MMW 15 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Benito Mussolini, Blue Book, Ethnic Nationalism
2 Mar 2019
School
Department
Course
Professor
Bring a Blue book!!!
Key Question:
How did fascist leaders convince so many law-abiding, reasonably sane and
potentially humane individuals to cross the threshold of their own humanity?
Not born monster but something had to have happened that triggered the
most base instincts
a)
Useful to go back to what Freud talked about--> composed for the
instincts for both love and destruction
b)
1)
How can society be prevented from blindly following demagogues of
intolerance and prophets of hate?
More thinking about maybe in the future?
a)
2)
Mussolini and Fascism in Italy
Difference in Rise of Fascism
Not a movement borne of ideology, but an ideology borne of
movement
With Marxism, you have Marxist ideology that produces a
movement.
(1)
Fascism--> movement that then organically searches for
defining its own ideology
(2)
i)
No coherent philosophy but a “living movement”
Feeding off people’s fears and indignation
Tap into what people fear and find the prejudice people
have then they try to exploit them
(a)
(1)
Agenda of small business and petty middle class
(2)
ii)
a)
“The Great River of Fascism”
Like a great river, it will sweep up other. By getting rid of the
ideologies, you are also absorbing certain elements of those
ideologies
(1)
Less a political party than an anti-party
Not for what it stood for but what it projects and what it was
against
(1)
i)
b)
I)
Lecture 5: World War II and the Banality of Evil
Monday, August 20, 2018
11:03 AM
Not for what it stood for but what it projects and what it was
against
(1)
Attack on liberal democracy
It was discredited as a religion
(1)
Beneficial inequality--> a stratified society will benefit
(2)
Just give them enough liberties so they wont protest
(3)
Wont form a strong nation if you just promise everyone rights
and equality
(4)
Purity always trumps the number of votes
(5)
ii)
Attack on Communism
The problem with communism is that they are always too
focused on materialistic issues. Ignore intangibles and
holiness and purity of the movement
(1)
Fascism is superior because it offers a form of spiritual
transcendence
(2)
iii)
Movement based on force
Using rhetoric but backing it up with force
(1)
Origin of the term Fascism
Comes from the latin word: Fasces--> old roman symbol of
the ax and the rod
(1)
i)
Threat of force
“Men in Black”
(Me ne frego)
Motto
a)
Meaning: I don’t give a damn
b)
(a)
(1)
October March of 1922
When Mussolini (men in black) marched with his militia
(a)
1926--> Mussolini assumed all power
(b)
(2)
Benito Mussolini appointed Prime Minister
Authority, direction, and order
(a)
Indoctrination, terror, and coercion that comes from
terror
(b)
(3)
ii)
c)
Germany in the Inter-war Years
The Legacy of Versailles and the Weimar Republic
Made up of a coalition of German liberals and German
democrats
(1)
Ran the government on 'no war'
(2)
Faction that had very little to do with war
(3)
Ambition was to create a viable democracy in the new
(4)
a)
II)
Ambition was to create a viable democracy in the new
Germany
(4)
Gave the president the power to appoint and remove a
chancellor at will
(5)
Contradictions in the Weimar constitution
Reflected this idealism of bringing about a new
democratic Germany
(a)
Very difficult to get everything done--> reflected on that
democratic aspiration of everyone having a voice
(b)
Article 48
Shows how someone like Hitler came to power
(a)
Gave the chancellor the power to implement to rule by
decree
Marshal law
a)
Gave who ever was chancellor the authority and
power to execute Marshal law as see fit
b)
(b)
(1)
i)
Policy for Germany’s Political Stability and Economic Recovery
In the wake of brash French occupation of the coal-rich Ruhr valley
In 1923 France tried to take advantage of a weak
Germany
(a)
Created an overall sense of goodwill towards Germany
(b)
Most are initiated with US statesmen
(c)
1924 Dawes
Adjusting war reparations that Germany had to pay
(a)
(1)
1925 Locarno
Symbol of reconciliation
(a)
Countries who signed this said that Germany should be
allowed to join the league of nations
(b)
(2)
1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact
American initiated Pact
(a)
Renouncing war as an instrument of national policy
(b)
(3)
i)
b)
Hitler’s Entry into German Politics 1923
The Platform of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party
Against everything Versailles was for
(1)
Protect the interest of small businesses
(2)
Target Jews
(3)
i)
Solidify its power base among lower middle-class
Bankrupt shop keepers, impoverished farmers, laid off
government clerks, disenchanted students (like us but with a
future that is more dismal)
(1)
ii)
c)
Document Summary
Lecture 5: world war ii and the banality of evil. How did fascist leaders convince so many law-abiding, reasonably sane and potentially humane individuals to cross the threshold of their own humanity? a) b) Not born monster but something had to have happened that triggered the most base instincts. Useful to go back to what freud talked about--> composed for the instincts for both love and destruction. How can society be prevented from blindly following demagogues of intolerance and prophets of hate? a) Not a movement borne of ideology, but an ideology borne of movement (1) With marxism, you have marxist ideology that produces a movement. Fascism--> movement that then organically searches for defining its own ideology (2) No coherent philosophy but a living movement (1) Tap into what people fear and find the prejudice people have then they try to exploit them (2) Agenda of small business and petty middle class b)
