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Oxford Readers
Fascism
No political ideology has had a greater impact on modern history, or caused more intellectual controversy, than fascism. It has been identified with totalitarianism, state terror, fanaticism, orchestrated violence, and blind obedience, and was directly associated with the horrors of the Second World War, which left more than 40 million dead and introduced inconceivable notions of inhumanity. The mere mention of the term today evokes visions of atrocities and ineffable cruelty. Yet, the end of the twentieth century appears to have spawned a renewed interest in fascism, suggesting that it is time for us to examine our understanding of its ideas, ideals, and inequities.
Edited by Roger Griffin, described as 'the premier theorist {of fascism} of the younger generation' (Contemporary European History), this important Oxford Reader demonstrates why fascism strongly appeals to many people, and how dangerous the result of this fascination may be. It includes a wide selection of texts written by fascist thinkers and propagandists, as well as by prominent anti-fascists from both inside and outside Europe, before and after the Second World War. Included are texts on fascism in Germany and Italy, on the abortive pre-1945 fascisms in more than a dozen countries around the world, on reactions to fascism, and on post-war and contemporary fascism. With contributions from writers as diverse as Benito Mussolini and Primo Levi, Joseph Goebbels and George Orwell, Martin Heidegger and Max Horkheimer, this compelling anthology provides insight into the depths and breadths of the destructive repercussions of fascist ideology. In no other volume will students of political theory, history, sociology, and psychology have access to such a compendium of key texts on this simultaneoulsy intriguing and frightening political force.
Edited by Roger Griffin, described as 'the premier theorist {of fascism} of the younger generation' (Contemporary European History), this important Oxford Reader demonstrates why fascism strongly appeals to many people, and how dangerous the result of this fascination may be. It includes a wide selection of texts written by fascist thinkers and propagandists, as well as by prominent anti-fascists from both inside and outside Europe, before and after the Second World War. Included are texts on fascism in Germany and Italy, on the abortive pre-1945 fascisms in more than a dozen countries around the world, on reactions to fascism, and on post-war and contemporary fascism. With contributions from writers as diverse as Benito Mussolini and Primo Levi, Joseph Goebbels and George Orwell, Martin Heidegger and Max Horkheimer, this compelling anthology provides insight into the depths and breadths of the destructive repercussions of fascist ideology. In no other volume will students of political theory, history, sociology, and psychology have access to such a compendium of key texts on this simultaneoulsy intriguing and frightening political force.
432 pages, Paperback
First published September 7, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
August 12, 2016
I'm accustomed to hearing the word "fascist" thrown about as an epithet; particularly when the speaker is referring to a politician with whom he disagrees. It is, however, a signature of our wayward times that the term is being applied to prominent public figures in the United States and abroad; this time not as an insult, but as a descriptor.
The label has been given to Donald Trump and his hardened cadre of supporters, who seem to embrace him more tightly as his rhetoric becomes more outrageous and disconnected from reality. The same can be said of President Duterte of the Philippines, whose brutal methods for dealing with the country's drug problem may not be legal, but are nonetheless widely popular. The anti-immigrant and specifically anti-Islamic rhetoric of some of the "Brexiteers" of the United Kingdom and Geert Wilders' political party in the Netherlands have likewise attracted the label, as their prominence has grown in light of the European migrant crisis. Marine Le Pen's National Front has long been a notable right-wing presence in France, but it has received extra attention as that afflicted country, mother of Jacobinism and prototype for the secular liberal democratic nation-state, has become a favorite target of Islamic fundamentalists.
Much of the western world seems gripped by insularity; a tightening of borders, a hardening of hearts, a sense that expansion has been retarded by the corrupt, the bureaucratic, the condescending, and the stupid. A conviction that the socio-political status quo has been maintained by a global elite who care more for the advancement of their personal agendas than for the wellbeing, or even the basic security, of the people they govern. The promise of globalization seems not to have been kept. Economic growth has not led to proportional wage increases or employment opportunities. Automation and outsourcing have decimated previously stable livelihoods. Mass immigration has left some people feeling like aliens in their own communities. In such times, when prosperity seems to have become a zero-sum game, where else can the disoriented turn than to that old staple of political and economic order, the nation-state? Thus,
as we mark the centennial of the battle of the Somme, nationalism is back; and with it, the echoes of that most derided and peculiar of nationalist ideologies: Fascism.
But what exactly is Fascism? People think they know it when they see it. Violent rhetoric, censorship, a charismatic leader supported by paramilitary organizations which operate outside of any normal, legal political process. These are all common elements of Fascist regimes, but none of them are exclusively Fascist trademarks; no single political goal or structure testifies adequately, on its own, to the Fascist worldview.
Roger Griffin, a British academic and one of the world's leading authorities on the intellectual history of Fascism, provides an intellectually sound but verbally opaque definition: Fascism, he says, "is a genus of political ideology whose mythic core in its various permutations is a palingenetic form of populist ultra-nationalism." What does that mean? The key is in the term "palingenetic". Palingenesis is the archetypal concept of rebirth, as it appears in various world mythologies. In the context of Fascism, palingenesis is applied to "populist ultra-nationalism". Fascist movements tend to envision themselves as ushering in a "rebirth" of the nation, conceived of as an organic entity composed of people bound by ethnic kinship. This myth of rebirth, of the transition from the old and decrepit to the new and vibrant, carried out by the immortal living organism of the nation, is the core of Fascist ideology. Fascists in politics have taken any number of political stances to advance their pragmatic interests; even when those positions have flatly contradicted one another. But the running constant behind the political posturing is always the palingenetic myth. Uniquely among twentieth century ideologies, Fascism has proclaimed itself as an anti-rational and anti-materialist movement. It is a politics of the poetic intuition, and as such it stands in opposition to Marxism and liberalism, which concern themselves with the proper arrangement of powers through a rational judgment of mundane material interests. Fascist idealism sounds pseudo-religious in nature, but Griffin holds that as a thoroughly modernist ideology, Fascism lacks the truly transcendent properties of any traditional religion. The nation exists in the body of humanity, and its myth is enacted by and for humanity.
In Italy and Germany, the Fascist myth reached its efflorenscence with the First World War. Even before the war broke out, political radicals of all stripes saw the prospect of total war not as the fruitless calamity it would become in the eyes of future generations, but rather as an exciting opportunity for national renewal. The petty politics of the old regimes would be swept aside as entire nations mobilized for war and fought not for wealth or power, but for the glory of the nation, sealing the national bond with their blood. The soldiers who took part in the war would be seen by the Fascists as a type of vanguard class; a class untainted by partisanship and which served only the
nation as a mythical expression. The "trenchocracy", as Mussolini would call them, were taken to be inherently apolitical, and were thus the only ones capable of carrying out the total revolution envisioned by Fascist movements.
A majority of the texts in this reader are various expressions of the faith Fascist intellectuals had in the rebirth of their respective nations, and the decadence and corruption of the old order. Futurists, traditionalists, and syndicalists alike shared this concept, and their appearance here as apologists for Fascism is a testament to the nebulousness of the Fascist idea; and how that nebulousness was utilized to brew a lethal cocktail of anti-capitalist, anti-liberal, anti-democratic, anti-communist, and anti-semitic sentiment to form the most notorious political ideology in history.
The label has been given to Donald Trump and his hardened cadre of supporters, who seem to embrace him more tightly as his rhetoric becomes more outrageous and disconnected from reality. The same can be said of President Duterte of the Philippines, whose brutal methods for dealing with the country's drug problem may not be legal, but are nonetheless widely popular. The anti-immigrant and specifically anti-Islamic rhetoric of some of the "Brexiteers" of the United Kingdom and Geert Wilders' political party in the Netherlands have likewise attracted the label, as their prominence has grown in light of the European migrant crisis. Marine Le Pen's National Front has long been a notable right-wing presence in France, but it has received extra attention as that afflicted country, mother of Jacobinism and prototype for the secular liberal democratic nation-state, has become a favorite target of Islamic fundamentalists.
Much of the western world seems gripped by insularity; a tightening of borders, a hardening of hearts, a sense that expansion has been retarded by the corrupt, the bureaucratic, the condescending, and the stupid. A conviction that the socio-political status quo has been maintained by a global elite who care more for the advancement of their personal agendas than for the wellbeing, or even the basic security, of the people they govern. The promise of globalization seems not to have been kept. Economic growth has not led to proportional wage increases or employment opportunities. Automation and outsourcing have decimated previously stable livelihoods. Mass immigration has left some people feeling like aliens in their own communities. In such times, when prosperity seems to have become a zero-sum game, where else can the disoriented turn than to that old staple of political and economic order, the nation-state? Thus,
as we mark the centennial of the battle of the Somme, nationalism is back; and with it, the echoes of that most derided and peculiar of nationalist ideologies: Fascism.
But what exactly is Fascism? People think they know it when they see it. Violent rhetoric, censorship, a charismatic leader supported by paramilitary organizations which operate outside of any normal, legal political process. These are all common elements of Fascist regimes, but none of them are exclusively Fascist trademarks; no single political goal or structure testifies adequately, on its own, to the Fascist worldview.
Roger Griffin, a British academic and one of the world's leading authorities on the intellectual history of Fascism, provides an intellectually sound but verbally opaque definition: Fascism, he says, "is a genus of political ideology whose mythic core in its various permutations is a palingenetic form of populist ultra-nationalism." What does that mean? The key is in the term "palingenetic". Palingenesis is the archetypal concept of rebirth, as it appears in various world mythologies. In the context of Fascism, palingenesis is applied to "populist ultra-nationalism". Fascist movements tend to envision themselves as ushering in a "rebirth" of the nation, conceived of as an organic entity composed of people bound by ethnic kinship. This myth of rebirth, of the transition from the old and decrepit to the new and vibrant, carried out by the immortal living organism of the nation, is the core of Fascist ideology. Fascists in politics have taken any number of political stances to advance their pragmatic interests; even when those positions have flatly contradicted one another. But the running constant behind the political posturing is always the palingenetic myth. Uniquely among twentieth century ideologies, Fascism has proclaimed itself as an anti-rational and anti-materialist movement. It is a politics of the poetic intuition, and as such it stands in opposition to Marxism and liberalism, which concern themselves with the proper arrangement of powers through a rational judgment of mundane material interests. Fascist idealism sounds pseudo-religious in nature, but Griffin holds that as a thoroughly modernist ideology, Fascism lacks the truly transcendent properties of any traditional religion. The nation exists in the body of humanity, and its myth is enacted by and for humanity.
In Italy and Germany, the Fascist myth reached its efflorenscence with the First World War. Even before the war broke out, political radicals of all stripes saw the prospect of total war not as the fruitless calamity it would become in the eyes of future generations, but rather as an exciting opportunity for national renewal. The petty politics of the old regimes would be swept aside as entire nations mobilized for war and fought not for wealth or power, but for the glory of the nation, sealing the national bond with their blood. The soldiers who took part in the war would be seen by the Fascists as a type of vanguard class; a class untainted by partisanship and which served only the
nation as a mythical expression. The "trenchocracy", as Mussolini would call them, were taken to be inherently apolitical, and were thus the only ones capable of carrying out the total revolution envisioned by Fascist movements.
A majority of the texts in this reader are various expressions of the faith Fascist intellectuals had in the rebirth of their respective nations, and the decadence and corruption of the old order. Futurists, traditionalists, and syndicalists alike shared this concept, and their appearance here as apologists for Fascism is a testament to the nebulousness of the Fascist idea; and how that nebulousness was utilized to brew a lethal cocktail of anti-capitalist, anti-liberal, anti-democratic, anti-communist, and anti-semitic sentiment to form the most notorious political ideology in history.
January 28, 2009
This was the book that introduced me to Griffin's thesis of the Fascist Minimum: "Fascism is a genus of political ideology whose mythic core in its various permutations is a palingenetic form of populist ultra-nationalism." After defining those terms in the Introduction, the rest of the book consists of primary source documents that prove it. Newcomers to the debate may be surprised to learn that Griffin does not include Franco's Spain or "Islamo-fascism" under his definition, or that he does include texts by Julius Evola and Ernst Junger (today largely "rehabilitated" by intellectuals). Also here are introductions to Fascist writers from such under-studied examples as Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Ireland, South Africa, Chile, Brazil and Japan.
Outside of political science and to a lesser degree history, the word Fascism has largely become an ill-defined epithet for forces opposed to an equally ill-defined "freedom." To understand what it is that you advocate, it is necessary to understand what you oppose.
Outside of political science and to a lesser degree history, the word Fascism has largely become an ill-defined epithet for forces opposed to an equally ill-defined "freedom." To understand what it is that you advocate, it is necessary to understand what you oppose.
October 13, 2016
For those that are wanting a real and in depth understanding of fascism as it existed in its historical context via a neo-fascist point of view this is probably not the book to start with although it does give a general overview of variations of fascist thought, definitions, and classifications which shows the complications inherent in the attempts to arrive at a comprehensive and all inclusive categoration of what defines fascism as a political ideology. The compiler and commentator doesn't himself believe that there is any such thing as a "fascist doctrine" (which is so broad it can encompass a variety of multitudinous ideas) and argues that the core description of fascism is the idea of a society being reborn from a degenerative state, something he calls palingenetic ultra-nationalism. He also includes a few common motifs found in fascist literature and movements such as the conception of the nation-state as being organic and its ingroup/outgroup mentality.
Also annoying, but expected is the author's obligatory liberalism and hostile condemnatory attitude toward fascism permeating throughout the book. He condemns fascism and all the ideas associated with it (ultra-nationalism, the belief that Europeans, Western Civilization, and white people have collective interests and a "right" to exist-which is a "right" and viewpoint that is not only unquestionably accepted when applied to non-Western and non-white cultures and peoples, but even considered morally wrong to reject when applied to them-and ridicule toward notions such as the European New Right's argument that the modern world's pathological obsession with breaking down racial and cultural barriers and all becoming one uniform mass of consumers with no essential racial differentiation between them is actually inherently contradictory to their religious devotion to "diversity" and "differences") claiming it is a utopian fantasy still endangering society while never questioning the "non-utopian" ideal of the sexless, multi-cultural, multi-racial, "everyone is the same and interchangeable," biology-less liberal society that he advocates.
Ultimately, the main thing in this book that I found useful are the selections from fascist thinkers who I hadn't heard of before so that I can now go find and read the primary source from which they were quoted from.
This anthology is also a good representation of the very mediocre quality of fascist scholarship.
Also annoying, but expected is the author's obligatory liberalism and hostile condemnatory attitude toward fascism permeating throughout the book. He condemns fascism and all the ideas associated with it (ultra-nationalism, the belief that Europeans, Western Civilization, and white people have collective interests and a "right" to exist-which is a "right" and viewpoint that is not only unquestionably accepted when applied to non-Western and non-white cultures and peoples, but even considered morally wrong to reject when applied to them-and ridicule toward notions such as the European New Right's argument that the modern world's pathological obsession with breaking down racial and cultural barriers and all becoming one uniform mass of consumers with no essential racial differentiation between them is actually inherently contradictory to their religious devotion to "diversity" and "differences") claiming it is a utopian fantasy still endangering society while never questioning the "non-utopian" ideal of the sexless, multi-cultural, multi-racial, "everyone is the same and interchangeable," biology-less liberal society that he advocates.
Ultimately, the main thing in this book that I found useful are the selections from fascist thinkers who I hadn't heard of before so that I can now go find and read the primary source from which they were quoted from.
This anthology is also a good representation of the very mediocre quality of fascist scholarship.
January 4, 2009
This book is FASCINATING. I read it for a class on fascism I took in college - it's a compilation of excerpts of texts written by various fascists and representing the various forms of fascism as it has manifested itself in different geographical locations. It gets right to the heart of fascism at its best, complete with some REALLY crazy stuff preached by some fairly eccentric people in their very own words(three cheers for primary docs). My jaw dropped several times while reading.
October 26, 2020
Роджер Ґрифін відомий своїми працями з досліджень фашизму The Nature of Fascism та Modernism and Fascism: The Sense of a Beginning under Mussolini and Hitler. Ця маленька книжечка одночасно і короткий вступ й короткий висновок його досліджень, вочевидь, призначена для студентів та таких ледачих читачів як я. Вона починається цитатою зі Сповіді Блаженного Августина: «Отже, що ж таке час? Коли ніхто не питає мене про це, я знаю, але як тільки йдеться про пояснення, я вже не знаю». Подібна проблема є й з визначенням фашизму, якщо ви брали участь у фейсбучних та твіттерських срачах, пояснювати це не має потреби. Ґрифін вважає, що об’єктивне визначення фашизму неможливе і його слід вживати як ідеальний тип у веберівському розумінні. Для його дослідження слід застосовувати емпатичний підхід, який суперечить як марксистському підходу з його зведенням фашизму до агента або знаряддя капіталізму, так і давній ліберальній тенденції бачити фашизм як щось фундаментально ірраціональне, нігілістичне та невизначене. Натомість він прагне зрозуміти його загалом в термінах, у яких фашисти самі розуміли свою політичну місію. Хоча складові ідеального типу в кожного дослідника можуть бути різні, та Ґрифін пропонує узагальнити його найбільш сталі елементи:
Ультранаціоналізм. Фашизм крайня форма націоналізму, що ґрунтується на утопічній візії нації як здорової, потужної та єдності яку фашисти намагаються втілити в життя шляхом насильницької або культурної революції. Це особлива форма «уявленої спільноти» за Андерсоном, яка не обов'язково збігається з історичною нацією або національною державою, як у випадку з «білою расою».
Віра в кризу, яка загрожує нації. Нація знаходиться у стані постійної екзистенційної загрози. Вона може пояснюватись широким колом факторів і зазвичай описується у термінах «кризи», «декадансу» або «виродження». У фашистському мисленні унікальні комбінації таких факторів спільно підривають згуртованість національної спільноти, героїчну концепцію ультранації та можливість досягнення трансцендентнос��і завдяки національній приналежності.
Заклик до повного захоплення (політичної або культурної) влади. Прагнення до створення Нового Порядку що приведе до відродження та оновлення нації, розпочне нову добу національної величі, спираючись на приховані ресурси безсмертної та невидимої ультранації, заснованої на первісних, вічних цінностях.
Модерністське бачення фашистського Нового Порядку, яке охоплює елементи міфологізованого минулого. Новий Порядок, навіть у випадку футуристичного фашизму в Італії, черпає свою життєву силу з «корисного минулого» нації. Таким чином, помилково вважати, що фашистські пошуки вкоріненості та захоплення минулим є якимось реакційним чи антисучасним. Навпаки, фашизм - це динамічна, орієнтована на майбутнє ідеологія, яка розглядає себе як альтернатива декадентському сьогоденню.
Останній пункт здається мені найважливішим, бо часто не усвідомлюється. Ми за інерцією вважаємо праві ідеології консервативними, хоча фашизм це революційний рух, спрямований на побудову нового світу і нової людини. Це значною мірою наслідок марксистської критики фашизму, яка майже відразу затаврувала його реакційним рухом.
Ультранаціоналізм. Фашизм крайня форма націоналізму, що ґрунтується на утопічній візії нації як здорової, потужної та єдності яку фашисти намагаються втілити в життя шляхом насильницької або культурної революції. Це особлива форма «уявленої спільноти» за Андерсоном, яка не обов'язково збігається з історичною нацією або національною державою, як у випадку з «білою расою».
Віра в кризу, яка загрожує нації. Нація знаходиться у стані постійної екзистенційної загрози. Вона може пояснюватись широким колом факторів і зазвичай описується у термінах «кризи», «декадансу» або «виродження». У фашистському мисленні унікальні комбінації таких факторів спільно підривають згуртованість національної спільноти, героїчну концепцію ультранації та можливість досягнення трансцендентнос��і завдяки національній приналежності.
Заклик до повного захоплення (політичної або культурної) влади. Прагнення до створення Нового Порядку що приведе до відродження та оновлення нації, розпочне нову добу національної величі, спираючись на приховані ресурси безсмертної та невидимої ультранації, заснованої на первісних, вічних цінностях.
Модерністське бачення фашистського Нового Порядку, яке охоплює елементи міфологізованого минулого. Новий Порядок, навіть у випадку футуристичного фашизму в Італії, черпає свою життєву силу з «корисного минулого» нації. Таким чином, помилково вважати, що фашистські пошуки вкоріненості та захоплення минулим є якимось реакційним чи антисучасним. Навпаки, фашизм - це динамічна, орієнтована на майбутнє ідеологія, яка розглядає себе як альтернатива декадентському сьогоденню.
Останній пункт здається мені найважливішим, бо часто не усвідомлюється. Ми за інерцією вважаємо праві ідеології консервативними, хоча фашизм це революційний рух, спрямований на побудову нового світу і нової людини. Це значною мірою наслідок марксистської критики фашизму, яка майже відразу затаврувала його реакційним рухом.
March 2, 2023
Es un libro bastante académico, dirigido a aquellos que van a realizar investigaciones sobre el fascismo (los dos primeros capítulos, por ejemplo, son una revisión de la literatura bastante exhausta desde los años veinte). Por lo tanto, no lo recomiendo como lectura al público general.
Aún así, diría que el enfoque del fascismo genérico como "ultranacionalismo palingenesico" es bastante útil y fecundo a la hora de cartografiar el fenómeno e iniciar investigaciones, sobre todo respecto al análisis de las ideologías. Eso no quita, sin embargo, que me parezca muy reduccionista su definición y que deje en un segundo plano la violencia política como elemento clave de la ideología fascista.
Aún así, diría que el enfoque del fascismo genérico como "ultranacionalismo palingenesico" es bastante útil y fecundo a la hora de cartografiar el fenómeno e iniciar investigaciones, sobre todo respecto al análisis de las ideologías. Eso no quita, sin embargo, que me parezca muy reduccionista su definición y que deje en un segundo plano la violencia política como elemento clave de la ideología fascista.
August 27, 2020
This isn't a casual reading book, but more along the lines of serious academic research. Honestly, it felt like an extension of my MA, which was fine. I appreciated the academic approach to this topic and wanted something that covered the history and scope of fascism. Overall, it was a good, academic read. Entertaining? It's not a light read, but important.
May 29, 2012
This was a bit like an annotated bibliography with samples. I understood his reason for choosing to include many short excerpts rather than fewer longer examples of fascist discourse, but I found it hard to buy his argument about the "mythic core" of fascism based on such edited selections. I also found the long introductions to each text quite interesting, but again, I was frustrated by the shortness of the examples he gave. The historical organization is good, and the breadth of coverage is remarkable. I was glad he included a section of anti-fascist works from the 1930s-1960s, including Willhelm Reich. The excerpt from Primo Levi at the end was great. It's definitely a valuable resource for people doing research on the history of fascism, anti-fascism, /or other far-right political movements.
October 13, 2022
Most of the book is the author trying to find a way to separate fascism from other right-wing extremist ideologies. The author does finally give a definition over 50 pages in and an actual description in his conclusion. And sadly, in an attempt to be more readable it jumps between being an accessible introduction and a niche academic text.
January 30, 2008
if someone had told me that they were doing a book on fascism which would consist of quotes by various fascists, i'd have told them to not bother, but to his great credit Griffin has compiled one of the best resources i have come across to understand fascism as a body of ideas.
September 29, 2011
read a lot of excerpts from guys talking about how cool fascism is
March 30, 2022
This is a very difficult book to read and not because of the subject matter. It is not a popular history but the work of a scholar for mostly other scholars. While covering much ground in trying to explore what fascism is, and it’s not a simple set of definitions as fascism was and is adaptable to separate cultural backgrounds and current requirements, it is not an ideology, it is a method. Two themes are returned to all throughout the book. First, one comes to realize (if one hasn’t already by living life today) that the salient point of fascism is palingenesis and palingenetic myths, the rebirth of the ultra-nation based on a fake heroic past, otherwise known as lies, Today in the US we have MAGA, in Russia there is the similar gibberish emanating from the Kremlin. This imagined re-birth is essentially the core belief, nebulous as it is, it’s most of what fascism is. Second is the use of empathetic paradigm to understand fascism through a historical & cultural lens and not just arguing definitions, because like all major human endeavors it is not simple. This is not the same as the current popular battle to not interpret history using today’s culture or personal point of view but goes further and attempts to actually understand (though not necessarily approve) historical motivations as they were to the leaders and little people fascists, seems obvious but can often be a duh moment. Read at your peril for it will throw you around.
June 9, 2022
Nombrar las cosas de manera correcta es el primer paso para hablar sobre ellas de manera precisa. Esa la premisa sobre la que se basa este libro de Roger Griffin, en el que se reconoce que hoy en día abusamos de la palabra fascismo para nombrar aquello que realmente no nos gusta o nos parece antidemocrático.
Este catedrático de Historia Moderna indaga en las raíces del propio concepto de fascismo (y todas sus variantes hasta el neofascismo) en busca de algunas características que nos permitan saber qué es fascismo y qué no.
Entre esos rasgos definitorios estarían:
a) Es una forma política en cuya esencia mítica está una forma palingenésica (es decir, de renacimiento) de un ultranacionalismo populista.
b) Sus mitos son una mezcla de historia, cultura y fantasía colectiva, que a veces se viven por medio de una lengua nacional propia.
c) Los fascismos modernos, a pesar de ese apego al terruño, tienen un ansía de internacionalización, lo que les lleva a reuniones con otros fascismos mundiales, con la idea de hacerse grandes y poderosos.
d) Rechaza ideas liberales de ciudadanía, multiculturalismo y la igualdad de derechos humanos como la base de la sociedad.
e) Consideran que existe una decadencia moral provocada por la homosexualidad, el feminismo, los matrimonios mixtos, el comunismo y, añado yo, el animalismo, los sindicatos y las ONG.
De acuerdo con esos criterios, ¿es fascista el PP? No.
¿Es fascista Vox? Sí, definitivamente. Cumple todos y cada uno de los puntos.
Este catedrático de Historia Moderna indaga en las raíces del propio concepto de fascismo (y todas sus variantes hasta el neofascismo) en busca de algunas características que nos permitan saber qué es fascismo y qué no.
Entre esos rasgos definitorios estarían:
a) Es una forma política en cuya esencia mítica está una forma palingenésica (es decir, de renacimiento) de un ultranacionalismo populista.
b) Sus mitos son una mezcla de historia, cultura y fantasía colectiva, que a veces se viven por medio de una lengua nacional propia.
c) Los fascismos modernos, a pesar de ese apego al terruño, tienen un ansía de internacionalización, lo que les lleva a reuniones con otros fascismos mundiales, con la idea de hacerse grandes y poderosos.
d) Rechaza ideas liberales de ciudadanía, multiculturalismo y la igualdad de derechos humanos como la base de la sociedad.
e) Consideran que existe una decadencia moral provocada por la homosexualidad, el feminismo, los matrimonios mixtos, el comunismo y, añado yo, el animalismo, los sindicatos y las ONG.
De acuerdo con esos criterios, ¿es fascista el PP? No.
¿Es fascista Vox? Sí, definitivamente. Cumple todos y cada uno de los puntos.
April 14, 2023
Me parece una obra importante con el fin de poder establecer las condiciones intrínsecas de los movimientos fascistas del periodo de entreguerras del siglo XX y con lo que el autor llama a través de una empatía metodológica entender las coyunturas de interpretación y significación para los militantes de dichos movimientos, más allá de las hermenéuticas marxistas y liberales de las que el libro también se encarga de esclarecer. Por otro lado, a través de este cuerpo comprensivo, el libro se encarga de construir un concepto genérico del mismo constituido de un tipo ideal general. Algo demasiado propio e útil como herramienta heurística de los procesos socio-históricos.
August 27, 2020
This isn't a casual reading book, but more along the lines of serious academic research. Honestly, it felt like an extension of my MA, which was fine. I appreciated the academic approach to this topic and wanted something that covered the history and scope of fascism. Overall, it was a good, academic read. Entertaining? It's not a light read, but important.
March 19, 2018
Reviewing the 2o18 edition. The essential introductory book on fascism - clear, comprehensive, in-depth but not exhausting. Simple explanations of sometimes rather complicated theories. This is the first book you should read before you start research on anything related to fascism.
August 25, 2023
Griffin gibt nen guten Überblick und zeigt in historischer Genese, wie Faschismus seine Masken wechselte
February 22, 2024
The writing is really good -
it keeps your attention,
isn't boring, and
hardly shows any bias.
I totally recommend it!
it keeps your attention,
isn't boring, and
hardly shows any bias.
I totally recommend it!
July 12, 2012
Fascism is probably one of the most poorly understood ideologies, despite the enormous impact it had on the 20th century. Griffin has created a work which has contained the writings of dozens of various fascist movements across the globe, in which the fascists describe their ideals themselves.
Griffin purposefully excludes writings from the Nazi party (which has its own book dedicated to it), and instead contains those of Italian Fascism, the Romanian Iron Guard, and the Croatian Ustache for example. Griffin is widely considered to be an authoritative source in the field, yet he does a good job in letting the works stand by themselves without intensive subjective editorials. Griffin does a great job in approaching the subject from a fresh approach in an emotionally intense debate. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to gain insight in the ideology and intellectual current of fascism, a movement whose impact is still felt in the world we live in today.
Griffin purposefully excludes writings from the Nazi party (which has its own book dedicated to it), and instead contains those of Italian Fascism, the Romanian Iron Guard, and the Croatian Ustache for example. Griffin is widely considered to be an authoritative source in the field, yet he does a good job in letting the works stand by themselves without intensive subjective editorials. Griffin does a great job in approaching the subject from a fresh approach in an emotionally intense debate. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to gain insight in the ideology and intellectual current of fascism, a movement whose impact is still felt in the world we live in today.
April 7, 2010
This book was an interesting collection of primary source documents (introduced in *very* dull segments) that all have something to do with fascism. The author states that collecting together fascist documents has never been done before (probably due to the unpopularity of the topic) and so I see a definite value to this book. The low rating I gave the book has simply to do with the fact that I have discovered I really don't care about the history of fascism -- so the primary source documents are stiflingly dull to me. If you're fascinated by fascism, this book will be an invaluable resource to you.
September 11, 2011
An excellent collection of text excerpts of fascists thinkers. Recommended for introductory classes on fascism.
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