About the Author
Lei Yi
Lei Yi, originally from Changsha, Hunan, was born in Wuhan, Hubei Province in 1956. In 1978, he was admitted to the Department of History of Jilin University, and graduated in 1982 with a master's degree in history. In 1985, he joined the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and is now a researcher. His research interests include the history of modern Chinese thought, modern Chinese intellectuals, and contemporary Chinese history. He is the author of "The Collection of Silence", "Time and Space Wandering: A Dialogue between History and Reality", "Lei Yi's Selected Works", "Classics and Humanities", "The Sun and Moon in the Picture", "Sartre", "Delayed Modernization", "The Advance and Retreat of History", "The Cracks of History", etc.
This article was originally published in Oriental Culture, No. 4, 2000, more than 10 years have passed, and I reread it today. With the author's latest correction and authorization, I want to share it with my friends.
Fascism is undoubtedly one of the greatest disasters of mankind in the 20 th century, but how did this trend of thought arise and develop? Why did it arise in Europe, the most "modern" country, and why did it reach its peak in Germany, one of the most culturally developed countries, and was enthusiastically embraced by "all of them" and showed the cruelty of exterminating humanity?
Now, more than half a century has passed since the defeat of fascism, and people have gradually forgotten the crimes of fascism, disregarded the harm caused by fascism, and even more careless about the reasons for the rise of fascism in those years. At such a time, a re-examination of the theoretical sources of fascist ideology and the social background of its rise may make us wake up in our numbness, conduct a deep introspective exploration of the root causes of the disaster, and guard against the recurrence of such tragedies.
1
As a journalist, he repeatedly attended Nazi gatherings in beer halls and cafes, and found that many of the fierce speakers were workers.
The First World War (the term "European War" is more accurate because it was actually a war between the European powers) undoubtedly became the dividing line between "yesterday" and "today" in European history. "Yesterday" is a safe, secure, warm, happy, prosperous, confident and optimistic world, while "today" is a pessimistic world full of devastation, decay, trauma, turmoil and despair. In this turbulent era of "value vacuum" where there is no place to go, all kinds of powerful extremist ideas are bound to be extremely attractive. It was against this background that the most extreme fascist ideology arose.
Hitler and Mussolini
Italy's Mussolini is known as the originator of fascism, but before the First World War, he was a "far-left" socialist, a staunch internationalist and a revolutionary, fiercely opposed parliamentary politics, especially the participation of "moderates" in parliamentary politics and support for the government's invasion of Libya, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison in 1911. He wrote: "The Arab and Turkish proletariat are our brothers, while the Turkish and Italian bourgeoisie are our enemies. ”
In addition, his penchant for violence was well known among the Socialists, who resolutely opposed the moderate intellectual leaders of the party, preached "barricade heroes", believing that in the "protracted war between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat" "new vitality, new moral values, and new men approaching the heroes of old." (The Rise of Fascism, The Commercial Press, 1989, p. 17.) ）
Fascist rallies in Rome
But after the outbreak of the First World War, Mussolini turned to ultra-nationalism, actively advocating entry into the war and opposing the neutrality policy of the Italian Socialist Party, saying that "raise your voice and shout in a loud voice this terrible and fascinating word: war!" (The Rise of Fascism, p. 47). As a result, he was expelled from the Socialist Party and founded a fascist organization. After the war, fascism spread in Europe, and although its specific program and manifestations differed from country to country, its common characteristics were its hatred of the spirit of freedom, its opposition to democracy and parliamentary politics, its advocacy of resolutely xenophobic ultra-nationalism, its admiration of power and violence, its advocacy of authoritarian rule, and its ruthless suppression of the opposition.
Mussolini
As a defeated country, Germany's situation was even more disappointing. The German Empire collapsed in November 1918 and was replaced by the weak and chaotic Weimar Republic. At this time, inflation was incredibly astronomical, an egg was worth 4 billion marks, a shoelace was more expensive than a luxury store with 2,000 pairs of shoes, a broken glass window was more expensive than a whole house, a book was more expensive than a printing house with hundreds of machines, and several factories were even less expensive than a cart in the past...... The mark continued to depreciate, and by November 1923 a dollar was worth 4 billion marks, and then by trillions, the mark had completely collapsed.
High inflation inevitably leads to "high speculation", with some people making windfalls on the black market of all kinds, buying castles and farmsteads, ships and cars, buying entire streets, entire factories and mines. As a result, a small group of complacent nouveau riche and thousands of angry destitute people have been created, the life savings of most people have been wiped out, and the morals of society have been corrupted like never before. "All those who can read and write have engaged in business and speculation and ideas to make money, and they all feel in their hearts that they are all deceiving each other, and at the same time being deceived by a hidden hand who is deliberately creating this mess in order to free the state from its debts and obligations. I am confident that I am familiar with history, but as far as I know, there has never been a time of such madness in history, where the proportion of inflation is so great, all values have changed, not only in material terms, the laws and regulations of the state have been ridiculed, no moral norms have been respected, and Berlin has become the evil of the world. At this time, the whole German people felt that they could not bear it, and that they were in dire need of order, stability, law, and morality, "and whoever lived through those terrible years that seemed like the end of the world would have felt that there must have been a backlash, a terrible reaction, in spite of his disgust and resentment." "The whole nation secretly hates this republic. This is not because the republic suppresses that indulgent freedom, but on the contrary, it has allowed liberty too widely. "For revenge," an entire generation will not forget and forgive those years of the German Republic, preferring to re-recruit those who have wreaked havoc. (Ottoz Zweig, translated by Shu Changshan et al., The World of Yesterday, Joint Publishing Co., Ltd., 1991, pp. 346, 348, 349)
The economic collapse was matched by a collapse in German statehood. The Treaty of Versailles stipulated that Germany must pay huge war reparations and return the territories of France, Poland, Denmark, Belgium and other countries that it had occupied to its rightful owners; when Germany was unable to pay the reparations, France forcibly occupied the Ruhr industrial area to offset it, and Germany's armaments were also severely restricted, and the army could only have no more than 100,000 volunteers, no aircraft and tanks, no submarines and ships of more than 10,000 tons.
Tourists from all over the world rushed to Germany to snap up their purchases, and the poor from foreign countries lived an imperial life in Germany. All this strongly stabbed the self-esteem of the conceited Germans, and aroused a strong sense of revenge and extreme xenophobic nationalism among the broad masses, especially among the soldiers. Naturally, people blame this national humiliation on the weakness and incompetence of the republic, and instead hope for a strong government or individual to avenge the shame and revive the nation.
Clearly, "the Treaty of Versailles and the humiliation of the National Assembly's acceptance of it, the new demands of Germany's former enemies, the weak and changing government, the very unloved new republic, the stupidity and inexperience of the deputies to the Parliament, the decline of German power and prestige, and above all the deteriorating economic situation, have provided many useful whips which can be used to whip "the system", which has always been used. (The Rise of Fascism, p. 93) The most successful use of this whip was Hitler's fascist Nazis. Eventually, Hitler, with a steel whip in hand, crushed the "system" of the republic to the cheers of the crowd.
At the end of February 1920, Hitler announced in Munich that the German Workers' Party would be renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party, or "Nazi" for short, and at the same time unveiled the party's attractive "25-point program". Although the program has as many as 25 articles, its spiritual essence is only two points: fierce opposition to monopoly capital and strong nationalism. On the economic front, it called for "the abolition of unearned income and the smashing of the slavery of interest", "the abolition and confiscation of all illicit gains made from war", "the nationalization of all enterprises (trusts) that have been put together (hithertoon)", "the enactment of a decree on the confiscation of land at no cost for the common good, the abolition of rent, the cessation of all land speculation", and "the death penalty for traitors, usurers, and speculators". On the political front, it advocated ultra-nationalism, called for "the union of all Germans on the basis of the right of national self-determination into a Greater German Empire", demanded the abolition of the Treaty of Versailles and the Peace of Saint-Germain, and "demanded the acquisition of territories and lands (colonies) to feed the people of the continent and to relocate the surplus population of the continent". This naturally developed into racism and totalitarian rule, and "only comrades of our own nationality can become citizens." Regardless of occupation, only those of Germanic origin can become comrades of their own nation", especially against the Jews, and point 25 explicitly "calls for the establishment of a strong centralized power in the empire, with the absolute authority of the Central Political Assembly and all its organs". This was later developed into the "leadership principle" with the dictatorship of the leader as the core content.
It should be admitted that these "twenty-five points" firmly grasped the hearts and minds of Germany at that time, and gained widespread support and support, and only a few people saw the potential danger. Although the German economy began to improve in 1924, the Nazis continued to grow rapidly and became an aggressive political force to be reckoned with. They realized that "if we have power, then the first object we have to win over is the working masses," so they paid great attention to using the "socialist workers' language" to win over the masses (Zhu Tingguang, ed., New Theory of Fascism, Chongqing Publishing House, 1991 edition, p. 210), and fiercely attacked merchants, financiers, capitalists, landlords, and so on. Throughout the twentieth century, the Nazi membership was overwhelmingly composed of the lower classes, and among them, university and high school students and war veterans were particularly active, because the fascist movement "with its zealous zeal and refusal to make any compromises, the numerous opportunities for 'heroic' achievements, and the constant clashes with political opponents attracted these young people and veterans." In the intervening years, the character of the movement as a whole has been expressed not so much by the party organizations as by the party's powerful assistant stormtroopers. (The Rise of Fascism, p. 139) The domineering and romantic nature of sweeping everything and making great achievements, as opposed to the banal, rigid and dull "usual" mediocrity, has a strong appeal to hot-blooded, heroic and idealistic young people, so many young people are fanatically involved in the fascist movement.
The famous Soviet writer Ehrenburg lived in Western Europe for a long time in the twenties and thirties of the last century and witnessed the whole process of the rise of fascism. In Italy, where he saw again and again the brutality of the Blackshirts and the growing demonstrations, he wrote that the fascists believed that "their leaders are leading Italy to prosperity, social justice, and freedom from international capital." He also heard Mussolini's speech at a military parade: "Fascist and proletarian Italy, advance ......" (People, Years, Life, middle volume, p. 257) As a journalist, he repeatedly attended the meetings of the German Nazis in beer halls and cafes with the thick smell of inferior smoke, and found that many of the fierce speakers were workers, which made him feel that " unbearable suffering", "Of course, I knew before that there were many workers among the Nazis, but it was one thing to see this in the newspapers, and quite another to see it with my own eyes. Can you say that the elderly worker is a fascist?" (Man, Years, Life, Vol. II, p. 200) He was saddened to see that the workers' votes accounted for a significant portion of the Nazi votes, and that "they voted for the Nazis because they hated capitalism." (People, Years, Life, Vol. II, p. 198) These vivid and intuitive accounts may be more revealing.
2
Hitler had no scruples in saying: "I am the sworn enemy of democracy".
Of course, in addition to these relatively direct social realities, the reason why German fascism was able to attract so many people for so long and so strongly was that it carefully weaved and constructed a fairly complete ideological and theoretical system about national characteristics and national cultural superiority, which ultimately led to racial superiority.
This theory creates myths about history, nations, and nations, claiming that only the blonde Aryans are noble in world history (in Nazi language, Aryans sometimes refer to Caucasian people of non-Jewish origin, and more often refer to Germanic people alone), among which the Germans are the most noble, that world history was created by Aryans, and that human science and culture were created by Germans. The history of mankind is a history of the struggle between superior and inferior races between bloodlines and races, and the contemporary Germanic people are the best race, a higher people who have been given "domination power" by God, and they should "dominate the world" as a matter of course.
This kind of racism became the core and foundation of Nazi nationalism, but conversely, nationalism is the basis of a hotbed of racism and can easily lead to the emergence and development of racism. This ethno-racism has a powerful spiritual incendiary character that inspires a passionate romantic feeling of heroism. But underneath this "heroic romance" there may be "a deeper, more mysterious force at work." The unconscious primitive desires and instincts hidden in this animal are churning up to the surface, which Freud saw deeply, which he called 'cultural disgust', that is, the demand to break out of this normal world with laws and regulations, and to indulge the oldest bloodthirsty instincts. Perhaps this hidden power is also involved in the fluttering feeling. Passionate intoxication is mixed with all sorts of things: sacrificial spirit and alcohol, adventurous pleasures and pure faith, the ancient charm of pen-throwing and patriotic rhetoric. That terrible, almost indescribable, emotion that carried millions of people away had in an instant fuelled and strengthened the greatest crime of our time. Of course, it is very difficult to oppose this burning passion, because "whoever expresses skepticism hinders their patriotic cause, whoever gives a warning laughs at him as a pessimist, and whoever opposes the war - they themselves will not suffer in the war anyway - will be branded a traitor." Times have changed, but it has always been this group of people who call the prudent the cowardly and the human weak the weak" (The World of Yesterday, pp. 252, 281).
In order to expand externally, they also created a theory of "living space" that is closely related to race theory. This theory strives to argue that the weaker races have no right to live independently, and therefore have a surplus of "space" and that their territory can be arbitrarily slaughtered by the strong. On the contrary, a strong, "good" nation must have enough space to survive, so the strong have the natural right to deprive the weak of space. A book entitled "The German Nation and Its Living Space" became the basic textbook for the introduction to Nazi thought, and "Seize living space for Germany" became one of the most incendiary slogans. The very abstract and "neutral" concept of "seizing living space" can indeed easily conceal the essence of the bloody "aggression." This is a clear illustration of how a concise and rich formulation, because the intrinsic power of words can be translated into action and disaster, like the previous Encyclopaedist formulation of 'rational' rule, ends up in the opposite of itself, degenerating into terror and the emotional impulse of the masses. (The World of Yesterday, p. 211)
"The neoconservative current, represented by Spengler, was one of the direct backgrounds for the rise of Nazism and was considered a direct forerunner and fellow traveler of fascism. (The New Theory of Fascism, p. 249) The main feature of this "neoconservatism" that emerged in Europe after World War I was its opposition to liberalism, the French Revolution, and democracy, and the idea of power, expansion, and national (state) socialism as a solution to the economic and social crisis of capitalism. Spengler's famous work "The Decline of the West" has a huge impact, and its basic theory is to take the "life cycle of culture" as the object of historical research, reduce everything to intuition and experience, and follow Nietzsche's "superman" philosophy, believing that history is created by "superman", so it can dominate everything. Starting from this "superman" philosophy, Nazi ideology fiercely criticized the spirit of freedom and democracy, arguing that democracy is a system that takes care of the weakness of the mediocre, and that only the system of the leader's dictatorship is the system of the truly strong. Thus, long before they came to power, the Nazis openly declared that they wanted to undermine democracy. Hitler had no qualms about saying, "I am the mortal enemy of democracy," and "the time has come when the republican system and successive governments have destroyed everything in Germany, and this system will finally be destroyed." Goebbels roared ferociously: "We entered the Congress to serve ourselves in the arsenal of democracy with the armament it possesses." We are going to become members of parliament in order to dismantle Weimar democracy with the pillars of Weimar democracy. If democracy is so stupid as to give us free tickets and allowances for such an unhelpful errand, that is its own business,...... We came as enemies! Like wolves rushing into the flock, that's how we came. (Reprinted from "The New Theory of Fascism", pp. 211, 275) This passage addresses the root cause of the dilemma and weakness of democratic politics: as a democratic system, dictators also enjoy the right to democracy, and if they are not given democracy, it is contrary to the principles of democracy. Therefore, in a democracy, everyone should feel a great responsibility.
The critique of freedom and democracy inevitably led to individual dictatorship, and the "leadership principle" became an important aspect of Nazi theory, and its totalitarianism was guided by the "leader" or "leadership principle". This kind of "leader" is an "absolutely correct" god and saint, not only a political and administrative leader, but also a teacher of faith, morality and other spiritual worlds and secular social life, not only the sole representative and embodiment of the state and the nation, but also higher than the state and the nation, the "leader's will" is the supreme law, so the leader's various powers are unlimited, and he has the right to intervene and supervise any organization or individual in any matter, and there is no room for any opposition, criticism, dissatisfaction or even doubt about the leader. "Whoever has ever attended a rally in Germany in the presence of Hitler will never forget the feeling he was able to evoke, the atmosphere of religious fanaticism and piety. His attraction later made the battle-hardened general tremble before him. (The Rise of Fascism, p. 254)
3
Strong nationalism, fanatical National Socialism, advocacy of power politics, total negation of the individual, fervent glorification of violence, worship and fascination of great men/strongmen, are the main characteristics of fascism.
Fairness, impartiality, and social justice...... Undoubtedly, it should be the basic goal pursued by society, and it is also the basic requirement of "human nature". Fascism is well aware of this, and therefore, as mentioned above, places great emphasis on the "socialist language of the workers", against "international capital", and on "equality" for the common people...... and all kinds of grandiose rhetoric to attract the public. Facts have proved that such "grandiose rhetoric" can easily become a tool of careerists, who are often regarded as the embodiment of "the people", as the distributor and guarantor of "equality", but in fact become the supreme dictator whose power is not subject to any supervision and constraints, and who can do whatever he wants. At a time when society is in turmoil, there is serious political corruption, bribery is unskilled, the powerful are unscrupulous in turning public into private, and social distribution is extremely unfair, this kind of propaganda and theory of fascism has a very strong appeal to the masses; the bitter hatred of political corruption and social injustice really makes it difficult for people to see clearly for a moment the true face of the fascist trend of thought and to realize that it will cause even greater disasters. Therefore, we must be highly vigilant against this kind of "grand theory," which is theoretically incomparably perfect and sublime, and can indeed deeply move people's hearts.
In 1939, Hitler received Austrian schoolgirls who adored him
History has proven time and again that it is precisely this kind of "theoretically" and incomparably "just" theory that is the most unjust in practice and brings the most profound disasters to mankind. On the contrary, liberalism does not have those "macros" and "justices" "theoretically", and even frankly admits all kinds of inevitable injustices, recognizing that there is no such thing as a "perfect society", so it pays more attention to the supervision and restraint of power and the protection of individual rights at the institutional level. It is true that the social construction framed by liberal theory has all kinds of injustices and all kinds of serious shortcomings, but there is indeed no society that is fairer, more just, and less ill than it in history/reality.
Of course, in any era and in any society, there will be all kinds of extreme trends of thought that arise and exist. During the Chengping period, in a healthy society, all kinds of extreme ideas could only live in a corner, and they were always insignificant supporting roles. However, in the transition period when social interests are adjusted or when the social crisis is serious, such ideas can make people like a fountain of madness, and can often suddenly set off a storm and waves that will eventually destroy everything. Further, if a society does not have a political system that checks and balances power, the powerful will endlessly turn public into private, unfair distribution will increase rapidly, and citizens' rights will not be guaranteed, which will provide a realistic social basis for all kinds of extremist ideas.
In a nutshell, strong nationalism, fanatical National Socialism, the advocacy of power politics, the total denial of the individual, the fervent glorification of violence, and the cult and fascination of the great man/strongman are the main characteristics of fascism. As long as the conditions are met, it will become a formidable force.
In recent years, for various reasons, certain "scholars" on the mainland have also begun to irresponsibly and vigorously advocate fanatical nationalism and power politics, propagate violence, and resolutely deny individual rights. The development of such viewpoints and trends of thought is extremely dangerous and harmful.
The death of Mussolini
The great crisis of the world economy that began in 1929 plunged Germany, which had just begun to improve its economy, into the abyss again, and provided realistic conditions for the fascists to finally seize power. On the evening of January 30, 1933, when the news of Hit's formation of a Nazi government through legal procedures came, the whole country was furious, and a grand torchlight procession was held in all towns and cities of Germany, and people cheered Hitler warmly, thinking that they had found the savior of Germany, the hero who resisted the oppression of international capital represented by Britain and the United States, and the patron saint of "justice". It was not until a dozen years later that the German people realized that they had made a catastrophic mistake, but that they had paid a terrible price for it.
Originally published in Oriental Culture, No. 4, 2000, with revisions by the author