Who invented the political philosophy known as fascism

It followed that those who did not fit the mold were seen as disruptive to that unity, and thus subject to violence. Mussolini was an imperialist, so he used colonialism to [abuse] people of color. The fear of white decline was a huge part of it. Women were supposed to go have a lot of babies to increase the white race. Originally a socialist party member, he left the group when he fought in World War I.

After the war, fascists declared the socialists public enemy number one over their anti-war positions. An important part of that was the cult of personality that emerged around the Italian leader. He had things all worked out by the time Hitler came to power. Hitler was [initially seen as] a total loser. No one wanted to buy Mein Kampf. No one was interested in him. They require citizens to hold basic allegiances, such as to the nation, to national rank, and to a master race or group.

Fascists aim to scapegoat and demonize specific groups. Creating a common enemy is an essential part of the program. That is why the German Nazi regime demonized the Jewish people and others. Paxton, author of several books, including The Anatomy of Fascism , said fascism is based more on feelings than philosophical ideas. They are:. Perhaps the largest origin point for fascism was in early 20th-century Italy. The radical Italian writer and nationalist Enrico Corradini was one of the major early influences on the movement.

Corradini spoke of the need for a strong nationalist movement, led by elitist aristocrats and anti-democrats who shared a revolutionary commitment to direct action and a willingness to fight.

Similar political ideas arose in Germany after the outbreak of World War I. Fascists viewed World War I as bringing revolutionary changes to the world. They saw these changes in the nature of war, society, the state and technology. The advent of total war and mass mobilization had broken down the distinction between civilian and soldier. Adolf Hitler receives a standing ovation after giving a speech to the Nazi Party in the Reichstag.

The conditions of economic hardship caused by the Great Depression in brought about an international surge of social unrest. Their goal was to expand German territory and control across Europe.

In the s, the Nazis created a common enemy to unite their party by painting Jews and other minority groups as dangerous outsiders. They implemented racial laws that deliberately discriminated against, disenfranchised, and persecuted these groups. Mussolini chose Giovanni Gentile, a noted Italian philosopher, as his minister of education. He also wrote many articles and books, clarifying the basic ideas of fascism.

The fascist state, he said, put this will of the people into action. Therefore, individuals must submit to the fascist state in order to be truly free.

Building on the ideas of earlier European philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Gentile claimed that the peoples of the world are engaged in a survival of the fittest. He declared it is the natural right of the stronger to conquer and rule the weaker.

Gentile stated that war has another function in the fascist state: It unites the people and proves their superiority as a nation.

Gentile, sometimes called the philosopher of Italian fascism, believed he could combine philosophy with raw power. Mussolini called new elections for the Italian parliament in Intimidation and fraud marred the election. After the election, Mussolini closed opposition newspapers and banned public protest meetings. He declared all political parties illegal except for his own Fascist Party. He outlawed labor unions and strikes. He also established a political police force, the Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Antifascism.

By , Mussolini had adopted the title, Il Duce the Leader. He delivered emotional public speeches, swaying back and forth, puffing his chest, and holding his hands on his hips.

Ironically, Mussolini liked this term and began to use it himself to persuade Italians to come together under his leadership for a rebirth of society. As for women, Il Duce saw their role as giving birth and caring for a new generation of warriors.

The Fascist Party organized youth organizations for all boys and girls aged 8— These groups promoted physical training, military drills for boys , and the ideals of the fascist state. Mussolini had little use for religion. Italy, however, was a strongly Catholic country. Gentile, as minister of education, continued the teaching of Catholic doctrine in the elementary schools. But he replaced it with philosophy at the secondary level.

The Catholic Church objected to this reform. Hoping to keep the church from opposing his fascist regime, Mussolini adopted pro-Catholic policies against abortion and divorce. Then in , he signed a treaty with the church that made Catholicism the state religion. This agreement also restored the teaching of Catholic doctrine in secondary schools. Capitalism depends on private property, employer-owned competing enterprises, and the profit motive.

Socialism envisions a society in which the workers jointly own the economic means of production factories, farms, etc. They negotiated wages and working conditions with each other. In practice, however, the employers usually benefited more than the workers did. The Jewish population of Italy was small, and neither Mussolini nor most other Italians were very anti-Semitic anti-Jewish. Since fascists see national strength as the only thing that makes a nation "good," fascists will use any means necessary to achieve that goal.

As a result, fascists aim to use the country's assets to increase the country's strength. This often leads to a nationalization of assets, and in this, fascism resembles Marxism — an anti-capitalist economic, philosophical and political framework of beliefs that promote a classless society, according to the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University in California.

Guided by the principle of extreme nationalism, fascist regimes tend to perform similar actions, though the particulars differ, author George Orwell wrote in his essay " What Is Fascism? Fascists also excel at propaganda, using it as a tool to scapegoat certain groups; however, those groups may differ from country to country. For instance, the Nazi regime demonized Jews and other ethnic minorities, such as the Romani people, while Mussolini's Italian regime targeted Bolsheviks — radical, far-left Marxists.

Mussolini worked regularly with Jews, and his mistress, Margherita Sarfatti, was Jewish, though she later converted to Catholicism. Because of Mussolini's alliance with Hitler, he did eventually incorporate antisemitic components into his regime, and Sarfatti fled Italy in after Mussolini began passing antisemitic legislation, according to the Jewish Women's Archive. But overall, Mussolini differed from Hitler on the subject of biological racism. Related: What are the different types of governments?

Paxton also said that fascism is based more on feelings than philosophical ideas which may explain why fascism can be hard to define. In his essay " The Five Stages of Fascism ," published in in the Journal of Modern History, he defined seven "mobilizing passions" for fascist regimes. They are:. Once in power, "fascist dictatorships suppressed individual liberties, imprisoned opponents, forbade strikes, authorized unlimited police power in the name of national unity and revival, and committed military aggression," Paxton wrote.

Mussolini's fascism mixed extreme nationalist expansion with social programs like women's suffrage and workers' rights, accumulating power by forming alliances with conservatives and existing government factions. According to the AHA , in Italy in , strong-arm squads known as the Blackshirt Militia, who were financed by industrialists, fought socialist farmer organizations, conducted raids on socialist newspapers and occupied socialist-led towns.

They threatened to march on Rome in The government tried to placate Mussolini by naming him prime minister, but in , he established himself as dictator. What followed was violent suppression of dissent; the deification of Mussolini; violent expansion into Ethiopia, Albania and other countries; and in , alliance with Nazi Germany and participation in World War II. Hitler learned many lessons from Mussolini, including the importance of propaganda and violence.

In the s, he led his Nazi Party to prominence through dramatic speeches, grand entrances and passionate rhetoric against Jews, Marxists, liberals and internationalists — those who support social and economic collaboration between nations, Paxton wrote.

By the summer, Hitler's rule had become a dictatorship. In violation of the Versailles Treaty, Hitler rearmed Germany and began invading neighboring lands. The invasion of Poland on Sept.

European fascist ideas inspired regimes throughout Latin America, including in Bolivia and Argentina. Spain and Portugal were dictatorships until , but those governments were a mix of conservative and fascist parties.