fascism: outline/objectives enlightenment thought counter-enlightenment counter-enlightenment and...
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Fascism: outline/objectives Enlightenment thought Counter-Enlightenment Counter-Enlightenment and Fascism Fascism – Italian and German Fascism and freedom Fascism and democracy Fascism as ideology
Fascism defined
More negative than positive What it is against, opposed to Reactionary ideology
Reaction against other ideologies Eighteenth-century Enlightenment Liberalism and Socialism (Enlightenment
ideologies)
Enlightenment thought
Humanism – humans source and measure of value; human life valuable in and of itself Kant – sovereign "kingdom of ends"; unjust to use another human
being as means to one’s own end or goal
Rationalism – humans are rational; reason (especially scientific inquiry) will solve mysteries, reveal solutions to problems
Secularism – religion not absolute, unquestionable truth; where science and scripture conflict, science trumps
Progressivism – history story of progress and improvement (perhaps even inevitable improvement) in human condition
Universalism – single, unified, universal human nature binds whole human race together, despite differences of race, color, or religious creed; human beings equal, share same essential nature
Origins of Fascism
18th and 19th Counter-Enlightenment Reactionary intellectual current
linguist Herder royalists de Maistre and Bonald libertine and pornographer, Marquis de
Sade racial theorist, Arthur Gobineau
According to Keynes, these “intellectual scribblers” supplied themes for 20th Century fascists
Contrary to Humanism
Differences – sex, race, language, culture, creed, and nationality – run very deep
Define who and what people are, how they think of themselves, of other people, and interrelationships
Contrary to Kant, people do treat one another as means to their own ends
Contrary to Rationalism
Prevalence of superstition, irrational prejudice shows reason is weak
Most people, most of the time, cherish and cling to unexamined beliefs
Do not want to allow themselves, or anyone else, to examine them closely, much less criticize them
Contrary to Secularism
Religious beliefs are socially necessary and useful
Good that people believe there is heaven to reward good and hell to punish wicked
To question or criticize these beliefs is to endanger social stability
If people came to doubt existence of afterlife, all hell (so to speak) would break loose on earth
Contrary to Progress
Faith in inevitability of progress is misplaced or mistaken
Innate human limitations make substantial progress impossible and illusory
Imperfect human beings live in, and perpetuate, imperfect human practices and institutions
“Progressive” move would be regressive; return to earlier, better, condition than decadent, corrupt, or perverted present
Contrary to Universalism
No universal human nature to transcend and override differences of race, religion, and creed
Differences define who and what we are – Jew or Aryan, Catholic or Protestant, man or woman, master or slave, child or adult, black or white
Our natural predilection is to associate with people like us, and to shun those who are different
Between those who are different in race, religion, language, nationality, etc., conflict is inevitable and cannot be eliminated
Counter-Enlightenment and Fascism Taken together, Counter-Enlightenment
ideas form backdrop for 20th Century Fascism
Italian Fascism (Benito Mussolini) reflects all aspects of Counter-Enlightenment Natural for strong to dominate weak, men to
dominate women, superior nations (like Italy) to dominate weak and inferior nations (like Ethiopia)
Other differences – especially class – subordinated to nation
Nation’s embodiment is the state; symbolic/emotional embodiment is all-powerful Duce, or leader Focus of love, loyalty, and authority
Democracy unnatural and unworkable
Fascist freedom (Italian) Agent = nation Goal = national power and glory
Unquestioning loyalty of citizens; nation's power over other nations
Obstacles = Enlightenment ideas – especially liberal notions of individual “rights” against the state and Marxists notions of divisive class struggles Not overcome by rational debate or
“parliamentary bickering” Overcome by sheer force and powerful
propaganda, which appeals to people's patriotism and love of country
Force supplied by Black Shirts and propaganda by state ministry of propaganda
Italian Fascism
Mussolini believed Italians had deep-seated need to believe in and to follow all-knowing and all-powerful leader
Innate “will to believe” once vested in God and religion
Now more likely to be directed toward political leaders like himself
History is story of a few Great Men – Alexander the Great, Caesar, Napoleon, and now Mussolini – able to mobilize myths and tap sentiments which inspire and motivate particular peoples in particular times and places
German Fascism
Adolf Hitler believed Fuhrerprinzip (leadership principle) bound masses to all-knowing leader
Became obedient body, and he the head and heart
Just as body follows head and heeds the heart, so must people or Volk follow their Fuhrer blindly, unquestioningly, obediently
Democracy is dangerous delusion Fuhrer thinks and acts as Volk would if they
were racially pure, free of “foreign” ideas and ideals, and bent on realizing innate racial destiny
Volk need Fuhrer to represent and act on behalf of their racially higher selves
Nazi freedom
Agent = Volk, essence/spirit represented by Fuhrer Goal = Volk to realize its destiny; volkish or racial
purity and supremacy Aryan Volk – blond, blue-eyed Teutons of Germany,
northern Europe destined (if they have the “will”) to dominate other, lesser peoples or races – particularly Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, and other “inferior” races or nationalities
Obstacles = Jews and other “inferior” peoples; “Jewish” ideas about equality “Jewish” ideas include Liberalism and Marxism,
Enlightenment ideas “Soft” ideas about equality, humanity obstacles to Aryans
bent on destroying enemies of racial purity Hitler and Nazis used propaganda to deadly effect Ideas led to burning of books; burning of temples and
synagogues; arrests and deportations; and, finally, burning of people by the millions
Death of Fascism?
Hitler and Mussolini are dead Legacy lives on in various white
supremacist and anti-Semitic groups in U.S. Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nation, gangs of
“Skinheads,” and Neo-Nazi militia groups Some are inspired by The Turner Diaries,
chilling fictional portrait of white supremacist revolution that produces racially “pure” America
Fascism hardly relic of bygone era; still with us, unfortunately
Key terms
Fascism Reactionary ideology Enlightenment Counter-Enlightenment Nationalism Elitism Irrationalism Italian fascism German fascism Fascism as ideology Fascism and democracy
Discussion questions
1. What are the main features of Enlightenment thought?
2. What are the main features of the Counter-Enlightenment?
3. What is the connection between the Counter-Enlightenment and the several varieties or variants of twentieth-century fascism?
4. What are the main tenets of fascism as found in the Italian and German variants?
5. What is the view of human nature and freedom found in the several variants of fascism?
6. What is the fascist conception of, and attitude toward, democracy?
7. How does Fascism operate as an ideology? (explanation, evaluation, orientation, program)
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