Benito Mussolini And Fascism Research Paper

Throughout history, political and social ideologies are prime motivators of change. Ideology is defined as: the body of doctrine myth, belief, etc., that guides and individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group. It is natural for humans to actively seek out communion and purpose within different identities. Extremism is to break away from traditional attitudes and beliefs of society. In the early 1900s, it took the form of social and political revolutions. These reforms brought about new nations in the form of nation-states. In Germany and Italy, nationalism gave rise to Nazism and Fascism, respectively. Therefore, the 20th century can be characterized as The Age of Extremism due to the multiple radical ideologies and

This type of aggressive nationalism extensively emphasized the importance of a strong state. At the head of this state was Benito Mussolini. He came to power wanting to revolutionize Italy and restore its influence and glory. Mussolini did this by appealing to the Italian nation by intensely distributing and promoting propaganda. Looking at The Doctrine of Fascism, Mussolini addresses the loss of self in the promotion of total collectivism. He writes “fascism reasserts the rights of the state as expressing the real essence of the individual.” Mussolini associated fascism with religion and tradition. Fascism is to permeate throughout one’s life and work tirelessly to better the nation and more importantly the state. To expect complete devotion to the state is no small step. This requires a person to willingly conform and give one’s own individualistic power to the state. This effectively characterizes Fascism as extreme

Strongly opposed to capitalism, Marxist socialism recognized class struggle as a result of a free market. The means of production in capitalist society is owned by the upper class (the bourgeoisie) and the class that works to produce goods (the proletariat) . In order to reduce the expanding distance between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the means of production must be commonly controlled. As a result of these circumstances, Marx and Engels believed that a social revolution would take place. The resulting society would be classless and communal; where everyone would contribute fully and receive what they needed to carry out their