Fascism and Hitler and Mussolini

Eugen Weber makes a distinction between fascism, such as was seen in Italy, and National Socialism, the German manifestation. He believes that people tend to confuse the two. Yet, he also finds that there are a number of elements which the two seem to share, and some indeed which they seem to share with Communism, another social and political movement with which they were in competition. Among these elements are the following:

1) maintenance of capitalism (clearly not shared by Communism);

2) intensification of capitalist dictatorship (Communist dictatorship being of a different order);

3) limitation and repression of independent working-class movements and the building up of a system of organized class cooperation;

4) revolt against parliamentary democracy;

5) extending the state monopolist organization of industry and fi

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eloped a program that was sufficiently radical to appeal to the workers. He demanded the dissolution of the monarchy and the senate, the confiscation of ecclesiastical property, the control of industries and factories by the workers, and minimum wages. Fascism and National Socialism shared the essentially fascist trust in the leader as the core of the ideology and as the symbol holding the society together around fascist principles. As noted above, in Germany the leader served as a unifying force. Mussolini used the myth of the Duce at the level of ideology as he developed a regime based on simplified and ritualized thought and behavior, with Mussolini being Il Duce. Mussolini also imitated the Germans: The impact of war and the example of the Nazi propaganda machine under Josef Goebbels led the regime to experiment in new areas of social and political control. Fascism in Italy became both a mass movement of the middle class and a political party through which important political and economic interest groups could attempt to preserve the socioeconomic status quo. The original nucleus of the group consisted of former socialists and syndicalists, and they were joined by provincial middle-class intermediate elites see
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Approximate Word count = 2859
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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