Rise of Evil - From Populism to Fascism | BETWEEN 2 WARS I 1932 Part 4 of 4 - YouTube (2)
It is with this rhetoric that sounds vaguely Socialist but is in fact only racist and anti-semitic
that they have made themselves a haven for disenfranchised Socialist militants and thugs.
As such anti-Semitism is shared by many of the Fascist movements.
In fact, anti-Semitism is relatively prevalent in general in the world of the 1920s and 1930s.
For instance, at this time, a poll shows that 41% of Americans feel that 'Jews have "too
much power in the United States"; 20% even want to "drive Jews out of the United States."
To put that in relation; in 2009, 13% of Americans thought that Jews have too much power.
In 1932, when Hitler is about to seize power, there is sizable popular support for Hitlerism
in the US.
At the least, it is seen as the right solution for Germany, but similar domestic movements
get less support.
And as the thirties progress, much of this Nazi support will erode when it becomes increasingly
clear that Hitler's ideology is hellbent on murder and war.
Nevertheless, there are still multiple smaller movements aligned with Fascism.
Some are tiny fringe movements like the Black Legion, a violent sister-organization of the
Ku Klux Klan.
Others are a bit more significant, like the Silver Legion of America and the German American
Bund.
The Silver Legion is a white-supremacist and antisemitic underground organization, calling
for a 'Christian Commonwealth".
By 1934 they will amass about 15,000 members actively calling for non-whites and jews to
be removed from society.
The German American Bund is more of a support group for the German Nazis, as only American
citizens of German descent are allowed to join.
But all in all, Fascism doesn't gain a serious foothold in the US.
The same can be said for Great Britain also plagued by anti-Semitism.
Here several attempts are made to create a unified Fascist movement out of several smaller
groups, mostly focused on British National Romanticism.
Most significant is the British Union of Fascists under the leadership of Sir Oswald Mosley.
Though the party has a couple of ten-thousand members, it never gains a seat in parliament.
In the mid-1930s, most support vaporizes following violent clashes between British fascists and
its opposition, most significantly at the 'Battle of Cable Street' in London's East
End.
The National Socialist Movement (NSB) in the Netherlands has 52,000 members by 1936, but
popular support declines when the Nazis in Germany begin showing the true nature of Naziism
in 1938.
In Belgium, the Flemish National Union (VNV) is founded in 1933 to advocate for reunification
with The Netherlands.
Rebranded Flemish National Block, it gains 16 seats in the parliament but then stagnates.
In Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark, Nazi-like parties are founded, but fail to get any serious
traction.
In Brazil, a movement called Brazilian Integralist Action it founded by Plínio Salgado in 1932.
It uses Fascist aesthetics and mass-culture, but rejects racism and actually has a slogan
called 'Union of all races and all peoples.'
They have an unusual approach to Nationalism viewing it as a shared spiritual identity
rather than ethnic or racial.
But it sure looks like Fascism, with a green-shirted paramilitary organization.
They are anti-Marxist and anti-Liberalist, fighting Communists in the streets from the
mid-1930s, heavily destabilizing Brazil and causing countless casualties.
But although Mussolini style fascism doesn't succeed in many countries, many places see
a move towards extreme right-wing style authoritarianism.
Perhaps most significant is Japan, which as we saw in a previous chapter follows something
like Fascism too - although in a very different way than Italy or Germany.
Historians refer to this as 'Military fascism,' 'Emperor fascism,' 'fascism from above' or
simply 'Kakushin' - Japanese for innovation.
In some ways, it's very similar to Franco's Fascism in Spain.
Franco also depends on a significant military component but in difference to Japan, it is
more corporatist, that is say society is divided into distinct groups, like corporations, so
that they can be easily ruled by a select group for the "benefit" of the nation.
Significantly.
We will see more of that when we cover Franco and Spain in a later episode.
In any case, Japan merges military Fascism with Colonialism, and Imperialism similar
to Great Britain, and to a lesser degree, France.
In Portugal in 1933, the Estado Novo, or Second Republic a corporatist, or interest group
based far-right regime gains power.
It is the continuation of the National Dictatorship set up in a 1926 coup that puts an end to
Portuguese democracy.
Similar to Fascism, Estado Novo is a reactionary and nationalist movement with great sympathies
for traditional Catholicism.
It opposes Socialism, Liberalism, and anti-Colonialism, protective of Portuguese colonies such as
Angola and Mozambique.
It is however also very different from Mussolini's Fascism, especially in its more moderate use
of state force.
António de Oliveira Salazar, the leader of Estado Novo, like Franco avoids meddling in
international politics or joining any international Fascist alliance.
This will help Estado Novo to stay in power until 1974 and the Carnation Revolution.
In 1932, many of the countries in Europe that became democracies in 1918 and 1919 have fallen
to similar authoritarianism.
Poland, the Baltic states, Yugoslavia, and several others are now under dictatorial regimes,
even actual dictators, or about to go that way.
In the end, the only countries where any kind of Fascist movements manages to get over 20%
of the electoral votes are in Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Romania.
Then, of course, there were countries where successful fascist or vaguely fascist movements
didn't use democratic institutions to gain power, such as Poland, Japan, or Spain.
Add the authoritarian movements on the left that arise through Socialist revolution in
the USSR and is on the march in many other places.
In 1932 it's relatively clear that the world is not on a clear path towards universal,
Liberal Democracy.
So while there might not have been a 'Global Fascist Surge,' there was a global anti-democratic
and anti-liberal surge, sometimes taking on the form of Fascism.
Thousands of people ready to abandon the rule of law, betray civil liberties, and deny the
sanctity of human life.
People that will not support any effort of their governments to resist the actual Fascist
surge.
In Europe, hundreds of thousands of them will take up arms for an ideologically aligned
foreign power.
These people will serve as some of the most hardboiled perpetrators of suppression, oppression,
and mass murder of those they deem as lesser non-desirable human beings.
They will be the enablers, the collaborators, and the SS volunteers.
They will betray their country, their neighbors, and their friends to fulfill dreams of superiority
and glory at the expense of all decency, humanity, and respect for human life.
If you'd like to see how Mussolini creates Fascism, then watch our video on the March
on Rome, which you can click on right here... any moment now.
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Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they.
Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight.
If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you
it will.
