What is Fascism ?
Background
There
has been a misconception about Fascism that it is mindless ,uncultured and a criminal
political movement purely based on brute force ,that might be a half-truth
because fascists loved and promoted art and philosophy. For instance Hitler was
an artist. He loved to paint. The National Socialist German workers Party ; the
Nazis were inspired by the political thought and philosophy of German
Philosopher Frederick Nietzsche.
Furthermore
during 1920 and 1930 Nazis gathered an
enormous electoral support being the largest party in the German Parliament. Though
Fascism remained a popular movement yet it is the naked authoritarianism. The word "Fascism"
is of Latin language ,spoken in ancient Rome that means bundle of rods or
sticks, this word was created by Benito Mussolini of Italy.
The
bundle of rods and sticks in the times of Rome were used to punish people to
maintain law and order. At times the rod had blades on it to execute people.
The bundle of rods which are often seen in Italy is the emblem of Roman State
Authority.
Fascism
is usually characterized as radical nationalism. The term radical means to
depart from the mainstream either to left or right wing of politics. Therefore
Fascism is the radical authoritarianism and ultra nationalism that leads to
dictatorship and despotism.
Italian-Fascism
When World
War I (1914-1918) broke out ,the government of Italy specially the Italian Socialist
Party, the party of Italian Antonio Gramsci did not want to go to War. Benito Mussolini
was the member of Italian Socialist Party disagreed with his own party and said
,"Italy must not be deprived of the opportunity to get into War and conquer
other lands and colonies to become a great civilization".
As the
disagreement erupted Mussolini started opposing Marxism ,Liberalism,
Egalitarianism and Humanism which he thought were obstacles for Italy to rise
to power.
Antonio Gramsci's Explanation
Gramsci was
the pioneer member of Socialist Party of Italy. He offered an explanation that,"
In the south of Italy the workers became much organized, trade unions were
strong against capitalists". The land lords and capitalists smelt rats i.e Bolshevik
type of revolution so they started cooking conspiracies and made groups called
"Black Shirts". Hence" Black Shirts Movement" started to
crush trade unions ,beat workers ,peasants black and blue ,destroy their
offices and printing presses.
Feudal
lords of Italy supported Mussolini against socialists and he remained
successful to get into power.
German-Fascism
It is
pertinent to discuss an unfortunate incident in Germany where German Parliament
was burnt to ashes and the opposition benches in Parliament, the Communist
party was allegedly held responsible. This incident led Chancellor of Germany
to resign and devolve powers to Hitler.
Hitler when sworn in crushed Communist party. His manifesto was to expand
throughout Europe. Therefore he started working with feudal lords to achieve
his goal of expansion across Europe. Hitler and most of the members of Nazi
party were apparently inclined towards Nietzsche and his philosophy, even Hitler paid a visit to
Nietzsche's home.
Nietzsche: God father of Fascism
Nietzsche
a German Philosopher gave his own aggressive Philosophy of fascism that drew
attention of fascists. He was antagonistic to slave morality. He destroyed the
idea of right and wrong given by God. He was also known as madman because he
writes without any care. He asserted," Christianity created a slave
mentality in Europe. Christianity is the religion of slaves. Due to enlightment
and science there was a dire need of another mentality to address the challenges of that time. Therefore the
mentality of superman came forward.
Nietzsche was power hungry so he wrote in his book
"God is Dead" and the will to power which he meant ,the truth is dead
because there is no absolute truth and the things which make the society
powerful should be opted. Religion should not be prioritized as it weakens
human beings.
He added,
the purpose of life is to strive , grow ,spread, seize and become pre-dominant not
from any morality or immorality but because it is living and because life
simply is will to power. Knowledge and values that enhance life are what life
strives for.
The
illustration can be, one must fight the challenges of life. When a child is
born, he has to breathe to survive ,he has to fight with all the diseases to
become a healthy and grown up. Similarly a plant has to break out the seed to
grow and to fight the hostile environment.
Fascists, the Nazis in Europe more often were
anti conservatives .They weren't promoting religion, family structure because
both erode strength inside out.
Europe's Liberals' Policy of
Appeasement
At first
Liberals didn't want confrontation with fascists ,which mustered up fascists' courage. Eventually
fascists grew and Hitler started sending troops to colonize other
lands. He attacked France to take over, then he send troops to Britain and even
Soviet Union.
During
these operations he killed fifty million people but failed in the end because
Soviets allied with the people of Germany and France who were against Hitler
and his brutal policies.
New Consensus and Pledge
A
consensus was built post World War II (1939-1945) that Fascism is oppression
and fascists would never be allowed to accentuate and expand. Think tanks
around the world substantiated that fascism was the reason of World War II.
Comments
Post a Comment
Ask for further queries.