German and French Fascism between 1870 and 1939 - Essay Example

? German and French Fascism between 1870 and 1939 German and French Fascism between 1870 and 1939 Marxism is a social political worldview based on materialist interpretation of historical developments, a dialectical observation of social change with an analysis of strategic relations in the society. Karl Marx, a German philosopher, pioneered the development of Marxism in the mid nineteenth century1. The philosopher emphasized on the revolutionary view of the political and social change. According to the Marxism analysis, strata conflict within capitalism comes up due to intensifying conflicts between socialized production and high productive built-up. Social unrest between the opposed classes increase and terminates a social revolution2. Marx despised ethical dissertation and constantly opposed moralistic involvements in the political and social issues. Marxism proclaimed that Communists did not preach morality at all. Marx did not show any interest in discussions on how people ought to act in a morally defensible way. He argued that capitalism had destroyed morality and turned it into a real lie. Attempts to develop socialistic ideas on moral precepts were considered as being distractions from the significance of confronting the fundamental causes of social misery in the course of material production. Marx opposed the commodification of labor and held that it rendered the worker economical and political powerless3. Marxism on the other hand is based on a philosophical viewpoint called dialectical materialism. This precept holds that the history of humans is the story of class warfare. The society in this case is seen to struggle through different development stages. At each stage of development, the proletariat gains some more freedom that brings them closer to their goal of proletarian revolution. According to the maxims, there is no principle that supports the history of the materialistic, there is no God,4. The believe that religion is false is hereby considered to be a bourgeoisie tool which attempts to prevent the communist revolution. In the German revolution, the ruling class opposed the precepts of maxims. The struggle of the people to move to a state of freedom is considered to have been a real struggle. However, Marx still pushed on with his ideologies for the establishment of a revolutionized community. Trotsky who addressed the Germany communist Party to stop Fascism seconds the analysis. His aim was that they break not the Comintern itself but the Comintern policy5. Germany revolution ends, due in large part to some democratic parties6. Some of the parties during this revolution belonged to the old second international. Prior to the war, the social democratic party had never held power but only remained in the opposition and therefore supported the war. The statement executes Karl Rosa Luxemburg. In January 1923, the French administrations send troops to occupy the Ruhr. Unrests soar while the working class takeoffs massive strikes and wiping out the savings of the middle class. Some parties labeled themselves ‘Marxist’ while forty-five percent of the total voters supported them. Some ultra-rights movements grew and emphasized on the Marxism ideology of unity of the international working class. Hitler was very hostile to this ideology of Marxism due to its emphasis on the unity of the global working class instead of on racial solidarity7. The plan to defend Belgium was aimed at making a stand at a line of forts between the league and the Antwerp cities. The British armies found them under attack on May 13 since they had been unaware that the Germany paratrooper units had already captured their forts. The offensive of Germany to the south unexpectedly emerged from Ardennes forests at the second time. During the following few days, the main allied armies were trapped between the German forces and were therefore unable to protect either Paris or stop the Germans from entering to the English channel8. The German troops to the south went on between the British and the French forces. The allies were therefore divided and weakened further. Although Germany’s rapid conquest of France was attributed to simple weaknesses of the France army, this attribute has been rejected. The France army was actually larger than the Germans and were more technologically advanced. Before the invasion, the majority of the Germany’s leaders strongly felt that they had been unprepared to take on France militarily. Additionally, during this invasion, Hitler was also highly anxious and expressed how he could not believe in his victory. The main reason for the France fail was due to their assumption of the German military. France did not anticipate and took little action after their realization that Germany had advanced through the Ardennes forest. Reinforced by the British, the French forces were sent to Belgium where the attack was not expected to take place9. Fascism in Germany appeared as genocidal racist nationalism. Fascism was a form of right-wing totalitarianism that emphasized the subordination of the person to develop and improve the interest of the state10. The ideology of the Nazi fascism included a racial theory that degraded much nationalism that called for the unification of all people in German and the use of private paramilitary organizations to terrorize opposition and centralize decision making to a single leader. The left wing movements were organization of individuals who fought to overthrow the established order and bring reforms that advocated for change in the name of more freedom and the wellbeing of the common people11. Such movements like the communism, socialism and the Marxist developed from the working class movements. They attempted to eliminate and not to preserve the class distinctions. Fascism had developed as an authoritarian political movement that reacted against the profound social and political changes that were brought about by the First World War and the communalism and socialism12. Fascism had developed some economic philosophies tat believed that the government must direct specific economic decisions by command and that all means of production must all be defined to better the production of the country. The Marxist ideology also seems to second the totalitarianism through its recognition of the necessity of dictatorship. Marxist through the materialism theory advocates of the need to create a class society and a universal equality. This would ensure justification in the distribution of resources and foster the economic development in all nations13. Before Nazi had taken power in Germany, the military had a definite role in the government and the Germany society. However, Hitler was not comfortable with the role that they played. He wanted to possess the total control over all aspects and achieve dominance over the army. He formed a strong relationship with the army and had on his side the highly respected general of the World War 1, Erich Ludendorff. Hitler declared that they had never believed to carry through a revolt against the army and that they should succeed the army instead. He subsequently declared that the march 1923 issues had been halted by the armed police and not the army. Hitler began to build up some friendly relationships with his old colleagues in the army and wanted to gain power under the legal bases, connected to the corps14. Although Hitler had ceased practicing Christianity by the time he had gained power, he did not abolish Christianity. In relation to the Marx religion, Hitler was considered as an atheist who never offered a total adherence to the Christian doctrines. He had always fought the Christians for their opposed ways to his leadership. Marxism did not advocate for dictatorship or the employment totalitarian leadership. Marxism also pointed out that there was an enmity within the country over the rule of the available resources15. The strongest party would only survive and the deployment of brutality whereby, Hitler governance ruled with much corruption and misuse of resources. During his reign, more than fifty thousand people died. The Nazis murdered millions of people in such groups like the ethnic poles, Soviet civilians, people with disabilities and other religious and political opponents. People were forced to manual labor. The Nazis could use prisoners as subject in medical experiments whereby the prisoners could be exposed to freezing experiments. This was done to help the Germany military or aid in the recovery of injured soldiers16. Fascist movements were brought into power through some tragic problems. French and Germany had encountered some post war economy teeming with much instability. The Germany economy was undermined by rapid unemployment and other burdensome compensation payments. Post war peace resettlement was another problem that brought about fascism in both France and Germany17. While the Germans were frustrated by the exorbitant compensation outflows forced on them by the allies, the French people were betrayed by the peace settlements that denied them the territory and the status that they served. Both the Germans and the French fascism had exploited many political and economic difficulties in an attempt to gain power. Hitler blamed the communists and the Jews for the ruined economy while Mussolini on the other hand lamed the catholic parties and large socialists for the economic struggles. Fascism is the political attitude that gave full interest in social, economic and military power. Fascism mainly rejected the idea of capitalism and socialism while its members were dictators characterized by police surveillance and terrorism. The idea of fascism cannot be wiped out since it is an idea. Since there are no more absolute leaderships by a single party, elements of fascism will still remain in the world. Bibliography Alastair, H., The Appeal of Fascism: A Study of Intellectuals and Fascism 1919-1945, London: Anthony Blond, 1971. Barnett, S., Modern France: Mind, Politics, Society, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1980. DC335 SIN Beetham, D., Marxists in face of fascism: writings by Marxists on Fascism from the inter-war period. Manchester [England]: Manchester University Press,1983.. Brian, J., France in the Era of Fascism: Essays on the French Authoritarian Right, Oxford: Berghahn, 2006. David, C., French Literary Fascism. Nationalism, Anti-Semitism, and the Ideology of Culture, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. David, C., French Literary Fascism: Nationalism, Anti-Semitism & the Ideology of Culture, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998. Hamilton, A., The appeal of Fascism :a study of intellectuals and Fascism, 1919-1945 Kaplan, A., Reproductions of Banality: Fascism, Literature and Intellectual Life, Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 1986. Martin, B., Fascism and the right in Europe, 1919-1945 Martin, B., Fascists and Conservatives: The Radical Right and the Establishment in Twentieth-Century Europe, Routledge, 1990. Mazgaj, P., Imagining Fascism: The Cultural Politics of the French Young Right : 1930-1945, Newark: Univ. of Delware Press, 2007. Orlow, D., The lure of fascism in western Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009. Peter, D., The Extreme Right in France, 1789 to the Present, London: Routledge, 2002. Roger, G., (ed), International fascism :theories, causes and the new concensus, London : Arnold, 1998, D726.5 INT. Weber, E., Action francaise: royalism and reaction in twentieth-century, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1962, DC369 WEB. Winock, M., Nationalism, Anti-Semitism, and Fascism in France, trans, by Jane Marie Todd, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998. Zeev, S., at el.,. The birth of fascist ideology: from cultural rebellion to political revolution, Princeton, NJ [u.a.]: Princeton Univ. Press, 1995. Zeev, S., Neither Right nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995. Read More