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EUROPEAN
DICTATORSHIPS
1918 - 1945
THIRD EDITION ROUTLEDGE 2008
Supporting PowerPoint 2
Types of
Dictatorship
STEPHEN J. LEE
Outline of the argument of Chapter 2
Introduction to the overall argument of Chapter 2
(Details in European Dictatorships 25-38)
DICTATORSHIP IS A GENERIC TERM, CONSISTING OF TWO MAIN TYPES:
1. Totalitarian
Normally associated with two ideological systems
a. Communism
b. Fascism/Nazism
2. Authoritarian
Ideology usually absent, unless in
traditionalist form
Summary of argument of Chapter 2: Types of dictatorship
(Details in European Dictatorships 37-8)
LEVEL 1 GENERIC TERM:
DICTATORSHIP
Level 2: generic type
Level 2: generic type
Totalitarian
Authoritarian
Level 3: ideological system
Communism
Examples:
Russia 1918-24
Russia 1924-53
Level 3: ideological system
Fascism/Nazism
Examples:
Italy 1922-45
Germany 1933-45
Level 3: ideological system
Usually absent
Examples:
Spain
Portugal
Austria
Hungary
Poland
Baltic States
Albania
Yugoslavia
Romania
Bulgaria
Greece
Turkey
Part 1
What is the meaning of ‘dictatorship’?
The meaning of ‘dictatorship?’
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 25-6)
RESTRICTED APPROACH
Original definition (Roman):
Temporary grant by Senate of exceptional
powers to deal with an emergency.
Modern definition (BUCCHEIM):
Temporary device: short-term suspension of
democratic processes when quick and
vigorous action necessary.
Modern definition (LINZ):
Interim crisis government which has not
institutionalised Itself, breaking from previous
regime – democratic, traditional or
authoritarian.
OPEN APPROACH
Modern definition (CURTIS):
Essential ingredient is power; an emergency
is not necessarily present.
Modern definition (BROOKER):
Emergence since World War I of a regime with
an official ideology and political party;
ideological one-party state
Part 2
What types of ‘dictatorship’ were there
between 1918 and 1945?
Authoritarian and Totalitarian systems: how do they relate
to each other?
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 26-7)
Authoritarianism is a term to cover all forms of
non-democratic regime
Preferred approach
Totalitarianism is its most
extreme manifestation
Authoritarianism
OR
are
distinct
Totalitarianism
Characteristics of Totalitarian regimes
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 29)
Radical programme of change
Deliberate mobilization of the masses
Possession of a distinctive ideology
Under control of a single party, which mobilized mass support
Organization of paramilitary groups
Subjection to systematic control – and terror
Indoctrination, seeking destruction of cultural pluralism
Establishment of complete control over the economy
Authoritarian and Totalitarian regimes
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 29)
Authoritarian regimes
Totalitarian regimes
had a
had a
conservative approach
radical approach
which
which
immobilised the masses
mobilised the masses
and
and
emphasized traditional values
emphasized new ideologies
This was done through
This was done through
a centralised monopoly of power –
often military
a one-party control of all power
and sometimes enforced by
and always enforced by
a security apparatus
a security apparatus
Authoritarian and Totalitarian regimes:
which were they?
AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES
Austria under Dollfuss etc.
TOTALITARIAN REGIMES
Germany under Hitler 1933-45
Hungary under Horthy etc.
Spain under Primo de Rivera and Franco
Portugal under Salazar
Italy under Mussolini 1922-45
Russia under Lenin 1917-24
Poland under Pilsudski etc
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
Yugoslavia
Albania
Greece
Bulgaria
Romania
Turkey under Atatürk
Russia under Stalin1924/9-53
Russia after Stalin
Authoritarian and Totalitarian regimes:
which were they? Alternative view
AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES
Austria under Dollfuss etc.
TOTALITARIAN REGIMES
Germany under Hitler 1933-45
Hungary under Horthy etc.
Spain under Primo de Rivera and Franco
Russia under Lenin 1917-24
Pre-totalitarian authoritarian?
Portugal under Salazar
Poland under Pilsudski etc
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
Yugoslavia
Albania
Greece
Bulgaria
Romania
Turkey under Atatürk
Russia under Stalin1924/9-53
Russia after Stalin
Post-totalitarian authoritarian?
Italy under Mussolini 1922-45
incomplete totalitarian?
Complications of term ‘Totalitarian’
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 27-9)
1
Were Communist regimes ‘totalitarian’ per se? Or was this simply a ‘Cold War classification’?
(Gleeson, Curtis). Possible alternatives:
Lenin’s Russia: ‘pre-totalitarian
authoritarian?’
Stalin’s Russia: fully totalitarian?
Post Stalinist Russia: ‘posttotalitarian authoritarian?
2
Was there ever any such thing as ‘totalitarian democracy’? (Talmon) Or were all
Totalitarian regimes dictatorships?
3
Are there ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ forms of totalitarianism? (Tormey) Or were all
Totalitarian regimes dictatorships?
Weak systems: regimes have to react to changes
rather than being able to control them
Strong systems: regimes achieve control by
socialization, indoctrination as well as force
For comments on these, see European Dictatorships (3rd edition) 27-9
Authoritarian regimes and totalitarianism
Totalitarian regimes and authoritarianism
(ED 37)
Spain, Portugal, Austria, Hungary,
Poland, the Baltic States, Yugoslavia,
Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece –
all prevented a takeover by
Communism or Fascism, which
took power in Russia (Provisional
Government), Liberal Italy, Weimar
Germany.
Before 1939:
Authoritarian regimes were generally
strong enough to prevent democracy
and also resist being taken over by
totalitarian ideologies. Totalitarian
systems arose in former democracies,
not in authoritarian states.
BUT
After 1939:
Totalitarian regimes conquered the
authoritarian regimes as part of their
process of expansion. They imposed
their ideologies by occupation or
Influence.
Italy occupied Albania.
Germany occupied: Austria, W.
Poland, Baltic states, Yugoslavia,
Greece; influenced Hungary, Bulgaria,
Romania
Russia occupied: E. Poland and Baltic
States
Principal European dictators
TOTALITARIAN
STALIN
LENIN
Italy
MUSSOLINI
Germany
HITLER
Portugal
SALAZAR
Spain
Poland
Baltic States
Yugoslavia
Albania
Romania
FRANCO
PRIMO DE RIVERA
Austria
Hungary
DOLFUSS
Kun
SCHUSCHNIGG
Szálasi
HORTHY
PIŁSUDSKI
SMETONA, ULMANIS, PÄTS
ALEXANDER
PAVELIC
ZOG
CAROL
Bulgaria
ANTONESCU
BORIS
Greece
Turkey
1945
1940
1935
1930
1925
1920
Russia
AUTHORITARIAN
METAXAS
MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATüRK
European dictatorships by 1938
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
Dictatorships by 1938
Dictatorships dismantled by other dictatorships 1938-42
D
D
Totalitarian dictatorships by
1938
D
Authoritarian dictatorships
dismantled by totalitarian
dictatorships 1938-43
D
Authoritarian dictatorships
in alliance with totalitarian
dictatorships after 1940
D
Authoritarian dictatorships
remaining outside control
of totalitarian dictatorships
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
Part 3
What ideologies influenced these
‘dictatorships’ between 1918 and 1945?
Communism: Marxist origins and Leninist adaptation
MARX
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 30-1)
‘The history of all human society, past and present, has been the history of
class struggles.’ (Marx and Engels: Communist Manifesto, 1848). Future:
Revolution by proletariat
against bourgeoisie & capitalism
Dictatorship of the
Proletariat
Classless Society
LENIN
Revolutions most likely where capitalism was strongest and proletariat largest – e.g. Germany and Britain
Importance of party organization. ‘Just as a blacksmith cannot seize a red-hot iron,
so the proletariat cannot directly seize power’.
Revolution by proletariat led by party of
professional revolutionaries
Dictatorship of the Proletariat
maintained by party
Classless Society
Revolutions most likely where capitalism was weakest– e.g. Russia
For comments on these, see European Dictatorships (3rd edition) 27-9
Communism: Early spread in Europe
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 31)
Communist revolutions
1917-19
Successful
Unsuccessful or
temporary
Communism: Stalinist adaptation
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 31-2)
1 He abandoned the emphasis by Lenin and Trotsky on Permanent Revolution
and substituted
Socialism in One Country
2
He upgraded the significance of the bureaucratic state
by
Strengthening the
‘Dictatorship of the
Proletariat’
Reversing the
relationship between
‘base’ and ‘superstructure’
Introducing the central
Planning system
For comments on these, see European Dictatorships (3rd edition) 31-2
Communism: later spread in Europe
Communist regimes established
after World War II
Under Soviet control
Independent of Soviet control
Origins of fascism (1)
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 32)
Marxist interpretations
1
Communist International 1933: in the crisis of capitalism after World War I, fascism
was the dying and most extreme phase of bourgeois-capitalist domination. Fascist
leaders were the ‘agents’ of capitalist controllers.
2
Gramsci: Fascism represented the political crisis of capitalist states. In its attempt to
revive capitalism, fascism was a radical alternative to the fading appeal of the
traditional ruling class.
For comments on these, see European Dictatorships (3rd edition) 33
Origins of fascism (2)
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 33)
Non-Marxist interpretations
1
Meinecke, Ritter: Fascism emerged from a moral crisis of European society. According
to Fromm, it was ‘an escape from freedom and a refuge in submission’.
2
Blum: Fascism was a rejection of the ideals of the Enlightenment and French
Revolution: rationalism, liberalism, democracy, egalitarianism.
3
Nolte: Fascism was a response to the development of Communism. ‘The origin of the
Right lies always in the challenge of the Left.’
4
Hildebrand: Fascism was a reaction to development, a resistance of ‘residual elites’ to
‘industrial tendencies’ of industrial society.
5
Fascism was a reaction to the unsettling impact of World War I, especially on recently
united states such as Italy and Germany.
For comments on these, see European Dictatorships (3rd edition) 33
The characteristics of fascism
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 34)
It carried a belief in radical change and revolution to achieve social transformation and
1 rebirth.
2
It rejected (1) parliamentary democracy and (2) the revolutionary left and class conflict.
3
It was presided over by an absolute leader, who had the trappings of personality cult.
4
It was normally totalitarian, controlling all forms of communication.
5
It developed an alternative economic strategy to capitalism and socialism
6
It focused on the survival of the fittest
7
It was militarist, hypernationalist and often racist.
Should ‘Fascism’ include ‘Nazism’?
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships35)
NO
Sternhell: Fascism originated in France as the conjunction of the syndicalism and
ultra-nationalism. It was developed further in Italy. Nazism was distinct and should not
be included in the term fascism.
The consensus is that Nazism should be included in fascism.
Kershaw: Nazism and Italian Fascism were ‘separate species within the same genus’.
YES Nolte: Nazism was ‘radical fascism’.
Linz: Nazism was a ‘distinctive branch grafted on the fascist tree’.
But: Nazism placed more emphasis than fascism on the racial community and antiSemitism.
For comments on these, see European Dictatorships (3rd edition) 35
Where did fascism derive its support?
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 34)
1 The lumpenproletariat: some of the unemployed and socially displaced
2
Rural populations: peasantry and estate owners
3
Many former army officers, demobilized soldiers and veterans of the First World War
4
The middle classes, affected by economic crises in the 1920s and 1930s
5
Capital and big business – as a means of finding security against the threat of
communism
6
Overall, fascism benefited from the instability of the inter-war period.
For comments on these, see European Dictatorships (3rd edition) 34
Which regimes and movements were ‘Fascist’ before
1939?
(ED 30)
Fascist totalitarian
regimes
7
8
Fascist movements in non-Fascist
authoritarian regimes
6
12
2
14NAZI GERMANY
11
13
1 Falange (Spain)
2 Falanga (Poland)
3 Heimwehr (Austria)
4 Arrow Cross (Hungary)
5 Iron Guard (Romania)
6 Iron Wolf (Lithuania)
7 Estonian Freedom Fighters
8 Thunder Cross (Latvia)
9 Ustasha (Croatia)
3
4
10
5
FASCIST ITALY
1
Fascist movements in
democratic regimes
10 Action Francaise (France)
11 Rex (Belgium)
12 British Union of Fascists
13 Lapua (Finland)
14 Dutch National Socialists
Other influences in inter-war Europe
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 36)
NATIONALISM
CLERICALISM
CONSERVATISM
MILITARISM
Nationalism: an ideology?
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 36)
YES
NO
SUGAR: One of the three ‘dominant
ideologies of the twentieth century’
(along with Communism and Fascism/
Nazism).
MINOGUE: ‘a set of ideas’ but these
‘add up less to a theory than to a
rhetoric’, the communication of ‘political
excitement’ from an elite to the
masses’.
Possible support for this:
- The only set of ideas which
consistently means what it says.
- Its capacity to generate huge levels of
commitment and enthusiasm.
- Its association with aggression against
other identities.
Possible support for this:
- Basic principles of nationalism present
in most ideologies (e.g. Fascism,
Nazism, Stalinist Communism).
- Large number of different variations.
Types of Nationalism in inter-war Europe
(ED 36-7)
TYPE
EXPLANATION
EXAMPLES
Search by indigenous groups for their
own statehood
Czechs, Poles, Serbs, Croats,
Lithuanians, Estonians,
Latvians
Attempts by dominant nationality to
impose its domination over others to
achieve national unity
Poland vs Lithuanians, Belorussians, Ukrainians;
Romania vs Hungarians
Attempts by nation states to claim or
reclaim their co-nationals living in other
states
Italy vs Yugoslavia;
Hungary vs Romania, Czech.
Germany vs Poland, Czech.
HISTORIC
NATIONALISM
Revival of national pride in longerestablished nations
Spain: Francoism; Portugal:
Empire; Hungary: Szálasi’s
Hungarism
‘INFLAMED’
NATIONALISM
Extreme, repressive or eliminationist
manifestations – usually racist and
anti-Semitic
Instances in most dictatorships,
especially Germany; antiSemitism widespread
NATIONAL
SELF-DETERMINATION
INTEGRATIONIST
NATIONALISM
IRREDENTIST
NATIONALISM
Clericalism
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 36)
Normally Catholicism or the
Catholic Church, expressing
itself as a Conservative influence
and cooperating with conservative
forms of authoritarianism
against
Communism
especially in Spain under Franco,
Austria under Dollfuss, Portugal
under Salazar, Poland under
Pilsudski
Less apparent in
Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Baltic
states
The reverse (measures to restrict the
political influence of the religious power)
applied in
Turkey under Atatürk
Conservatism: the two roles
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 37)
REDUCTIONIST
CONSERVATISM
To maintain the status quo and remove
destabilising influences such as
communism, socialism or fascism
Examples: Hungary under Horthy;
Poland under Pilsudski; Portugal under
Salazar
BONDING
CONSERVATISM
To rally the centre and right against the
Left and far left
Examples: later Weimar Germany;
Spain under Franco
Types of Militarism
(Details and comments in European Dictatorships 37)
Military action as a force against
authoritarianism as a force for
change and reform
Examples: Pre- World War I
Spain, Portugal, Turkey
Militarism as the ally of
conservative authoritarianism
Examples: Inter- War
regimes: Poland (Pilsudski),
Spain Franco), Hungary
(Horthy), Greece (Metaxas)
Conclusion
Classification of dictatorships 1918-45
Authoritarian
This classification is open to
debate
Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland
Turkey: Atatürk
Austria, Portugal, Hungary (Horthy),
Yugoslavia, Romania, Greece,
Albania, Bulgaria
Russia: post- Stalin
Left
Hungary (Bela Kun)
Italy: Mussolini
Russia: Lenin
Russia: Stalin
Germany: Hitler
Totalitarian
Right
Spain: Franco
Classification of dictatorships 1918-45
Authoritarian
Suggest alternative classifications
on this chart …
Left
Right
Totalitarian
Classification of dictatorships 1918-45
… or on this blank chart
End of PowerPoint 2