15.2. The birth of fascism. World on the eve of World War II

Fascism was a reflection and the result of the development of the main contradictions of Western civilization. His ideology has absorbed (bringing to the grotesque) the ideas of racism and social equality, technocratic and statist concepts. The eclectic interweaving of various ideas and theories has resulted in an accessible populist doctrine and demagogic politics. The National Socialist Workers Party of Germany grew out of the "Free Workers' Committee for the attainment of a good world" - a circle founded in 1915 by the worker Anton Drexler. In early 1919, other national-socialist organizations were created in Germany. In November 1921, a fascist party was created in Italy, numbering 300 thousand members, of which 40% were workers. Recognizing this political force, the king of Italy commissioned in 1922 the leader of this party, Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), to form a cabinet of ministers, which from 1925 would become fascist.

In the same scenario, in Germany, the fascists come to power in 1933. Party leader Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) gets the post of chancellor from the hands of German President Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934).

From the first steps, the fascists proved themselves to be irreconcilable anti-communists, anti-semites, good organizers capable of covering all strata of the population, and revenge-seekers. Their activities could hardly have been so swiftly successful without the support of the revanchist monopolistic circles of their countries. Their direct ties with the fascists are not in doubt, if only because the leaders of the criminal regime and the largest economic tycoons of fascist Germany (G.Shacht, G.Krupp) were close to the dock in Nuremberg in 1945. It can be argued that the financial means of monopolies contributed to the fascization of countries, strengthening fascism, designed not only to destroy the communist regime in the USSR (anti-communist idea), inferior peoples (racism idea), but also to redraw the world map, destroying the Versailles post-war system (revanchist idea).

The phenomenon of fascization in a number of European countries even more clearly demonstrated the critical state of the entire Western civilization. In essence, this political and ideological trend presented an alternative to its foundations by curtailing democracy, market relations and replacing them with a policy of etatism, building a society of social equality for selected nations, cultivating collectivist life forms, antihuman attitude to non-Aryans, etc. But it’s not fascism complete destruction of Western civilization. Perhaps this to some extent explains the relatively loyal attitude of the ruling circles of democratic countries to this terrible phenomenon for a long time. In addition, fascism can be attributed to one of the varieties of totalitarianism. Western political scientists have proposed a definition of totalitarianism on the basis of several criteria that have been recognized and further developed in political science. Totalitarianism is characterized by: 1) the presence of an official ideology, covering the most vital areas of human life and society and supported by the overwhelming majority of citizens. This ideology is based on the rejection of the existing order and pursues the task of rallying society to create a new way of life, not excluding the use of violent methods; 2) the dominance of the mass party, built on a strictly hierarchical principle of control, as a rule, with the leader at the head. Party - performing the function of control over the bureaucratic state apparatus or dissolving in it; 3) the presence of a developed system of police control, permeating all social aspects of the life of the country; 4) almost complete control of the party over the media; 5) full party control over power structures, primarily the army; 6) the leadership of the central government economic life of the country.

This characteristic of totalitarianism is applicable both to the regime prevailing in Germany, Italy and other fascist countries, and in many respects to the Stalinist regime prevailing in the 30s in the USSR. It is also possible that the similarity of various forms of totalitarianism made it difficult for the politicians who were at the head of democratic countries in that dramatic period of recent history to realize the danger posed by this monstrous phenomenon.

Already in 1935, Germany refused to comply with the military articles of the Versailles Treaty, followed by the occupation of the Rhineland demilitarized zone, the withdrawal from the League of Nations, Italy’s help in the occupation of Ethiopia (1935–1936), intervention in Spain (1936–1939), the Anschluss (or accession) of Austria (1938), the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia (1938-1939) in accordance with the Munich Agreement, etc. Finally, in April 1939, Germany unilaterally terminated the Anglo-German Maritime Agreement and the non-aggression treaty with Poland, so casus belli (reason for war).