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Utopian Aspirations in Fascist Ideology: English and French Literary Perspectives 1914-1945

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Utopian Aspirations in Fascist Ideology: English and French Literary Perspectives 1914-1945 Utopian Aspirations in Fascist Ideology: English and French Literary Perspectives 1914-1945 Ashley James Thomas Discipline of History School of History & Politics University of Adelaide Thesis presented as the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Adelaide March 2010 CONTENTS Abstract iii Declaration iv Acknowledgments v Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Interpreting Fascism: An Evolving 26 Historiography Chapter Three: The Fascist Critique of the Modern 86 World Chapter Four: Race, Reds and Revolution: Specific 156 Issues in the Fascist Utopia Chapter Five: Conclusion 202 Bibliography 207 ABSTRACT This thesis argues that utopian aspirations are a fruitful way to understand fascism and examines the utopian ideals held by a number of fascist writers. The intention of this thesis is not to define fascism. Rather, it is to suggest that looking at fascism’s goals and aspirations might reveal under-examined elements of fascism. This thesis shows that a useful way to analyse the ideology of fascism is through an examination of its ideals and goals, and by considering the nature of a hypothetical fascist utopia. The most common ways of examining fascism and attempting to isolate its core ideological features have been by considering it culturally, looking at the metaphysical and philosophical claims fascists made about themselves, or by studying fascist regimes, looking at the external features of fascist movements, parties and governments. In existing studies there is an unspoken middle ground, where fascism could be examined by considering practical issues in the abstract and by postulating what a fascist utopia would be like. This thesis begins by looking at the ways historians have interpreted fascism, and shows that utopian ideals have been under-examined. The thesis then goes on to demonstrate the usefulness of such an examination by considering the fascist aspirations of four fascist writers. I use as case studies four individuals who were not politicians but were nonetheless political through their literary works. I have also chosen them for the fact that they did not live directly under fascist rule, at least for the majority of their careers. The four case studies are Ezra Pound and Wyndham Lewis, representing the Anglosphere, and Pierre Drieu la Rochelle and Robert Brasillach from France. All were sympathetic to various aspects of fascism and various fascist leaders, and advocated fascism through their literary and journalistic work. This thesis explores the ideology of fascism by looking at the thoughts and aspirations of a group of intellectuals, and by looking at their concepts of ideal states or utopias. By examining the objectives of fascism separate from the manifestation of fascism and the activities of fascist regimes, and by treating fascism as a utopian ideology with specific aspirational goals, this thesis highlights nuances in the ideology of fascism and suggests avenues of future research. DECLARATION This work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution to Ashley James Thomas and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. I give consent to this copy of my thesis, when deposited in the University Library, being made available for loan and photocopying, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I also give permission for the digital version of my thesis to be made available on the web, via the University’s digital research repository, the Library catalogue, the Australasian Digital Theses Program (ADTP) and also through web search engines, unless permission has been granted by the University to restrict access for a period of time. Ashley James Thomas 24 February 2010 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS T.S. Eliot wrote in “Gerontion” that “History has many cunning passages”, and I have not been able to navigate those passages without help from a number of people whom I would like to acknowledge. I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor, Dr Vesna Drapac, for all the hard work she has put into supporting me and this dissertation. Without her guiding influence and comments on multiple drafts, this project could not have been completed. The faculty, staff and postgraduates of the Department of History and the School of History & Politics at the University of Adelaide provided a collegial and friendly intellectual environment where new ideas could be tested and discussed. Thanks to all for the valuable comments they have made on drafts, presentations and in conversation. In particular I would like to give thanks to Professor Robert Dare, Professor Roger Knight, Dr Ric Zuckerman and Dr André Lambelet for the support and advice they have given. I would like to acknowledge the patience and faith shown by my wife Rebecca during the years this has taken to produce. Her encouragement and confidence in me were essential in difficult times. My family and friends deserve recognition for the tolerance, understanding and loyalty they have shown. Thanks go out to my mother Fran, brothers Scott and Jason, and Ben, David, John, Buckley and Elliot. Finally, I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my father, Christopher Robert James Thomas (1950-2003), who tragically passed away during its writing. I hope that he would be proud 1 CHAPTER ONE Introduction Fascism is the Rashomon of political science. All experts believe they have the true definition, yet cannot agree on one. Like an optical illusion, fascism’s form and content seem to shift with the focus of the observer, leading to disagreement and frustration amongst those attempting to understand this hard-to-define ideology. While debate is necessary and healthy for the study of history, the example of the debate about fascism is one of many competing theories and methodologies, none of which seems to satisfy a majority of scholars. It remains an important debate, however, both historically and morally, as it is the duty of a civilised to examine its past, especially the ugly episodes, and try to understand it. With the benefit of hindsight we can too easily fall into the trap of not considering fascism in context. It is often difficult and uncomfortable to accept the fact that, at the time, fascism was popular, its leaders adored, and its ideology celebrated as revolutionary. It is within this context that this thesis argues that we can gain a deep understanding of fascism by considering what it offered to achieve and what it promised life would be like – in other words, by examining the utopian nature of fascism. Within recent memory there have been historians who have denied the existence of any form of theoretical fascism independent from the specific regimes, parties, movements or people said to be fascist. They have argued that any attempt to generalise these unique and distinct historical phenomena into an ideology is futile 2 at best, dangerous at worst. However, most historians (although not all) now accept that there is such a thing as “generic fascism”, that is, fascism in its abstract form. In the same way we talk about liberalism or communism or democracy as political abstracts, so too can we talk about fascism as an ideology distinct from its real world practical manifestation. The fact that there was debate (and in certain cases, still is debate) about whether fascism as an ideal type or as a political “ism” actually exists, or whether it is a peculiar historical event that cannot be generalised about, indicates the volatile and shifting nature of its study. This thesis accepts the idea that fascism is a distinct political ideology, and argues that our understanding of fascism can be amplified by examining the ideas of fascists. This thesis argues that there is benefit from looking at the ideas and opinions of fascist writers in order to understand how they saw the world and what they thought the world should be like, and that the best way of understanding that is by considering or constructing their unique and individual versions of a utopian society. By looking at the thoughts of four writers who lived and worked, for most of their lives, outside of the influence of fascist governments, we will see fascist ideas separated from fascist actions. We will observe these thinkers working almost completely in the abstract, or considering foreign examples from the comforts of safe and stable democracies. Such an examination will yield different observations from an examination of official fascist doctrines, or the works of intellectuals within, or fleeing, fascist regimes. In many ways, one could argue that the writers examined in this thesis are naïve, or imagining fantasy worlds that were far from the realities of actual 3 fascist dictatorships. While that criticism is valid, the rationale underpinning this thesis is that the writers’ distance from and lack of actual experience with the fascist regimes that they admired (in varying degrees) gave them the advantage of being able to consider fascism as an idea or an ideology. This in turn gives us the advantage of considering the opinions of intellectuals who came to fascism by choice. Fascism Studies At the beginning of the twenty-first century, fascism studies stand at an impasse in spite of the fact of the general acceptance of the existence of generic fascism. The current state of the historiography of fascism is dominated by two general approaches of investigation that have become the most accepted ways of understanding the problems of defining fascism and attempting to formulate a concept of “generic fascism”.1 The two models—which can loosely be termed the cultural model and the regime model—are the products of almost a century’s worth of discussion and analysis of fascism and fascist thought.2 On the one hand is a broad group of historians who employ the regime model, a methodology that has its origins in an approach used by what has come to known as the totalitarian school of interpretation, exemplified by Carl Friedrich and Hannah Arendt.
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