Fascism and National Socialism

Fascism was first coined by Benito Mussolini, founder and leader of Fascist Italy,
in his reign in the post-World War I. Such term is derived from the Italian word fascis
which means “bundle” or “unit” and the Latin word fasces which refers to an axe
surrounded with rods and is usually carried by the Roman magistrate as a symbol of
authority in ancient Rome. With this two roots, a good glimpse of the basic tenets of
fascism can be offered which is unity and power.
In defining fascism, Mussolini outlines three principles of the fascist philosophy:

 “Everything in the state”. The government is supreme and the country is

all-encompassing, and all within it must conform to the ruling body, often a
dictator.
 “Nothing outside the state”. The country must grow and the implied goal of
any fascist nation is to rule the world, and have every human submit to the
government.
 “Nothing against the state”. Any type of questioning the government is not
to be tolerated. If you do not see things our way, you are wrong. If you do
not agree with the government, you cannot be allowed to live and taint the
minds of the rest of the good citizens.
Human Nature

All individuals are part of the state. For this reason, individuals are indoctrinated
to submit to it. They should swear allegiance to the state and must set aside their own
needs and supplicate themselves to the needs of the state. The people must unite to
give strength to the state and the power to execute whatever it desires because in
fascist views the state is an entity that needs to be glorified.

The core theme that nevertheless runs throughout fascism is the image of an
organically unified national community. This is reflected in a belief in “strength through
unity”. The individual, in literal sense, is nothing; individual identity must be absorbed
entirely into that of the community. The fascist ideal is that of the ‘new man’, a hero,
motivated by duty, honor and self-sacrifice, prepared to dedicate his life to the glory of
his nation and to give unquestioning obedience to a supreme leader.
Concept of Equality

In fascism, the concept of equality does not exist because fascist consider other
states as inferior on the reason that fascist considers their own state as a supreme
state. After conquering a state violently, they forced the inhabitants of that state to
swear allegiance to the mother state. Hence, considers the conquered state and
conquering state as inferior and superior, respectively.
 After Mussolini invaded Albania in 1939, he made Albanian people adhere to
Italy and work for the state’s demands.
Concept of Justice

To the fascist, the concept of justice is the absence of internal conflict. In a

fascist state, every individual must submit an unquestionable deference to the supreme
leader, often a dictator. Fascism rejects the liberal doctrines of individual autonomy and
rights, political pluralism, and representative government, hence, fascists are hostile
towards liberalism. Moreover, fascism rejects the idea of class struggle. Social classes
are maintained in order to avoid “mob rule” or any hint of chaos for it is a threat to the
state. The state’s absolute power and greatness depends on the maintenance of a class
system in which every individual has a specific place, and that place cannot be altered.
For this reason, fascism establishes hostility to the communists. Also, fascism is
antifeminism since it (fascism) upholds strict gender roles.

Fascist leaders seek the suppression of opponents because they are viewed as
the catalysts of chaos and this threatens the dignity of their state. For example, the
Black Shirts, a paramilitary squadre created by Mussolini, killed socialist Giacomo
Matteotti, Mussolini’s most outspoken critic. Therefore, there are no conflicting parties or
elections in fascist countries.
Concept of Power

In a fascist state, power should reside at the hands of the ruler, often the dictator.
To maintain the power and greatness of the state requires a single, charismatic leader
with absolute authority. Moreover, the authoritarian leader is often viewed as a symbol
of the State. This all powerful heroic leader maintains the unity and unquestioning
submission required by the fascist state. With this, the leader will always be equated as
the collective will on the theory that subordinates must conform and should not oppose
on the will of the supreme leader. In other words, the supreme leader is thought as the
catalyst of the unity of people for the state.
View on Religion

Despite the fact that Mussolini was an atheist, he was supported by the Roman
Catholic church. When Mussolini concluded the Lateran Treaty on February 1929 with
Pope Pius XI, he started to recognize the independent sovereignty of Vatican and
supported the establishment of Catholicism as the official religion of Vatican. In return,
the Catholic hierarchy supported his regime. The Catholic church was enthusiastic
about Mussolini’s attempts to raise Italian birthrates and antifeminist acts, such as laws
that made abortion a heavily punished crime against the state and regulations
discouraging women from working. Fascism supports religious organizations that has
national ties and support to the state.
Concept of the State and the World

The state is viewed as the end of all the means. Fascism is based around the
glory of the state thus being considered as the most important. Fascist believe that
constant conquest of other nations is necessary to uphold the glory of the state.

Fascist viewed the world competitively. Fascist considers the maintenance of

strength and power as vital for the survival of the state. Hence, seeks to subjugate the
entire world through the use of militaristic violence to maintain its political prestige. In
addition, fascist distrust internationalism and rarely abide on international agreements.
Fascist don’t believe in the concept of international law. As an illustration, the Italian
Army invaded Ethiopia in October 1935 and waged a vicious, but brief, war to drive out
the Ethiopian emperor despite the condemnation of the League of Nations that this is a
violation of the international law and imposed economic sanctions to stop it.

National Socialism is the ideology of the Nazionalsozialistische Deutsche

Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) which was later known as the
Nazi Party. Adolf Hitler joined the party on 1919. National Socialism shared many
elements with Italian fascism, however, the former was far more extreme both in ideas
and in its practice. Hitler’s principles are contain in his autobiographical work, Mein
Kampf (My Struggle). Accordingly, Hitler’s worldviews are as follows:

 A racist interpretation of world history, where the Aryan race is presented as

‘creating cultures’ and the Jewish race as ‘destroying cultures’.
 A social-Darwinist view of life: the strong survive, the weak perish. This goes for
man as well as for the rest of nature.
 A love of anything militaristic: only in war does man show his true abilities.
 A belief that Germany can (and should) become a world power.

Human Nature

Nazis believe that only the Aryans are capable of human abilities such as
thinking well and making decisions. Hitler believed that only the Aryans has inalterable
personhood for he considers the race as sacred and noble, hence, must be propagated.
Moreover, Hitler believed that every Aryan should focus on “higher ideals” such as
extreme nationalism, racism, and especially war than traditional class struggle. On the
other hand, other races are considered living an unworthy life.
Concept of Equality

Like Fascism, National Socialism rejects the concept of equality however there is
still a difference. Hitler is strongly characterized by his racist interpretation of world
history by which Aryan race is presented as the “creator of cultures” and the Jewish
race as the “destroyer of cultures”. This anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist principle of Hitler
made him exterminated six million Jews during the Holocaust. In addition, Nazism also
had invented other common enemies of the Aryan race such as the communist, liberals,
pacifists, freemasons, gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals. For this
reason, the Nazi leaders erected concentration camps for the ultimate purpose of
demonstrating that man’s soul, dignity, and self-respect can be reduced to dirt and
ashes and that no one was exempt from such fate if it so pleased the Nazi rulers.

Furthermore, Hitler also had legislated his racial policies such as married loans
for those Germans who have ancestors and appearance measured up to the Nazi’s
standard of Aryan purity. This loans can only be repaid if the newlywed couple had
produced babies.
Concept of Justice
For Nazis, justice can be achieved if all their enemies are exterminated or
subdued and the Aryan race will occupy the earth. For this reason, Hitler dreamed and
fought for Germany to become a world power. Hitler’s ferocious actions of mass
extermination was motivated on the belief of the concept of Lebensraum (living space)
or the belief that Germany should expand its borders for the Aryans to have an
adequate entity to occupy on. Hitler also believed on the concept of “New Order” or the
restoration of Germany into a position of leadership in world trade, industry, and
finance.
Concept of Power

Like Fascism, Hitler’s National Socialism also believed in the essence of a

charismatic leader and on the support of the military. However, unlike the “state-first”
fascism, the supreme leader works for the unification of the Aryan race.
View on Religion

Although Hitler was a baptized Roman Catholic, he had established hostility

towards the Roman Catholic church and any organized religion. In fact, Nazism had
arrested hundreds of priest in the late 1930s for upholding the tenets of the bible and
resisting the anti-Christian, racist policies of Nazi mass murders. Christianity was
attacked as a Jewish contrivance to weaken the military spirit of the Germans. In
addition, Nazism is also hostile to the Jehovah’s Witnesses because of their
disobedience to adhere to the Aryan Race. Furthermore, Nazism established the “New
Christianity” and have their own version of the bible that tells that Jesus is not a Jew
and despises the Jews.

Concept of State and the World

The state is regarded as the means to an end which is the Aryan race. The state
is just mere apparatus used to attain the “Aryan Heaven” on earth. The state seeks to
conquer lands to make its inhabitants slaves of the superior Aryan race or worst killed.
In other words, the state ensures the domination of the Aryan race. Like the Fascist,
Nazis does not also give attention to the international community and international law.
To them, the presence of such entities are hindrances of achieving their political
ambition of ruling the world.

The Neos

Even though Hitler and Mussolini died after the Second World War, their
ideologies were not put down unlike what had happen to their proponents. Neo-Fascism
and Neo-Nazism still exist in the 21st century. Neo Fascism refers to any political
movements or beliefs that adheres to the principles of fascism and seeks for its
establishment, the same thing is true with the Neo Nazism (dictionary.reference.com).
These groups were often made up of remnants of fascist and Nazi activists who were
not prepared to give up their political militancy or indeed to renounce their ideologies
despite military defeat (Bull, 2010).

Neo-Fascist share an attitude of extreme, militant nationalism, a belief in

authoritarian rather than democratic government, and a total rejection of socialist,
liberalist principles (based from Eisenberg, 1967). Upon the other hand, Neo-Nazism
refers to the political movements after the World War II that emphasizes the tenets of
Nazism, its ideological progenitor, such as xenophobic nationalism, the belief of white
supremacy, and anti-Semitic beliefs (encyclopediajudaica, 2008). Just as Hitler was
able to leverage post-WWI depression to his advantage, neo-Nazis also use a poor
climate to make their proposed plans seem appealing. Unstable economic, social, and
political conditions are a contributing factor in the rise of Neo-Nazism
(hitlerschildren.com). Such as, in the 1970s, simultaneous inflation and recession
caused in great part by dependence on Arab oil, waves of nonwhite immigration into
Europe and the United States, constant threat of war especially in the Middle East and
in the Persian Gulf, etc.
Despite their existence, neo-Fascism and neo-Nazism cannot become the
dominating principle of the country in which they are present because there are existing
laws that prohibits most of their tenets. For example, in April 1993, the Italian
government passed an emergency measure aimed at punishing racial, ethnic, and
religious discrimination (encyclopediajudaica, 2008).
References:

Brian B.M. Larsen and Vogelsang, P. (2002). The Nazi Ideology. Retrieved on March 4,
2015. Website: http://www.holocaust-
education.dk/baggrund/nazismensideologi.asp
Bull, Anna C. 2012. Neo-fascism. Oxford Handbook of Fascism.
http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199594788.001.00
01/oxfordhb-9780199594788-e-32
Ebenstein, William. 1968. National Socialism. International Encyclopedia of the Social
Sciences. http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/National_Socialism.aspx.

Heywood, Andrew. Politics: Third Edition. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2007. Print.

Klein, Milton. 1995. National Socialism: The Evolutionary Worldview.

http://www.national-socialism.com/
Lyons, Matthew N. What is Fascism? Some General Ideological features. Boston: South
End Press. 1996. Print.
neofascism. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved March 04, 2015, from
Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/neofascism
Neo-What is Neo Nazism. (n.d). Hitler’s Children. Retrieved March 4, 2015, from
Hitler’schildren.com website:
http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199594788.001.00
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