From Hitler to Codreanu: The Ideology of Fascist Leaders

Description

This book examines fascist ideology in seven leaders of parties and movements in the interwar period. It makes use of the conceptual morphological approach, focused on core and adjacent concepts, as well as on the interlinkages between them. With such an approach, the book seeks to offer an innovative perspective on fascism and arrive at a conceptual configuration of fascist ideology, capable of highlighting its main concepts and combinations. Furthermore, it examines the major texts of seven leaders from Germany, Italy, the UK, Portugal, Spain, France and Romania – Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Oswald Mosley, Rolão Preto, Primo de Rivera, Marcel Déat, and Corneliu Codreanu. With the conceptual approach, the book reasserts the possibility of finding a definition of generic fascism at the same time as depicting the ideological varieties espoused by each leader. This title will be of interest to students and scholars of fascism, extremism and the far right. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction: Fascist Leaders, Generic Fascism and the Conceptual Approach Taking fascist ideology seriously Why the leaders? The search for a 'generic fascism' and new concerns about ideological fluidity The conceptual morphological approach Fascism and the conceptual morphological approach Methodology and primary sources Notes List of references 1. The conceptual structure of 'generic fascism': Seven core concepts Main interpretations and definitions of fascism The core concepts of fascism Nation State Corporatism Revolution Authority Violence Empire Concluding remarks Notes List of references 2. Adolf Hitler and German national socialism: Racial struggle as the basis of a worldview Hitler and the Nazi party Adolf Hitler amid the ideological struggles of his time The conceptual core of Mein Kampf Race and racial struggle The racial State Revolution and racial struggle as the key to historical progress The authority of the heroic leader Violence, anti-Semitism and social Darwinism Vital space and the survival of the race Other important features of the configuration Corporatism: a less relevant concept Peripheral concepts Permeability and rejections Contradictions: individual/collectivity and people/leader Concluding remarks Notes List of references 3. Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists: The Ideological Synthesis of 'Greater Britain' Mosley and the BUF Oswald Mosley amid the ideological struggles of his time The conceptual core of Greater Britain The national corporate state The new revolutionary era Authority and violence The autarchic empire Other important features of the configuration Peripheral concepts Permeability and rejections Contradictions: nationalism/internationalism and public/private Concluding remarks Notes List of references 4. Francisco Rolão Preto and Portuguese National Syndicalism: Corporatism and the construction of an alternative modernity Rolão Preto and NS Rolão Preto amid the ideological struggles of his time The conceptual core of Rolão Preto's texts The national corporate state The alternative modernity and the national revolution Authoritarianism and violence Other important features of the configuration Imperialism: an absent concept? Peripheral concepts Permeability and rejections Contradictions: revolution/traditionalism Concluding remarks Notes List of References 5. José António Primo de Rivera and the Spanish Falange: The historical mission of the Spanish Nation Primo de Rivera and the FE de las JONS Primo de Rivera amid the ideological struggles of his time The conceptual core of Primo de Rivera The historical mission of the nation and the empire The corporate state The elitist and violent revolution Other important features of the configuration Personality Peripheral concepts Permeability and rejections Contradictions: tradition/revolution and elitism/populism Concluding remarks Notes List of References 6. Corneliu Codreanu and the iron guard: The Manichean Battle between good and evil Corneliu Codreanu and the GF Corneliu Codreanu amid the ideological struggles of his time The conceptual core of Pentru Legionari Holist nationalism and the 'Greater Romania' The 'New Man' of the palingenetic revolution and the concept of authority Violence, racism and the cult of death Other important features of the configuration Corporatism as a less relevant concept Peripheral concepts Permeability and rejections Contradictions: populism/elitism and spirituality/materialism Concluding remarks Notes List of References 7. Marcel Déat and the French RNP: The European Revolution and the new party Marcel Déat and the RNP Marcel Déat amid the ideological struggles of his time The conceptual core of Le Parti Unique The national community, the French empire and the state Corporatism and class conciliation The totalitarian revolution and internationalism Authority, violence and order Other important features of the configuration The party Peripheral concepts Permeability and rejections Contradictions: nationalism and internationalism Concluding remarks Notes List of References 8. Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism: The creation of a new conceptual configuration Benito Mussolini, fascism and the political milieu of Italy in the 20th century The conceptual reconfigurations of Mussolini during the formative years of Fascism The founding speech of the Fasci Italiani di Combatimento and the political program of the Fasci The inaugural speech at the first congress of the Fasci The inaugural speech at the second congress of the Fasci The founding of the PNF Concluding remarks Notes List of References 9. Final considerations about the conceptual configuration of generic fascism The core concepts of fascism Interlinkages The adjacent concept of order One marginal concept: liberty Permeability and rejections Contradictions and tensions Concluding remarks: a definition of fascism Notes List of references Conclusion Index