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
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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
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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
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“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
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Fascism
Reactionary ideology
Enlightenment
Counter-Enlightenment
Nationalism
Elitism
Irrationalism
Italian fascism
German fascism
Fascism as ideology
Fascism and democracy
Discussion questions
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What are the main features of Enlightenment thought?
What are the main features of the CounterEnlightenment?
What is the connection between the CounterEnlightenment and the several varieties or variants of
twentieth-century fascism?
What are the main tenets of fascism as found in the Italian
and German variants?
What is the view of human nature and freedom found in
the several variants of fascism?
What is the fascist conception of, and attitude toward,
democracy?
How does Fascism operate as an ideology? (explanation,
evaluation, orientation, program)