Fascism and Stalinism: Key Concepts and Regimes
Key Terms in Totalitarian Regimes
Here are essential definitions related to Italian Fascism, German Nazism, and Soviet Stalinism:
- Blackshirts: Members of the paramilitary group supporting Benito Mussolini in Italy; they used violence and intimidation to help the Fascists gain power.
- March on Rome: A mass demonstration in 1922 organized by Benito Mussolini that led to him becoming Prime Minister of Italy.
- Partito Nazionale Fascista: The National Fascist Party, founded in 1921 by Benito Mussolini, which established a fascist dictatorship in Italy.
- Totalitarian Regime: A political system where the government has complete control over all aspects of public and private life and does not allow political opposition.
- NSDAP: The National Socialist German Workers’ Party, the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler in Germany.
- Ernst Röhm: A German Nazi leader and head of the SA who was executed during the Night of the Long Knives under the orders of Adolf Hitler.
- Munich Putsch: Also known as the Beer Hall Putsch, a failed coup attempt in 1923 led by Adolf Hitler in Munich.
- Führer: A German word meaning “leader,” used as the official title of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.
- Third Reich: The name used to describe Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler.
- Gestapo: The secret police of Nazi Germany responsible for persecuting and eliminating opposition.
- Antisemitism: Prejudice, hatred, or discrimination against Jewish people.
- Nuremberg Laws: Laws passed in 1935 in Nazi Germany that stripped Jewish people of their citizenship and prohibited marriage between Jews and non-Jews.
- Third International: Also known as the Comintern, an international communist organization founded in 1919 to promote worldwide communism.
- Five-Year Plans: Economic programs introduced by Joseph Stalin to rapidly industrialize the Soviet Union through state control.
- Kolhozes: Collective farms in the Soviet Union where peasants worked together and shared production under state supervision.
- Sovkhozes: State-owned farms in the Soviet Union where agricultural workers were paid wages by the government.
- Kulaks: Wealthier peasants in the Soviet Union who owned land and were persecuted during collectivization under Joseph Stalin.
- Gulags: A system of forced labor camps in the Soviet Union where political prisoners and criminals were sent, especially during the rule of Joseph Stalin.
4.3. Italian Fascism
Although Italy gained some territories in the Paris Peace Treaties (1919), many expectations were not fulfilled, causing deep national discontent. The post-war economic crisis led to strong social unrest, and between 1919 and 1920 the Red Biennium took place, marked by socialist and anarchist activism that created councils inspired by the Soviets. At the same time, the liberal parliamentary system was blocked, as no party achieved a majority.
In this context, Benito Mussolini, a former member of the Italian Socialist Party expelled for his nationalist radicalization, rose to prominence and strengthened his party, the Partito Nazionale Fascista, by exploiting nationalist frustration and the fear of the upper classes. In 1922, the Blackshirts organized the March on Rome, and King Victor Emmanuel III appointed Mussolini head of government; he became prime minister and took the title of Duce.
After seizing power, Mussolini dismantled democratic institutions to impose ideological, political, and social control. In 1925, following the assassination of socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti by fascist militias, Parliament was dissolved and the dictatorship was established. The state created a totalitarian regime, controlling politics, the economy, social organizations, and the media, while launching strong political repression and banning strikes.
The 1929 crisis worsened economic conditions, reducing production and increasing unemployment, and the regime responded with public works and imperialist expansion in Ethiopia (then Abyssinia), Albania, Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, the Ionian Islands, the Dodecanese, and Libya. The conquest of Ethiopia (1935–1936) was condemned by the League of Nations due to the massacre of Ethiopian civilians, who were machine-gunned, gassed, and bombed.
4.4. German Nazism
After the First World War and the sanctions of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany became impoverished, creating strong social discontent. In this context emerged the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), known as the Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler, initially supported by war veterans and the unemployed, and later by the bourgeoisie and business leaders.
In 1923, during a year of severe inflation and economic crisis, the party expanded its support among veterans, workers, petty bourgeoisie, youth, and radical nationalists. To gain political dominance, besides Hitler’s speeches, it relied on the SA (Sturmabteilung), or brownshirts, led by Ernst Röhm, who used violence and intimidation. In November they organized the Munich Putsch, a failed coup attempt. Sentenced to five years in prison, Hitler served only nine months (1924); while imprisoned in Landsberg, he dictated Mein Kampf to Rudolf Hess, a work that became the ideological foundation of Nazism, promoting extreme nationalism, anti-Semitism, territorial expansion, and dictatorship.
In the early 1930s, the Great Depression severely affected Germany due to its dependence on American credit, increasing unemployment and strengthening Nazism, supported by propaganda led by Joseph Goebbels. After the March 1933 elections (43.91%), President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor. Once in power, Nazism suspended rights and freedoms, dismantled democracy, and in 1934 Hitler proclaimed the Third Reich, uniting the presidency, chancellorship, and command of the army under the title of Führer. He promoted rearmament and industrial expansion, enabling economic growth and an imperialist foreign policy.
The Gestapo repressed opposition and persecuted Jews, Roma, Communists, Socialists, Liberals, Homosexuals, and the Disabled. In 1934, the SS eliminated SA leaders during the Night of the Long Knives. Anti-Semitism became central to the regime and was formalized in the Nuremberg Laws (1935), which banned intermarriage, excluded Jews from public office, and stripped them of citizenship. In 1938, Kristallnacht destroyed Jewish businesses and synagogues and killed hundreds, and from 1939 Jews were forced to wear the yellow star, marking the beginning of systematic persecution.
4.5. Stalinism in the USSR
After Lenin’s death (1924), leadership was expected to be shared by Trotsky and Joseph Stalin, but disagreements over economic policy and the international expansion of the revolution allowed Stalin to eliminate his rivals and consolidate himself as sole leader. Trotsky, supporter of permanent revolution, was expelled in 1929 and assassinated in Mexico (1940). Stalin promoted “socialism in one country” and improved relations with capitalist powers, leading the USSR to join the League of Nations (1934).
To strengthen foreign policy, he used the Third International (Comintern), founded in 1919, to control communist parties and secure the Soviet state. Domestically, he ended the NEP and introduced centralized planning through the Five-Year Plans, aiming at industrial and military self-sufficiency, boosting heavy industry and infrastructure. These policies included forced collectivization into kolkhozes and sovkhozes, with expulsions, deportations, and executions of kulaks.
The purges spread terror: thousands were surveilled, arrested, and sent to gulags, under the control of the NKVD, a key repressive institution. Although agriculture failed and caused famines, industrialization achieved strong growth, even during the Great Depression. However, repression and low living standards led to social discontent, as heavy industry and armaments were prioritized over consumer goods.