Rise of Fascism and Authoritarian Right: Causes, Features, and Alternatives
Fascism and Context: The Authoritarian Right
Early twentieth-century European society experienced catastrophes: a war ending traditional empires, a Russian social revolution threatening new political regimes, and economic depression. Many blamed the old liberal system. Institutions like parliaments and constitutions encouraged mass demands for rights and economic democracy, yet liberals struggled during the 1929 crisis.
During the 1920s and 30s, right-wing and authoritarian political and social movements emerged, demanding the demise of the liberal regime. The right did not advocate for workers’ participation in policy but rather the imposition of the state over the masses. This authoritarian right organized a mass movement supported by all social classes, using political propaganda. These movements constituted fascism, most representatively in Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany.
Features of Fascism
- Rejecting the Bourgeois World: Post-war Western individualism, egoism, defeatism, and speculation gave way to nostalgia for hierarchical past societies.
- Democracy Rejected: Fascism rejected parliamentarianism, considering it weak against social revolution and ineffective in establishing social policy or economic alternatives. They blamed liberalism and democracy for national decline.
- Suppression of Marxism: Marxism was seen as a product of enlightenment and democratic values. Authoritarian regimes persecuted, imprisoned, and killed left-wing militants, union members, or those deemed extremists.
- Strong Nationalism: Nationality was combined with xenophobia and racism. Threats to national unity, patriotism, or independence were pursued. Socialists and Communists were seen as part of a class struggle. Cultural minorities were repressed as threats to national identity.
- Militarism: Right-wing movements relied on armed forces, using violence to suppress threats to national unity or social order. Leaders like Franco imposed military values on civil society, often war veterans readily accepting these values, using uniforms and militias to intimidate society with parades.
Peculiarities of the Fascist Movement
Fascist movements were modern, revolutionary, and sought to attract the masses to build a new society beyond capitalism and communism.
- Mobilizing the Masses: They adapted to democratic society to attract crowds, organizing modern political parties competing against Socialists and Communists. They used propaganda and demagoguery, offering what people wanted to hear, participating in elections, and using symbols like the swastika.
- Charismatic Leadership: They were led by charismatic leaders.
- Social Conservative Groups: Fascists were often indifferent to religion and political regimes, supported by the military but led by civilians, and opposed to the free market.
- Ideological System: Fascism combined irrational ideas, myths, and beliefs, demanding blind faith. It often included prejudices as governing principles.
Nazism in Germany
The Weimar Republic and the Ascension of Nazism (1918-1933)
Defeated in WWI, Germany established a democratic parliamentary regime known as the Weimar Republic. From its inception, numerous problems led to Nazism’s rise, including the defeat, economic disorder, regime weakness, parliamentary division, and the 1929 crisis.
The Loss in Great Britain
The Treaty of Versailles was seen as humiliating. The army and conservatives accused the regime of treason. Nationalist, anti-liberal, and militarist parties rejecting the regime and treaty were strong in Bavaria. Adolf Hitler refounded the National Socialist German Workers’ Party in Munich in 1921.
The Economic Chaos of Postwar Germany
WWI caused economic catastrophe and hyperinflation. War debt payments overwhelmed the country, exacerbated by the 1923 crisis, devaluing money and affecting savings, pensioners, war widows, officers, and employees. Some groups were accused of conspiring to enrich themselves, personified by anti-Semitism prevalent in Central Europe.
The Weakness of the Scheme
The Weimar Republic faced revolutionary attempts by the Communist Party (KPD), separatist movements, and far-right coups. The Republic suppressed rightist movements, but tolerance of coups led to street violence, frightening citizens, political opponents, and especially the Jewish population and labor movement.
The Militias of the Match
These included the SA (brown shirts) and the SS, Hitler’s personal guard, later responsible for concentration camps and Jewish extermination.
The Division of Parliament
The German electoral system prevented majority governments, leading to unstable coalitions, primarily involving the Social Democratic Party and Zentrum (Catholic Center Party). The president held power above the government. Successive right-leaning governments marginalized the left. The Nazi party initially rejected, later participated in right-wing coalitions, abandoning revolutionary rhetoric, gaining support from social groups and big business, and ultimately gaining power.
The Crisis of 1929
Germany was severely affected, increasing social unrest and unemployment, benefiting the Communists and Nazis. The SPD and Zentrum stagnated. In 1932, the Nazi party became the most voted, and Hindenburg invited Hitler to form a government.
The Nazis in Power (1933-1945)
Hitler, with only two other Nazi ministers, suppressed democracy, eliminated opposition, imposed a war economy, and launched an aggressive foreign policy. He dissolved the Reichstag, called elections under a state of emergency, suppressing democratic rights and harassing political opponents. Despite this, the Nazis won 44% of the vote in March 1933. Hitler banned other political parties, passed emergency laws without parliament, and after Hindenburg’s death, declared himself Führer (Leader). Workers joined the German Labor Front, and churches were tolerated in exchange for support.
Exterminate All Opposition
Hitler eliminated the radical SA wing in the Night of the Long Knives in 1934, gaining military and capitalist support. The SS and Gestapo led repression, aided by Goering, Goebbels, and Himmler.
Democratic Alternatives
Britain
Britain faced post-WWI problems like economic crisis, labor unrest, and high unemployment but had advantages: a long parliamentary tradition, a majority electoral system leading to strong governments, and established political parties accepting the system (Conservatives and Labour). A mature labor movement demanded concrete measures through organized strikes. A vast empire allowed economic liberalism to persist longer than in most European countries.
France
France also suffered from WWI’s impact, with greater debt than Britain. After initial struggles, it experienced prosperity until the 1929 crisis brought economic and social depression. Authoritarianism was prevented by a mixed electoral system, a united left attempting to boost purchasing power.
United States
British democracy strengthened after WWI, gaining international political leadership and industrial power. The US experienced economic prosperity in the 1920s, with political stability due to its isolation from European problems, Republican dominance until 1933, and the development of consumer society. The Great Depression led to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency in 1933 and his New Deal policies. The New Deal involved state intervention to strengthen demand, combat unemployment, and address the social crisis. It was erratic with limited achievements, but it established state intervention as essential for economic policy, pioneering approaches later adopted in Europe after 1945.
Balance of War
Victims
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