Fascism
Also called: Italian Fascism · Topic: The Rise of Nationalism in Europe · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Fascism was a political idea and movement that put the nation and one strong leader above everyone and everything else. Benito Mussolini started it in Italy after the First World War, and he came to power in 1922. Fascism was authoritarian, which means one ruler held all the power and people could not question him. It was also ultranationalist, which means it praised the nation in an extreme way and treated force and war as good things. Over a few years it ended free elections, free speech, trade unions and every party except the Fascist Party. Fascism matters because it shows how 19th-century nationalism, once linked to liberty, could turn into a narrow and violent creed.
Example
In Italy, the Acerbo Law of 1923 handed two-thirds of the seats in Parliament to the party with the most votes. After the murder of the Socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti in 1924, about 150 opposition deputies walked out of Parliament. This walkout was called the Aventine secession. By 1926 these deputies were blocked from coming back, and the Chamber met only to vote on new laws, with no speeches.
Don't confuse with
- Liberal nationalism: this 19th-century idea linked the nation to freedom, a constitution and a parliament. Fascism used the nation to destroy all three.
- Nazism: this was the German form of fascism, led by Hitler. It made race and antisemitism (hatred of Jews) the centre of its beliefs, more than Italian Fascism did.