The rise of fascism is associated with so many things in today's culture. Hitler, Mussolini, horrific violence, WWII, and perfect first-person-shooter video games (I mean where's a better bad guy than the evil, fascist Nazis and their Italian henchmen?). And in today's politics, you can't call someone a fascist without somehow linking them with Hitler (even if that's not what you meant at all, the link is made to discredit your argument).
So I know for me, fascism has kind of fallen out of my lexicon unless I'm talking about Wolfenstein 3D or Call of Duty, and it's generally overlooked in a lot of history survey courses. But I think the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany tells a lot about the nature of people and how it's not inconceivable to have one gifted leader with a core of loyal support to manipulate circumstances to his benefit.
Here are just a few things I think I took away from today's discussion:
1. People look out for themselves: I feel like a lot of their early part of our discussion centered around fascism offering the people something that they couldn't get from other political groups: stability. Reforms and democratic principles don't help if inflation is out the window or you can't put food on your table because of striking farm labor.
2. People look for a good plan, and when they're desperate plans don't have to look exceedingly good, just better than what's going on already: When you are in really tough economic times and there's a lot of indiscriminate and random violence going on outside your door, you aren't looking for the perfect system. You're looking to sustain yourself.
3. Fear is a powerful motivator: "Yeah I killed them, and I'll kill you too" and finding your friend's body on his parent's doorstep in a casket for skipping the draft will help deter opposition and keep people in line.
4. Emotion is an equally powerful motivator: Propaganda, fiery speeches, mass rallies, radio addresses, and appeals to nationalism (Help make our nation glorious!) all bring people in to a world where rational thought is discouraged, and it was hugely successful in a group of people who were upset and angry with the status quo.
It's almost like you need a perfect storm of circumstances in order for a movement that's so radically different from the relatively stable European governments that have typically existed to come to power. People don't wake up one day and say, "You know what, I don't like what we were doing yesterday. Let's change how we play the game." You really do need a collision of forces to create the environment ripe for the picking.
For me it's interesting to see how fascism came about and the ramifications of what happens when people (who I consider) to be quite evil people come to power and whip the masses into a fury behind them for support.
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I agree with you about some of the motivations/conditions necessary for a fascist government coming about. Especially a country having to be in the midst of a "perfect storm" of political, social, and economic conditions, in order for someone like the Nazis to seize power. However, I wonder if the fear created by the Nazis had enough sway to allow the people of Germany to accept/support the atrocites, which occurred in Germany under the Third Reich. Is fear for one's self or family a justifiable excuse after a certain point, or do you think a majority of Germans bought into the Nazi ideology? I'm interested in finding some more definitive proof, as to what the German people bought into and how it evolved during the course of Nazi rule.
ReplyDeleteYou touched a good point in your first cause; a leading factor for fascism is that many citizens were looking at their direct issues rather than the concerns of fellow man. People were trying to solve their own problems and fulfill their own hierarchy of needs before they could look to the interests of others. After a certain point the fear that was instilled by the SS caused people to become introverted and voice their opinions only to a select group who they could trust rather than being public with their outrages. It is a hard topic to dissect because there are so many contributing factors but you did a great job hitting a lot of solid points.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the word "fascist" has lost a lot of its meaning. It's often hurled by activists and extreme political figures as a cheap and easy way to attack someone's credibility. I remember seeing video of rallies and people holding up posters of George W. Bush with a Hitler mustache or swastika next to him. Now I'm no great admirer of W, but when someone equates a figure like him to Hitler, it really does a disservice to the people who died in WWII, and distorts our sense of what Fascism really is. The word "fascist" and "fascism" has basically become a euphemism for evil. It's dangerous to reduce such a complex and important era of human history to a single simple idea.
ReplyDeleteA really great assessment of the factors that helped bring people to support Fascist movements. I think that you are right on although, even though I think it came out in your post, I would still say that a sense of failure with the existing system plays a key role. Only when people are convinced that the existing system cannot be fixed are they generally willing to consider more radical solutions.
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