Bourgeois nation

Last updated

Bourgeois nation was a term coined to refer to nations that had embraced what the fascists saw as decadent and materialistic lifestyles associated with standard bourgeois culture. Early fascist movements expressed contempt for "those who wanted only to earn money, filthy money," and denounced bourgeois culture as being too weak and individualistic to make a nation strong. [1] Fascists idealized sport, physical activity, life in the open air, and virile athletic pursuits, which they contrasted with the image of "corpulent politicians", "great, sedentary bourgeois", and tobacco-smoking left-wing intellectuals in "anxious waiting for the hour of the aperitif." [2] Italian Fascists also accused wealthy nations of hypocrisy because they built colonial empires in the past and then used the League of Nations to prevent nations like Italy from conquering colonies of their own. [3] Nevertheless, despite these early denunciations of bourgeois culture and the pursuit of monetary gain, fascist parties in power helped large companies to achieve greater profits by banning strikes and lowering wages, and they "showered money on armaments industries, to the immense satisfaction of employers." [4]

In 1919, as leader of the newly created Italian Fascist movement, Benito Mussolini denounced the Treaty of Versailles as a "mutilated victory" for Italy, because despite being on the winning side, many Italian territorial demands were not met. It was in this context that he first used the term "bourgeois nation", negatively referring to Britain as "the fattest and most bourgeois nation in the world". [3] Mussolini described bourgeois nations as seeking to assert hegemony over the ability to pursue imperialism, while hypocritically denying Italy the ability to pursue imperialism of its own. [3] Much later, from 1937 to 1939, Mussolini encouraged Italians to foster an anti-bourgeois attitude by having them send in anti-bourgeois cartoons to be published in newspapers, and by denouncing "social games, five o'clock tea, vacations, compassion for Jews, preference for armchairs, desire for compromise, desire for money" as indulgent bourgeois practices. [5] In 1938, with war on the horizon, Mussolini escalated a public relations campaign against Italy's bourgeoisie, accusing them of preferring private gain to national victory. [6]

Germany's Nazis also rejected the bourgeois culture of states associated with materialistic consumption, profiteering, and plutocracy, which were contrasted with the ideals of military discipline and bravery that the Nazis identified with the German spirit. [7] Adolf Hitler was personally disgusted with the ruling bourgeois elites of Germany during the period of the Weimar Republic, obscenely referring to them as "cowardly shits". [8]

Fascism's conception of the bourgeois nation was influenced by the political and economic theories of Vilfredo Pareto, who criticized capitalism for causing moral disintegration of societies that deteriorates the political order of societies. [9] Pareto's criticism of capitalism was focused on its moral aspects, and he did not criticize capitalism for economic inequality, which he supported. [9] Pareto argued that as wealth increases, idealism decreases, causing both money and individuals to soften in strength. [10] Pareto claimed that the only means to rectify this weakening of strength was violence, war, or revolution. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fascism</span> Far-right, authoritarian ultranationalistic political ideology

Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bourgeoisie</span> Social class

The bourgeoisie are a class of business owners and merchants which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted with the proletariat by their wealth, political power, and education, as well as their access to and control of cultural, social and financial capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmondo Rossoni</span> Italian politician (1884–1965)

Edmondo Rossoni was a revolutionary syndicalist leader and an Italian fascist politician who became involved in the fascist syndicalist movement during Benito Mussolini's regime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of fascist Italy</span>

The economy of Fascist Italy refers to the economy in the Kingdom of Italy under Fascism between 1922 and 1943. Italy had emerged from World War I in a poor and weakened condition and, after the war, suffered inflation, massive debts and an extended depression. By 1920, the economy was in a massive convulsion, with mass unemployment, food shortages, strikes, etc. That conflagration of viewpoints can be exemplified by the so-called Biennio Rosso.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fascism and ideology</span> History of fascist ideology

The history of fascist ideology is long and it draws on many sources. Fascists took inspiration from sources as ancient as the Spartans for their focus on racial purity and their emphasis on rule by an elite minority. Fascism has also been connected to the ideals of Plato, though there are key differences between the two. Fascism styled itself as the ideological successor to Rome, particularly the Roman Empire. From the same era, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's view on the absolute authority of the state also strongly influenced fascist thinking. The French Revolution was a major influence insofar as the Nazis saw themselves as fighting back against many of the ideas which it brought to prominence, especially liberalism, liberal democracy and racial equality, whereas on the other hand, fascism drew heavily on the revolutionary ideal of nationalism. The prejudice of a "high and noble" Aryan culture as opposed to a "parasitic" Semitic culture was core to Nazi racial views, while other early forms of fascism concerned themselves with non-racialized conceptions of the nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manifesto of Race</span> Italian Fascist racial manifesto, promulgated in 1938

The "Manifesto of Race", otherwise referred to as the Charter of Race or the Racial Manifesto, was a manifesto which was promulgated by the Council of Ministers on the 14th of July 1938, its promulgation was followed by the enactment, in October 1938, of the Racial Laws in Fascist Italy (1922–1943) and the Italian colonial empire (1923–1947).

Historians and other scholars disagree on the question of whether a specifically fascist type of economic policy can be said to exist. David Baker argues that there is an identifiable economic system in fascism that is distinct from those advocated by other ideologies, comprising essential characteristics that fascist nations shared. Payne, Paxton, Sternhell et al. argue that while fascist economies share some similarities, there is no distinctive form of fascist economic organization. Gerald Feldman and Timothy Mason argue that fascism is distinguished by an absence of coherent economic ideology and an absence of serious economic thinking. They state that the decisions taken by fascist leaders cannot be explained within a logical economic framework.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian fascism</span> Fascist ideology as developed in Italy

Italian fascism, also classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian Fascism is associated with a series of political parties led by Mussolini: the National Fascist Party (PNF), which governed the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, and the Republican Fascist Party (PFR), which governed the Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945. Italian fascism also is associated with the post–war Italian Social Movement (MSI) and later Italian neo-fascist political organisations.

What constitutes as a definition of fascism and fascist governments has been a complicated and highly disputed subject concerning the exact nature of fascism and its core tenets debated amongst historians, political scientists, and other scholars ever since Benito Mussolini first used the term in 1915. Historian Ian Kershaw once wrote that "trying to define 'fascism' is like trying to nail jelly to the wall".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Fascist Party</span> Italian fascist political party founded by Benito Mussolini

The National Fascist Party was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian fascism and as a reorganisation of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The party ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 when Fascists took power with the March on Rome until the fall of the Fascist regime in 1943, when Mussolini was deposed by the Grand Council of Fascism. It was succeeded, in the territories under the control of the Italian Social Republic, by the Republican Fascist Party, ultimately dissolved at the end of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro</span>

The National Afterwork Club was the Italian fascist leisure and recreational organization for adults.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Model of masculinity under fascist Italy</span> Political concept of masculinity in fascist Italy

The model of masculinity under fascist Italy was an idealized version of masculinity prescribed by dictator Benito Mussolini during his reign as fascist dictator of Italy from 1925—1943. This model of masculinity, grounded in anti-modernism and traditional gender roles, was intended to help create a New Italian citizen in a budding New Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fascism in Europe</span>

Fascist movements in Europe were the set of various fascist ideologies which were practiced by governments and political organizations in Europe during the 20th century. Fascism was born in Italy following World War I, and other fascist movements, influenced by Italian Fascism, subsequently emerged across Europe. Among the political doctrines which are identified as ideological origins of fascism in Europe are the combining of a traditional national unity and revolutionary anti-democratic rhetoric which was espoused by the integral nationalist Charles Maurras and the revolutionary syndicalist Georges Sorel.

Bourgeois socialism or conservative socialism was a term used by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in various pieces, including in The Communist Manifesto. Conservative socialism was used as a rebuke by Marx for certain strains of socialism but has also been used by proponents of such a system. Bourgeois socialists are described as those that advocate for preserving the existing society while only attempting to eliminate perceived evils of the system. Conservative socialism and right-wing socialism are also used as a descriptor, and in some cases as a pejorative, by free-market conservative and right-libertarian movements and politicians to describe more economically interventionist strands of conservatism, such as paternalistic conservatism.

Propaganda in Fascist Italy was used by the National Fascist Party in the years leading up to and during Benito Mussolini's leadership of the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 to 1943, and was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power and the implementation of Fascist policies.

Sorelianism is advocacy for or support of the ideology and thinking of Georges Sorel, a French revolutionary syndicalist. Sorelians oppose bourgeois democracy, the developments of the 18th century, the secular spirit, and the French Revolution, while supporting Classicism. A revisionist interpretation of Marxism, Sorel believed that the victory of the proletariat in class struggle could be achieved only through the power of myth and a general strike. To Sorel, the aftermath of class conflict would involve rejuvenation of both the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National syndicalism</span> Socially far-right adaptation of syndicalism

National syndicalism is a far-right adaptation of syndicalism to suit the broader agenda of integral nationalism. National syndicalism developed in France in the early 20th century, and then spread to Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

Proletarian nation was a term used by 20th century Italian nationalist intellectuals such as Enrico Corradini to refer to Italy and other nations that they regarded as having the characteristics, through analogy with the proletariat, of being productive, morally vigorous, and inclined to bold action. Corradini admired revolutionary proletarian movements such as syndicalism for their tactics, although he opposed their goals, and he wanted to inspire a radical nationalist movement that would use similar tactics in service of different goals: a movement that would advocate imperialist war in place of class revolution, while maintaining the same methods of "maximum cohesion, concentration of forces, iron discipline and utter ruthlessness." Corradini associated the concept of proletariat with the economic function of production, arguing that all producers are in a moral sense proletarian, and he believed that all producers should be at the forefront of a new imperialist proletarian nation.

Fascist syndicalism was an Italian trade syndicate movement that rose out of the pre-World War II provenance of the revolutionary syndicalist movement led mostly by Edmondo Rossoni, Sergio Panunzio, Angelo Oliviero Olivetti, Michele Bianchi, Alceste De Ambris, Paolo Orano, Massimo Rocca, and Guido Pighetti, under the influence of Georges Sorel, who was considered the "'metaphysician' of syndicalism". The fascist syndicalists differed from other forms of fascism in that they generally favored class struggle, worker-controlled factories and hostility to industrialists, which lead historians to portray them as "leftist fascist idealists" who "differed radically from right fascists." Generally considered one of the more radical fascist syndicalists in Italy, Rossoni was the "leading exponent of fascist syndicalism", and sought to infuse nationalism with "class struggle".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fascist Italy</span> Period of Italian history (1922–1943)

The Kingdom of Italy was governed by the National Fascist Party from 1922 to 1943 with Benito Mussolini as prime minister and dictator. The Italian Fascists imposed totalitarian rule and crushed political opposition, while promoting economic modernization, traditional social values and a rapprochement with the Roman Catholic Church.

References

  1. Robert O. Paxton. The Anatomy of Fascism . Vintage Books edition. Vintage Books, 2005. Pp. 10.
  2. Zeev Sternhell. Neither Right nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France. Princeton University Press edition. Princeton, New Jersey, USA: Princeton University Press, 1996. Pp. 259.
  3. 1 2 3 Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi. Fascist Spectacle: The Aesthetics of Power in Mussolini's Italy. First paperback edition. Santa Barbara, California, USA: University of California Press, 2000. Pp. 163.
  4. Robert O. Paxton. The Anatomy of Fascism. Vintage Books edition. Vintage Books, 2005. Pp. 10.
  5. "LIFE on the Newsfronts of the World". LIFE magazine. 9 January 1939. p. 12.
  6. Smith, Denis Mack, Modern Italy: A Political History (University of Michigan Press, 1997) p. 394.
  7. Stacke Roderick. Hitler's Germany: Origins, Interpretations, Legacies. Pp. 124.
  8. Kritika: explorations in Russian and Eurasian history, Volume 7, Issue 4. Slavica Publishers, 2006. Pp. 922.
  9. 1 2 Richard Bessel. Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany: Comparisons and Contrasts. 4th edition. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Pp. 171.
  10. 1 2 Richard Bessel. Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany: Comparisons and Contrasts. 4th edition. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Pp. 15.