Books About Fascism: Theories, Analysis & Historical Observations

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Books About Fascism: Theories, Analysis & Historical Observations

#1

Post by Haven » 04 Oct 2015, 06:04

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Fascists

AUTHOR: Michael Mann
DATE PUBLISHED: May 2004
AVAILABILITY: Available
FORMAT: Paperback
ISBN: 9780521538558

Focusing on the six countries in which fascism became most dominant (Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Spain), this study analyzes the beliefs and actions of people who became fascists in an attempt to view fascism through its own eyes. The result is an original depiction of fascism as "violent, transcendent nation-statism", and a unique perspective differing from other previous theories of fascism.

[*]An original view of fascism, differing from previous theories
[*]Offers theory of fascism by seeing it through the eyes of the fascists themselves
[*]In-depth coverage of fascists in six countries where fascism became most powerful

PDF Link: http://socioline.ru/files/5/283/mann_mi ... -_2004.pdf
Last edited by Haven on 05 Oct 2015, 01:59, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Fascists by Michael Mann

#2

Post by Haven » 04 Oct 2015, 06:08

Michael Mann. Fascists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. x + 428 pp. $25.99 (paper), ISBN 978-0-521-53855-8; $79.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-521-83131-4.

Reviewed by Per Bienso (Department of History, Aalborg University, Denmark)
Published on H-German (November, 2006)

A New Theory of Fascism?

Fascism has always constituted a puzzle for historians and social scientists. Various interpretations (among a multitude) have seen fascism as a modernizing strategy, a revolt against modernity; as the tool of a specific class (usually the capitalist or middle class); and as totalitarianism. The (alleged) "new consensus" analyzes fascism, broadly speaking, as an ideology in its own right based upon transcendent/holistic ultranationalism.[1] Even though the relevant historiography presents a host of different and often incommensurate images of fascism, the theories can, broadly speaking, be divided into materialistic and ideological categories. Michael Mann claims to offer a new theory, based upon a synthesis of the materialist and ideological schools within the historiography of fascism, but with the ambition of understanding fascists themselves, that is, the fascist constituency, in its motivations and methods. In support of his theory, Mann processes an impressive amount of secondary literature on the major fascist movements in Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Spain, with a focus on which citizens of each country became fascists.

Mann's succinctly defines fascism as "the pursuit of a transcendent and cleansing nation-statism through paramilitarism" (p. 13). It is meant as a generic and to some extent epochal term, since according to Mann, it can accommodate a range of phenomena across Europe in the interwar period, including Nazism, Italian fascism, the Austrian Heimwehr (partially) and Dollfuss's Fatherland Front, the Hungarian Arrow Cross, the Romanian Iron Guard and the Spanish Falange. On the face of it, this juxtaposition of groups raises the obvious problem of reconciling paramilitarism and statism within the same concept, since normally, one of the central defining features of the state is the monopoly of violence. Not so, says Mann; this characteristic has not always defined the state, and we must therefore analytically separate military and political power relations, even in the modern state (p. 69). Either way, Mann's view on fascist paramilitarism is not one of military power per se, but suggests an alleged popular rising from below that claims for itself the role of elitist vanguard of the nation. Paramilitarism is therefore more than "mere" violence; it is a key organizational feature of fascism and, at the same time, a symbol of the nation.

However, this dilemma brings up the question of the nature of fascist statism; if the (fascist) state, whose power Mann says fascists worshiped, did not possess the (external and/or internal) monopoly of violence, just what kind of state was it? According to Mann, fascists can be characterized as seeing the state as their goal in the sense that it is envisioned as facilitating social, political and moral development; moreover, as the representative of the organic nation, the state is intended to resolve economic and political antagonisms. It is unclear to me whether this conclusion means that fascism was totalitarian; Mann acknowledges the weak, polycratic states of fascist regimes, but maintains that fascism was totalitarian in its transformational aims. However, party and paramilitants undercut these aims (p. 14). Apparently, then, such basic fascist institutions were not committed to fascism; if they were, then why did they work against these transformational aims? Mann suggests that the answer to this question lies in the contradiction between the movement and the state's bureaucracy (the old elites).

Perhaps, however, there is a problem with making the state a central concept in a definition of fascism. As far as National Socialism is concerned, the ideal of the state, at least in ideological terms, was not as an entity in itself, but as a symbol of the nation.[2]. Statism is thus probably a more useful term in the Italian case. However, in practical terms, to fascists, the state was an obvious and (not least) an available instrument for achieving their cleansing and transcendent goals. When they needed to, however, they were willing to compromise with other agencies. An obvious example of this tendency is the agreement Mussolini's regime made with the Catholic Church in 1929, ceding a degree of control over the Italian educational system. Granted, the regime was driven more by opportunism than ideology, but such activity does suggest that to fascists, the state was not as sacred as Mann makes it out to be. In my opinion, the harmonious, organic nation is a more appropriate concept. The other elements included in Mann's definition, however, are less problematic.

More: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=12486


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Re: Books About Fascism: Theories, Analysis & Historical Observations

#3

Post by Haven » 05 Oct 2015, 02:13

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Fascism: Theory & Practice (Politics & Political Theory)
David Renton
Pluto Press
(May 1, 1999)

In the 1930s fascist parties came to power across Europe. Millions were killed in the war and the Holocaust. Yet, sixty years on, fascism is on the rise once more in all major European states and far right parties are again winning converts.To explain this disturbing trend, Dave Renton surveys the history of modern fascism in Europe, from its prewar origins up to the present day. Renton examines the Marxist response to fascism in the age of Hitler and Mussolini and the writings of political thinkers such as Trotsky and Gramsci, as well as more recent European theorists such as Miliband, Mason and Poulantzas. Focusing on a critical assessment of the current liberal theories of fascism which emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, the author argues that such theories provide an incomplete explanation of what fascism is and was: to understand any political movement it is vital to view it in a historical context. Renton argues that fascism should be understood not through the 'theory' of liberal fascism studies, but rather in terms of the brutal practice that fascism brought in its wake. Providing the first new theory of fascism in its historical context to come from the left for over twenty years, this volume makes a key contribution to what is now a wide-ranging and heated debate.

PDF Link: http://www.e-reading.club/bookreader.ph ... actice.pdf

BOOK REVIEWS

A Review of “Fascism: Theory and Practice”
October 26, 2009 by Radical Notes
Yasser Shams Khan

Dave Renton’s book on fascism is structured to serve two purposes: firstly to debunk the current intellectual wave of scholars like Griffin and Eatwell, who consider that “fascist studies” should concentrate on the ideological aspect of fascism and not the specific political contexts (as there were only two historical precedents); and secondly to provide an alternate approach from a Marxist perspective. Renton is also against any apolitical reading of fascism. He polemically emphasizes the imperative of historians to politically situate themselves against fascism while trying to understand it so as to prevent it from gaining prominence in the contemporary political circuit. It is within this purview that his book needs to be looked at.

Fascism is far from dead. The 1990s has seen a regeneration of fascist groups and parties in Europe in the form of the BUF (British Union of Fascists) in Britain, FN (Front National) in France, and the long lingering RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh), the ideological backbone of right parties in India. Dave Renton's FascismHowever many scholars debate whether such parties can be considered fascists, as according to them fascism is an ideology, with certain attributes based on their interpretation of Italian fascism particularly, which renders their definitions static and reductionist. In the words of Roger Griffin, Fascism is described as “palingenetic ultra-nationalism”. Although the four scholars Renton debunks offer varied definitions of fascism, yet they all adhere to Weber’s construction of an “ideal type”. Such transcendent attributes has allowed Griffin to separate fascism from Nazism albeit conceding that they have a common mythic core. Renton criticizes such scholars who lay undue emphasis on theory and neglect the practical, concrete example before them. He censures Zeev Sternhell for combining socialism and nationalism and creating a new ideology of ‘socialism without the proletariat’ which consequently became fascism. Renton exposes the flaw in such theories. These scholars have taken the fascist demagogues’ political pronouncements at face value. If a Mussolini or a Hitler was using anti-capitalist, socialistic rhetoric, does it mean that fascism is anti-capitalist and pro-socialist?

More: http://radicalnotes.com/2009/10/26/a-re ... -practice/

The Voice of the TURTLE

It is pleasure to be able to review Dave Renton's short new book on fascism for The Voice of the Turtle, the organ which four years ago printed extracts from Dave's earlier research on the activities of the British Union of Fascists in Oxford. While Dave's doctoral thesis at Sheffield University continued his researches into British fascism, Fascism: Theory and Practice is a separate spin-off from this project, and one which concentrates on the more theoretical and historiographical aspects of fascism research. The book's main argument is twofold. On the one hand, Dave sets himself firmly in opposition to the approach taken by recent scholars, including Roger Griffin, Zev Steernhall, Roger Eatwell and Stanley Payne, which has, it is sometimes claimed by its own practitioners, produced a "new consensus in fascism studies". On the other hand, he presents a sympathetic account and historical survey of the Marxist tradition of writing about and against fascism as his preferred alternative approach.

What is wrong with the leading proponents of "fascism studies"? Dave believes that their detailed examinations of fascist texts and ideological pronouncements exaggerate the significance of what the fascists said while de-emphasising the things which they did. Fascist ideas, in themselves, are not especially interesting, and the attempts to delineate the detailed structure and content of fascist ideology seem to give fascism a static or timeless character, which it certainly lacked. Nor are "fascism studies" politically neutral. Dave deplores those works which seek to locate a "revolutionary" or "socialist" content in the fascist project; he opposes the apologetic ambitions of some writers, who seek to emphasise the differences between Italian and German fascisms in order to attempt to rehabilitate the former; and he worries about the malign political effect such works might have in an era of fascist revival across Europe. ("The philosophers have only interpreted fascism, in various ways, but the point is to prevent it?")

More: http://voiceoftheturtle.org/show_article.php?aid=136

his article first appeared in Lobster magazine issue 38 Winter 1999 p.39-41

review of 'Fascism: Theory and Practice' Pluto 1999 £9.99 by Larry O'Hara

This book has been touted in some areas as a radical, new contribution to the study of fascism; and it is certainly well-packaged and cheap. To start with the good points which, although few, are important: if you want to know who the current academic theorists on modern fascism are - Griffin (not Nick, Roger), Payne, Sternhell, Eatwell - then Renton provides a passable summary of their views. He does the same for an oft-neglected group, Marxist theorists of fascism, going beyond the obvious to include the likes of Karl Korsch (though not Otto Ruhle). Renton is also right to warn that, contrary to the view of many historians, fascism is not just a phenomenon of the past but is still (potentially) a threat today. Furthermore, if it needs restating - and in some academic circles it does - he recites statistical chapter and verse on how the Italian Fascists and German Nazis served capitalist interests (ch.3). Inasmuch as some claim fascism was socialist, he is right to emphasise that it was not (p.26); and that contrary to ingenious claims by some academics, fascists have characteristically found their allies on the Right not Left (p.27).

MORE: http://www.borderland.co.uk/20-facism-a ... ctice.html

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Re: Books About Fascism: Theories, Analysis & Historical Observations

#4

Post by Haven » 05 Oct 2015, 02:22

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The Routledge Companion to Fascism & the Far Right
Peter Davies & Derek Lynch
Routledge Companions to History
2002

The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right is an engaging and accessible guide to the origins of fascism, the main facets of the ideology and the reality of fascist government around the world. In a clear and simple manner, this book illustrates the main features of the subject using chronologies, maps, glossaries and biographies of key individuals. As well as the key examples of Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy, this book also draws on extreme right-wing movements in Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Far East. In a series of original essays, the authors explain the complex topics including: * the roots of fascism * fascist ideology * fascism in government and opposition * nation and race in fascism * fascism and society * fascism and economics * fascism and diplomacy.

PDF Link: http://marxismo21.org/wp-content/upload ... _Right.pdf

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Re: Books About Fascism: Theories, Analysis & Historical Observations

#5

Post by Haven » 05 Oct 2015, 03:14

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The Anatomy of Fascism
Robert O. Paxton
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Dec 18, 2007

What is fascism? Many authors have proposed definitions, but most fail to move beyond the abstract. The esteemed historian Robert O. Paxton answers this question for the first time by focusing on the concrete: what the fascists did, rather than what they said. From the first violent uniformed bands beating up “enemies of the state,” through Mussolini’s rise to power, to Germany’s fascist radicalization in World War II, Paxton shows clearly why fascists came to power in some countries and not others, and explores whether fascism could exist outside the early-twentieth-century European setting in which it emerged.

The Anatomy of Fascism will have a lasting impact on our understanding of modern European history, just as Paxton’s classic Vichy France redefined our vision of World War II. Based on a lifetime of research, this compelling and important book transforms our knowledge of fascism–“the major political innovation of the twentieth century, and the source of much of its pain.”

PDF Link: https://libcom.org/files/Robert%20O.%20 ... (2004).pdf

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Re: Books About Fascism: Theories, Analysis & Historical Observations

#6

Post by Linden Lyons » 05 Oct 2015, 16:17

Thank you for posting these PDFs!

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Re: Books About Fascism: Theories, Analysis & Historical Observations

#7

Post by Haven » 05 Oct 2015, 18:50

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Fascism: A Very Short Introduction
by Kevin Passmore
Oxford University Press
(November 28, 2002)

What is fascism? Is it revolutionary? Or is it reactionary? This book argues that it is both: fascism unleashes violence against the left and ethnic minorities, but also condemns the bourgeoisie for its "softness". Kevin Passmore opens his book with a series of "scenes from fascist life"--a secret meeting of the Romanian Iron Guard; Mussolini meeting the king of Italy; a rally of Hungarian doctors calling for restrictions on the number of Jews entering the profession. He then looks at the paradoxes of fascism through its origins in the political and social crisis of the late nineteenth century, the history of fascist movements and regimes in Italy and Germany, and the fortunes of "failed" fascist movements in Romania, Hungary and Spain. He shows how fascism employs propaganda and popular culture to propagate itself and how it exported its ideas outside Europe, through Nazi and Spanish post-war escape routes to Latin America. The book concludes with a discussion of the recent revival of the extreme right in Austria, Italy, France, and Russia.


PDF Link: https://media.8ch.net/pdfs/src/1428618967871-0.pdf

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Re: Books About Fascism: Theories, Analysis & Historical Observations

#8

Post by Haven » 05 Oct 2015, 20:20

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The Lure of Fascism in Western Europe: German Nazis, Dutch & French Fascists, 1933-1939
Dietrich Orlow
Palgrave Macmillan
December 2008

This book is an important contribution to the study of West European fascism in the inter-war years. Focusing on the organizational and ideological relations of the German Nazis and French and Dutch fascists, Dietrich Orlow analyzes the evolving attitudes and conflicts among the Nazis toward the West European extreme Right, along with the conflicting views which French and Dutch fascists had about the Third Reich in the years from 1933 onward.

The first 12 pages on PDF: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... N2O4Naq7qg

I have the whole book in PDF. -- Haven

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Re: Books About Fascism: Theories, Analysis & Historical Observations

#9

Post by Haven » 05 Oct 2015, 20:34

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The Study of Religion under the Impact of Fascism
Edited by Horst Junginger
Brill, 2007


The study of religion under the spell of fascism has not received due attention. One reason for the noticeable lack of interest was the political involvement of many historians of religions. Among those who had good reason to leave the era of fascism untouched, we find prominent figures in the field. Another obstacle to examining the past impartially has been the connection with religious and other worldviews which render historical accounts in the study of religion an intricate matter. The articles in this volume provide evidence of the great complexity of the problems involved. Laying the groundwork in many cases, they shed new light on a dark and poorly-lit era of the academic study of religion in Europe.

Contributors include: Andreas Akerlund, Gustavo Benavides, Eugen Ciurtin, Richard Faber, Cristiano Grottanelli, Halina Grzyma?a-Moszczy?ska, Fritz Heinrich, Sigurd Hjelde, Willem Hofstee, Horst Junginger, Istvan Keul, Hiroshi Kubota, Bruce Lincoln, Iveta Leitane, Vasilios N. Makrides, Udo Mischek, Petteri Pietikainen, Kurt Rudolph, Michael Stausberg, Mihaela Timu?, Florin ?urcanu, Ulrich Vollmer

Google Book : https://books.google.com/books?id=dNAvnlrvrE0C

I own this book in PDF form. -- Haven

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Re: Books About Fascism: Theories, Analysis & Historical Observations

#10

Post by Haven » 06 Oct 2015, 04:04

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Fascism & Political Theory: Critical Perspectives on Fascist Ideology
(Routledge Issues in Contemporary Political Theory)
Daniel Woodley
2009

Fascism and Political Theory offers both students and researchers a thematic analysis of fascism, focusing on the structural and ideological links between fascism, capitalism and modernity. Intended as a critical discussion of the origins and development of fascist ideology, each chapter deals with a core substantive issue in political theory relevant to the study of fascism and totalitarianism, beginning with an assessment of the current state of debate.

The emphasis on formal ideology in contemporary Anglo-American historiography has increased our awareness of the complexity and eclectic nature of fascist ideologies which challenge liberalism and social democracy. Yet in too many recent works, a programmatic or essentialist reading of fascist ideology as a ‘secular religion’ is taken for granted, while researchers remain preoccupied with the search for an elusive ‘fascist minimum’.

In this book Woodley emphasizes that many outstanding questions remain, including the structural and ideological links between fascism and capitalism, the social construction of fascist nationalism, and the origins of fascist violence in European colonialism. This volume consolidates the reader’s theoretical understanding and provides the interdisciplinary skills necessary to understand the concrete social, economic and political conditions which generate and sustain fascism.

A timely critique of culturalist and revisionist approaches in fascism studies which provides a concise overview of theoretical debates between liberalism, Marxism and poststructuralism, this text will be of great interest to students of politics, modern history and sociology.

PDF File: http://sociology.sunimc.net/htmledit/up ... 537707.pdf

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