Totalitarianism and Fascism in Europe Between the Wars
The Second Moroccan Crisis
Italy’s Expansion and France’s Concession
Italy, exploiting the weakness of the Ottoman Empire, claimed its right to participate in the empire’s division and launched an offensive to conquer Turkish Libya. Unable to send ground troops, the Ottomans were defeated by Italy, a second-rate power at the time.
To finally gain Germany’s recognition of the protectorate of Morocco, France had to cede part of its Congolese territory to Germany.
Totalitarianism: The USSR and Fascism
The Nature of Totalitarian Regimes
Totalitarian movements were illiberal political systems that believed individuals delegated their sovereignty to the state. There was no separation of powers, and political parties were abolished. These movements were based on the idea of the inequality of men, and therefore, only the elite (the selected and trained) could govern. They were led by charismatic leaders.
All opposition groups were eliminated, and paramilitary police were used to spread the new ideology with violent methods. These movements sought to ethnically regenerate man. Europeans were classified into Aryans, Latinos, Slavs, and Jews.
Dissemination of Ideologies and Expansionist Policies
To disseminate new ideologies, totalitarian regimes used techniques such as radio, film, flags, and parades. They instilled in the population an urgent need to restore the greatness of past empires, which led to the practice of expansionist policies and aggression. The right to strike and trade unions were forbidden.
The Rise of Fascism
Right-wing totalitarianism, or fascism, appeared in the turbulent interwar period thanks to the support it received from landowners and capitalists obsessed with the “fear of the red” at a time of high unemployment and the possibility of a Bolshevik revolution in Western Europe. They also received support from the impoverished middle class, especially the younger generation, who embraced nationalistic ideology. Finally, following the crisis of 1929, they were supported by the disillusioned unemployed working class who had lost faith in the capitalist system and believed in fascism’s promises of full employment and economic prosperity.
Italian Fascism Under Mussolini
Post-War Discontent and the Rise of Mussolini
Despite winning World War I, Italy had a shattered economy, and discontent spread throughout the country (a “mutilated victory”).
Mussolini founded the newspaper Il Popolo d’Italia to spread his fascist ideology.
In 1921, he founded the National Fascist Party. It was reactionary, anti-parliamentary, undemocratic, illiberal, and anti-socialist. Its symbol was an axe surrounded by a bundle of reeds.
The March on Rome and the Establishment of Fascism
During 1922, the conservative government of King Victor Emmanuel III was unable to cope with the social disorder. They allowed the violent actions of the fascists against the socialists and communists and even gave them weapons. The army managed to thwart a successful general strike. On that day, Mussolini decided to emulate the victorious Roman generals by organizing his Blackshirts for the “March on Rome“.
The success of the march was due to the inactivity of the army, which was reluctant to support parliamentarianism. The king appointed Mussolini head of government with full powers. From this moment until 1943, Italy would have a totalitarian fascist regime.
Mussolini’s Policies and Achievements
Mussolini aimed to achieve a strong Italian state founded on collaboration with the classes. With this, he could implement a policy of Mediterranean expansion and gain control of the Suez Canal.
He banned all political parties except the Fascist Party. In 1925, he began to pursue a closed, nationalistic, and state-planned economic policy. The state intensified agricultural production and invested the surplus in infrastructure and public construction. He relaunched the military, eased unemployment, and even regulated Italians’ free time. The cult of personality continued to grow thanks to the media and mass rallies.
One of Mussolini’s great successes was the reconciliation between the Italian state and the Catholic Church, divided since the 19th century. In 1929, he signed the Lateran Treaty with Pope Pius XI, a pope who had previously denounced fascism. The Pope was granted sovereignty over Vatican City and the major basilicas of Rome.
The Second Bolshevik Revolution: Stalin’s Rule (1924-1953)
Stalin’s Rise to Power
Stalin adopted Marxism as a form of thought and transformed socialism into an irrational myth of a dictator.
Before Lenin died, he had made the decision to replace the single leader with a government of three. But Stalin, who had great power within the party, eventually eliminated the other two in 1927, sidelining and expelling Trotsky, and imposed his ideas. He consolidated communism in the USSR and ruled in an authoritarian manner. He physically eliminated anyone who dissented from his ideas or could overshadow him (the Great Purge). In practice, it was he who led the central government, foreign policy, and the economy. He began the practice of the cult of the leader, which had begun with Lenin and continued with himself in the 1930s.
Economic Policies and the Five-Year Plans
To stabilize the economy, Stalin turned to the interventionism of the early days of the revolution. The new socialist system was based on the utopian socialist principle of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his work” and was organized through five Five-Year Plans. To execute the plans, he used a docile and organized number of careerists who, after the purges, formed the Communist Party, the only permitted party, which did not oppose his ideas.
All private means of production, agricultural and industrial property, were nationalized and collectivized. Private trade disappeared because the state did not supply goods and charged excessive taxes. Due to the large size and resources of the USSR, Stalin tended towards autarky. But he presented it as an inevitable necessity arising from the fact that the West did not want to have any contact with the Soviets for fear of ideological contamination.
During the first state plan, the USSR joined the Second Industrial Revolution. The resources were obtained from collectivized agriculture, which was organized into state farms.
From 1933 through 1937, he developed the second plan, and the third plan was started but interrupted by World War II. By then, the USSR occupied third place in global industry after the U.S. and Germany. The Communist dictatorship was also affirmed, and it continued to lead the international labor movement through the Comintern. But since all of its activities were oriented towards the defense of Soviet foreign policy, it was dissolved in May 1943.