1 Non-revolutionary Dutch fascism redefines generic fascism dr. Willem Huberts July 14, 2017
[email protected] 2 Abstract This article is largely based on my doctoral dissertation that describes the rise, peak and fall of organized fascism in The Netherlands in the years 1923-1945.1 The research questions of the book are: What was the nature of Dutch fascism? What forms did it take? To what extent did it differ from generic fascism? In the study the various forms of Dutch fascism are presented on the basis of an overview of relevant figures and a chronological summary of almost all fascist political parties active from 1923 to 1945, whereby the years from 1918-1923 are also examined as a ‘run-up period’. The conclusion to the third research question is that Dutch fascism differs fundamentally only in terms of the revolution component from generic fascism. The case of Dutch fascism shows that political parties or movements can be fascist without being revolutionary. Dutch fascism proves to differ substantially from the chosen operational definition of fascism on one of the four criteria, meaning that Dutch fascism as a whole differs from generic fascism. Griffin’s definition therefore needs to be corrected, as not all of its components are equal. Consequently, I propose modifying the definition as follows: Fascism is a genus of political ideology whose mythic core in its various permutations is a palingenetic form of sometimes revolutionary populist ultra-nationalism. 1. W.S. Huberts, In de ban van een beter verleden: het Nederlandse fascisme 1923-1945 [Under the spell of a better past: Dutch fascism 1923-1945] (PhD diss., University of Groningen 2017).