Weebly



Fascism, CommunismTerms:FascismSpanish Civil War (1936-39)FrancoSocialistsMarxists (Communists)Friedrich Engels; Karl MarxCommunist Manifesto; Das CapitalBourgeoisie ProletariatBolsheviks (Vladimir Lenin)Communist PartyCominternJosef StalinSimilarities; differences between fascism/communism!!! 5 key characteristics of fascism(1) Fascism stressed a strong national government, order, obedience – not individual freedom(2) Fascism stressed having an authoritarian leader who was lauded as a hero(3) Fascism glorified the nation racially definedGermany Hitler favored the Aryan raceFate, freedom of individual Germans was not important – only the race itselfGreat intolerance for racial minoritiesGerman adopted policies that oppressed Jews(4) Fascist regimes used propaganda(5) Fascist regimes were militaristic, believed in building up the military might of the nationGermany military was limited by the Treaty of Versailles but Hitler found ways to get around it !!! 2 things had to happen for fascists to take over (1) Traditional ruling elite (rich conservative landowners, military officer corps) cooperatedWanted to manipulate the fascist leaders to support their own purposes(2) The masses, ordinary voters had to accept violations of the rule of law Fascists used riots, murders of unpopular public figures, dirty tricks to take overPeople accepted this because the fascists promised to bring order out of chaos Several countries in Europe are turning to fascism because the fascists are promising quick, effective action to solve the problems in EuropeNew wave of dictators, authoritarian regimesScary to parliamentary democracies that are still left (France, Britain, Belgium) and to the USCommunism posed another threatOnly truly communist nation was the Soviet Union but there were communist parties, even some socialists in US who thought that socialism was the answer to the Great DepressionSocialismBeginning in the mid-to-late 1800s there were various thinkers who wanted to replace the competition of modern industrial society with cooperation Wanted to find ways to change, get rid of capitalism Eventually socialists were criticized by Marxists/communists who said that they were just utopian dreamers, they weren’t going far enoughOriginal Marxists Friedrich Engels, Karl MarxEngels gave a lot of financial support to Marx who wrote many communist works – Communist Manifesto, Das Capital Communist Manifesto called on workers to unite and start a workers’ revolution against the bourgeoisie (the industrial middle-class – business owners, business elites, capitalists, bankers, etc)Karl Marx’s idea of class warfare –Type of Gov’tRuling ClassEconomic SystemMonarchy/AristocracyAristocratsFeudalismParliamentary DemocracyBourgeoisieIndustrial CapitalismTrue SocialismProletariatCommunismIndustrial/working class – proletariat – will rise up, overthrow the bourgeoisie, cause worldwide revolutionConfiscate the wealth of bourgeoisieAbolish inheritanceCompletely classless society where everyone is equalMarx looked forward to violent revolutionPredicted that it would happen first in the most industrialized nation Britain was the big industrial powerhouse at the timeRussian Revolution – 1917 Occurred while WWI was still going onCzar was overthrown, Russia had to pull out of the warA lot of groups involved in the revolution, but the one that came out on top was the Bolsheviks led by LeninOver a period of several months after November 1917, the Bolsheviks outmaneuvered and murdered their opponents including people who wanted democracy, other socialist groupsIn Lenin’s eyes, any amount of murder was justified by the goals of the revolution – to bring about this perfect socialist society, anything could be justifiedCzar was murdered and Russia became a communist nationBolsheviks were leaders of the Communist Party1918 attempt at a counter-revolution (anti-revs called the White Russians as opposed to the red Bolsheviks)British, French, Americans sent troops to help out the White Russians 1921 Lenin relented and allowed a little bit of private enterprise, economy began to stabilizeBy 1921 the Bolsheviks were completely in controlOne thing they continued to focus on was exporting revolutionCommunists in Russia created an organization called the Comintern – its goal was to foster communist revolution in other countriesComintern told socialists and other countries that the only way to bring about true socialism was through violent means by a small revolutionary groupBecause of this division, socialism/communism did not take hold in other countriesCommunists never gave up on the long-range goal of exporting communism, insisted that communist/socialist parties in other countries followed their leadDetermination to export communism and the democracies’ determination to stop that was a big theme of the 20th centuryLenin dies in 1924 and is succeeded by Josef StalinStalin was less flamboyant, charismatic than Lenin but was more practical and cunningStalin went on to dominate the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953Exercised complete dictatorial control over all economic, military, cultural matters Killed anyone who disagreed with him, anyone who he suspected might disagree with him – during his reign he killed over 20 million people Ideology becomes more important than human beingsCompletely defy morality in human affairs!!! How do we compare communism and fascism?Similarities:In practice, both end up idolizing a heroic leader Both ended up relying heavily on propagandaBoth operated as dictatorshipsIndividual rights are not importantDifferences:In fascism, the nation is racially defined – supposed to come about when a particular racial group subdues other minority groupsCommunism is about when the proletariat working class comes to power and overthrows their capitalistic, aristocratic rulers – about classEconomy in communism is completely controlled and directed by the state, there is no private propertyEconomy in fascism is mostly controlled by the state, but there is private property – inequality is okay. Fascism cooperates with big business, encourages it as long as it serves the needs of the state Religion in communism was adamantly atheist – Marx saw religion as just a way in which the aristocrats, bourgeoisie kept the proletariat in lineFascism tolerates religion as long as it serves the needs of the state ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download