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MARXISM-LENINISM & FASCISM.
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Compares political systems in theory & practice (Mao's China & Italy's Mussolini), emphasizing totalitarian features.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Compares political systems in theory & practice (Mao's China & Italy's Mussolini), emphasizing totalitarian features.
Paper Introduction:
Marxist-Leninist systems, such as Stalin’s Soviet Union and Mao’s China, and fascist systems, such as Mussolini’s Italy, are theoretical opposites; hence their respective designations as “left-wing” and “right-wing.” Yet Marxist-Leninist and fascist regimes share many of the same features, such as militarization, charismatic leadership, and the consolidation of power in one person. This paper will identify the common characteristics of Marxist-Leninism and fascism, and explain why the systems display such similarities.
In general, Marxism-Leninism and fascism are diametrically opposed. Marxist-Leninist thought calls for a revolution from below, in which the masses rise up to overthrow the capitalists and create a dictatorship of the proletariat. Wealth is redistributed so that everybody shares equally and classes are elimi
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New York: The Free Press, 1994.Smith, Denis Mack. ----------------------- Endnotes [i]A. That power inevitably ends up concentrated in thehands of one person. Each close call increased the members' admiration forMao, and by the time he took over in 1949, the party apparatus begancreating a nationwide cult of personality around Mao. In reality, the party and thegovernment had so much overlap that they were one. [vii]Ibid., 247. That led to tension with partycadres, which continues to this day.[xvi] A related feature of this militarization involved the ruling partiesin Italy and Germany, both of which monopolized power via state securityforces and the army. Marxist-Leninist systems such asNorth Korea and Romania also have produced such leaders. His initial riseto a position of authority in the communist party could be attributed tocharisma and nationalism. Ultimately, both systems are vehicles fordictatorships. A. [xxi]Ibid., 254-255. Fascism: Past, Present, Future. Marxist-Leninist systems, such as Stalin's Soviet Union and Mao'sChina, and fascist systems, such as Mussolini's Italy, are theoreticalopposites; hence their respective designations as "left-wing" and "right-wing." Yet Marxist-Leninist and fascist regimes share many of the samefeatures, such as militarization, charismatic leadership, and theconsolidation of power in one person. Many party members were old-timeBolsheviks, still clinging to idealistic notions of a world communistrevolution. This armedhegemonic party became the means by which Mussolini and Hitler consolidatedtheir power. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1999.Laqueur, Walter. Party members held keypositions in all segments of society, especially in the People's LiberationArmy (PLA).[xviii] Nobody built a more effective state apparatus than Josef Stalin,leader of the Soviet Union for nearly three decades. [ix]Ibid., viii. [xiii]Ibid. James Gregor, Phoenix: Fascism in Our Time (New Brunswick, NewJersey: Transaction Publishers, 1999), 4-5. The party system, where the members wieldreal power but do not engage in day-to-day administration, keeps therevolutionary fires burning. James Gregor writes that "[o]verthe years, Marxist-Leninist systems adopted and adapted more and more ofthe political, social, economic, and military features of Mussolini'sFascism."[iii] Certainly charismatic political leadership is one of thosefeatures. Kim Il Sung ruledNorth Korea for decades by building a cult of personality around himself.Kim is dead, but during his lifetime, he created an enclosed society thatdenied contact with outsiders and deified him. BibliographyChirot, Daniel. The propaganda machine provedso effective that many foreign governments also believed the image (or weretoo timid to challenge him), allowing Mussolini to pursue a belligerentforeign policy even though he lacked the commensurate military power.[ix] Charismatic leadership is not limited to fascist regimes such asMussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany. Until that time, the partyhad not been under Stalin's firm control. [x]Daniel Chirot, Modern Tyrants: The Power and Prevalence of Evil inOur Age (New York: The Free Press, 1994), 248. [xi]Ibid., 245. Mao sought"constant revolution" because he feared complacency on the part of hissupporters once they won power. In practice, thetwo systems converge because they both reject individual autonomy and bothrequire absolute power. When he arrived in Beijing in 1918, he was aradical nationalist convinced that China must modernize to evict itsWestern overlords. Then, during the late 193 s, he set out toeliminate all opposition, via brutal methods. Mao made the military's importance clear from the outset by dividingthe country into six regions, each with a unified military command.[xv]Mao used the military in many ways. In theory,Marxist-Leninist thought and fascism are antithetical. By 195 , the ChineseCommunist Party had nearly six million members, all dedicated to runningthe country and spreading the cult of Mao. [v]Ibid., 1. However they did notwant to completely dismantle these institutions in the interest ofefficiency, stability, and appearances. Both Italy and Germany built huge military machines tosupport and protect the regime domestically and to secure the leaders'nationalist aims. Mussolini's Roman Empire. Fascist systems are designed toharness all of the state's assets for the benefit of the state. The country came to feelthat it would be lost without him. [xiv]Walter Laqueur, Fascism: Past, Present, Future (New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1996), 34. Eventually, all power came to be vested in one man, and thesource of his charisma became indispensability. [vi]Ibid., vii. These parties legitimized the leader's virtually unlimitedpower, and supported the cult-like quality discussed earlier.[xvii] These features also are present in Marxist-Leninist regimes. Party members flooded the countryside, settingpeasants against landlords and ridding the country of any Nationalistsupporters. Boundaries become meaningless becausemembership in the class of workers supplants national origin as the sourceof identity. [xvii]Laqueur, 14-15. Later, the army foughtwars in Korea and India. Soldiers initially went into thecountryside to confiscate land from rich peasants. Nazi Germany cameinto being in 1933, and the government dedicated much of the country'sresources to building a war machine that it unleashed in 1939. InChina, for example, the party consolidated the communists' power after theNationalists fled in 1949. He created a strong image that boosted Italianself-esteem and intimidated Italy's neighbors into submission, often givingMussolini a free hand to achieve his foreign policy objectives. Another factor common to all of these leaders is the consolidation ofpower, and the effect that consolidation had on their charisma. Fascism isan ultra-nationalist philosophy, a system that looks on the rest of theworld with suspicion. Just as his chargesfollowed him on a 2, -mile march, the country appeared willing to followhim anywhere. [iii]Ibid., 21. Spence, The Search for Modern China (New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 199 ), 44 -442. Though Mussolini lackedprinciples and often publicly contradicted himself, his propagandaapparatus always steered popular beliefs in his favor.[vi] Mussolini co-opted journalists by paying high salaries, and they responded in kind. In general, Marxism-Leninism and fascism are diametrically opposed.Marxist-Leninist thought calls for a revolution from below, in which themasses rise up to overthrow the capitalists and create a dictatorship ofthe proletariat. Hitler'ssuccess in bringing Germany out of the Depression and restoring thenation's self-image gave him the blind loyalty of his people, allowingHitler a blank check to pursue his nationalist agenda. Hismaverick streak and willingness to defy the Soviets (such as when he sent ateam to the 1984 Olympics, which the Soviet bloc boycotted) made him afavorite of Western democracies. Then he consolidated his control using thearmy, the communist party, and the secret police.[xxi] Therefore both left-wing and right-wing regimes share the commonfeature of a hegemonic political party. This convergence began not long after Lenin took over inRussia and created the Soviet Union. Such security forces often were much more brutal andsadistic than the military, or were part of the military. New York: The Viking Press, 1976.Spence, Jonathan D. New York: The Free Press, 1994.Gregor, A. Norton & Company, 199 . In the case of Mussolini, charisma did not prove instrumental to hisrise to power, at least in the traditional sense. As a national leader, however, Mao failed miserably. The Soviet Tragedy: A History of Socialism in Russia, 1917-1991. Yet he did not suffer any loss of personal popularity, andcontinued to enjoy complete authority even within the party. Not until theend of the Cultural Revolution did Mao suffer a loss of legitimacy.[xiii] One factor that all of these charismatic leaders have in common isnationalism. Marxist-Leninist thought is cosmopolitan andinternationalist, dedicated to the notion of spreading its philosophyaround the world.[i] Fascism is inherently conservative and reactionary. A trip to North Korea, where he witnessedfirsthand the deification of Kim and the discipline of the people, inspiredhim to try to set up a similar cult of personality in Romania. Wealth is redistributed so that everybody shares equallyand classes are eliminated. Slowly but surely,Stalin put all of the elements in place, including a secret police force(NKVD) loyal only to him. Aggrandizement of the state is the primary goal offascists.[ii] In practice, both systems vary from these ideals, which can often leadto convergence. By 1937, Stalin had purged more than1.2 million party members. This paper will identify the commoncharacteristics of Marxist-Leninism and fascism, and explain why thesystems display such similarities. Hispropaganda machine proved so effective that he remained personally populareven at the time of his fall in 1943.[vii] The propaganda apparatus offered a deliberately false image ofMussolini. That one person uses the best means--propaganda, themilitary, the party--to consolidate his power, regardless of the system'stheoretical underpinnings. [viii]Ibid., vii. He built an audiencethrough his newspaper articles, then used his growing popularity to gainpolitical power.[iv] His rise concluded in October 1922 when he becamePrime Minister of Italy. Phoenix: Fascism in Our Time. [xx]Ibid., 248. Ceausescu's popularity among his people peaked inthe late 196 s after he opposed the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. James. By 1937, Stalin had completed a virtual clean sweep of every organof the Soviet ruling system. Thus, it would seem that the similarities between these twodiametrically opposed systems outnumber the differences. Each ofthese leaders started at first among equals, with a government and a partyapparatus. [xvi]Ibid., 562-563. Mao needed the military's support, so PLA leadersenjoyed lavish salaries and benefits. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.Malia, Martin. [xviii]Spence, 519-524. After all, he had restored China's sovereignty and expelledall foreign powers. Kim Il Sung wrapped his cult of personality in the concept ofjuche, which means "putting Korea first in everything." Ceausescu soughtself-reliance and discipline for his tiny nation, so that it could exercisemore independence while living in the shadow of the Soviet monolith.Nationalist aims motivated Mao, who adapted Marxist-Leninism into a formthat fit those goals (called "Maoism"). Soon Mao headed the communist movement, using that as avehicle to pursue his nationalist goals.[xii] Mao and the party leadership survived repeated extermination attemptsby the Nationalists. This can be traced to the fact that mostof these leaders took over established bureaucracies, which were filledwith civil servants that the leader did not trust. Those left were younger, less tied to theBolshevik Revolution, and more loyal to Stalin.[xx] He then set aboutinsuring the army's loyalty, using the NKVD to purge generals he did nottrust. New York: W.W. Indeed, the intellectual underpinnings of Soviet communismoriginated not with the party, but with Marxist theorists found atuniversities.[xix] In 1933, Stalin set to make the party his apparatus rather than thatof the state or that of communism. [xv]Jonathan D. For example, during Mussolini's reign, his troops wereconstantly engaged in some action, whether fighting in Africa or supportingseparatist movements in Europe and the Mediterranean. [xii]Ibid., 186-187. "What is known, however, isthat the degree of official hero worship is staggering." Kim's sonapparently has carried on that tradition after succeeding his father.[x] Nicolae Ceausescu, the leader of Romania during the Cold War, alsorelied upon charisma. The party created a portrayal of him "as a leader of vastintelligence, personal magnetism, and profound humanity: a man of immensepower who was admired and feared by the whole civilized world."[viii] TheItalian people believed this image, despite ample evidence to the contrary(such as Mussolini's kowtowing to Hitler). Modern Tyrants: The Power and Prevalence of Evil in Our Age. The Search for Modern China. So they left the bureaucraticinstitutions intact and used their established party to exercise control. Both types of regimes use theparty apparatus in the same way--as a "separate" arm of the governmentwhere they can vest real power. Leadership comesfrom the top, in the form of a dictatorship that exercises substantialcontrol over most aspects of society. That systemsurvived until his overthrow and execution in 1989.[xi] Mao Zedong led China from 1949 to 1976; before that, he led thecommunist revolution that took power on October 1, 1949. The party system also serves to keep the revolution alive. [ii]Ibid. To get that job Mussolini led "a gang oftruculent and ambitious men who wanted power, and who were backed by someintelligent and influential members of society[.]"[v] Public opinion initially mattered little to Mussolini, but it soonbecame important to him after he discovered the value of manipulating thepublic. [iv]Denis Mack Smith, Mussolini's Roman Empire (New York: The VikingPress, 1976), vii. "[E]ven Stalin could generate thefeeling that without him his people would be lost like a flock without ashepherd."[xiv] Militarization is another common feature of Marxist-Leninist andfascist regimes. [xix]Martin Malia, The Soviet Tragedy: A History of Socialism inRussia, 1917-1991 (New York: The Free Press, 1994), 227-232. He institutednumerous policies, and each succeeding program proved more disastrous thanthe last. Similarly, Mussolini's charismatic leadership furthered hisnationalist aspirations. Mao created a ruling system of three components-the governmentstructure, the party, and the army. He found that by combining his newspaper tactics with the power ofthe state, he could make people believe anything.
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