A History of Fascism, 1914-1945 Quotes

“the necessary conditions for the growth of a significant fascist movement involved strong influence from the cultural crisis of the fin de siècle in a situation of perceived mounting cultural disorientation; the background of some form of organized nationalism before World War I; an international situation of perceived defeat, status humiliation, or lack of dignity; a state system comparatively new that was entering or had just entered a framework of liberal democracy; a situation of increasing political fragmentation; large sectors of workers, farmers, or petit bourgeois that were either not represented or had lost confidence in the existing parties; and an economic crisis perceived to stem in large measure from foreign defeat or exploitation.”
― Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914–1945

“fascism may be defined as “a form of revolutionary ultranationalism for national rebirth that is based on a primarily vitalist philosophy, is structured on extreme elitism, mass mobilization, and the Führerprinzip, positively values violence as end as well as means and tends to normatize war and/or the military virtues.”12”
― Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914–1945

“Many nationalist authoritarian regimes have some of the characteristics of fascism, just as all Communist regimes have had and still have some of the characteristics of Fascism. These features include: 1.​Permanent nationalistic one-party authoritarianism, neither temporary nor a real prelude to internationalism. 2.​The charismatic leadership principle, incorporated by many different kinds of regimes. 3.​The search for a synthetic ethnicist ideology, distinct from liberalism and Marxism. 4.​An authoritarian state system and political economy of corporatism or partial socialism, more limited and pluralist than the Communist model. 5.​The philosophical principle of voluntarist activism, unbounded by any philosophical determinism.”
― Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914–1945

“Even in the most favorable situations, radical authoritarian movements or coalitions aiming at a new dictatorship have great, normally insurmountable, difficulty in passing the “40 percent barrier.”
― Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914–1945

“Mussolini was tempted to revert to his old anti-Nazi stance but convinced himself that to renounce an aggressive policy now, along lines parallel with Hitler’s, would be equivalent to turning his back on the whole revolutionary project of Fascism and the totalitarian state, the same as giving in to the hated peace-loving Italian bourgeoisie. Thus when he and Hitler met in May 1939, Mussolini insisted on going beyond Hitler’s suggestion of a formal diplomatic alliance, asking instead for a complete military alliance that could be called the “Pact of Blood.” This was more than Hitler had asked for, since technically it bound Italy to go to war whenever Germany did, and he changed the name to the less melodramatic “Pact of Steel.”
― Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914–1945

“Hitler and Mussolini independently but simultaneously decided to intervene on the same side in Spain. This in turn led to a formal meeting between Hitler and Foreign Minister Ciano in October 1936, after which the formation of a “Rome-Berlin Axis” was announced.”
― Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914–1945

“Forming a fascio—the term means band, union, or league—had been standard practice among various sectors of Italian radicalism since the 1870s.”
― Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914–1945

“Lenin did not create the political doctrines of fascism, but his Communist totalitarianism based on systematic mass violence initiated most of the new practices and institutions of fascist-type regimes.”
― Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914–1945

“The virtually static trench fronts tied down millions for months on end, creating a new collective consciousness of a separate society, a warrior group partially isolated from the rest of the nation and from normal experiences, bonded by a prolonged camaraderie and a new sense of collective identity, a consciousness made more deep and lasting by common suffering and self-sacrifice. This sense of collective identity and mission would survive the war and help to create a new sense of nationalist identity, mission, and purpose among many veterans. It produced the sense of a perceived new “civilian military class” that would play a special role of militance and leadership in postwar nationalism, and in the political endeavors of the 1920s and 1930s. It made concepts of “blood socialism” and “trenchocracy” valid in the thinking of hundreds of thousands of veterans.”
― Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914–1945

“Boredom, of course, had been found among elites and aristocracies for millennia, but only in nineteenth-century Europe did leisure begin to extend so broadly, even among the greater middle classes, that boredom became a growing symptom of malaise in a broader minority of society. This in turn was increasingly identified with resentment against stuffiness and restrictive mores, varyingly interpreted and denounced as bourgeois piety, prudery, and philistinism, and always as hypocrisy.”
― Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914–1945