The emergence of fascist movements. Who founded fascism

Fascism is a complex ideology. There are many definitions of fascism: some describe it as a type or set of political actions, others as a political philosophy or mass movement. Most definitions agree that fascism is authoritarian and promotes nationalism at all costs, but its main characteristics are the subject of much debate.

Fascism is usually associated with the German and Italian Nazi regimes that came to power after World War I, although fascist regimes or elements thereof were also present in several other countries. in Germany, in Italy, Francisco Franco in Spain and Juan Peron in Argentina were famous fascist leaders of the 20th century.

Robert Paxton, professor emeritus of the social sciences at Columbia University in New York, is considered the founder of the study of fascism in the United States. He defined the term as “a form of political behavior characteristic of the 20th century that, through sophisticated propaganda techniques, induces in people anti-liberal, anti-socialist, violently divisive, expansionist-nationalist intentions.”

Paxton argues that other definitions rely too much on documents that Mussolini, Hitler and others wrote before they came to power. Once in power, the fascists did not always keep their early promises. As the American Historical Association put it, speaking of fascism in Italy: “The proclaimed goals and principles of the fascist movement were far from being fully realized. They proclaimed almost everything: from extreme radicalism in 1919 to extreme conservatism in 1922.”

Lachlan Montagu, Austrian writer and scholar of fascism, economic history and interwar years, wrote in Live Science: "Fascism is definitely revolutionary and dynamic." He argues that some definitions of fascism, such as Ze'ev Sternall's description of "a form of extreme nationalism" in Not Right, Not Left, are too broad to be useful.

Although fascism is difficult to define, all fascist movements are characterized by certain core beliefs and actions.

Basic elements of fascism

Fascism implies adherence to certain basic concepts such as nation, national superiority and a superior race or group. The basic principle that Paxton described as the sole definition of the morality of fascism is to make the nation stronger, more powerful, larger and more successful. Because fascists see national strength as the only thing that makes a nation "worthy", they will use any means necessary to achieve this goal.

Based on this, the fascists seek to use the assets of their country to increase its own strength. This leads to the nationalization of assets. According to Montague, this is where fascism resembles Marxism. “If Marxism was supposed to divide assets in the name of an economic idea in a vast number of countries, then the fascists tried to do the same in one country,” he said.

Guided by the principle of extreme nationalism, fascist regimes tend to perform similar actions, although some of their features differ. Author George Orwell wrote in his essay “What is Fascism?” consistent with Paxton's assertions that these regimes transcend propaganda and use grand gestures such as parades and flamboyant appearances by leaders. Fascists denigrate other groups, despite the fact that these groups differ across countries and times. This is why the German Nazi regime denigrated Jews and others, while the Italian Mussolini regime denigrated the Bolsheviks.

Paxton, the author of several books including The Anatomy of Fascism, said fascism is based on feelings rather than philosophical ideas. In his 1988 essay “The Five Stages of Fascism,” published in 1998 in the Journal modern history", he identified seven feelings that act as a "mobilization of passions" for fascist regimes:

1. Leadership of the group. It seems that maintaining the group is even more important than individual or general rights.
2. The belief that your group is the victim. This justifies any behavior against the group's enemies.
3. The belief that individualism and liberalism lead to decline and negatively affect the group.
4. A strong sense of community or brotherhood. This brotherhood is "unity and purity, strengthened by common conviction, if possible, or exclusive violence, if necessary."
5. Individual self-esteem is linked to the greatness of the group. Paxton called it " heightened feeling identity and belonging."
6. Extreme support for the “natural” leader, who is always male. This leads to one person taking on the role of national savior.
7. “The beauty of violence and will when dedicated to the success of a group in a Darwinian struggle,” Paxton wrote.

The idea of ​​a naturally superior group, or, especially in the case of Hitler, biological racism, fits into the fascist interpretation of Darwinism.

Paxton noted that once in power, fascist dictators suppressed individual freedoms, imprisoned opponents, banned strikes, provided unlimited police power in the name of national unity and revival, and committed military aggression.

Why is it so difficult to define fascism?

“Perhaps the most terrifying moment for any expert on fascism is trying to define fascism” - L. Montague.

In 1944, while much of the world was still under the influence of fascist regimes, Orwell wrote that it was very difficult to define fascism. In the essay “What is Fascism?” he explained that much of the trouble lay in the many differences between fascist regimes: “It is not easy, for example, to fit Germany and Japan into the same frame, and even more difficult to do so with some of the small states which are described as fascist.”

Fascism always takes on the individual characteristics of the country in which it is located, which leads to different regimes. For example, Paxton described in The Five Stages of Fascism that “religion would play a greater role in fascism originating in the United States” than in more secular Europe. He also noted that national variants of fascism differ more widely than national variants of, for example, communism or capitalism.

To further complicate matters, non-fascist governments often emulated elements of fascist regimes to give a veneer of strength and national vitality. For example, mass mobilizations of citizens wearing colored shirts do not automatically equate to fascist political practice.

"The predominance of words in simple spoken language also raises definitional problems. These days, the term 'fascist' has been used as an insult so much that it has diluted the meaning, and especially the evil nature that the word carries,” Montague explains.

Unlike most other political, social or ethical philosophies such as communism, capitalism, conservatism, liberalism or socialism, fascism does not have a specific philosophy. As Paxton wrote: "There was no 'fascist manifesto,' no fundamental fascist thinker."

Setting the stage for fascism

Throughout the history of the 20th century, fascist regimes raised certain sociocultural and political issues. It is also worth noting that in many countries, such as Great Britain in the 1920s and 1930s, fascist ideas gained popularity without the rise of regime power, and fascist parties became star political players.

First of all, fascist regimes in the 20th century required extreme national crises to gain popularity and power. After defeat in the First World War, many in Germany and Italy were concerned about the culture of their countries. According to Montagu, they were promised national glory and expansion, and therefore felt shame and disappointment after defeat.

European fascist ideas inspired the establishment of regimes throughout Latin America, including in Bolivia and Argentina. “These countries also had a very difficult time during the depression, and the usual middle-class parties operating in parliamentary systems were clearly unsuccessful,” Paxton described. “Argentina was a rich country in 1900, exporting grain and meat, but was forced out from these markets, and Argentina became poorer. It was like losing a war. They turned to a military leader who was popular among the people.”

Spain and Portugal were dictatorships until 1975, but these governments were a mixture of conservative and fascist parties.

Fascism today

Fascism has largely fallen out of favor in Europe and North America. “It has become a political insult, which has led to the term being overused and diminished,” Paxton says. However, in the last few decades there have been fascist or proto-fascist movements in Europe and North America. “As communism declined after 1989, proto-fascism became the main vehicle for protest voting in Europe,” he writes.

The rise of populism in Europe and the United States in the 2000s led many to worry whether fascism would once again gain a foothold. However, Paxton does not believe that fascism is on the rise in the United States: “I think traditional conservatism prevails in our country. Basic social political program represents individualism, but not for everyone, but for entrepreneurs. He supports the right of businessmen to achieve maximum profit without rules or control. We have an oligarchy [Defined by Oxford English dictionary as "a small group of people in control of a country or organization"] who have learned some clever maneuvers to gain popularity and support through oratory techniques that resemble fascism.

For example, the United States is in a significantly in better shape than Germany or Italy after the First World War. However, some politicians have convinced many Americans that the situation in the country is close to dire.”

Usually the word fascism associated with Germany in the 30-40s of the last century and Adolf Hitler. In fact, fascism appeared in Europe a little earlier in another country - Italy. The leader of the fascist movement in Italy was Benito Mussolini.

The word fascism itself is also of Italian, or rather Latin, origin. It is derived from the word fascia (fascii) - as in Ancient Rome called tightly tied bundles of rods with hatchets inserted into them - an attribute of the bodyguards of statesmen.

After the end of the First World War, Italy found itself in a deep economic crisis: inflation and external debt increased, and many enterprises went bankrupt. Following the economic crisis, the country was gripped by a crisis in social sphere, which resulted in pogroms of shops and unauthorized seizures of land in rural areas. It is quite natural that the authority of the government was undermined in this situation. Enjoyed increasing support from the people Nationalist Party, which called for the country to return the lost territories of Dalmatia, Albania and North Africa.

In 1919, the Fasci di Combattimento were formed in Italy - battle groups led by Benito Mussolini. In the mired internal problems In the country, ardent nationalists enjoyed great success among various segments of the population, blaming socialists and democrats for all the troubles and calling for the creation of a new “Greater Italy”. The fascist units grew rapidly, at some point even the police could not compete with them. The Italian government realized the danger too late.

On October 28, 1922, the government of Luigi Facta resigned, and Benito Mussolini became the new prime minister. In fact, the seizure of power was violent: the king of Italy, surrounded by numerous fascist supporters, had no choice but to recognize Mussolini as the legitimate head of government. On the other hand, there was no revolutionary uprising, like the events of 1917 in Russia. At first, the fascists did not even insist on their majority in the government and did not eliminate the multi-party system. Thus, the appearance of legitimacy was created.

However, the Nazis acted quickly. At the end of 1922, the Great Fascist Council was formed, which concentrated the main functions of power in its hands: it controlled the activities of the government and considered bills before they entered parliament.

In 1924, the Nazis won the parliamentary elections, but the opposition, represented by the Socialist Party, was still quite strong. Here the nationalists made a big mistake: they eliminated one of Mussolini’s main competitors in parliament - Giacomo Matteotti - who was kidnapped and killed by the fascists. This caused a storm of indignation, in the wake of which the anti-fascist Aventine bloc was created. However, the latter acted rather passively, as a result of which Mussolini completely concentrated power in the state in his hands by the mid-20s.

At the end of the 20s of the last century, a totalitarian regime was actually created in Italy, living peacefully with the monarchy (Mussolini was still prime minister) and Catholicism, but not limited by them. All opposition political parties, organizations and trade unions were banned, denunciations were encouraged, and citizens' suspicion of each other was inflamed.

(fascism) Far-right nationalist ideology and movement with a totalitarian and hierarchical structure, diametrically opposed to democracy and liberalism. The term originates in Ancient Rome, in which the power of the state was symbolized by the fasces - bundles of rods tied together (which meant the unity of the people) with a hatchet protruding from the bundle (meaning leadership). This symbol served as Mussolini's emblem for the movement he brought to power in Italy in 1922. Later, however, the name became common to a number of movements that arose in Europe between the two world wars. These movements include the National Socialists in Germany, Action Francaise in France, the Arrow Cross in Hungary, and the Falangists in Spain. IN post-war period the term was often used with the prefix "neo" to refer to those considered followers of the above-mentioned movements. These include, in particular, the Italian Social Movement (renamed the National Alliance in 1994), the Republican Party in Germany, the National Front in France and the Falange in Spain, as well as Peronism and, in Lately, movements that arose in post-communist countries, such as “Memory” in Russia. So, with such a variety of movements, is it possible to talk about one meaning of this term? Purely fascist ideologies can be classified as follows. From a structural point of view, monistic ones stand out among them, based on the idea of ​​unconditional fundamental and most essential truths about humanity and environment; simplistic, attributing the occurrence of complex phenomena to single causes and offering single solutions; fundamentalist, associated with the division of the world into “bad” and “good” without any intermediate forms, and conspiratorial, based on the fact that there is a secret large-scale conspiracy of some hostile forces that intend to manipulate the masses to achieve and/or maintain their dominance. In terms of content, fascist ideologies differ in five main positions: 1) extreme nationalism, the belief that there is a pure nation that has its own characteristics, culture and interests that are distinct from other nations and is superior to all other nations; 2) such a conclusion is usually accompanied by the statement that this nation is experiencing a period of decline, but once, in the mythical past, it was great, with harmonious socio-political relations, and itself dominated over others, but later lost its internal unity, disintegrated and fell dependent on other, less significant nations; 3) the process of national decline is often associated with a decrease in the level of racial purity of the nation. Some movements are characterized by an approach to the nation as something that coincides in time and space with a race (nation race), others recognize a hierarchy of races within which nations are located (race nation). In almost all cases, the loss of purity is considered to weaken the race and is ultimately the cause of its present predicament; 4) guilt for the decline of the nation and/or for mixed marriages blamed on the conspiracy of other nations or races, which are believed to be waging a desperate struggle for dominance; 5) in this struggle, both capitalism and its political shell - liberal democracy - are considered merely as ingenious means of splitting the nation and its further subordination to the world order. As for the basic demands of these ideologies, chief among them is the reconstruction of the nation as an objective reality through the restoration of its purity. The second requirement is the restoration of the dominant position of the nation through the restructuring of the state structure, economy and society. To the means of achieving these goals in different cases include: 1) the construction of an authoritarian, illiberal state, in which one party plays a dominant role; 2) complete control of this party over political organization, information and nationalization; 3) public administration labor resources and the sphere of consumption in order to build a productive and self-sufficient economy; 4) the presence of a charismatic leader who would be able to flesh out the “real” interests of the nation and mobilize the masses. If these most important goals are achieved, the nation will be able to regain its lost dominance, even, if necessary, by military means. Similar goals in the period between the two world wars were characteristic of fascist movements, which with particular zeal were engaged in racial and ethnic cleansing, established totalitarian political systems and dictatorships, built a productive economy and, of course, started wars with the goal of gaining world domination. However, such parties can no longer openly propagate such extremist ideas. A revision of positions took place. The struggle for the purity of the nation and race now results in opposition to incessant migration and demands for the repatriation of foreigners; the demand for totalitarianism and dictatorship was replaced by less stringent proposals for a significant strengthening of state power, supposedly within the framework of democracy; the prerogative of producing goods has been replaced by government intervention in economic sphere, and they almost completely stopped talking about military valor. Post-war movements with similar ideologies are usually called neo-fascist.

In a narrow sense, fascism is an ideological and political movement in Italy in the 1920s–40s. The founder of Italian fascism is the journalist Benito Mussolini, expelled from the Socialist Party in 1914 for promoting war. In March 1919, he united his supporters, among whom there were many front-line soldiers disillusioned with the current government, into the “Union of Struggle” - “fascio di combattimento”.

Representatives of futurism, a specific movement in art and literature of the early 20th century, completely denying the cultural achievements of the past, glorifying war and destruction as a means of rejuvenating a decrepit world (F. T. Marinetti and others) made a significant contribution to the formation of fascism as an ideology.

One of Mussolini's predecessors was the writer Gabriel d'Annunzio. The meaning of the ideology of fascism is the recognition of the right of the Italian nation to take precedence in Europe and the world due to the fact that the inhabitants of the Apennine Peninsula descend from the descendants of the Romans, and the Italian Kingdom is the legal successor of the Roman Empire.

Fascism proceeds from the concept of the nation as an eternal and supreme reality based on community of blood. In unity with the nation, according to the fascist doctrine, the individual, through self-denial and sacrifice of private interests, realizes “purely spiritual existence.” According to Mussolini, “for a fascist, nothing human or spiritual exists, much less has value, outside the state. In this sense, fascism is totalitarian.”

The Italian state became totalitarian (the term of the “Duce” himself - Italian “duke”, “leader”, as the dictator was officially called) when B. Mussolini came to power. In 1922, with his numerous “Black Shirt” supporters, formed in columns of thousands, he carried out the famous march on Rome. By a majority vote, parliament transferred power to him in the country. But Mussolini managed to carry out the transition to a totalitarian state, where all spheres of society are controlled by the authorities, only 4 years later. He banned all parties except the fascist one, declared the Great Fascist Council the highest legislative body of the country, abolished democratic freedoms, and stopped the activities of trade unions.

In relations with the outside world, Mussolini pursued an aggressive policy. Back in 1923, his government, after a bombing, captured Corfu island. When the like-minded Duce A. Hitler came to power in Germany, Mussolini, feeling support, carried out aggression against the African state of Ethiopia.

Italian military formations took part in the Francoist war against Republican Spain and in hostilities on the territory of the USSR as part of the Nazi army. After the invasion of Sicily and then mainland Italy by American and British troops in 1943, the government of King Victor Emmanuel III capitulated, the Fascist Grand Council votes against Mussolini, and the king orders his arrest. Hitler, having sent his paratroopers, freed the Il Duce, who was under arrest, and returned him to the post of head of the “Italian Social Republic” (“Republic of Salo”), a part of Northern Italy occupied by the Germans.

It was at this time that repressions against Jews unfolded in the formation led by Mussolini, although it did not reach the point of mass anti-Semitic actions, unlike Germany and other states of the fascist bloc (Romania, Hungary, Croatia), as well as the Nazi-occupied territories of Poland and Soviet Union. On April 27, 1945, Benito Mussolini and his mistress were captured by members of the Italian Resistance and executed the next day.

The ideology of fascism turned out to be unviable even during the lifetime of its creator. Mussolini's dream of recreating the "Roman Empire" collided with the Italian people's inability to nation-build. The ideas of the corporate state have been implemented in other countries.

In many postulates, fascism is close to German National Socialism, as a result of which both doctrines are often identified. Usually all the horrors of fascism are associated with the policy of genocide pursued by A. Hitler.

In the occupied territories, the German fascists, using concentration camps and mass brutal murders, according to various estimates, killed more than 20 million people. (mainly Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Jews, Gypsies, Poles, etc.).

Fascism as an ideology was condemned by the international tribunal at the Nuremberg trials, and the legislation of many countries still requires criminal liability for promoting fascism.

The term “fascist” was also used in relation to the Salazar regime in Portugal and the Franco dictatorship in Spain.

Fascism is based on totalitarian political party(“a powerful organization of an active minority”), which, after coming to power (usually violently), becomes a state-monopoly organization, as well as the unquestioned authority of the leader (Duce, Fuhrer). Fascist regimes and movements widely use demagogy, populism, slogans of socialism, imperial power, and apologetics of war.

Fascism finds support in conditions of national crises. Many features of fascism are inherent in various social and national movements of the right and left, as well as some modern state regimes that base the ideology and public policy on the principle of national intolerance (modern Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Ukraine, etc.).

Thus, about 200 thousand Russian-speaking residents of Estonia are deprived civil rights, are discriminated against nationality and vegetate in the position of second-class citizens. There is active anti-Russian propaganda in the country, aimed at instilling hatred of Russians among ethnic Estonians, as well as a large-scale campaign to rehabilitate Nazi criminals.

Based on a number of characteristics (leadership, totalitarianism, national, class, racial intolerance), some Russians can also be classified as fascist. political movements, including NBP (see National Bolsheviks), RNE, skinhead movement.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

The term "fascism" comes from the Italian word fascio, meaning "union, association." In ancient Rome, the word “fascia” was used to describe rods, which were a symbol of the system of power. Fascism is a special totalitarian movement in politics that arose at the beginning of the 20th century. Since the word "fascia" has Latin roots, it is not difficult to guess in which country fascism arose: in Italy.

How did fascism appear?

In 1915, the Italian government declared war on Austria-Hungary. Alas, this war turned out to be a disaster for the Italians. The Italian government did not receive the vast lands of Austria-Hungary promised by the Entente, and worries about the severe economic crisis were added to the infringed national feelings of the Italians. Most banks and enterprises declared themselves bankrupt. Peasants became poor, and city residents became unemployed. People's confidence in parliament and the king fell, and mass protests began against the existing government.

In 1919, with financial support from the United States and Great Britain, the “Union of Struggle” (in Italian: “Fascio di combattimento”) appeared. Its leader becomes the successful journalist Benito Mussolini, who advocates for the greatness of Italy and the restoration of the Roman Empire.

The Italian fascists are supported by all segments of the population: from the titled nobility to the ordinary unemployed. Tired of chaos, Italians believed Mussolini's promises to make the people happy. The fascist paraphernalia also looked attractive: black shirts, a clear military bearing, a greeting borrowed from the Romans. The Italian army and police sympathized with the fascists, the courts of that time acquitted Mussolini's militants and condemned the workers who risked attacking the Blackshirts.

How fascism became the main ideology of Germany

People answer questions confidently , This is the country in which fascism arose, calling Germany the homeland of this political movement. This happens because fascism is associated with the name of the dictator Adolf Hitler, who ruled Germany.

And although Italy is considered the cradle of fascism, it still received its main development in Germany, becoming Hitler’s program. The main goal The fascist party becomes the spread of ideology and the preparation of a terrorist apparatus to seize power.

In 1932, the fascist party was the leader in the number of mandates, and already in 1933, Hitler occupied the high post of Reich Chancellor of the country. From this moment on, the takeover of Europe by the great dictator begins. In 1939 the Second World War begins World War, which ends in 1945 with the complete defeat of fascism.

Today, in many countries of the world, neo-fascism, based on nationalist ideas, is spreading.

The psychological basis for the growth of pre-fascist and then fascist sentiments was the phenomenon that the famous philosopher Erich Fromm defined as “flight from freedom.” " Small man“felt lonely and helpless in a society where he was dominated by faceless economic laws and gigantic bureaucratic institutions, and traditional ties with his social environment were blurred or severed. Having lost the “chains” of neighborly, family, community “unity,” people felt the need for some kind of community replacement. They often found such a replacement in a sense of belonging to the nation, in an authoritarian and paramilitary organization, or in a totalitarian ideology.

It was on this basis that at the beginning of the 20th century. The first groups appeared that stood at the origins of the fascist movement. It received its greatest development in Italy and Germany, which was facilitated by unresolved social, economic and political problems, sharply aggravated against the general background of global upheavals and crises of the era.

The First World War was accompanied by nationalistic and militaristic frenzy. Prepared by decades of propaganda, a wave of mass chauvinism swept across European countries. In Italy, a movement arose in favor of the country entering the war on the side of the Entente powers (the so-called “interventionists”). It united nationalists, some socialists, representatives of the artistic avant-garde (“futurists”), etc. The leader of the movement was one of the former leaders of the Italian Socialist Party, Mussolini, expelled from its ranks for calling for war. On November 15, 1914, Mussolini began publishing the newspaper Popolo d'Italia, in which he called for a “national and social revolution", and then led the movement of supporters of the war - "fascists of revolutionary action." Members of the fascist held violent war demonstrations, which in May 1915 resulted in a wave of pogroms directed against citizens of Austria-Hungary and Germany and supporters of maintaining the country's neutrality, and an attack on parliament. As a result, they managed to drag Italy into the war, against the will of the majority of the population and a significant part of the politicians. Subsequently, the fascists considered this speech the starting point of their movement.

The course and consequences of the First World War came as a shock to European society. The war caused a deep crisis of established norms and values, moral restrictions were discarded; habitual human ideas have been revised, primarily about value human life. People who returned from the war could not find themselves in a peaceful life, from which they had become accustomed. The socio-political system was shaken by the revolutionary wave that swept Russia, Spain, Finland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy and other European countries in 1917-1921. In Germany, this was added to by the ideological vacuum that arose with the fall of the monarchy in November 1918 and the unpopularity of the Weimar Republic regime. The situation was aggravated by the acute post-war economic crisis, which hit small entrepreneurs, traders, shopkeepers, peasants, and office workers especially hard. The emerging complex social problems was associated in the public consciousness with the unsuccessful outcome of the war: military defeat and the hardships of the Versailles Treaty in Germany, or with the unfavorable results of the redistribution of the world in Italy (the feeling of a “stolen victory”). Broad sections of society imagined a way out of this situation by establishing tough, authoritarian power. It was this idea that was adopted by the various European countries fascist movements.

The main social base of these movements was the radical part of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs and traders, shopkeepers, artisans, and office workers. These layers were largely disillusioned by the competitive struggle with large owners and with economic rivals on the world stage, as well as by the ability of a democratic state to provide them with prosperity, stability and acceptable social status. Having allied themselves with declassed elements, they put forward their own leaders who promised to solve their problems by creating new system total power, strong, national, corresponding to their views and interests. However, the phenomenon of fascism went far beyond the boundaries of just one layer of small and medium-sized owners. It also captured part of the working people, among whom the norms of authoritarian and nationalist psychology and value orientation were also widespread. The monstrous pressure exerted on members of society by constant tension, monotonous work, uncertainty about the future, growing dependence on powerful state and economic structures of control and subordination, increases general irritability and hidden aggressiveness, which easily translates into racism and hatred of “outsiders” ( xenophobia). The mass consciousness turned out to be largely prepared for the perception of totalitarianism by the entire previous history of the development of society.

In addition, the spread of fascist sentiments was also associated with a general change in the role of state power in the 20th century. It increasingly took on previously unusual social and economic functions, and this contributed to the growing demand for authoritarian, coercive and forceful solutions to problems. Finally, the fascists were supported by part of the former economic and political elite a number of countries, in the hope that a strong dictatorial power will promote economic and political modernization, help solve economic difficulties, suppress social movements of workers and, through the concentration of forces and resources, overtake competitors on the world stage. All these factors and sentiments contributed to the fascists coming to power in a number of European states in the 1920s and 1930s.

Italian fascism was the first to take shape. On March 23, 1919, at a congress of former front-line soldiers in Milan, the birth of the fascist movement led by Mussolini, who received the title of “leader” - “Duce” (duce), was officially proclaimed. It became known as the National Fascist Party. “Fashi” detachments and groups quickly emerged throughout the country. Just three weeks later, on April 15, with the shooting of a left-wing demonstration and the destruction of the editorial office of the socialist newspaper Avanti, the fascists essentially unleashed a “creeping” civil war.

The formation of the fascist movement in Germany also dates back to this period. Here it was not originally formalized in single organization, but consisted of different, often competing factions. In January 1919, on the basis of radical nationalist political circles, the “German Workers' Party” was formed, which was later renamed the “National Socialist German Workers' Party” (NSDAP), and its members began to be called “Nazis”. Soon, Hitler, who came from army circles, became the leader (“Führer”) of the NSDAP. Other, no less influential fascist organizations in Germany at that time were the “Black Reichswehr”, “Anti-Bolshevik League”, paramilitary societies, groups of adherents of the “conservative revolution”, “National Bolsheviks”, etc. Tactics German fascists included terror and preparations for an armed seizure of power. In 1923, far-right groups led by the Nazis rebelled in Munich (the Beer Hall Putsch), but it was quickly suppressed.