Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren volgeban here. In nineteen twenty two, Benito Mussolini gained control of Italy and introduced the world to fascism, a political movement that eventually brought the world to war. Mussolini didn't invent the fascist movement, but he did coin the term and define the Italian fascist movement. In nineteen thirty two, he wrote that fascism quote believes neither in the possibility
nor the utility of peace. In fascism, the state is all that matters, and constant conquest is a necessity for the glory of that state. The success and glory of the people comes by extension. War alone brings up to its highest tension, all human energy, and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have courage to meet it. Fascism is a word thrown around a lot these days.
Some use the term to describe any authoritarian person or government, especially one that rules by violent means, but authoritarianism is only part of the fascist philosophy. For example, Communism under Joseph Stalin was authoritarian and extraordinarily violent, but communism calls for an erasure of class divides. In that way, fascism, with its focus on a hierarchy of superiority, stands in direct opposition to communism. The word fascism comes from the
Italian term fascio, meaning bundle. Mussolini first used the word fascism in nineteen nineteen. It has its roots in the Latin word fascis, which described a bundle of sticks tied to a single axe head. The fascis was a symbol of unity and righteous power in ancient Rome. One might say the fascian embodies the essence of fascism. The people are the sticks, tied together and to the state to form a strong, single unit, the state being the axe head,
which has the power to create, to enforce, and to obliterate. Today, let's look closely a fascism find out what the term really means and how the ideology has been used to unite nations and divide the world. We'll also see what conditions must exist for fascism to seem appealing. What does it take for millions of individuals to support a philosophy that explicitly negates their personal value. Fascism is notoriously difficult
to define because it has no single philosophy. Mussolini's brand of Italian fascism with a capital F isn't exactly like Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler's brand of fascism with a lowercase F, and both are different from the neo fascist views of groups like the Skinheads post World War Two. Still, there are some core principles that identify a fascist movement and a fascist party. First, there's a concept of survival of the fittest. Some fascists were influenced by the writings
of Charles Darwin and his theory of natural selection. In the context of fascism, the state is only as powerful as its ability to wage wars and win them. The state is thereby selected for survival due to its strength and dominance. Peace is viewed as weakness aggression as strength. Under fascism, a strength is the ultimate good and ensures the survival of the state. Then there's a sense of
a strict social order. Fascism maintains an unbendable class structure, purportedly to avoid any hint of chaos, which is a threat to the state. The state's power depends on the maintenance of class system, in which every person has a definite, unchangeable, specific role in glorifying the state. It's an absolute rejection of humanism and democracy. Next, there's authoritarian leadership. The state's
interests require a single, charismatic leader with absolute authority. This is the concept of the leadership principle that it's necessary to have an all powerful and heroic leader to maintain the unity and unquestioning submission of the people that the fascist state requires. This leader often becomes a symbol of the state. Fascist regimes are also typically violent. In fascist ideology, physical violence is necessary to suppress anyone who stands outside
the group and in the way of the state's power. Ever, increasing strength is in effect the very meaning of life. So what are the goals of fascism? While the fascist state is the center of the universe, the primary goal of fascism is social regeneration, the lifting up of a particular class of people. Regeneration is achieved through national unity and a rejection of individualism. This requires the people's initial support.
A fascist regime generally gains the support by promoting a series of ideas through the media, public rallies, and other forms of propaganda. These ideas can include a nationing crisis, that is that the state is in decline and that it's only getting worse. In fascist ideology, there are two primary causes for this decline. The variety of racial or ethnic groups in the state, which makes the state impure and weakens it, and a conspiracy by certain racial, ethnic,
or national groups to keep the state down. There's also the concept of an idealized past that the state is currently damaged but was once supreme. A fascism aspires toward the renewal of the state and its primary ethnic group to some past era of glory, which upon examination of history, is mythical. And then there's a fascist concept of a need for social change that the people must submit to major changes, including a new social structure and way of life,
in order to achieve this mythical revival. Because that last one is difficult to swallow. Fascism arises from poor socioeconomic conditions, like those of post World War two Japan or post World War I Europe. The countries that were defeated in World War One suffered greatly from the restrictions placed on them after the war. In Germany, a fascist government promised to return to a better life and a better position in the world. In fascism, remember, individuals exist only in
relation to the state. From Mussolini and Hitler, the principles of democracy and capitalism, which stemmed from the European Enlightenment movement of the seventeen hundreds, stood in the way of the power of the state. In fascist terms, these trends, based on concepts of individuality, equality, and positive self interest, limited the unity and the drive for survival necessary for
social renewal. Mussolini wrote in nineteen thirty two, quote Fascism denies the absurd conventional truth of political equality, the myth of happiness and indefinite progress. By dispelling the idea of happiness, a fascist society is able to constrain its people and convince them to submit for the greater good. People cannot gather without permission, and they can't say anything negative against the state. Instead, there submerged in extreme nationalism and ethnic unity.
Political youth groups recruit the younger members of society, teach them about the state, and entrust them with its survival and its power. A fascism glorifies youth, which makes sense if you consider the ideal of survival of the fittest. The young are the strongest and thus the fittest. The state sponsored rallies and parades dominates social life. National flags and imposing monuments loom over the landscape, and state holidays
fill the calendar. These symbols and celebrations have a quasi religious quality, in that they encourage absolute faith, just in the state, not in a creator. Fascism was at its height between nineteen eighteen and nineteen forty five, the end of World War I through the end of World War II. Europe's general upheaval during that period left it receptive to fascist propaganda and ideology, but when the Axis powers, including Germany and Italy were defeated, their fascist regimes became widely
viewed as evil, inextricably tied to genocide and World war. However, the fall of true fascism didn't destroy the concept. Neo fascism, sometimes called neo Nazism if it's specifically based on Hitler's views, has popped up many times since the end of World War II. Today, neo fascism describes a variety of separate movements around the world that espoused the ideals of power
supremacy and ethnic purity. These groups often haven't had the power to pursue the conquering military component of original fascism, but they do sometimes practice the violence. For example, in the nineteen nineties alone, neo fascists took responsibility for the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City, a series of bombings in Germany targeting immigrants, and several bombings in
London against racial, minority and gay people. Neo fascist political movements that ascribe to some traditionally fascist ideals like racial purity and the dominance of state interests might pursue these ideals in several forms, for example, anti immigration laws and
isolationist foreign policies. They often enact small but increasing limitations on civil rights a made in the name of giving a state more power to protect the populace from external aggressors, and there's often government intervention in economic matters such as means of production in the name of securing the state
from shortages and economic downturns. A Neo fascists attempt to gain support and power the same way other modern movements do, the political involvement, media presence, and all sorts of online marketing. Anti fascist activism, meanwhile, often further includes community organizing such as workers' rights and mutual campaigns in order to help prevent that economic desperation in which fascism has historically taken hold.
Today's episode is based on the article how Fascism Works on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Julia Layton and John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.