Proto-fascism

Gabriele d'Annunzio, a prominent Italian proto-fascist (centre; with the cane), with his Arditi in the Italian Regency of Carnaro in 1919

Proto-fascism represents the direct predecessor ideologies and cultural movements that influenced and formed the basis of fascism. ^{[1] [2]} The term protofascism is also used in a slightly more general sense to refer to any political movement whose activities make the emergence of fascism more likely. Proto-fascist movements that preceded fascism featured some of the common characteristics of fascist ideology, such as the scapegoating of ethnic or religious minorities, the glorification of violence, and the promotion of the Führerprinzip , the belief that the party and the state should have a single leader with absolute power, but usually did not exhibit some characteristics of fascism, for example, were less radical or lacked totalitarian ambitions. In relation to contemporary politics, the term protofascist has been applied to movements which resemble fascist ones in certain respects, but cannot be defined strictly as neo-fascist. ^[3]

Historical movements

Italy

A prominent proto-fascist figure is Gabriele D'Annunzio, the best-known Italian poet of the first half of the 20th century, and an Italian nationalist whose politics influenced Benito Mussolini and Italian fascism. After World War I, D'Annunzio led a group of Arditi volunteers who occupied the port of Fiume and proclaimed the Italian Regency of Carnaro. The Italian Nationalist Association (Associazione Nazionalista Italiana, ANI), which advocated for an authoritarian corporatist nationalist state is also considered an influential proto-fascist organization. The Italian futurist movement in arts and culture, led by such figures as Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, also displayed certain key characteristics of Fascism, such as radical nationalism and cult of violence, destruction, and war. ^{[1] [3]}

Germany

In Germany, the Völkisch nationalist movement which arose in the late 19th century became seen as one of the precursors of Nazi fascism; among the important elements of Völkisch culture was Blut und Boden romanticism. ^[4] After World War I, the proto-fascist movements of the Weimar Republic included the Freikorps militias, which combatted the leftists between the German Revolution of 1918 and the Nazi seizure of power (see Political violence in Germany in 1918—1933 ), the Stahlhelm , a revanchist and authoritarian nationalist World War I veteran organization, the German National Association of Commercial Employees (Deutschnationaler Handlungsgehilfen-Verband, DHV), the German National People's Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) from 1931 onwards. ^{[2] [3]}

France

French proto-fascism emerged from late-19th-century Fin de siècle nationalist, xenophobic and anti-liberal currents that prefigured interwar fascist leagues. ^[5] The Dreyfus affair galvanized antisemitic and anti-parliamentary forces, offering rhetoric and organizational models for the far right. ^[6] Thinkers like Georges Sorel created an anti-bourgeois cult of violence and myth, while Charles Maurras’s Action Française fused integral nationalism, monarchism and hostility to the French Republic. ^[6] Aforementioned movements—along with Boulangism, the Cercle Proudhon, and revolutionary syndicalism—laid the ideological groundwork for later fascist leagues like the Faisceau, Croix-de-Feu, the Parti Populaire Français, and for events such as the 6 February 1934 crisis. ^[5]

Finland

The Finnish Civil War "offered a concrete arena for violent struggle, and the reprisals and purges following the war gave an opportunity to try to create a new society through redemptive violence": Finnish proto-fascists were invariably members of the anti-communist White Guard. The White Guard ideologue and proponent of eugenics Martti Pihkala (1882–1966) is considered a clear example of proto-fascism. ^[7] Fascism researcher Roger Griffin also described the Finnish irredentist Academic Karelia Society as proto-fascist. ^[8]

Spain

The historians Paul Preston and Julián Casanova, who treat Francoism as a Spanish variant of fascism, ^[9] note that "Spanish fascism" was established by the unity of the right-wing groups and parties and the military rebels, which formed the Nationalist faction of the Spanish Civil War. According to them, the Spanish anti-republican right which would later support the rebellion, including the cultural association Acción Española which propagated the idea of an anti-republican military uprising, the nationalist authoritarian corporatist party CEDA, the organization Spanish Renovation, and the Carlist Requetés , shared a political culture, similar to the Italian proto-Fascism and the German Völkisch movement. In the Civil War, the Spanish right, including the military rebels, underwent further political radicalization and fascisation; as Preston writes, "throughout the Civil War, the politics of the army were indistinguishable from contemporary fascisms." ^{[10] [11]}

Georges Valois, a French national syndicalist and later self-identified French fascist of France's first official fascist party, the Faisceau

Russia

In the Russian Empire, proto-fascism was represented by the Black Hundreds movement and such its organizations as the Union of the Russian People (Russian : Союз русского народа, romanized: Soyuz russkogo naroda; СРН/SRN). ^[12]

United States

Proto-fascism in the United States dates back to the 19th century with slavery in the Antebellum South and the Confederacy ^[13] , the subsequent passage of Jim Crow laws in the American South, the rise of the eugenicist discourse in the U.S., and the intensification of nativist and xenophobic hostility towards immigrants. During the early 20th century, several groups were formed in the United States that contemporary historians have classified as fascist organizations – with a prominent example being the Ku Klux Klan. ^[14]

Historical individuals

Prominent historic individuals who have been labeled proto-fascist because they shared an ideological basis with fascism include:

• Joseph de Maistre (1753–1821) ^[15]
• Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) ^[16]
• Paul de Lagarde (1827–1891) ^{[17] [18] [19]}
• Hermann Goedsche (1815–1878) ^[20]
• Goldwin Smith (1823–1910) ^{[21] [22]}
• Georges Ernest Boulanger (1837–1891) ^[23]
• George Fitzhugh (1806–1881) ^[24]
• Georges Vacher de Lapouge (1854–1936) ^[25]
• R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz (1887–1961) ^{[26] [27]}
• Charles Maurras (1868–1952) ^[28]
• John Ruskin (1819–1900) ^{[29] [30]}
• Ion Dragoumis (1878–1920) ^{[31] [32]}
• Vladimir Purishkevich (1870–1920) ^{[33] [34] [35]}
• D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930). The English philosopher Bertrand Russell characterized Lawrence as a "proto-German fascist". ^[36] This characterization is useful as a demarcation point between fascism and proto-fascism. The former has totalitarian uniformity as its paradigm, but Russell is referring to Lawrence as a "nonconformist prophet" struggling with individual alienation, looking to the shared identity of ancestral blood and soil for reconnection i.e. an evolution of the German 19th-century Völkisch movement, ^{[37] [38]} an ideology that was adopted by the Nazis.
• Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872). The famous Genoese patriot strongly influenced Italian fascism, especially in its early years. In particular, fascism inherited from Mazzini the fervent irredentism, the concept of class collaboration, the pedagogical vocation and the spirit of solidarity. Mussolini himself was a great Mazzini admirer, and many fascist exponents were Mazzinian such as Italo Balbo, Giovanni Gentile, Giuseppe Bottai, and Dino Grandi. ^[39]
• Francesco Crispi (1818–1901). The known Sicilian statesman was admired by the dictator Mussolini and considered by many scholars as a precursor of Italian fascist regime due to his authoritarian policies, the nationalist character, his strongman reputation, and the aggressive colonial policy implemented during his government. ^{[40] [41]}
• Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) ^[42]
• Georges Sorel (1847–1922). French revolutionary syndicalist whose theory of political “myths” and celebration of “proletarian” violence influenced anti-parliamentary currents later drawn on by fascist ideologues; after 1909 he and close associates engaged with the royalist Action française milieu and national-syndicalist circles, and he published anti-capitalist antisemitic polemics. ^[43]
• Édouard Drumont (1844–1917). Prominent French antisemitic and nationalist author who synthesized racial, economic and religious antisemitism, was a leading anti-Dreyfusard voice and founded the Antisemitic League of France in 1899. ^[6]
• Maurice Barrès (1862–1923). Notable French nationalist author, one of the main anti-Dreyfusards, anti-liberal, anti-individualist popularizer of the term nationalisme which refers to an organic notion of nationalism and proponent of mass emotional politics. ^[6]

References

1. Spackman, Barbara. Fascist Virilities: Rhetoric, Ideology, and Social Fantasy in Italy. p. 78.
2. Davies, Peter; Lynch, Derek. The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Routledge. p. 94.
3. "Protofascism | Definition, Examples, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-04-21.
5. Kalman, Samuel (2008). The Extreme Right in Interwar France: The Faisceau and the Croix de Feu (1st ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN   9781315239729.
6. Sternhell, Zeev (1986). Neither Right Nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France [English]. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press (published 1996). ISBN   9780691006291.{{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
7. Kotonen, T., Andersson Malmros, R., Sivenbring, J., Christensen, C. B., Emberland, T., Karcher, N., Lööw, H.,Malkki, L., Mattsson, C., Jupskås, A. R., Ritola, V., Sallamaa, D., & Silvennoinen, O. (2023). “When neo-Nazis march on Norwegian streets, you hear a lot of Swedish”: Pan-Nordic and transnational dimensions of right-wing extremism. Nordic Council of Ministers. https://doi.org/10.6027/temanord2023-503
8. Griffin, Roger (1991). The Nature of Fascism. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN   978-0-312-07132-5 – via Google Books.
9. Press, Propaganda and Politics: Cultural Periodicals in Francoist Spain and Communist Romania. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2014. pp. 4–5. ISBN   9781443865678.
10. Preston, Paul (2005) [1990]. "Resisting modernity: fascism and the military in twentieth century Spain". The Politics of Revenge: Fascism and the Military in Twentieth-Century Spain. Routledge. ISBN   0415120004.
11. Casanova, Julián (2010). The Spanish Republic and Civil War. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9780511787027. OCLC   659843319.
12. Figes, p. 196
13. Stefan Roel Reyes (2021-11-24). "'Christian Patriots': The Intersection Between Proto-fascism and Clerical Fascism in the Antebellum South". International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity. 9 (1–4): 82–110. doi:10.1163/22130624-00219121.
14. Tenorio, Rich (September 30, 2023). "Fascism in America: a long history that predates Trump". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved February 26, 2024.
15. Isaiah, Berlin (1965). The Second Onslaught: Joseph de Maistre and Open Obscurantism (PDF) (Speech). Harkness Theater, Columbia University.
16. Broich, Ulrich; Dickinson, H. T.; Hellmuth, Eckhart; Schmidt, Martin. Reactions to Revolutions: The 1790s and Their Aftermath. p. 255.
17. Fascism: Intellectual origins, Encyclopaedia Britannica
18. Paul de Lagarde on Liberalism, Education, and the Jews: German Writings (1886), German History in Documents and Images
19. Johnson, Paul (1983), “Modern Times”, Harper and Row: New York
20. "The Jew in the modern world: a documentary history", by Paul R. Mendes-Flohr, Jehuda Reinharz, 1995, ISBN   019507453X, a footnote at p. 363
21. Kramer, Naomi, ed. (2007). Civil Courage: A Response to Contemporary Conflict and Prejudice. Peter Lang. pp. 142–143. ISBN   978-1433100574.
22. Routledge Library Editions: Racism and Fascism. Routledge, Taylor & Francis. 2021. p. 32. ISBN   9781138934221.
23. Fuller, Robert Lynn (2012). The Origins of the French Nationalist Movement, 1886-1914. McFarland. p. 251. ISBN   9780786490257.
24. Reyes, Stefan Roel (December 2019). "Antebellum Palingenetic Ultranationalism: The Case for Including the United States in Comparative Fascist Studies". Fascism. 8 (2). Brill Publishers: 307–330. doi: 10.1163/22116257-00802005 .
25. Hecht, Jennifer Michael (2000). "Vacher de Lapouge and the Rise of Nazi Science". Journal of the History of Ideas. 61 (2): 285–304. doi:10.1353/jhi.2000.0018. S2CID   170993471.
26. Joscelyn Godwin, "Schwaller de Lubicz: les Veilleurs et la connexion Nazie", in Politica Hermetica, number 5, pages 101-108 (Éditions L'Âge d'Homme, 1991).
27. Joscelyn Godwin, Arktos: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism, and Nazi Survival, pages 54-55 (Adventures Unlimited Press, 1996). ISBN   0-932813-35-6.
28. "National Rally and French fascism: new clothes, same wolf | Counterfire". www.counterfire.org. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
29. McGovern, William Montgomery (1941). From Luther to Hitler. Harrap. p. 180.
30. Tennyson, G. B. (1973). "The Carlyles". In DeLaura, David J. (ed.). Victorian Prose: A Guide to Research . New York: The Modern Language Association of America. p. 78. ISBN   9780873522502. G. I. Morris in "Divine Hitler" ([Die Neueren Sprachen], 1935) cites his own experience . . . A headmaster had told his students that 'Ruskin and Carlyle were the first National Socialists.'
31. Mazis, John (2014). Man For All Seasons: The Uncompromising Life of Ion Dragoumis. The Isis Press. ISBN   978-9754285277.
32. "Giánnis Mázis: "O Dragoúmis den écho kamía amfivolía óti ítan énas protofasístas"" Γιάννης Μάζης: "Ο Δραγούμης δεν έχω καμία αμφιβολία ότι ήταν ένας πρωτοφασίστας" [Yannis Mazis: "I have no doubt that Dragoumis was a proto-fascist"]. Εθνικόν Κράτος (in Greek). 4 June 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
33. Liubosh, S. B., Russkii fashist V. M. Purishkevich, Leningrad: Byloe Publishing House, 1925
34. Shenfield, Stephen Russian Fascism: Traditions, Tendencies and Movements Routledge, 2015, p. 31
35. "krotov.info". www.krotov.info.
36. Russel, Bertrand (1951). The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell 1872-1914. Little, Brown and Company. p. 112.
37. Ferretter, Luke (2015). ""A Prison for the Infinite": D. H. Lawrence and Bertrand Russell on the War". Études Lawrenciennes (46). doi: 10.4000/lawrence.226 .
38. Kurlander, Eric (2002). "The Rise of Völkisch-Nationalism and the Decline of German Liberalism: A Comparison of Liberal Political Cultures in Schleswig-Holstein and Silesia 1912-1924". European Review of History: Revue européenne d'histoire. 9 (1): 23–36. doi:10.1080/13507480120116182. ISSN   1350-7486. S2CID   145167949.
39. Sullam, Simon Levis (2015). Giuseppe Mazzini and the Origins of Fascism. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN   978-1137514585.
40. Nation-building in 19th-century Italy: the case of Francesco Crispi ^{[ permanent dead link ]}, Christopher Duggan, History Today, February 1, 2002
41. The Randolph Churchill of Italy, by David Gilmour, The Spectator, June 1, 2002 (Review of Francesco Crispi, 1818-1901: From Nation to Nationalism, by Christopher Duggan)
42. Staudenmaier, Peter (2009-01-10). "Anthroposophy and Ecofascism". Institute for Social Ecology. Retrieved 2024-07-20.
43. Antliff, Mark (2011). "Bad Anarchism: Aestheticized Mythmaking and the Legacy of Georges Sorel". Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies (2). Retrieved 2025-09-09.

References

• Griffin, Roger (2006). The Nature of Fascism. Routledge. ISBN   9781136145889.