Fascism and the Masses

Fascism and the Masses PDF Author: Ishay Landa
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351179977
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
Highlighting the "mass" nature of interwar European fascism has long become commonplace. Throughout the years, numerous critics have construed fascism as a phenomenon of mass society, perhaps the ultimate expression of mass politics. This study deconstructs this long-standing perception. It argues that the entwining of fascism with the masses is a remarkable transubstantiation of a movement which understood and presented itself as a militant rejection of the ideal of mass politics, and indeed of mass society and mass culture more broadly conceived. Thus, rather than "massifying" society, fascism was the culmination of a long effort on the part of the élites and the middle-classes to de-massify it. The perennially menacing mass – seen as plebeian and insubordinate – was to be drilled into submission, replaced by supposedly superior collective entities, such as the nation, the race, or the people. Focusing on Italian fascism and German National Socialism, but consulting fascist movements and individuals elsewhere in interwar Europe, the book incisively shows how fascism is best understood as ferociously resisting what Elias referred to as "the civilizing process" and what Marx termed "the social individual." Fascism, notably, was a revolt against what Nietzsche described as the peaceful, middling and egalitarian "Last Humans."

Fascism and the Masses

Fascism and the Masses PDF Author: Ishay Landa
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351179977
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 402

Get Book Here

Book Description
Highlighting the "mass" nature of interwar European fascism has long become commonplace. Throughout the years, numerous critics have construed fascism as a phenomenon of mass society, perhaps the ultimate expression of mass politics. This study deconstructs this long-standing perception. It argues that the entwining of fascism with the masses is a remarkable transubstantiation of a movement which understood and presented itself as a militant rejection of the ideal of mass politics, and indeed of mass society and mass culture more broadly conceived. Thus, rather than "massifying" society, fascism was the culmination of a long effort on the part of the élites and the middle-classes to de-massify it. The perennially menacing mass – seen as plebeian and insubordinate – was to be drilled into submission, replaced by supposedly superior collective entities, such as the nation, the race, or the people. Focusing on Italian fascism and German National Socialism, but consulting fascist movements and individuals elsewhere in interwar Europe, the book incisively shows how fascism is best understood as ferociously resisting what Elias referred to as "the civilizing process" and what Marx termed "the social individual." Fascism, notably, was a revolt against what Nietzsche described as the peaceful, middling and egalitarian "Last Humans."

The Mass Psychology of Fascism

The Mass Psychology of Fascism PDF Author: Wilhelm Reich
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0374203644
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
In this classic study, Reich repudiates the concept that fascism is the ideology or action of a single individual or nationality, or of any ethnic or political group. Instead he sees fascism as the expression of the irrational character structure of the average human being whose whose primary biological needs and impulses have been suppressed for thousands of years.

Staging Fascism

Staging Fascism PDF Author: Jeffrey Thompson Schnapp
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804726085
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
On an April evening in Florence in 1934, before twenty thousand spectators, the mass spectacle 18BL was presented, involving two thousand amateur actors, an air squadron, one infantry and cavalry brigade, fifty trucks, four field and machine gun batteries, ten field-radio stations, and six photoelectric units. However titantic its scale, 18BL's ambitions were even greater: to institute a revolutionary fascist theater of the future, a modern theatre of and for the masses that would end the crisis of the bourgeois theatre. This is the complete story of the event, a colossal failure to critics and spectators alike, which the fascist government took pains to expunge from the annals of the regime. The detailed reconstruction of these various aspects of 18BL serves as a springboard for a larger inquiry into the place of media, technology, and machinery in the fascist imagination, particularly in its links to fascist models of narrative, historiography, spectacle, and subjectivity.

Crowds and Democracy

Crowds and Democracy PDF Author: Stefan Jonsson
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231164785
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
Between 1918 and 1933, the masses became a decisive preoccupation of European culture, fueling modernist movements in art, literature, architecture, theater, and cinema, as well as the rise of communism, fascism, and experiments in radical democracy. Spanning aesthetics, cultural studies, intellectual history, and political theory, this volume unpacks the significance of the shadow agent known as “the mass” during a critical period in European history. It follows its evolution into the preferred conceptual tool for social scientists, the ideal slogan for politicians, and the chosen image for artists and writers trying to capture a society in flux and a people in upheaval. This volume is the second installment in Stefan Jonsson’s epic study of the crowd and the mass in modern Europe, building on his work in A Brief History of the Masses, which focused on monumental artworks produced in 1789, 1889, and 1989.

How to Stop Fascism

How to Stop Fascism PDF Author: Paul Mason
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141996412
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
'For its historical depth, analytical vigour and mobilizational potential, this book is unparalleled ... every page is an urgent invitation to resist' David Lammy MP The bestselling author of PostCapitalism offers a guide to resisting the far right The far right is on the rise across the world. From Modi's India to Bolsonaro's Brazil and Erdogan's Turkey, fascism is not a horror that we have left in the past; it is a recurring nightmare that is happening again - and we need to find a better way to fight it. In How to Stop Fascism, Paul Mason offers a radical, hopeful blueprint for resisting and defeating the new far right. The book is both a chilling portrait of contemporary fascism, and a compelling history of the fascist phenomenon: its psychological roots, political theories and genocidal logic. Fascism, Mason powerfully argues, is a symptom of capitalist failure, and it has haunted us throughout the twentieth century. History shows us the conditions that breed fascism, and how it can be successfully overcome. But it is up to us in the present to challenge it, and time is running out. From the ashes of COVID-19, we have an opportunity to create a fairer, more equal society. To do so, we must ask ourselves: what kind of world do we want to live in? And what are we going to do about it?

Fascism: A Very Short Introduction

Fascism: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Kevin Passmore
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191508551
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
What is fascism? Is it revolutionary? Or is it reactionary? Can it be both? Fascism is notoriously hard to define. How do we make sense of an ideology that appeals to streetfighters and intellectuals alike? That is overtly macho in style, yet attracts many women? That calls for a return to tradition while maintaining a fascination with technology? And that preaches violence in the name of an ordered society? In the new edition of this Very Short Introduction, Kevin Passmore brilliantly unravels the paradoxes of one of the most important phenomena in the modern world—tracing its origins in the intellectual, political, and social crises of the late nineteenth century, the rise of fascism following World War I, including fascist regimes in Italy and Germany, and the fortunes of 'failed' fascist movements in Eastern Europe, Spain, and the Americas. He also considers fascism in culture, the new interest in transnational research, and the progress of the far right since 2002. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Masses and Man

Masses and Man PDF Author: George Lachmann Mosse
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 9780814318959
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description


Fascism for the Million

Fascism for the Million PDF Author: Oswald Mosley
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781913176051
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
Today, the word 'fascism' has become synonymous with political thuggery and persecution. It wasn't always so. Back in the 1930s tens of thousands of ordinary British people joined the British Union of Fascists because they believed that it alone could solve the problems of widespread hunger, slum housing and the threat of world war. Most were motivated by high idealism and when you read 'Fascism for the Million' you can begin to understand why. It was written by Oswald Mosley - the Movement's charismatic leader and former Minister in the pre-War Labour Government. Mosley had brains, courage and was acknowledged to be the finest orator in Britain. In this book he condemns the evil of 'financial democracy' that allowed global capitalists to live in luxury whilst fellow countrymen and women sweated to feed their families on minimum wages. He also explains how his British Corporate State would empower working people, offer women the freedom to realise their full potential and prevent economic recession from putting millions of unemployed on the dole ever again. Mosley argues that Fascism was for the Millions - not the Millionaires.

Fascism: A Warning

Fascism: A Warning PDF Author: Madeleine Albright
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 006293127X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
#1 New York Times Bestseller A personal and urgent examination of Fascism in the twentieth century and how its legacy shapes today’s world, written by one of the most admired public servants in American history, the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state A Fascist, observed Madeleine Albright, “is someone who claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use violence and whatever other means are necessary to achieve the goals he or she might have.” The twentieth century was defined by the clash between democracy and Fascism, a struggle that created uncertainty about the survival of human freedom and left millions dead. Given the horrors of that experience, one might expect the world to reject the spiritual successors to Hitler and Mussolini should they arise in our era. Fascism: A Warning is drawn from Madeleine Albright's experiences as a child in war-torn Europe and her distinguished career as a diplomat to question that assumption. Fascism, as she shows, not only endured through the twentieth century but now presents a more virulent threat to peace and justice than at any time since the end of World War II. The momentum toward democracy that swept the world when the Berlin Wall fell has gone into reverse. The United States, which historically championed the free world, is led by a president who exacerbates division and heaps scorn on democratic institutions. In many countries, economic, technological, and cultural factors are weakening the political center and empowering the extremes of right and left. Contemporary leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are employing many of the tactics used by Fascists in the 1920s and 30s. Fascism: A Warning is a book for our times that is relevant to all times. Written by someone who not only studied history but helped to shape it, this call to arms teaches us the lessons we must understand and the questions we must answer if we are to save ourselves from repeating the tragic errors of the past.

The Apprentice’s Sorcerer

The Apprentice’s Sorcerer PDF Author: Ishay Landa
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047443810
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
20th-century European Fascism is conventionally described by both historians and political scientists as a fierce assault on liberal politics, culture and economics. Departing from such typical analysis, this book highlights the long overlooked critical affinities between liberal tradition and fascism. Far from being the antithesis of liberalism, fascism, both in its ideology and its practice, was substantially, if dialectically, indebted to liberalism, particularly to its economic variant. Fascism ought to be seen centrally as an effort to unknot the longue durée tangle of the liberal order, as it finally collided, head on, with mass democracy. This brilliantly provocative thesis is sustained through innovative and incisive readings of seminal political thinkers, from Locke and Burke, to Proudhon, Bagehot, Sorel and Schmitt.