Political Ideologies of WWII
Mr. Robertazzi
WWII Unit
Questions to Consider
• What is the job of government?
• Could human beings sustain order without
government?
• Are there different philosophies on
governing? Which do you favor and why?
What is a Political Ideology??
• Explains how society should work, and offers
some political and cultural blueprint for a certain
social order.
• How to allocate power and to what ends it should
be used. Includes an economic system.
Fighting Over Ideas
Throughout history armed conflicts have
occurred because of different opinions
about government and theories of
governing. In your opinion why is this a
common occurrence? Can you think of an
example of a time when this has happened?
Why would the United States participate in
an armed conflict to defend a governmental
principle?
FASCISM
• Italy - Mussolini
• Totalitarian/Authoritarian, single
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party state
“The Far Right”
Society more important than the
individual
Centralization of power under a
dictator, did not desire equality
Strict govt. control of the economy“The Corporate State”, economic
policies where aimed at increasing
state power and suppressing unions
Suppression of opposition through
terror and censorship
Nationalism and Racial superiority
COMMUNISM: The
Theory/Marxism
• Karl Marx
• Economic System &
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Political Ideology
Property is commonly
controlled
Revolution of the
proletariat (worker) to
seize control of the means
of production
International movement
Communist Manifesto
2/1848 w/ Friedrich
Engels
Marxian Communism
"Pure communism" in the Marxian sense
refers to a classless, stateless and
oppression-free society where decisions on
what to produce and what policies to pursue
are made democratically, allowing every
member of society to participate in the
decision-making process in both the
political and economic spheres of life
COMMUNISM: In the USSR
• Installed in 1914
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Bolshevik revolution:
Lenin
Stalin
State plans and controls
the economy,
collectivism
Vast Industrialization
Dominated all aspects of
life, murdered political
opponents
NAZISM
• National Socialist German
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Worker’s Party
Hitler – Germany
Fascism
extreme nationalism, racism,
eugenics, totalitarianism,
homophobia, anti-Semitism,
anti-communism, and limits to
freedom of religion
The rejection of democracy, and
consequently abolishing
political parties, labor unions,
and free press
What is Eugenics?
• Its advocates regarded it
as a social philosophy
for the improvement of
human hereditary traits
through the promotion of
higher reproduction of
certain people and traits,
and the reduction of
reproduction of other
people and traits.
Euthanasia??
CAPITALIST/DEMOCRACY
• US – FDR/Truman
• UK – Chamberlain/Churchill
• Private ownership of
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business and property, Adam
Smith’s A Wealth of Nations
“Survival of the fittest”
Liaise faire, free market,
limited welfare system
Free elections, republic style
protections for individual
liberty, a separation of
powers, and a layered
federal structure