Nazi Fascism and the Modern Totalitarian State

Synopsis

The government of Nazi Germany was a fascist, totalitarian state. Totalitarian regimes, in contrast to a
dictatorship, establish complete political, social, and cultural control over their subjects, and are usually
headed by a charismatic leader. Fascism is a form of right-wing totalitarianism which emphasizes the
subordination of the individual to advance the interests of the state. Nazi fascisms ideology included a
racial theory which denigrated non-Aryans, extreme nationalism which called for the unification of all
German-speaking peoples, the use of private paramilitary organizations to stifle dissent and terrorize
opposition, and the centralization of decision-making by, and loyalty to, a single leader.

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES
Students will learn:

1. The principal characteristics of totalitarianism.

2. The ways in which a totalitarian regime differs from a dictatorship.
3. The ways in which right-wing totalitarian regimes differ from left-wing totalitarian regimes.
4. The principal features of Fascism.
5. The principal features of Nazism.

CHAPTER CONTENT
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a form of government in which all societal resources are monopolized by the state in
an effort to penetrate and control all aspects of public and private life, through the states use of
propaganda, terror, and technology. Totalitarian ideologies reject the existing society as corrupt,
immoral, and beyond reform, project an alternative society in which these wrongs are to be redressed,
and provide plans and programs for realizing the alternative order. These ideologies, supported by
propaganda campaigns, demand total conformity on the part of the people.

Totalitarian forms of organization enforce this demand for conformity. Totalitarian societies are
hierarchies dominated by one political party and usually by a single leader. The party penetrates the
entire country through regional, provincial, local and primary (party-cell) organization. Youth,
professional, cultural, and sports groups supplement the partys political control. A paramilitary secret
police ensures compliance. Information and ideas are effectively organized through the control of
television, radio, the press, and education at all levels.
Totalitarian Regime vs. Dictatorship

Totalitarian regimes differ from older concepts of dictatorship or tyranny. Totalitarian regimes seek to
establish complete political, social and cultural control, whereas dictatorships seek limited, typically
political, control. Two types of totalitarianism can sometimes be distinguished: Nazism and Fascism
which evolved from right-wing extremism, and Communism, which evolved from left-wing
extremism. Traditionally, each is supported by different social classes. Right-wing totalitarian
movements have generally drawn their popular support primarily from middle classes seeking to
maintain the economic and social status quo. Left-wing totalitarianism has often developed from
working class movements seeking, in theory, to eliminate, not preserve, class distinctions. Right-wing
totalitarianism has typically supported and enforced the private ownership of industrial wealth. A
distinguishing feature of Communism, by contrast, is the collective ownership of such capital.

Totalitarian regimes mobilize and make use of mass political participation, and often are led by
charismatic cult figures. Examples of such cult figures in modern history are Mao Tse-tung (China) and
Josef Stalin (Soviet Union), who led left-wing regimes, and Adolf Hitler (Germany) and Benito
Mussolini (Italy), who led right-wing regimes.

Right-wing totalitarian regimes (particularly the Nazis) have arisen in relatively advanced societies,
relying on the support of traditional economic elites to attain power. In contrast, left-wing totalitarian
regimes have arisen in relatively undeveloped countries through the unleashing of revolutionary
violence and terror. Such violence and terror are also the primary tools of right-wing totalitarian regimes
to maintain compliance with authority.

Fascism
Fascism was an authoritarian political movement that developed in Italy and several other European
countries after 1919 as a reaction against the profound political and social changes brought about by
World War I and the spread of socialism and Communism. Its name was derived from the fasces, an
ancient Roman symbol of authority consisting of a bundle of rods and an ax. Italian fascism was
founded in Milan on March 23, 1919, by Benito Mussolini, a former revolutionary socialist leader. His
followers, mostly war veterans, were organized along paramilitary lines and wore black shirts as
uniforms. The early Fascist program was a mixture of left- and right-wing ideas that emphasized intense
Nationalism, productivism, anti-socialism, elitism, and the need for a strong leader. Mussolinis
oratorical skills, the post-war economic crisis, a widespread lack of confidence in the traditional political
system, and a growing fear of socialism, all helped the Fascist party to grow to 300,000 registered
members by 1921. In that year it elected 35 members to parliament.
The Philosophy of Fascism
The intellectual roots of Fascism can be traced to the voluntaristic philosophers who argued that the will
is prior to and superior to the intellect or reason.

Arthur Schopenhauer

(1788-1860) was a German philosopher who held that the will is the underlying and ultimate reality and
that the whole phenomenal world is the only expression of will. Human beings have free will only in the
sense that everyone is the free expression of a will and that we therefore are not the authors of our own
destinies, characters, or behavior, he wrote. He theorized that space, time, and causality were not
absolute principles but only a function of the brain, concepts parallel to the scientific discoveries of
relativistic physics two generations later.

Friedrich Nietzsche

(1844-1900) was a German philosopher and poet best known for Thus Spoke Zarathustra. He
theorized that there were two moral codes: that of the ruling class (master morality) and that of the
oppressed class (slave morality). The ancient empires grew out of a master morality, and the religions of
the day out of the slave morality (which denigrates the rich and powerful, rationalism, and sexuality). He
developed the concept of the overman (superman) which symbolized man at his most creative and
highest intellectual capacity.

Henri Bergson

(1859-1941) was a French philosopher of Jewish parents who was the leading rejectionist of the concept
that scientific principles can explain all of existence. He asserted that metaphysical principles also apply.
He found credence in applying the biological theories of Darwin (which pointed to the survival of the
fittest in biological systems) to social theory.

George Sorel

(1847-1922) was a French social philosopher who had a major influence upon Mussolini. Sorel believed
that societies naturally became decadent and disorganized, and this inevitable decay could only be
delayed by the leadership of idealists who were willing to use violence to obtain power. His anti-
democratic, anti-liberal views and pessimistic view about the natural life-cycle of a society were
antithetical to most of his contemporaries.

Gabriele DAnnunzio

(1863-1938) was an Italian politician, poet, dramatist, novelist and war hero who was a supporter of
Mussolini.
Fascist Ideology
Fascist ideology was largely the work of the neo-idealist philosopher, Giovanni Gentile. It emphasized
the subordination of the individual to a totalitarian state that was to control all aspects of national life.
Violence as a creative force was an important characteristic of the Fascist philosophy. A special feature
of Italian Fascism was the attempt to eliminate the class struggle from history through nationalism and
the corporate state. Mussolini organized the economy and all producers from peasants and factory
workers to intellectuals and industrialists into 22 corporations as a means of improving productivity
and avoiding industrial disputes. Contrary to the regimes propaganda claims, the system ran poorly.
Mussolini was forced into compromises with big business and the Roman Catholic Church. The
corporate state was never fully implemented. The inherently expansionist, militaristic nature of Fascism
contributed to imperialistic adventures in Ethiopia and the Balkans and ultimately to World War II.

Nazism
Nazism refers to the totalitarian Fascist ideology and policies espoused and practiced by Adolf Hitler
and his National Socialist German Workers Party from 1920-1945. Nazism stressed the superiority of
the Aryan, its destiny as the Master Race to rule the world over other races, and a violent hatred of Jews,
which it blamed for all of the problems of Germany. Nazism also provided for extreme nationalism
which called for the unification of all German-speaking peoples into a single empire. The economy
envisioned for the state was a form of corporative state socialism, although members of the party who
were leftists (and would generally support such an economic system over private enterprise) were
purged from the party in 1934.

Paramilitary Organizations
Nazism made use of paramilitary organizations to maintain control within the party, and to squelch
opposition to the party. Violence and terror fostered compliance. Among these organizations were the:

S.A. (Sturmabteilung)
: Stormtroopers (also known as brown-shirts) were the Nazi paramilitary arm under Ernst Rhm. It
was active in the battle for the streets against other German political parties.

S.D. (Sicherheitsdiest)
: the Security Service under Reinhard Heydrich.

S.S. (Schutzstaffel)
: Defense Corps, was an elite guard unit formed out of the S.A. It was under the command of Heinrich
Himmler.

Gestapo (Geheime Staatpolizeil)

: the Secret State Police, which was formed in 1933.

Nazism also placed an emphasis on sports and paramilitary activities for youth, the massive use of
propaganda (controlled by Joseph Goebbels) to glorify the state, and the submission of all decisions to
the supreme leader (Fhrer) Adolf Hitler.
VOCABULARY
Communism A social, political, and economic system characterized by the revolutionary struggle to
create a society which has an absence of classes, and the common ownership of the means of production
and subsistence and centralized governmental control over the economy.

Dictator A ruler having absolute authority and supreme jurisdiction over the government of a state;
especially one who is considered tyrannical or oppressive.

Elitism Philosophy that a narrow clique of the best or most skilled members of a given social
group should have the power.

Fascism A philosophy or system of government that advocates or exercises a dictatorship of the

extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with an ideology
of belligerent nationalism.

Hierarchy A body of persons organized or classified according to rank, capacity, or authority.

Ideology The body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class, or
culture.

Left-wing As used in this chapter, individuals and groups who desire to reform or overthrow the
established order and advocate change in the name of greater freedom or well-being of the common
man.

Nazism The ideology and policies of Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist German Workers Party
from 1921 to 1945.

Propaganda The systematic spreading of a given doctrine or of allegations reflecting its views and
interests.

Right-wing As used in this chapter, individuals or groups who profess opposition to change in the
established order and who favor traditional attitudes and practices, and who sometimes advocate the
forced establishment of an authoritarian political order.

Totalitarianism A form of government in which all societal resources are monopolized by the state in
an effort to penetrate and control all aspects of public and private life, through the states use of
propaganda, terror, and technology.
ACTIVITIES
In the United States, the president is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Research
how this is different from other countries. Discuss the issue of civilian control of the military.
Obtain a report from Amnesty International on human rights violations around the world. Also
obtain the parallel report from the State Department. What are the factors which lead to human
rights violations, such as age of the government, type of government, geographical location of
the country, size of the country?
List the countries of the world by type of government. Find the democracies, right-wing
dictatorships, left-wing dictatorships, monarchies, left- and right-wing totalitarian regimes, and
categorize them by the number of years they have had that form of government. How many of
these governments are headed by civilians, and how many are headed by the military? Which
countries receive foreign aid from the United States? Which receive foreign aid from the Soviet
Union?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Could an avowed racist or anti-Semite be elected President of the United States? If not, why not?
If so, how might such an election come about?
When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, comparisons were made between Iraqi strongman
Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler. Discuss the differences in the world situations and the worlds
responses to Hitlers annexation of the Sudetenland and Husseins annexation of Kuwait.
If you were a citizen in 1933 Germany, how would you feel about your government? What
options did you feel you had for expressing opposition to this government or to participate in it?
How do these options differ from the options you have today in the United States?
EVALUATION
1. Define the following:

dictator right-wing
totalitarianism propaganda
elitism Fascism
left-wing hierarchy
2. What are two differences between a dictatorship and a totalitarian regime?

3. What are three differences between right-wing and left-wing totalitarian regimes?

4. Who was Benito Mussolini, and what type of government did he lead?

5. What were three aspects of Nazi ideology?

6. How do totalitarian regimes foster compliance by those who disagree with the objectives of the
regime?

7. Discuss two of the paramilitary organizations formed by the Nazi party.

8. How does a totalitarian regime control access to ideas?

9. Name two right-wing and two left-wing leaders of totalitarian regimes.

10. What developments in a society encourage a totalitarian regime to take power?

TEACHING STRATEGIES
Lead the class in a discussion about the relationship between the historical events described in
this chapter and those which took place in Eastern Europe in 1989-90.
In 1990, East and West Germany agreed to reunite. Let the class debate the advisability of
approving a reunification plan, with various students taking the point of view of the heads of the
government of East and West Germany, a Holocaust survivor, the Chairman of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union, the President of the United States, a man on the street from East
Germany, a woman on the street from West Germany, and a former member of the Nazi S.S.
who lives in seclusion in a small town in East Germany.
Create a mock debate of students, each representing various constituencies, on whether it was
appropriate for President George Bush to secretly send an emissary to China soon after the
massacre at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. These constituencies could include a representative of
the Chinese government, a staffer at the U.S. State Department, a Chinese national who is
studying at a university in the United States, a representative from Amnesty International, a
member of the clergy, Senator Ted Kennedy, and Senator Jesse Helms. Lead the class in a
discussion about how other nations deal with totalitarian regimes and the impact of these
diplomatic contacts on the stability of such regimes.