History-Explorer on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/history-explorer/art/Benito-Mussolini-Fascism-and-left-right-spectrum-668290293History-Explorer

Deviation Actions

History-Explorer's avatar

Benito Mussolini - Fascism and left-right spectrum

Published:
6.5K Views

Description

Italian Duce Benito Mussolini describing Fascism's position in the left-right political spectrum in an article he wrote in 1922 for the National Fascist Party's newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia. This is the quote as translated and presented in the book titled The Origins of Fascist Ideology, 1918-1925 (first edition, 1996; updated edition, 2005) on page 205.

It should be noted to anyone who may wonder about this, that although Mussolini condemns socialism here and later supported the National Socialism of Adolf Hitler in Germany, that Hitler declared that he was not in favour of the common Marxist-inspired definition of socialism as involving social ownership of the means of production and claimed Marxist socialism was a perversion of previous genuine forms of socialism. No fascist government or movement has supported direct complete social ownership of the means of production unlike promoted by the common Marxist-inspired definition of socialism, they have however supported state enterprise where private enterprise was unable to provide what the state desired, and they have supported state directions to private enterprise during economic crisis or war where state direction was deemed necessary. Mussolini had wanted Fascism in Italy to clearly distinguish itself as a new ideology separate from any conception of socialism however he acknowledged socialist roots in Fascism. However upon pursuing alliance with Hitler who identified his ideology as a form of socialism, Fascist rhetoric no longer denounced socialism in general and returned to associating itself as socialist while disassociating itself with the commonly known Marxist-inspired conception of socialism and then focused on denouncing Marxism, communism, anarchism, and social democracy (especially through his opposition to liberalism and parliamentary reformist politics) instead.

The democracy on the extreme left that Mussolini is referring to is the communist Bolshevik government in Bolshevik controlled territories of Russia during the Russian Civil War. Unlike in the Western world where democracy is typically held dear, to fascists the word "democracy" is overall considered negative, as a kingless regime where factions fight to push their interests. At this time Russia was in chaos including the Bolshevik government with Lenin suffering strokes and internal rivalry among Bolshevik leaders for power.

Mussolini had once been on the radical-left as a communist and devotee of Karl Marx. He wanted forceful action in politics and a new political order to replace the one he saw as failing many people in society, he despised reformist parliamentary politics of any sort which is what attracted him to Marxism's revolutionary nature. However he saw the radical left in Italy as having failed to deliver and was becoming disillusioned with the contemporary state of Marxism and became increasingly interested in Friedrich Nietzsche's very right-wing ideal of the ubermensch that Mussolini sought to use ideas from to adapt to Marxism.

When World War I broke out, instead of the radical left seizing the opportunity to mobilize a general strike, they failed, but on the other hand nationalism soared. After he attempted to push the Italian Socialist Party to at least declare their opposition to the Central Powers without directly endorsing the war in a public statement, he was kicked out of the party, he then founded the Fasci of Revolutionary Action, still committed to socialism but appealing to nationalism saying that Italy's national problem of Italians living in Austria-Hungary had to be resolved along with other peoples, in order for socialism to be able to be pursued. Still this was not that different from left-wing independence movements in the Cold War. It was when Mussolini realized that the left-wing nationalist base alone was not providing his movement significant support that he decided to move fascism to the political right where more nationalists resided, and he mixed themes and ideas from the left to the right to maintain his original base but also to focus on attracting right-wing nationalists. It should be noted though that by 1920 when this appeal to right-wing nationalists was done, Mussolini himself had become more right-wing in character as well as he saw much of the political left as being decadent and incapable but still aspired to pursue socialism through fascism but stating that fascism by and large was detached from most of the socialist movement that it opposed for its association with Marxist influence especially involving cosmopolitan internationalism deemed to be at the expense of nationalism, and when asked he would clarify that when referring to "socialism" he was and other fascists were referring in short to Marxist-inspired socialism that represented a majority of self-described socialists and that fascism was an example of the minority of non-Marxist socialists who held the Marxist majority of socialists in contempt over fascist opposition to Marxist stances. When accused of being an opportunist, Mussolini rebutted that he was a principled opportunist in that his purpose had been to develop a functioning political movement and ideology to address the issues of the time and this required changes when needed to keep it functioning.

Note: I have posted this quote because it is a quote of an important historical figure. This is not posted here for political reasons, if people choose to support or use this image for political reasons, that is their decision and responsibility, not mine. With these points in mind, I will accept this image being included in any group interested in having this image.
Image size
958x562px 314.34 KB
© 2017 - 2024 History-Explorer
Comments1
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Love--And--War's avatar
totally in agreement about post-WWI society -v-