Varieties of Fascism

Four unintended results of World War I were the Great Depression, the rise of Big Communism, obviously World War II, and the rise of Fascism. Some historians argue that the rise of Big Fascism may have been the result of the the other unintended consequences. John Maynard Keynes served clear warning of the economic consequences only to be ignored and later, too late, to be proved correct and prophetic. Eugene Weber's book titled VARIETIES OF FASCISM is a surprising informative book on the emergence of Fascism. This small book was well written and very comprehensive for such a small book as a previous reviewer has noted. Weber begins this book with ideas and trends of the second half of the 19th. century. He traced one source of Fascism to Rosseau's political thinking. Weber also comments on Euroepean economic conditions especially after 1850. Some European merchants accepted Classical Liberalism and laissez-faire economic theorizing as well some some respect for civil liberties. However, when some businessmen and merchants realized that they were being undermined by international corporations and banking institutions, they began to look for other political responces to these problems as Classical Liberalism appeared to be either a failure or too corrupt. Weber was clear in this book that Fascism was usually a combination of socialism and nationalism. Communism which represented international socialism and class warfare did not appeal to most industrial workers. Weber cited some comments made by European workers who thought that the notions of class warfare and international socialism were ludicrous. Many industrial workers and failed businessmen saw socialism as national socialism which is a key to Weber's book. Weber treated Fascist movements in Britain (Oswald Mosley), France (Mauras & co.) Belgium (Degrelle and the Rexists), Hungary (Szlazy and the Hungarian Arrow Cross), Germany (Hitler and the National Socialists), Italy (Musolini and the Fascists), etc. Weber was clear that each of these Fascist leaders rose to popularity and some to actual political power based on promises to reform the economic disasters of the Great Depression which in turn can be traced to World War I. Each leader demanded control over the economy but did not want to take private property. The prominent British historian, A.J.P. Taylor, has an interesing comment in his book THE ORIGINS OF WORLD WAR II that Hitler and co. stumbled on the econmics exactly as FDR did with FDR's New Deal. Weber also made mention of the fact all Fascist leaders exhibited fears of Big Communism. In parts of Central and Eastern Europe fears of Big Communism were very real. Weber implied and Nolte states very clearly that without Big Communism there may not have been Big Fascism. Weber repeatedly mentioned that angry memories of W.W. I on part of both the "winners" and losers were long standing. Any honest historian will state that actually no one won that blood bath. Weber made inter

Prof. Weber begins by finding the roots of fascist tendencies in the thought of Rousseau and proceeds to sift through the substrate of ideas, primarily anti-liberalism (abandonment of laissez-faire and individualism) and nationalism, that fertilized and led to the eventual flowering of fascist movements. That nationalism is collectivistic in nature is a point that is frequently overlooked, and readers will be reminded that nationalism and socialism are both products of the same assumptions. Once this is recognized, it is easy to understand why the author views fascism and communism as not antithetical but rather "fréres ennemis". He goes on to pinpoint in a very straightforward and persuasive way the general dynamics of fascism. This discussion yields several gems too numerous to list here, including the observation that fascist ideology contains both an equalitarian [egalitarian] AND elitist element...an observation pregnant with implications that go a long way toward explaining why fascism became so immensely popular. The book concludes with a brief analysis of several better- and lesser-known fascist movements that have appeared throughout Europe, along with a list of readings pertaining to same. This is a compact volume, but its size is deceiving. Readers will find more substance packed into these 191 pages than in most works twice as long. You won't learn everything that is important to know about fascism from this book but as a quick and concise introduction to the subject it is, for anyone with an earnest interest, indispensable.