Fascism

Posted: November 27th, 2013

Name:

Class:

Instructor:

Date:

Fascism

Introduction

The word fascism is derived from the word ‘fasces’, which is a roman word that means power and collectivism. This political attitude or movement had it beginnings in the period between the first and second world wars (Paxton 4). Fascism gives full interest and attention in social, economic, and military power to a single race that is considered dominant or a single state headed by a single dominant leader. Fascism is a political ideology that rejected the ideas of capitalism, democracy and socialism. A fascist government is one that has single party and is most likely lead by a dictator who enforces their iron fist using the military and the police. Fascism is racial and is spread over many cultures. Each culture believes in its superiority and each person considers themselves better than the other (Paxton 5). Fascism already is a significant ideology because it seeks to revive the state based on the loyalty fascists feel towards the national community as a whole entity where people are unified by their national identity and the connections they have culturally, ancestrally and in blood.

Discussion of Fascism

Fascists flush out the ideas, people, systems and forces that seem to be the cause of failure and deterioration. A fascist civilization advocates for the formation of a single-party state. This single party state mobilizes the citizens of the nation through the processes of physical education, training, discipline and policies of the family. This state is led by a leader who is supreme and who leads in a dictatorship. The leader oversees the fascist movement, the government and all other significant state institutions. Oppositions in the fascist movement are not supported and are suppressed. This kind of government supports war and political violence arguing that these actions promote national rebirth, strength and strength of mind. This kind of government looks at conflict as a part of life that promotes human progress. Militarism is promoted highly in this kind of government and is viewed as providing positive transitions in the society, spiritual renewal and education. Militarism is also believed as a provider of loyalty and character formation through the service that people offer in the military.

From its meaning, the term fasces consisted of a bundle of poles that were tied around an axe. It was an ancient symbol in Rome that signified the authority the civic magistrate held. The fasces were carried by the magistrates’ helpers and could be put into use anytime that the magistrate commanded like capital and corporal punishments. The fasces symbolically meant the strength that would be achieved through unity. The several bars that are tied up but the rope signify the strength in that, one bar would be easily broken, but when they are tied up together they achieve strength.

One of the leaders who constantly used fascism under his regime was Benito Mussolini of Italy from 1924 to 1939. In the fascism government in Italy, Mussolini assumed power and he became a great dictator in Italy. In his ideologies, Mussolini was the controller of everything in Italy. Anybody who opposed his rule was met with severe consequences (Blinkhorn 20). In his endeavors, Mussolini utilized paramilitary resources and force to conquer and overthrow opponents and their political systems. The society was opposed to the class-based stratification that other normal societies are normally inclined to. Mussolini was opposed to bourgeois, individualist and proletarian ideologies. His government was also opposed to other ideologies that include liberalism, conservatism, communism and socialism. Mussolini was also opposed to several social, political and economic systems like the parliament, democracy, clerics and capitalism. Egalitarianism, rationalism, materialism, discipline, free will, hierarchy and spirit are all ideologies that Mussolini abhors (Blinkhorn 36).

However, his ideologies came to help Italy at one point. After he assumed power in 1924, there were many riots over the socialist party opposing the government. He was able to come down the riots by the use of paramilitary services and come down the nation. This ensured that the nation was safe and secure from any social evils that might have been taking place. Additionally, Mussolini improved the infrastructure of the country. His ideologies, included that Italy would be a super power by reviving the cultures of the Roman Empire (Blinkhorn 27).

Additionally, Mussolini believed in creating employment and giving the young children education. According to the fascism ideology, Mussolini provided employment by creating massive projects. These projects include the construction of the railway line, airstrip and the roads. On the part of education, Mussolini believed that the children were the future for Italy. For this reason, he resulted in creating a good curriculum for the children in school where they were to learn things that will help Italy as a nation. He believed that boys were to be trained in ways to protect their nations while the girls were to be trained to become the future mothers of the nation. As a result, the nation was able to prosper due to the ideology of fascism by Mussolini (Blinkhorn 28).

Importance of fascism in life and world politics

Fascism has its advantages concerning politics and life today. In life, people are made to work hard to be prominent people in life. This means that people are forced to use all forms of their energy so that they can be able to achieve all their goals. Although fascism tends to make people to be materialistic and selfish, people end up using their energies by working hard in order to gain what they really want. For instance, those states and countries using fascism have hard working people who want to make a name for them so that they can be successful. Therefore, fascism has a high success rate in creating a hard working nation.

High levels of education are another importance of fascism in life today. Those leaders who often use fascism use education to create a better future for the nation. They believe that the children are the leaders of tomorrow, without education, the nation will fall in future. For example, in Italy, in the days of Mussolini, he believed in education by ensuring that every child was educated. Mussolini believed that boys were the protectors of tomorrow while the girls were the future mothers. For this to happen, he created a good education system for the children. Another example is where Mussolini tried to improve the levels of education in italy during his reign. Though he did not believe much in education and its advantages, Mussolini hada passion of seeing the young generation come up as intelligent. He believed in the future of the Italian nation, and thus he believed that through education, Italy would produce the future doctors, teachers and engineers who would propel his great nation to greater heights. He used this system to improve the levels of education in Italy. Therefore, fascism has the ability to improve the levels of education in a state that uses its ideologies. The rate of literacy in Italy during Mussolini’s reign was 52 percent. This rate was quite high considering the day and age that Mussolini was in power.

In life, fascism helps to improve the living standards of people. One way of improving the living standards is by creating employment to the people. Fascism is known to improve the levels of employment due to the massive government projects. These projects involve the creation of infrastructure, that is, roads, buildings and many more. However, the problem is that there is high taxation in a fascist government. This means that the cost of living is extremely high. Despite this fact, the living standards of its people are highly improved. This is because people are able to earn a living. Additionally, there is improvement of infrastructure thus raising the living standards of people. For this reason, fascism tends to improve the life of a person by improving the living standards of people.

Politically, fascism tends to improve the security of a country. This is because many leaders who use fascism tend to eliminate every threat to the nation. This means that any attack towards the government or the nation is taken seriously and the perpetrators of the crimes are met with serious ramifications. This creates fear to those people who might want to commit crimes in the nation. As a result, the nation is free from crimes because nobody wants to commit crime. Additionally, a nation or a leader who uses fascism tends to be superior and powerful. For instance, Mussolini, through his government used fascism to endure that the leaders who were in power showed their superiority. In addition, he made sure that other nations saw Italy as a super power due to fascism. Moreover, the level of security in the Italian nation during the reign of Mussolini was at an all time high. Therefore, politically, fascism creates superiority to the political leaders and the nation and at the same time, it improves the security of the nation.

Fascism matters to the world very much. This is because people all over the world, view it as oppression and at the same time it commands stability in the nation. This results to high levels of economy. On the other hand, it can be destructive to those leaders who misuses its strengths for there own selfish gain. For example, in America today money is being used as the mode of fascism. This is where those who have money tend to control the nation for their own selfish. To some extend, it is improving the economy of America (Scott 2006). On the other hand, the rich people are exceeding their powers in expenses of the poor people. If this continues, people might get hurt and the economy of the state might go down. Despite all this, people are still drowned to it because the poor people need the rich people to survive. The rich people need to show their superiority. For this reason, fascism matters a lot to people and that is why people are drawn it.

Predicted outcome of fascism

If fascism were the dominant ideology, things would definitely change. First, there would be the oppressor and the oppressed. This means that, there people who will do whatever they want without being questioned and there are those people who will be limited to do whatever they want. Secondly, fascism deals with law and order. This means that their will be law and order in the society. As compared to a democratic state where everybody has a say resulting to chaos, fascism believes in one person dictating all the orders. This tends to bring uniformity, law and order n the society. Lastly, people will become hard working since they want to make their way in life in such a government.

The strengths of fascism are that it raises the security of the nation. This is because it has zero tolerance on crime and anything that might tend to bring chaos to the nation. Those people have the potential of committing crime have fear and the do not want to oppose the government or commit crime. Secondly, fascism creates a nation of hand working people. People under this ideology tend to work harder to earn their living. Lastly, the living standards of people are greatly improved. In this fascism, the leaders tend eradicate poverty by creating employment for its people. This way there is improvement in the living standard of people (Paxton 20).

However, it has disadvantages that make it to be weak. It is extremely oppressive. This is where those people who are not part of the government are treated harshly. Additionally, there is excessive use of violence which most of the time ends up high death rates. Fascism is a one sided type of government where the leader is the one who makes the rules. In this case, people follow what the leader has to say despite of it being wrong. Those who tend to revolt against him or her they are met with severe consequences (Paxton 32).

Conclusion

The ideology of fascism can be described as one, which involves power, supremacy and dictatorship. This is where one race or party controls all the government resources in the nation. It has its roots to the Roman Empire but it was widely used by the Italians, Mussolini, and the Germans, Adolf Hitler. In this ideology, the leaders are controlled by greed. In this case, the leaders tend to be motivated by their own selfish gain in expense of the nation. The main advantages of fascism are that it improves security, education and the living standards of people. On the other hand, its main disadvantages are high death rates, oppression and greed. It should be noted that if the strengths of fascism can lad to the success of a nation but if the leaders dwell too much on the weakness it can lead to chaos in a country.

Works Cited

Blinkhorn, Martin. Mussolini and fascist Italy. New York, NY: Routledge, 1994. Print.

Paxton, Robert. The Anatomy of Fascism. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 2004. Print.

Scott, Allan. “The Rise of Fascism in America.” Common Dreams.org. 12 April 2006. Web. 1 November 2011.