Fascism

Benito Mussolini described fascism with one quote: " All within the state, none outside the state, none against the state." Fascism believes in the superiority of the nation. “The nation” refers to a collection of people bound together by race, ethnicity, or culture. Thus, fascism can be defined as a totalitarian philosophy of government that glorifies the state and nation and assigns to the state control over every aspect of national life. On the other hand, totalitarianism is a form of government that theoretically permits no individual freedom and that seeks to subordinate all aspects of the individual’s life to the authority of the government. Thus, a communist state is the extreme opposite of a fascist state but both can be totalitarian. Although fascism and totalitarianism have their differences, they also possess many common characteristics. Through Mussolini, Hitler, Tojo and Stalin, one can see how fascism and totalitarianism are provoked by wars and an instable government, are ruled by a single party while all others are suppressed and make use of violence to impose on each individual their rule.

The fascist states of Mussolini, Hitler and Tojo possess similarities to the communist government of Stalin, which make them totalitarian states. Their major resemblance being the fact that they all started with an instable government. For example, Mussolini came to power because of many problems, which were happening at the time in Italy such as a division between the industrialized north and the agrarian south, social conflicts, a corrupt, indecisive government, postwar inflation and unemployment and the rise of socialism which raised fears. In a similar way, Hitler came to power because the Weimar Republic was not working. This attempt at a republic was severely impacted by the Treaty of Versailles, the crippling debt, a popular sense of humiliation, hyperinflation and the Great Depression. It only survived a decade. In a similar way, Tojo's fascist government was instilled by the fear of a war with the Soviet Union and a wish to expand territory during the war. These fascist states all started with an instable government but so did the Soviet Union. Before becoming a communist country Russia was ruled by the Tsar. Tsar Nicolas II of Russia had been extremely unpopular during the war because of the numerous loses the Russians faced against the Germans. He was toppled during the February Revolution and his government was replaced with the Russian Provisional Government. However, the provisional government was weak and riven by internal dissension. Thus, another revolution occurred, the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, which involved the "Reds", Bolsheviks, against the "Whites", pro-Tsar. Led by Lenin, the Soviet Union was created and a communist government was put in place event though some capitalist laws were still in place. They were later suppressed under Stalin who created a completely totalitarian state. Thus, both totalitarianism and fascism involve a difficult power struggle before being put in place.

Another common characteristic between fascism and totalitarianism is that both are ruled by a single party. Thus, Mussolini, when coming to power, created the National Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943. Mussolini who had been elected dropped all pretense of democracy in early 1925, and set up a total dictatorship. From that point onward, the PNF was the only legally permitted party in the country. A law passed in 1928, formalized this status and Italy remained a one-party state until the end of the Fascist regime in 1943. The same way, the National Socialist German Workers' Party, Nazi Party, active from 1920 to 1945 was formed early on by Hitler. As he rose to power and gained the dictatorship the Nazis established totalitarian control; they abolished labor unions and other political parties and imprisoned their political opponents. Contrary to the preceding dictators, Hideki Tojo did not create a political party but rather took over The Imperial Rule Assistance Association which was Japan's fascist organization created by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe on October 12, 1940. It aimed to create a totalitarian single-party state, in order to maximize efficiency of Japan’s total war effort in China, goal that was reached under Tojo although it did not last long. Finally, under Stalin, The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the founding and ruling political party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the sole governing party of the Soviet Union until 1990. Again, as the Soviet Union rose to power, the CPSU suppressed all other political party and became the only legal party and the ultimate policymaker in the country. Thus, as all four states were single-party states, they were also all under a totalitarian

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