WEBVTT - What Is Fascism? 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:07.840 Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:14.160 volgeban here. In nineteen twenty two, Benito Mussolini gained control 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:18.040 of Italy and introduced the world to fascism, a political 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:22.800 movement that eventually brought the world to war. Mussolini didn't 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:25.919 invent the fascist movement, but he did coin the term 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:30.640 and define the Italian fascist movement. In nineteen thirty two, 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:34.560 he wrote that fascism quote believes neither in the possibility 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:41.159 nor the utility of peace. In fascism, the state is 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:45.000 all that matters, and constant conquest is a necessity for 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:48.839 the glory of that state. The success and glory of 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:52.839 the people comes by extension. War alone brings up to 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:56.240 its highest tension, all human energy, and puts the stamp 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.480 of nobility upon the peoples who have courage to meet it. 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:05.600 Fascism is a word thrown around a lot these days. 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:09.360 Some use the term to describe any authoritarian person or government, 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:14.480 especially one that rules by violent means, but authoritarianism is 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:19.960 only part of the fascist philosophy. For example, Communism under 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:25.399 Joseph Stalin was authoritarian and extraordinarily violent, but communism calls 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:29.399 for an erasure of class divides. In that way, fascism, 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:32.840 with its focus on a hierarchy of superiority, stands in 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:38.720 direct opposition to communism. The word fascism comes from the 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:44.039 Italian term fascio, meaning bundle. Mussolini first used the word 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:47.800 fascism in nineteen nineteen. It has its roots in the 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:51.840 Latin word fascis, which described a bundle of sticks tied 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:55.520 to a single axe head. The fascis was a symbol 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:59.280 of unity and righteous power in ancient Rome. One might 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:03.640 say the fascian embodies the essence of fascism. The people 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:06.720 are the sticks, tied together and to the state to 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:10.960 form a strong, single unit, the state being the axe head, 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:18.120 which has the power to create, to enforce, and to obliterate. Today, 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:21.320 let's look closely a fascism find out what the term 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:24.480 really means and how the ideology has been used to 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:28.440 unite nations and divide the world. We'll also see what 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:32.679 conditions must exist for fascism to seem appealing. What does 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.160 it take for millions of individuals to support a philosophy 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:44.160 that explicitly negates their personal value. Fascism is notoriously difficult 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:48.840 to define because it has no single philosophy. Mussolini's brand 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:53.000 of Italian fascism with a capital F isn't exactly like 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.200 Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler's brand of fascism with a 0:02:56.280 --> 0:03:00.560 lowercase F, and both are different from the neo fascist 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:05.280 views of groups like the Skinheads post World War Two. Still, 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.800 there are some core principles that identify a fascist movement 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:13.919 and a fascist party. First, there's a concept of survival 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:17.720 of the fittest. Some fascists were influenced by the writings 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:22.200 of Charles Darwin and his theory of natural selection. In 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.600 the context of fascism, the state is only as powerful 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:29.240 as its ability to wage wars and win them. The 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:32.919 state is thereby selected for survival due to its strength 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:38.080 and dominance. Peace is viewed as weakness aggression as strength. 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:42.720 Under fascism, a strength is the ultimate good and ensures 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:47.320 the survival of the state. Then there's a sense of 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:52.840 a strict social order. Fascism maintains an unbendable class structure, 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:55.960 purportedly to avoid any hint of chaos, which is a 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:59.400 threat to the state. The state's power depends on the 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:04.120 maintenance of class system, in which every person has a definite, unchangeable, 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:09.400 specific role in glorifying the state. It's an absolute rejection 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:17.920 of humanism and democracy. Next, there's authoritarian leadership. The state's 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:23.000 interests require a single, charismatic leader with absolute authority. This 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:26.520 is the concept of the leadership principle that it's necessary 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:29.680 to have an all powerful and heroic leader to maintain 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:32.839 the unity and unquestioning submission of the people that the 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:37.320 fascist state requires. This leader often becomes a symbol of 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:44.800 the state. Fascist regimes are also typically violent. In fascist ideology, 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:49.000 physical violence is necessary to suppress anyone who stands outside 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:52.560 the group and in the way of the state's power. Ever, 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:58.680 increasing strength is in effect the very meaning of life. 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:03.600 So what are the goals of fascism? While the fascist 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:06.520 state is the center of the universe, the primary goal 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:10.320 of fascism is social regeneration, the lifting up of a 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:15.640 particular class of people. Regeneration is achieved through national unity 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:21.200 and a rejection of individualism. This requires the people's initial support. 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:25.400 A fascist regime generally gains the support by promoting a 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:28.719 series of ideas through the media, public rallies, and other 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:34.120 forms of propaganda. These ideas can include a nationing crisis, 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:36.839 that is that the state is in decline and that 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:40.920 it's only getting worse. In fascist ideology, there are two 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:45.359 primary causes for this decline. The variety of racial or 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:48.560 ethnic groups in the state, which makes the state impure 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:53.400 and weakens it, and a conspiracy by certain racial, ethnic, 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:58.679 or national groups to keep the state down. There's also 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:02.080 the concept of an idealized past that the state is 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:07.400 currently damaged but was once supreme. A fascism aspires toward 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:10.200 the renewal of the state and its primary ethnic group 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:15.320 to some past era of glory, which upon examination of history, 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:21.120 is mythical. And then there's a fascist concept of a 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:25.080 need for social change that the people must submit to 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:29.040 major changes, including a new social structure and way of life, 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:35.640 in order to achieve this mythical revival. Because that last 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:40.440 one is difficult to swallow. Fascism arises from poor socioeconomic conditions, 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:43.760 like those of post World War two Japan or post 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:47.440 World War I Europe. The countries that were defeated in 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.599 World War One suffered greatly from the restrictions placed on 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:54.560 them after the war. In Germany, a fascist government promised 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:57.000 to return to a better life and a better position 0:06:57.040 --> 0:07:03.320 in the world. In fascism, remember, individuals exist only in 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:07.839 relation to the state. From Mussolini and Hitler, the principles 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:11.760 of democracy and capitalism, which stemmed from the European Enlightenment 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:14.720 movement of the seventeen hundreds, stood in the way of 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:19.600 the power of the state. In fascist terms, these trends, 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:24.320 based on concepts of individuality, equality, and positive self interest, 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:28.840 limited the unity and the drive for survival necessary for 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:35.640 social renewal. Mussolini wrote in nineteen thirty two, quote Fascism 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:40.000 denies the absurd conventional truth of political equality, the myth 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:46.040 of happiness and indefinite progress. By dispelling the idea of happiness, 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:48.960 a fascist society is able to constrain its people and 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:52.400 convince them to submit for the greater good. People cannot 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:56.160 gather without permission, and they can't say anything negative against 0:07:56.200 --> 0:08:02.400 the state. Instead, there submerged in extreme nationalism and ethnic unity. 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.840 Political youth groups recruit the younger members of society, teach 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:09.520 them about the state, and entrust them with its survival 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:13.960 and its power. A fascism glorifies youth, which makes sense 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.520 if you consider the ideal of survival of the fittest. 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:21.120 The young are the strongest and thus the fittest. The 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:25.800 state sponsored rallies and parades dominates social life. National flags 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:29.520 and imposing monuments loom over the landscape, and state holidays 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:34.280 fill the calendar. These symbols and celebrations have a quasi 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:38.520 religious quality, in that they encourage absolute faith, just in 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:44.360 the state, not in a creator. Fascism was at its 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:47.800 height between nineteen eighteen and nineteen forty five, the end 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.240 of World War I through the end of World War II. 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:54.920 Europe's general upheaval during that period left it receptive to 0:08:55.040 --> 0:09:00.520 fascist propaganda and ideology, but when the Axis powers, including 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:04.640 Germany and Italy were defeated, their fascist regimes became widely 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:12.360 viewed as evil, inextricably tied to genocide and World war. However, 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:17.439 the fall of true fascism didn't destroy the concept. Neo fascism, 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:21.280 sometimes called neo Nazism if it's specifically based on Hitler's views, 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.120 has popped up many times since the end of World 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:29.200 War II. Today, neo fascism describes a variety of separate 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:32.360 movements around the world that espoused the ideals of power 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:37.560 supremacy and ethnic purity. These groups often haven't had the 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:42.000 power to pursue the conquering military component of original fascism, 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:47.440 but they do sometimes practice the violence. For example, in 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:51.400 the nineteen nineties alone, neo fascists took responsibility for the 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.800 bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City, a series 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:58.520 of bombings in Germany targeting immigrants, and several bombings in 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:04.720 London against racial, minority and gay people. Neo fascist political 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:08.520 movements that ascribe to some traditionally fascist ideals like racial 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:12.040 purity and the dominance of state interests might pursue these 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:17.240 ideals in several forms, for example, anti immigration laws and 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:23.040 isolationist foreign policies. They often enact small but increasing limitations 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:25.600 on civil rights a made in the name of giving 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:29.640 a state more power to protect the populace from external aggressors, 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:34.560 and there's often government intervention in economic matters such as 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.280 means of production in the name of securing the state 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:43.920 from shortages and economic downturns. A Neo fascists attempt to 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:47.280 gain support and power the same way other modern movements do, 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:51.800 the political involvement, media presence, and all sorts of online marketing. 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:58.400 Anti fascist activism, meanwhile, often further includes community organizing such 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:02.200 as workers' rights and mutual campaigns in order to help 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:07.320 prevent that economic desperation in which fascism has historically taken hold. 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:14.800 Today's episode is based on the article how Fascism Works 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:17.360 on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Julia Layton and 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:20.520 John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:23.600 partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:27.400 Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:30.520 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.