Some thoughts on fascism
To be able to understand fascism and how its beliefs are formed, firstly we need to look at its understanding of the individual. Fascism believes that human beings cannot be understood through reason, but through emotions, instinct, will and passion. Therefore the way to mobilize the masses is by playing on their emotions, instinct, will and passions.[1] Man is not rational. Man is a bundle of emotions, history and culture and these are the things that will drive him forward. The words of Mussolini from the Naples Speech tell us a lot about fascist ideology. “We have created our myth. Our myth is the nation, our myth is the greatness of the nation! And to this myth, this greatness, which we want to translate into a total reality, we subordinate everything else.”[2] We should look into the use of the word “myth”. A myth is something unrealisable and imaginary, it is unachievable. The hope to achieve it, though, is far greater than rationality and this again shows that fascism does not look at human beings as reasonable units, but as units driven and controlled by emotions. Another thing that needs its fair allocation of time in this quote is the expressed will and desire to act, to translate the greatness of the nation into total reality. The position of fascism on “the active man”, and what actions are appropriate, is something I will have looked into in detail by the end of this essay.
You can spend some time looking for a second hand audi as well! Good luck to all!
[1] Mark Neocleous, Fascism (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1997)
[2] Benito Mussolini, ‘Fascism’s Myth: The Nation’ (1922), in Roger Griffin (ed.), Fascism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995) p. 44
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