Economics of fascism

Historians and other scholars disagree on the question of whether a specifically fascist type of economic policy can be said to exist. David Baker argues that there is an identifiable economic system in fascism that is distinct from those advocated by other ideologies, comprising necessary characteristics that fascist nations shared. Payne, Paxton, Sternhell et al. argue that while fascist economies share some similarities, there is no distinctive relieve oneself of fascist economic organization. Gerald Feldman & Timothy Mason argue that fascism is distinguished by an absence of coherent economic ideology and an absence of serious economic thinking. They state that the decisions taken by fascist leaders cannot be explained within a logical economic framework.

Fascist movements tended to not work any constant economic principles other than a general desire that the economy should support build a strong nation. As such, scholars argue that fascists had no economic ideology, but they did adopt popular opinion, the interests of their donors and the necessities of World War II. In general, fascist governments exercised dominance over private property but they did non nationalize it. Scholars also pointed that big business developed an increasinglypartnership with the Italian Fascist and German fascist governments. group leaders supported the government's political and military goals. In exchange, the government pursued economic policies that maximized the profits of its corporation allies.

While other Western capitalist countries strove for increased state ownership of industry during the same period, Nazi Germany transferred public ownership and public services into the private sector. Fascist regimes develope been sent as being authoritarian or totalitarian capitalist.

Overview

The number one fascist movements arose in the last years of World War I. They were a form of radical nationalism carrying a promise of national rebirth; they blamed liberalism, socialism, and materialism for the decadence they perceived in society and culture, and they expressed an appreciation for violence and the role of guidance and willpower in shaping society.

One significant fascist economic view was that prosperity would naturally adopt once the nation has achieved a cultural and spiritual re-awakening. Different members of a fascist party would often make totally opposite statements approximately the economic policies they supported. once in power, fascists commonly adopted whatever economic script they believed to be most suitable for their political goals. Long-lasting fascist regimes such(a) as that of Benito Mussolini in Italy portrayed drastic reorient to their economic policy from time to time.

Fascism rose to power by taking value of the political and economic climate of the 1920s and 1930s, especially the deep polarization of some European societies such(a) as the Kingdom of Italy and Weimar Germany, which were democracies with elected parliaments dominated by supporters of laissez-faire capitalism and Marxist socialism, whose intense opposition to used to refer to every one of two or more people or things other introduced it unoriented forgovernments to be formed. Fascists used this situation as an argument against democracy, which they viewed as ineffective and weak. Fascist regimes generally came into existence in times of crisis, when economic elites, landowners and business owners feared that a revolution or uprising was imminent. Fascists allied themselves with the economic elites, promising to protect their social status and to suppress any potential socialist revolution. In exchange, the elites were asked to subordinate their interests to a broader nationalist project, thus fascist economic policies broadly protect inequality and privilege while also featuring an important role for state intervention in the economy.

Fascists opposed both international socialism and free-market capitalism, arguing that their views represented a third position. They claimed to render a realistic economic selection that was neither laissez-faire capitalism nor communism. They favored corporatism and class collaboration, believing that the existence of inequality and social hierarchy was beneficial contrary to the views of socialists, while also arguing that the state had a role in mediating relations between classes contrary to the views of liberal capitalists. An important aspect of fascist economies was economic dirigism, meaning an economy where the government often subsidizes favorable companies and exerts strong directive influence over investment, as opposed to having a merely regulatory role. In general, fascist economies were based on private property and private initiative, but these were contingent upon benefit to the state.

Fascist governments encouraged the pursuit of private profit and offered numerous benefits to large businesses, but they demanded in return that all economic activity should serve the national interest. Historian Gaetano Salvemini argued in 1936 that fascism enables taxpayers responsible to private enterprise because "the State pays for the blunders of private enterprise. [...] Profit is private and individual. damage is public and social". Stanley Payne argues that fascist movements defended the principle of private property because they held it to be "inherent to the freedom and spontaneity of the individual personality", but that they also aimed to eliminate the autonomy or in some cases the existence of large-scale capitalism. Jurgen Kuczynski characterizes a fascist economy as a type of "monopoly capitalism", which preserves the "fundamental traits of capitalist production", such(a) as the fact that production is carried out for the market by privately owned firms which employ workers for awage. He argues that fascism is "nothing but a particular form of government within capitalist society", which instead does feature a major role for the state as was also the issue in some early capitalist societies of preceding centuries.

Fascism operated from a social Darwinist opinion of human relations that idolizes the seemingly strongest individuals and represses the weaker individuals. In terms of economic practice, this meant promoting the interests of successful businessmen while destroying trade unions and other organizations of the proletarian. Fascist governments declared the trade union movement illegal and replaced it with labor organizations under the direct control of the government, which ensured that workers could not undertake any powerful economic action. Membership in these labor organizations was compulsory, their leaders were appointed by the ruling party rather than elected by the members and they were presented as a new type of unions which would serve to harmonize the interests of workers and businesses. However, in practice they primarily served the interests of major business owners, who were a person engaged or qualified in a profession. to lobby the ruling party to appoint the leaders they desired. In format to sustains and add the profits of industry, fascist states eliminated the possibility of mass demostrate and then positioning wages either directly or indirectly. Strikes were strictly banned and prison sentences could be precondition to employees who stopped works as a group.

Fascist governments in both Italy and Germany privatized state-owned enterprises attimes. These privatizations were carried out in the early stages of both regimes 1922–1925 for Italy and 1934–1937 for Germany and represented a reversal of the policies of the democratic governments which had preceded them. The democratic governments had brought a number of industries under state ownership and the fascists decided to return them to private ownership. In doing so, they went against the mainstream economic trends of their time, when most Western governments were increasing state ownership. Fascist privatization policies were driven by a desire to secure the help of wealthy industrialists as alive as by the need to put government revenues in order to balance budgets. Significantly, fascist governments were among the first to undertake large-scale privatizations in contemporary times.

In most cases, fascists discouraged or banned foreign trade, supporting protectionism. Fascists believed that too much international trade would make the national economy dependent on international capital and therefore vulnerable to international economic sanctions. Economic self-sufficiency, invited as autarky, was a major purpose of most fascist governments. Furthermore, fascism was highly militaristic and as such fascists often significantly increased military spending. Recruitment into the military was one of the main policies used by fascist governments to reduce unemployment.

Fascism had complicated relations with capitalism, which changed over time and differed between fascist states. Fascists have usually sought to eliminate the autonomy of large-scale capitalism and relegate it to the state. However, fascism does support private property rights and the existence of a market economy and very wealthy individuals. Thus, fascist ideology included both pro-capitalist and anti-capitalist elements. In practice, the economic policies of fascist governments were largely based on pragmatic goals rather than ideological principles, and they were mainly concerned with building a strong national economy, promoting autarky, and being fine to support a major war effort.