There were great similarities in the social and
psychological backgrounds of those countries where fascist states came to
be established. Most of the countries concerned had been defeated and
heavily damaged in the First World War, and thus its people were worn-out
and weary, having lost their husbands, wives, children, and loved ones in
the war. As well, these countries suffered from a shattered economy,
political instability, and a general feeling that the nation was in a
state of collapse. People were suffering materially; the various political
parties were incapable of rectifying the nations' problems, in addition to
fighting amongst themselves.
Essentially, the poverty Italy was faced with as a result
of the First World War was the most important factor in the rise to power
of Italian fascism. More than 600,000 Italians had died as a result of the
war, and up to half a million people were crippled. The greater part of
the population was made up of widows and orphans. The country was
beleaguered by an economic recession and high unemployment. Although the
Italians had suffered great losses in the war, they had achieved very few
of their aims. Like many other nations exhausted by the war, the Italian
people longed to recapture their honor and former glory.
Actually, this was a feeling that had been gathering
increasing strength since the end of the 19th century. Modern Italy looked
back with nostalgia at the greatness of the Roman Empire, and felt it had
a right to former Roman territory. Furthermore, there was a feeling of
rivalry with the major powers of the world, and Italy hoped to raise
itself to their rank, or, to rise to "the position it deserved." Affected
by these aspirations, the Italians hoped to become as powerful as Great
Britain, France and Germany.
Social, political and economic crises also played the
major role in the establishment of Nazism in Germany, which had been
defeated in the First World War. Unemployment and a financial crisis added
to the disappointment of defeat. Inflation rose to levels that had seldom
been equaled. Small children played with banknotes worth millions of
marks, because money, which lost value by the hour, had come to be worth
no more than pieces of paper. The Germans wanted to restore their lost
honor and return to a better standard of living. It was with the promise
of fulfilling such wishes that Nazism would emerge and win support.
Pre-fascist Spain also demonstrated close similarities to
these counties. The loss of its colonies on both sides of the American
continent at the beginning of the 19th century had led to a serious
diminishment of self-esteem. By the beginning of the 20th century, Spain
was in a state of semi-collapse. Its economy was failing, and the
privileges accorded to the aristocracy opened the way to great injustices.
The Spanish looked back to the days of a great and powerful Spain with
great longing.
Another country where fascism came to have enormous
influence was Japan. In pre-fascist Japan, the higher strata of society
were very concerned about the spread of Marxist ideas among the young. But
they were unable to determine how to rid themselves from that pernicious
ideology. In addition, such social changes were very disconcerting for a
society so tightly bound to its traditions. Family bonds loosened, the
divorce rate rose, respect for the elderly diminished, customs and
traditions were abandoned, an individualist tendency began to emerge,
degeneracy among the young reached grievous proportions and there was an
alarming increase in the suicide rate. In these conditions, the future
stability of the Japanese society was regarded as in jeopardy. All of the
above led to a backward-gazing nostalgia. Longing for the glory days of
the past, and attempts to revive them, was the first trap the people fell
into leading to their becoming fully ensnared by a fascist regime.
Neither must we ignore the menace of communism, which at
that time was threatening to overtake the whole world. It may be that a
number of nations submitted themselves to fascist regimes in order not to
fall victim to that brutal, ruthless and oppressive ideology, escaping one
evil only to be trapped by another, believing fascism to be the "lesser of
two evils."
Another factor that opened the way to fascism was the
ignorance and lack of education of many communities. Education had
suffered heavily during the chaos of the First World War. A great number
of young educated people had lost their lives on the battlefield. In
general, this led to a lowering of the level of culture in society. It was
largely the ignorant who supported fascism, fought in its name, and became
pawns of its chauvinistic policies. Because the fundamental ideas on which
fascism were based (in other words, racism, romantic nationalism,
chauvinism and fantasy) could only be widely accepted by the uneducated,
susceptible as they were to crude, facile slogans.
Such people, seeing themselves as trapped, looked for easy
way out. They embraced fascist leaders, as if they were a kind of
lifebelt, as Eric Hoffer says in his book "The True Believer" :
For men to plunge headlong into an undertaking of vast
change, they must be intensely discontented yet not destitute, and
they must have the feeling that by the possession of some potent
doctrine, infallible leader or some new technique they have access to
a source of irresistible power. They must also have an extravagant
conception of the prospects and potentialities of the future. Finally,
they must be wholly ignorant of the difficulties involved in their
vast undertaking.
An examination of the societal conditions that preceded
fascism makes light of the fact that many people had just such a
psychology.
