ADM 1122, Ders Notları: The Notions Key to Fascism and Nazism (Lecture 11.03.2010)

there were several notions very key to the nazi and fascist ideology which largely defined the beliefs these political thoughts systems stood upon.

the first were the notion of race. french author arthur de gobineau detailed his idea of aryan racism which was widely supported and actively applied by the nazi administration. this idea of race referred both to the physical and spiritiual/intellectual characteristics as definitive distinctions of a race. according to this idea, everything, including the fate of a race was already coded by genetics. every race had a place in the world and wars must be sought if the purity of races were threatened.

a pseudo-science of measuring race; crainology was also popular during the height of the nazi reign. according to this idea, race and intellectual superiority had a distinct correlation; i.e. some races were genetically more intelligent than others. the origins of this ideal dates back to the concept of "volk" in the german nation. this concept included the folklore and the identity of the german nation. this fondness of self later influenced the nazi ideals, mixing with the idea of race.

another notion quite key to the ideology was the notion of citizenship. although fascism was an elitist ideology, it pushed for the participation of the masses, but this participation was not the same with the concept of participation in democracy which demands its citizens to participate in the elections to decide their own fates, instead, nazi understanding of participation was a show of the loyalty of the masses. rallies and marches were treated as proofs of the national unity, which was essentially the idea that individuals did not exist, only the state did.

the notion of structure in fascism was incredibly centralized, allowing no other power centres and suppressing and eliminating all other possible sources of power. in line with this idea, the concept of corporatism was also in application. according to corporatism, each section of the economy should have an administrative body overseeing the private business owners, allowing both the capital owners and the state to control the working class.

another interesting nuance within the ideology is the notion of change. unlike conservatism, fascism believes in sudden and even revolutionary changes and their use in the economical and political processes. while conservatism opposes all immediate changes, fascism uses direct shifts, disregarding everything, including the historical continuity which conservatism highly regards, to reach a certain goal.

ADM 1122, Ders Notları: The Problems That Fascism and Nazism Rose as a Reaction (Lecture: 02.03.2010)

while both fascism and nazism are self-applied labels of italian and german governments of the early 20th century, only nazism was a response to specific conditions, fascism was more like the continuum of an ideology that lingered in the italian culture for millenias

the first problem they saw was the weimar republic itself, which was the government established after the first world war and was in power until nsdap rose

weimar republic was a shadow of what the german nation-state once was, it had lost its colonies and was punished with a major compensaton by the winning forces of the first world war

the nazis used this weakness as a propaganda device

the second problem was also related to this, namely, the compensation forced upon the germans

it created an incredible depression, both economically and literally

the financial results were outrageous and the german people felt unjust

which was another problem the nazis saw, the alienation of the german people from the rest of the world, and the alienation from themselves, the nazis wanted the germans to be a part of the political world by actually ruling it, because that was what they thought they deserved, and this would give them the purpose they lost after the great war

but what i think the most important problem was

the political instability

i personally think that the only reason fascism won't be repeated was that democracy is now viewed as a working system

back then

it was new

germans had only unified in 1871 and they were unified as a kingdom

and only after they became a democracy that things became worse

now it can't be said whether there's a correlation or not but the nazis surely believed there was

and they built their argument on this

they thought that democracy didn't work because the amount of political parties were outrageous, the instability it caused was unacceptable and the unity it destroyed was much too valuable

on top of that was the rise of socialist/communist ideas

people who weren't socialists or communists

believing what hitler said about the ineffectiveness of democracy

believing his promises of a stronger germany

believing that all of these were their rights as the german race

elected him

he won the 1932 german election with 37% of the votes