The fascism historical period

THE FASCISM HISTORICAL PERIOD

Fascism was an Italian Political Movement founded in 1919 by Benito Mussolini. Anong its members there are revolutionary people, republicans, anarchists, and syndicalist. All of them at first wanted to create a democratic political program. At the beginning Mussolini was a member of PSI (partito socialista italiano) then in 1924 he left the PSI because he wanted Italy to enter the First World War. In 1919 Mussolini created the political movement called "Fasci di Combattimento" and the Nazionalists joined it and formed the PNF (Partito Nazionale Fascista), the National Fascist Party. In 1922 Mussolini organized the march on Rome and gained by force the government of the country. The King Vittorio Emanuele III, in fact, accepted the government (23 ottobre 1922).

After some compromises with democratic parties, Mussolini created a complete dictatorship. From 1923 to 1928 some laws were promulgated to eliminate constitutional freedom through the creation of new institutions: a national security Army, a special tribunal, to punish political crimes, the great Council of Fascism which was higher than the Parliament too. In 1929 through the "Patti Lateranensi" the Pope (Pio XI) accepted the Italian State that recognized the supremacy of the Pope on Vatican City.

In 1936 Mussolini signed a treaty with Germany: "Asse Roma-Berlino", which was the beginning of the approach of italy to Germany. In 1938 racial laws were promulgated and in 1939 in Berlin the "Patto d'Acciaio" was signed.

In 1940 Mussolini lost further public opinion when he decided to enter the war beside Germany.

Dictatorship lasted until July 25, 1943 when the great Council of Fascism imposed Mussolini's tried to regain leadership by creating the Italian Social Republic. When in Northern Italy an insurrection broke out Mussolini tried to escape, but he was captured in Dongo, and he was killed by the partisans in Piazzale Loreto in Milan on the 25 April 1945.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF FASCISM

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German philosopher and poet best known for "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". He theorized that there were two moral codes: that of the ruling class (master morality) and that of the oppressed class (slave morality). The ancient empires grew out of a master morality, and the religions of the day out of the slave morality (which denigrates the rich and powerful, rationalism, and sexuality). He developed the concept of the "overman" (superman) which symbolized man at his most creative and highest intellectual capacity.

Henri Bergson (1859-1941) was a French philosopher of Jewish parents who was the leading rejectionist of the concept that scientific principles can explain all of existence. He asserted that metaphysical principles also apply. He found credence in applying the biological theories of Darwin (which pointed to the "survival of the fittest" in biological systems) to social theory.

George Sorel (1847-1922) was a French social philosopher who had a major influence upon Mussolini. Sorel believed that societies naturally became decadent and disorganized, and this inevitable decay could only be delayed by the leadership of idealists who were willing to use violence to obtain power. His anti-democratic, anti-liberal views and pessimistic view about the natural life-cycle of a society were antithetical to most of his contemporaries.

Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863-1938) was a Italian politician, poet, dramatist, novelist and war hero who was a supporter of Mussolini.

FASCIST IDEOLOGY

Fascist ideology emphasized the subordination of the individual to a "totalitarian" state that was to control all aspects of national life. Violence as a creative force was an important characteristic of the Fascist philosophy. A special feature of Italian Fascism was the attempt to eliminate the class struggle from history through nationalism and the corporate state.

Mussolini organized the economy and all "producers" from peasants and factory workers to intellectuals and industrialists into 22 corporations as a means of improving productivity and avoiding industrial disputes. Contrary to the regime's propaganda claims, the system ran poorly. Mussolini was forced into compromises whit big business and Roman Catholic Church. The corporate state was never fully implemented. The inherently expansionist, militaristic nature of Fascism contributed to imperialistic adventures in Ethiopia and the Balkans and ultimately to World War II.