THE DEVELOPMENT OF FASCISM

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF FASCISM
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AIMS

• To understand the difficulties in defining
  Fascism.
• To compare Fascism and Communism.
• To understand how Fascism was a more fluid
  ideology than Communism.

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STARTER TASK

• Define FascismWhat are the key features?What
  images come to mind?
• Why is it hard to define?

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A quick Internet search brings up the following.
What do you think?
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FASCISM DEFINED

• Fascism is easier to define in terms of what it
  is against, than what it is for.
• It is againstInternationalismLiberal
  DemocracyMarxism/CommunismClass
  ConflictPacifism.

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SUPPORT FOR FASCISM

• Unlike Communism, support for Fascism crossed
  class boundaries.
• Ultimately it was able to attract people by
  espousingNationalismA powerful
  leaderOne-party governmentNational
  unityParamilitary organisations

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TASK

• Read through the extract from Mein Kampf.
• Highlight the points on the sheet as asked.
• Discuss the points on the sheet.

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FLUIDITY

• Unlike Communism, Fascism had no defining father
  figure and no key text.
• What impact would this have on the features of
  Fascism in different societies?

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INTERNET TASK

• Click on the following linkshttp//www.pipeline.
  com/rgibson/fascism.htmlhttp//en.wikipedia.org/
  wiki/Fascism_and_ideology
• Analyse the text.
• Save it and highlight the areas that you agree
  with and disagree with.
• Are there any problems with researching from the
  internet? On this subject in particular?

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TASK

• Compare and contrast the ideologies of Communism
  and Fascism.
• What are the similarities and differences?
• Why were people so eager to follow them as
  ideologies?

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NIETZSCHE

• German Philosopher.
• 1844-1900.
• Often seen as an influence on Hitler and the
  Nazis.
• This is mainly because of his concept of the Will
  to Power.

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• Nietzsche advocated the point of view that all
  things, actions, and motivations are driven by a
  "will to power". Especially relevant to this
  observation are Nietzsche's roots in
  Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer posited a will to
  live, in which living things were motivated by
  sustaining and developing their own lives.
  Nietzsche instead posited a will to power, in
  which living things are not just driven by the
  mere need to stay alive, but in fact by a greater
  need to wield and use power, to dominate others,
  and to make them weaker. Thus, Nietzsche regarded
  such a will to live as secondary to the primary
  will to power.

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• Physiologists should think before putting down
  the instinct of self-preservation as the cardinal
  instinct of an organic being. A living thing
  seeks above all to discharge its strength life
  itself is will to power self-preservation is
  only one of the indirect and most frequent
  results. Beyond Good and Evil
• My idea is that every specific body strives to
  become master over all space and to extend its
  force (its will to power) and to thrust back all
  that resists its extension. But it continually
  encounters similar efforts on the part of other
  bodies and ends by coming to an arrangement
  ("union") with those of them that are
  sufficiently related to it thus they then
  conspire together for power. And the process goes
  on. Beyond Good and Evil

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TASK

• Read the extracts on Nietzsche.
• Explain Will to Power in one sentence.
• How could this be linked to Charles Darwin?
• What is Social Darwinism?
• How might Nietzsches ideas be used by Hitler and
  the Nazi party?
• Use the following website formore quotations
  http//www.pitt.edu/wbcurry/nietzsche.html