As Paxton (2005) points out, the Russian Revolution was directly responsible for the rise of Fascism in Italy and Germany. The Russian Revolution, comprised of and led largely by a Jewish demographic, represented a threat to the nationality and national interests of European states. Fascist movements were not limited to Italy and Germany—they appeared in England, France, Spain and elsewhere—but Italy and Germany emerged as the primary Fascist states because of the force of leadership that emerged in each nation respectively: Mussolini in Italy, and Hitler in Germany. Both were at the forefront of the conservative, nationalist movement that pushed back against the rising tide of Communistic socialism, which the conservative nationalist parties vehemently opposed. The Russian Revolution was, in essence, a rejection of everything Old World, as Fitzgerald (2000) showed. The representatives of Fascism were fighting specifically for that Old World—and they were using every possible avenue they could control to wage that war. This paper will examine the relationship between the Russian Revolution and the rise of Fascism and show that essentially Fascism happened because Communism came to roost in Russia and was threatening to do the same throughout Europe. In what way did the Russian Revolution spark the rise of Fascism? Paxton (2005) states clearly that Fascism appeared wherever there were “attempts at Bolshevik revolution—or fear of it—during the period when communism seemed likely to spread beyond its Russian home base” (p. 81). This was especially true in the strongholds of Fascism in Europe, where “Germany, Italy, and Hungary had all had particularly close calls with the ‘red menace’ after the war” (Paxton, 2005, p. 81). Fascism represented an ideology directly opposed to that of the communists. During the Weimar Republic between the wars, for example, Jewish influence had been...
Had the Jewish influence, the decimation of Germany, and the destruction of the country’s culture not been the case, Hitler would have had no reason for rising up. The communists wanted revolution; the Fascists sought preservation. The Blackshirts in Italy, the NSDAP in Germany, and the extreme Right in France (unsuccessful, however, in achieving its goal), all illustrated that Fascism was a movement of a mass of people against a countering trend by the revolutionary Left.
The relationship between the Russian Revolution and the rise of fascism is distinct and marked. Both movements were revolutionary in their own way, and both were provoked to a certain extent by a Marxist inspiration. Lenin was one of the leaders of the Russian revolution and he was a committed Marxist. He did not want Russia to participate in any part of the war, but was the one who surrendered
Nazism was fascist in nature, but rather than the State being the focus, it was race (Aryan), combined with fervent nationalism. Not all fascists are Nazi's, but it would be all but required to support fascist ideology in order to be a true Nazi. Fascists are not necessarily racist, which is contrary to the anti-Semitic doctrines which are at the core of Nazi ideology. Part 2 -- Was World War
Another difference worth mentioning is also of economic nature and refers to the Great Depression of 1929-1933. While the Italian fascism emerged in the context of internal problems, the German fascism was driven by international economic crisis. The fall of the American market, the primary creditor of the defeated countries, meant that the financial resources would stop coming from across the ocean, and the economic condition was in even grater
rise of fascist states in Germany and Italy during the post World War I era was accompanied by similar movements in nations across the world; but most of these never achieved the same prominence. Great Britain saw the emergence of the British Union of Fascists, which gained thousands of supporters, but the organization never came to power. Largely this was for economic reasons: Britain did not suffer as severe
He writes, "The rise of the radical Right after the First World War was undoubtedly a response to the danger, indeed to the reality, of social revolution and working-class power in general, to the October revolution and Leninism in particular" (Hobsbawm 124). The right-wing backlash against labor unions was crucial in setting up the rise of those fascist leaders who would be responsible for initiating the Second World War.
Northrop Frye recognized this fact but believed that the satire missed its mark: It completely misses the point as satire on the Russian development of Marxism, and as expressing the disillusionment which many men of good-will feel about Russia. The reason for that disillusionment would be much better expressed as the corruption of expediency by principle (Frye 1987, p. 10). What links 1984 and Animal Farm most directly is that both
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