Fascism as an ideology emerged after World War I as a reaction to the leading

political ideologies of the time, liberalism and socialism. According to fascism

both liberalism, with its emphasis on individualism, and socialism, by stressing
conflict between the social classes, pit the members of society against each
other, thus creating an weak state. The state can only be strong when all members
and classes of society unite behind a single party and supreme leader. This was
the ideological core of fascism as it developed in Italy under Benito Mussolini
(1883 -1945) and under Adolf Hitler (1889 -1945) in Germany .

It is important to note that fascism is a 20th century ideology and is a revolt

against the ideas and values that have dominated Western politics since the French
Revolution. Fascists are basically against every major idea behind liberalism,
socialism, and anything that arose out of the Enlightenment. For fascists, freedom
is defined as complete submission to the state. Progress is only possible through
struggle and war. And because fascism rejects the basic ideas of the
Enlightenment, it is not a rational philosophy, but favors action instead.

In the late 1800's some social theorists began to question the ideals of the
Enlightenment. Of these thinkers, a man named George Sorel wrote a book called
Reflections on Violence which focused on the significance of political myths.
According to Sorel, these myths were not objective reflections of political
reality, but simply expressions of the will. They are emotionally based. Even if
an idea does not make rational sense, said Sorel, if enough people believe it,
then it can work. Fascism used this as a basis to promote itself. According to
fascism, the really important truths of life defy rational thought. The source of
higher truth is instinct, rather than rationality, as the Enlightenment thinkers
would have us believe. A good fascist leader simply knows instinctively what is
right, and makes his or her decisions that way, as opposed to using reason. A
leader of a fascist state will not rise to the top out of luck though. They must
win power through struggle.
Struggle:

To the extent that struggle plays a large part in the fascist philosophy, the
Social Darwinists had a fairly large influence. Struggle to the fascist is
natural, both at home and in the international arena. Only struggle and constant
competition promote human progress according to fascist doctrine. War is, in fact,
an ultimate goal of the fascist state. Hitler described war as "�an unalterable
law of the whole of life." As a result of the necessity of struggle and war,
fascism opposes sympathy, caring, kindness, and other principles based on
conventional morality because they only promote weakness, and should therefore be
eliminated. (One example of this kind of thinking put into action was the
sterilization, and later execution, of the physically and mentally handicapped in
Germany under Hitler's rule). Finally, it was thought that the national identity
arose out of struggle, and struggle was therefore important to the existence of
the state.
Elitism:

According to fascism the rule of the elite class is inevitable, and therefore
neither liberal democracy nor socialism are possible (according to elite
theorists). Fascists felt that elite rule was natural and desirable, and those
with the rare qualities of leadership would rise to the top (by struggling and
vying for power). The fascist leader did not derive power from a constitution, but
was the embodiment of the people. Mussolini said a leader was "�the living sum of
untold souls striving for a goal." In short, the elite class was desired and
needed because they would lead the people to greatness.
Fascism and the State:

The fascist concept of the state was most prevalent in Italian fascism, although
it can be seen in the German version as well. In Italy, Mussolini sought to create
a national consciousness by using the power of the state. According to fascism,
the state is the focal point of human existence, and all citizens should give the
state absolute obedience. Only the state gave people their identity, and only
through the state could people achieve what Mussolini called the "higher life."
(Mussolini never really went into any detail as what this "higher life" entailed).
Mussolini also argued that the state drew its personality from the personality and
will of each individual in the state and then developed its own unique personality
and will. Therefore, thought Mussolini, the state has the greater will and should
dominate the individuals that live in it. The will of the state then becomes the
measure of value and wisdom for its people. Mussolini attempted to form a
totalitarian state, in which every aspect of society is controlled by the state.
Mussolini and other Italian fascists thought the state could be used to modernize
Italy, and they promoted technology and industrial life. Economically, corporation
was important to the state. Fascists opposed a free market because it resulted in
individuals working for their own gain. In theory, fascists also opposed central
planning, although this is pretty much what developed in Italy.

The development of fascism, and its eventual popular support, was a total
rejection of Marxism, which was a growing movement at the time. In fact, Germany
was the birthplace of Marxism, as it is where Karl Marx was born and schooled and
where his ideologies were first accepted. Germany, at the time of the fascist
takeover, had one of the strongest Marxist traditions in the world with a large
and organized Marxist labor movement. Fascism ultimately rejected all of the ideas
contained in Marxism and took action to break Marxist labor movements.

The principle tenets of Marxism are equality, democracy and atheism/materialism.

Marxism champions the pursuit of the equality of race, gender, and economic
status. Marxism stated that democracy as it was practiced was not truly
representative of all people, it was only representative of establishment
interests, and thus Marxism was a call for "true" and total democracy where every
citizen was totally equal in their political influence. Marxism, of course, stated
that religion was the "opium of the people" and a barrier to solutions for worldly
problems, and Marxism, as an atheist ideology, acknowledges nothing supernatural
and held that the only things that exist are material; that all of reality is
simply the material reality that we see and experience. Additionally, Marxism held
that "class struggle" was the driving force of social progress, and that class
struggle was the appropriate means by which a just society would be created.

It is important to note that not every form of fascism involves racism. Italian
fascism did not necessarily involve racism, and although Mussolini passed anti-
Semitic laws, he did so to please Hitler, not as an idea from his concept of
fascism. So where did Hitler get his ideas about race? Not a tremendously original
thinker, Hitler got most of his racial theory from a man named Joseph-Arthur de
Gobineau (1816 -1882) who argued in his Essay on the Inequality of Human Races
(1853 -1855) "that the mingling of races led, and must continue to lead, to the
downfall of great civilizations." (Ball & Dagger, 1999, p.317). Gobineau said the
highest white race was the Aryan race, a nomadic people. The Aryans had, over the
course of history, imposed their will on inferior peoples and established new
civilizations. However, this race had a tendency to inter-marry and weaken their
bloodline. Gobineau, a French diplomat, argued that the purest strain of Aryans
left were the German people, and therefore had an advantage over everyone else.
The Germans would only be able to maintain this advantage, though, if they
maintained racial purity. Although Hitler got quite a few of his ideas about race
from Gobineau, anti-Semitism is much older than the 19th century.