"Facism" was the Political Counter to Events in 1930 Europe

Discussions on the foreigners (volunteers as well as conscripts) fighting in the German Wehrmacht, those collaborating with the Axis and other period Far Right organizations. Hosted by George Lepre.
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PassandReviewofWW2
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"Facism" was the Political Counter to Events in 1930 Europe

#1

Post by PassandReviewofWW2 » 12 Feb 2020, 21:15

The economic problems in Europe, resulted in weak, disorganized democratic coalitions unable to provide for the common good that resulted in an influx of communist factions that began political demonstrations to gain Political Office and Power.
The Historical perspective routinely condemns Facism, without mentioning the excesses of Communism.

Sejanus
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Re: "Facism" was the Political Counter to Events in 1930 Europe

#2

Post by Sejanus » 13 Feb 2020, 11:23

PassandReviewofWW2 wrote:
12 Feb 2020, 21:15
The economic problems in Europe, resulted in weak, disorganized democratic coalitions unable to provide for the common good that resulted in an influx of communist factions that began political demonstrations to gain Political Office and Power.
The Historical perspective routinely condemns Facism, without mentioning the excesses of Communism.
In Germany, Fascism arose (personified by National Socialism) as an alternative out of the ashes of the lost world war, the unfairness and humiliation of Versailles, economic ruin for millions upon millions of people, occupation of The Ruhr by the French, and much more. The roots of National Socialism and Fascism began growing long, long before 1930. Desperate and very unhappy people do desperate things and embrace desperate solutions, especially when they can be manipulated by hatreds like antisemitism, and be made to fear, orchestrated by a master of the art of propaganda and the shrewd, calculating type like Hitler certainly was.

And while you assert that "The Historical perspective routinely condemns Facism [sic], without mentioning the excesses of Communism," perhaps we have read different historical accounts because many of the ones I am familiar with do mention the excesses of both Nazism and Communism when discussing life in the Germany of the period, in fact some pointing out that it was sometimes a toss up as to which party a disenfranchised young German would turn to and join, one or the other, because the Weimar Republic was a failure and the most popular and effective at mobilizing the populace were the Nazis and the Communists.

If your point is that somehow Communism was responsible for Fascism or Nazism I strongly disagree, as this is not borne out by any reputable historical source I am aware of (no offense intended); if you have such a source perhaps you could share it here? Rather it was severe and prolonged economic and social distress that left otherwise decent people susceptible to solutions like what Hitler and Stalin, Marx (and others of that ilk) proposed that led to their respective parties appeal and growth. But Communism did not cause Fascism or Nazism, any more than Fascism or Nazism caused Communism. What caused them all to appear and grow was the extremely troubled and thus fertile environment of the day, coupled with the failure of the (then) present existing political system, leading to be embrace of alternatives and substitutes.

Communism also had a value to the Nazis, in that a growing, alarming presence of Communists could be used to help recruit and mobilize ever more Nazis to combat the alleged Communist dangers (Jews being used for the same purposes); both parties also tended to appeal to and recruit individuals with similar psychological states of mind and concerns despite the differences between the two parties themselves. This is borne out by a quote from Hitler himself, when he remarked "There is more that binds us to Bolshevism than separates us from it. There is, above all, genuine, revolutionary feeling, which is alive everywhere in Russia except where there are Jewish Marxists. I have always made allowance for this circumstance, and given orders that former Communists are to be admitted to the party at once. The petit bourgeois Social-Democrat and the trade-union boss will never make a National Socialist, but the Communists always will." [1]

Stalin also saw the value in recruiting former Nazis into his Communist cause when it was to his advantage to do so both during and after the war, particularly in recruiting the specialists necessary in forming the puppet DDR (East German) government, the Socialist Unity Party (SED, the ruling party in the DDR) and in bolstering his own intelligence services. And that is not all. "All over Soviet-occupied eastern Europe, most rank-and-file former fascist party members, together with many lower-level leaders, were welcomed to fill the ranks of the initially exiguous local Communist parties. The psychological transition seems to have been an easy one, for obvious reasons."[2]

[1] Quoted in Hermann Rauschning, Hitler Speaks (and other sources).
[2] Stanley Payne, A History of Fascism: 1914-1945.


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