FASCISM AND ITS VISION OF PERFECT SOCIETY

Fascism is a form of government based on 2 main characteristics:

a. Ideology AND b. Mass political movement in which all people were supposed to be involved actively

Those two characteristics come as a package. The purpose of the package was:

1. Creation of popular support for the leader 2. The leader was to be perceived as the sole ruler 3. The support was to be unanimous and expressed on a daily basis 4. The leader was assumed to have the only perfect vision of the society and its future

Between the wars, I and II, Europe had many fascist regimes in power. Those regimes were based almost entirely on an extreme form of nationalism-chauvinism.

Examples of fascist regime in Europe

• Engelbert Dollffuss – Austria • Antonio de Oliveira Salazar – Portugal • Adolf Hitler – Germany • Benito Mussolini – Italy • Ante Pavelic – Croatia • Francisco Franco – Spain • Ferenc Szalasi – Hungary • Oswald Mosely - UK

Examples of fascist movements and parties:

• Falange – Spain • Arrow Cross Party – Hungary • Lapua Movement – Finland • Iron Guard – Romania • National Socialism and National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), NSDAP – Germany • British Union of Fascists – UK • National Fascist Party – Italy

Shared Characteristics of Fascist Movements

 Violence as a legitimate political tool  Anti-Communism

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 Disdain for democracy o Passionate opposition to parliamentarism  Contempt for liberalism o it encouraged moral relativism AND o godless materialism AND o selfish individualism and therefore o undermined morality  Penchant for totalitarian state  Economy organized around corporation-like entities managed by the government  Aggressive foreign policy  Militarisation of society  Mass mobilization of society  Single Leader deciding about anything and everything – FÜHRERPRINZIP  Ambition to create NEW MAN with same characteristic – societal uniformity o The new man was to be . “patriotic” . Loyal to the leader . Physically fit . Youthful . Having no privacy and no need for privacy . Proper physical characteristics, for example, blue eyes, blonde hair, “proper” shape of the skull, etc.  Disregard for intellectualism, hence, individualism, urbanism and modernity

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