised to learn that many historians trace the beginning of modern Fascism back to Napoléon I of France. Dictator during the early 1800’s, he was admittedly no Fascist himself. Nevertheless, many of his policies, such as the establishment of a secret-police system and the skillful use of propaganda and censorship to control the press, were later adopted by the Fascists. And certainly his determination to restore the glory of France is typical of the obsession with national greatness for which Fascist leaders have become known.

By 1922 the Fascists in Italy were powerful enough to install Mussolini as prime minister, a position he quickly used as a stepping-stone to being a dictator. As far as wages, hours, and production goals were concerned, privately owned industry was subjected to rigid government control. In fact, private enterprise was encouraged only to the extent that it served government interests. Political parties other than the Fascist were outlawed; labor unions were banned. The government skillfully controlled the media, silencing opposers by means of censorship. Special attention was given to indoctrinating the young, and personal liberty was seriously curtailed.

Fascism, German Style

“Despite the coincidence of their paths to power,” says the book Fascism, by A. Cassels, “Italian Fascism and German Nazism were markedly different in temperament and in their vision of the future.”

Besides the aforementioned German philosophers who served as forerunners of Fascist thought, others, like 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, helped create a brand of Fascism uniquely German. Not that Nietzsche was a Fascist, but he did call for a ruling elite, a race of supermen. In doing so, however, he had no one race or nation in mind, least of all the Germans, for whom he had no particular liking. But some of his ideas were close to what National Socialist ideologists considered ideally German. So these ideas were appropriated, while others, not agreeing with Nazi doctrine, were discarded.

Hitler was also strongly influenced by German composer Richard Wagner. Extremely nationalistic and patriotic, Wagner viewed Germany as destined to perform a great mission in the world. “For Hitler and Nazi ideologists Wagner was the perfect hero,” says the Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. It explains: “The composer epitomized Germany’s greatness. In Hitler’s view Wagner’s music justified German nationalism.”

Author William L. Shirer adds: “It was not his [Wagner’s] political writings, however, but his towering operas, recalling so vividly the world of German antiquity with its heroic myths, its fighting pagan gods and heroes, its demons and dragons, its blood feuds and primitive tribal codes, its sense of destiny, of the splendor of love and life and the nobility of death, which inspired the myths of modern Germany and gave it a Germanic Weltanschauung [world view] which Hitler and the Nazis, with some justification, took over as their own.”

The thinking of both Nietzsche and Wagner was shaped by Comte Joseph Arthur de Gobineau, French diplomat and ethnologist, who, between 1853 and 1855, wrote Essai sur l’inégalité des races humaines (Essay on the Inequality of Human Races). He argued that racial composition determines the fate of civilizations. Diluting the racial character of Aryan societies would ultimately lead to their downfall, he warned.

The racism and anti-Semitism that developed from these ideas were characteristic of German-style Fascism. Both policies were less significant in Italy. In fact, evidences of anti-Semitism in Italy were considered by many Italians to be an indication that Hitler was replacing Mussolini as the dominating force behind Fascism. Indeed, as time passed, Hitler’s influence on the policies of Italian Fascism grew.

In striving to achieve national greatness, Italian Fascism and German Fascism looked in opposite directions. Author A. Cassels explains that “where Mussolini might exhort his countrymen to emulate the deeds of the ancient Romans, the Nazi revolution of the spirit aimed at inciting the Germans, not only to do what the distant Teutonic giants had done, but also to be those same tribal heroes reincarnated in the twentieth century.” In other words, Italian Fascism sought to regain bygone glory, as it were, by dragging Italy, an industrially underdeveloped land, into the 20th century. Germany, on the other hand, sought to regain former glory by retreating into a mythical past.

What Made It Possible

In most countries, Fascists have come to power after a national disaster, an economic collapse, or a military defeat. This was true in both Italy and Germany. Although on opposing sides during World War I, they both emerged from the struggle greatly weakened. Nationalist discontent, economic dislocation, and an intensification of the class war plagued both countries. Germany experienced runaway inflation, and unemployment soared. The democratic principle was also weak, still hampered by the military and authoritarian tradition of Prussia. And everywhere loomed the specter of the feared Soviet Bolshevism.

Charles Darwin’s idea of evolution and natural selection was another significant factor in the rise of Fascism. The book The Columbia History of the World speaks about the “reawakening of Social Darwinism in the ideologies of the Fascists, expressed both by Mussolini and by Hitler.”

The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich agrees with this appraisal, explaining that social Darwinism was “the ideology behind Hitler’s policy of genocide.” In harmony with the teachings of Darwinian evolution, “German ideologists argued that the modern state, instead of devoting its energy to protecting the weak, should reject its inferior population in favor of the strong, healthy elements.” They argued that war is normal in the struggle for survival of the fittest, that “victory goes to the strong, and the weak must be eliminated.”

Has the Lesson Been Learned?

The days of black-shirted Italian military squads and of swastika-bearing, brown-uniformed German storm troopers are over. Yet, even in 1990, vestiges of Fascism remain. Two years ago Newsweek magazine warned that in practically every Western European nation, “the forces of the far right are proving once again that barely disguised racism and an appeal to nationalistic and authoritarian values can still gather surprising support.” No doubt one of the most dynamic of these movements is Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front in France with a message basically “the same as that of National Socialism.”

Is it sensible to place trust in neo-Fascist movements? Do the roots of Fascism​—Darwinian evolution, racism, militarism, and nationalism—​form a sound foundation upon which to base good government? Or would you not agree that like all other kinds of human rule, Fascism has been weighed in the balances and found wanting?

[Box on page 26]

Fascism​—Is Its Foundation Sound?

Darwinian Evolution: “An increasing number of scientists, most particularly a growing number of evolutionists . . . argue that Darwinian evolutionary theory is no genuine scientific theory at all.”​—New Scientist, June 25, 1981, Michael Ruse.

Racism: “The chasm between human races and peoples, where it exists, is psychological and sociological; it is not genetic!”​—Genes and the Man, Professor Bentley Glass.

“Human beings of all races are . . . descended from the same first man.”​—Heredity and Humans, science writer Amram Scheinfeld.

Militarism: “The ingenuity, labor, and treasure poured out on this . . . insanity truly stun the mind. If nations did not learn war any more, there would be nothing mankind could not do.”​—American author and Pulitzer prize winner Herman Wouk.

Nationalism: “Nationalism divides humanity into mutually intolerant units. As a result, people think as Americans, Russians, Chinese, Egyptians or Peruvians first, and human beings second​—if at all.”​—Conflict and Cooperation Among Nations, Ivo Duchacek.

“So many of the problems that we face today are due to, or the result of, false attitudes​—some of them have been adopted almost unconsciously. Among these is the concept of narrow nationalism​—‘my country, right or wrong.’”​—Former UN Secretary-General U Thant.

[Pictures on page 25]

Ancient religious symbols, such as the swastika, and the motto, “God With Us,” did not save Hitler’s rule

The fasces, Mussolini’s symbol for Fascism, is found on some U.S. dimes