Fascism: Strong Centralized Power
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The first emerged as an ideology in the early 20th century. As far as it is considered, fascism is known to be a counter-revolutionary political ideology. The emerge of fascism was the cause of several events such as the social upheaval, the destruction of World War I and the Bolshevik revolution. As a philosophy or as a governmental system, fascism supports aggressive nationalism and exercises dictatorship. In the ideology of fascism, a race or a nation gets brought to the front and surpasses all the others. And in the name of achieving and maintaining this superior nation or race, even violent action towards the so-called inferior ones is an acceptable movement. When politically considered, there are mainly two sides in the fascist ideology; populism and elitism. It is populist because it gathers as a whole against so-seen enemies and that it creates a nation of unity. The elitist part comes from the approach that it puts the peoples will to only one selected group or one person, namely the dictator. When the history is scanned there are two powerful leaders whose names go along with the ideology fascism, Benito Mussolini of Italy and Adolf Hitler of Germany.
There has been several philosophers whose ideas have shaped the fascist ideology. George Sorel, Friedrich Nietzsche and Georg Hegal are the most important ones among all. Sorel (1847-1922) was a French social philosopher who had a major influence on Mussolini. According to Sorel, societies mostly become deteriorated and disorganized naturally. And as a fundamental solution to the problem, he proposed the leadership of idealist leaders who would not hesitate to use violence for obtaining power. On the other hand, Nietzsche (1844-1900) believed that there are theoretically two moral codes: one being the ruling class an the other being the oppressed class. An example Nietzsche gives on the matter are the ancient empires and the religious ideas. He believes that the ancient empires gained their power from the master majority whereas the religious ideas grew from the slave majority. Among all the other beliefs of Nietzsche, the concept of superman(übermench) was also brought to life by Nietzsche. Another important philosopher was Hegal. According to Hegal, people need to do as many sacrifices as possible for the sake of the community. Hegal stated that war is an inevitable act in the process of unifying a society and that peace would only bring weakness to those who believe in it and live accordingly. Another important idea of Hegal was that he believed that the laws that bring order to the society must be organized by an organization of the state.
According to fascism, value should be given to the people who belong to a certain community. This community is called the human as a whole and it is ruled by a selected group of people or one leader. The power in this group is passed down from top to bottom. State power is gained via an organization that people believes in. This organization (government) is then used to control the people and everything in it. Therefore everything in the community will be benefited. The ideal government for fascism is fashioned around the good of the community of the nation. “Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation to the State.” (MHS)Every being in the community would world only for the benefit of the nation. And on the other side of the story, it is this nations duty to take care of the members by providing them with necessary money, shelter, food, or any other vital need that might come about.
Many ideologies such as blind obedience, arranged violence, fanaticism and totalitarianism has been used to define fascism. Adolf Hitler published his own thoughts about fascism with his book Mein Kampf(My Struggle)when he was in prison. On the other hand Mussolini developed his own ideology after he came to power in Italy. When both of their ideas are observed, we see that they had different point of views on the matter. However, their ways of establishment of the ideology were in a parallel manner. Fascism emerged in Italy and in other European countries after 1919. This political movement was mostly against the political and social changes caused by inflation, and declining conditions in social, political and economic perspective. At the time, it was Italy that has the most hostile conditions for the emerge of fascism. And it was Benito Mussolini who brought the introduced Italy with the ideology. “Fascism as a twentieth-century doctrine was the invention of Benito ussolini, who had been a rising if erratic star in Italys socialist party before World War I.” (MFN)
At the time, Mussolini was already waiting for the perfect time to take control of Italy. Mussolini said “Fascism, which was not afraid to call itself reactionarydoes not hesitate to call itself illiberal and anti-liberal” (Nazi Fascism and he Modern Totalitarian State) It was in 1919 when Mussolini and some of his followers organized as paramilitary lines and instead of their uniforms, they wore black shirts. When Mussolini could not get what he wanted out of the polls, he used thugs to eliminate other gangs whos ideas conflicted with those of Mussolinis. The government however did very little to stops this movement and as a matter of fact gave up. Afterwards, what Mussolini did is that he gained popularity by providing the society with flexible alternatives such as eight hour days, elimination of class privileges and tax advantages.
Another fascist movement was Adolf Hitlers. Adolf Hitlers Nazi (National Socialist German Workers Party) party is considered to be the best fit example for the exercise of fascism in Europe. The ideology of Hitlers Nazism ruled over Germany for more than 20 years, from 1921 to 1945. “Nazi fascisms ideology included a racial