Fascism: A Very Short Introduction ‘An impressively wide-ranging and well-informed text’ Richard J. Evans, University of Cambridge Very Short Introductions are for anyone wanting a stimulating and accessible way in to a new subject. They are written by experts, and have been published in 25 languages worldwide. The series began in 1995, and now represents a wide variety of topics in history, philosophy, religion, science, and the humanities. Over the next few years it will grow to a library of around 200 volumes – a Very Short Introduction to everything from ancient Egypt and Indian philosophy to conceptual art and cosmology. 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Tomlinson THE RAJ Denis Judd HUMAN EVOLUTION THE RENAISSANCE Jerry Brotton Bernard Wood RENAISSANCE ART IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden Geraldine Johnson INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SARTRE Christina Howells Paul Wilkinson SCHIZOPHRENIA JAZZ Brian Morton Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR LOCKE John Dunn Helen Graham MANDELA Tom Lodge TRAGEDY Adrian Poole MEDICAL ETHICS Tony Hope THE TWENTIETH CENTURY THE MIND Martin Davies Martin Conway For more information visit our web site www.oup.co.uk/vsi Kevin Passmore FASCISM A Very Short Introduction 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto with an associated company in Berlin Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Kevin Passmore 2002 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published as a Very Short Introduction 2002 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available ISBN 0–19–280155–4 13579108642 Typeset by RefineCatch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in Spain by Book Print S. L., Barcelona Fascism has an enigmatic countenance because in it appears the most counterpoised contents. It asserts authoritarianism and organises rebellion. It fights against contemporary democracy and, on the other hand, does not believe in the restoration of any past rule. It seems to pose itself as the forge of a strong State, and uses means most conducive to its dissolution, as if it were a destructive faction or a secret society. Whichever way we approach fascism we find that it is simultaneously one thing and the contrary, it is A and not A . José Ortega y Gasset, ‘Sobre el Fascismo’ (1927) Contents Acknowledgements x List of illustrations xi List of maps xii 1 Scenes from the history of fascism 1 2 ‘A and not A’: what is fascism? 10 3 Fascism before fascism? 33 4 Italy: ‘making history with the fist’ 50 5 Germany: the racial state 62 6 Fascisms and conservatisms in the early 20th century 72 7 Phoenix from the ashes? 88 8 Fascism, nation, and race 108 9 Fascism and gender 123 10 Fascism and class 134 11 Fascism and us 148 References 157 Index 159 Acknowledgements Inevitably, this book synthesizes an enormous range of existing scholarship, and it is impossible to express fully my debt to all the scholars upon whose work I have drawn. I have benefited particularly from reading the works of Martin Blinkhorn, Michael Burleigh and Wolfgang Wipperman, Roger Eatwell, Roger Griffin, Stanley Payne, and Dave Renton. Mark Donovan, Martin Durham, and Maura Hametz helped me with particular parts of the book. Mark Donovan, along with Stefan Berger, Pat Hudson, and Garthine Walker, read all or part of the manuscript. I would also like to express my gratitude to the anonymous readers for their helpful suggestions and to Katharine Reeve for her encouraging and sympathetic editorship. List of illustrations 1 Codreanu inspects 7 ‘We’re voting for Hitler’ Iron Guard, 4 January poster, 1932 113 1934 6 German Propaganda Archive, © Hulton Archive Calvin College, Michigan 2 Maurice Barrès 36 8 Execution of Jews near © Mary Evans Picture Library Sniatyn, c. May 1943116 © AKG London 3 Mussolini and his lieutenants arrive 9 Mosley and female in Rome, members of BUF, 28 October 1922 55 1936 127 © AKG London © Hulton Archive 4 Hitler and Mussolini, 10 Examination of a new 1938 63 recruit to the © Hulton Archive Reich Community Service, 1940 131 5 The American-German © AKG London Peoples’ League, Madison Square Garden, 11 Spanish worker salutes February 1939 73 a Falangist parade, © AKG London 1937 142 © Mary Evans Picture Library 6 Protocols of Rome, 17 March 1934 79 12 Aryanization of Jewish © AKG London shops, c.1938 146 © AKG London List of maps 1 Romania 5 2 Italy 52 Chapter 1 Scenes from the history of fascism Aigues-Mortes, France, 1893 In the late 19th century, the saltworks of Mediterranean France were largely unmechanized, and the task of lifting salt was an exceptionally exhausting form of labour. Under the blazing August sun, workers pushed heavy barrowloads of salt along wooden planks to the top of an ever-higher