World War Two
Published 9 Apr 2022Adolf Hitler meets with Benito Mussolini to hopefully restore his flagging morale and convince him that the Axis can hold out in North Africa, but the situation there grows more precarious and this week there the Allies advancing from the west and the east link up for the first time. The Axis are also holding out in the Caucasus, as new Soviet attacks to take Krymskaya begin.
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April 10, 2022
Mussolini is Tired of War – WW2 – 189 – April 9th , 1943
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November 29, 2021
Giovanni Gentile, “the ideological father of Fascism”
Emmanuel Rincón on the Italian philosopher who created the ideological underpinnings of Benito Mussolini’s Fascist movement:
Giovanni Gentile
Undated photograph probably before 1930 via Wikimedia Commons.
Giovanni Gentile, a neo-Hegelian philosopher, was the intellectual author of the “doctrine of fascism”, which he wrote in conjunction with Benito Mussolini. Gentile’s sources of inspiration were thinkers such as Hegel, Nietzsche, and also Karl Marx.
Gentile went so far as to declare “Fascism is a form of socialism, in fact, it is its most viable form.” One of the most common reflections on this is that fascism is itself socialism based on national identity.
Gentile believed that all private action should be oriented to serve society. He was against individualism, for him there was no distinction between private and public interest. In his economic postulates, he defended compulsory state corporatism, wanting to impose an autarkic state (basically the same recipe that Hitler would use years later).
A basic aspect of Gentile’s logic is that liberal democracy was harmful because it was focused on the individual which led to selfishness. He defended “true democracy” in which the individual should be subordinated to the State. In that sense, he promoted planned economies in which it was the government that determined what, how much, and how to produce.
Gentile and another group of philosophers created the myth of socialist nationalism, in which a country well directed by a superior group could subsist without international trade, as long as all individuals submitted to the designs of the government. The aim was to create a corporate state. It must be remembered that Mussolini came from the traditional Italian Socialist Party, but due to the rupture with this traditional Marxist movement, and due to the strong nationalist sentiment that prevailed at the time, the bases for creating the new “nationalist socialism”, which they called fascism, were overturned.
Fascism nationalized the arms industry, however, unlike traditional socialism, it did not consider that the state should own all the means of production, but more that it should dominate them. The owners of industries could “keep” their businesses, as long as they served the directives of the state. These business owners were supervised by public officials and paid high taxes. Essentially, “private property” was no longer a thing. It also established the tax on capital, the confiscation of goods of religious congregations and the abolition of episcopal rents. Statism was the key to everything, thanks to the nationalist and collectivist discourse, all the efforts of the citizens had to be in favor of the State.
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November 13, 2021
How Mussolini Founded The Italian Fascist Party I THE GREAT WAR 1921
The Great War
Published 12 Nov 2021Sign up for Curiosity Stream and get Nebula bundled in and SAVE 26%: https://curiositystream.com/thegreatwar
Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist movement was a fringe phenomenon right after the First World War and couldn’t gain much traction in the 1919 elections. But soon after Mussolini was increasing his political standing and the National Fascist Party gained more members than ever before.
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Alcalde, Ángel, War Veterans and Fascism in Interwar Europe, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017)Bosworth, R. J. B., Mussolini, (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010)
De Grand, Alexander, Italian Fascism: Its Origins & Development, (Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1989)
Duggan, Christopher, Force of Destiny: A History of Italy since 1796, (London: Penguin Books, 2008)
Martins, Carlos Manuel, From Hitler to Codreanu: The Ideology of Fascist Leaders, (London: Routledge, 2020)
Neville, Peter, Mussolini, (London: Routledge, 2004)
Weyland, Curt, Assault on Democracy: Communism, Fascism, and Authoritarianism During the Interwar Years, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021)
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September 2, 2021
Road to WWII: A Basic Causal Analysis
Thersites the Historian
Published 19 Nov 2019This video is a primer for undergraduates in broad history survey courses that will hopefully help make sense of the interwar years between World War I and World War II.
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September 1, 2021
QotD: The power of nationalistic feelings
As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.
They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. They are “only doing their duty”, as the saying goes. Most of them, I have no doubt, are kind-hearted law-abiding men who would never dream of committing murder in private life. On the other hand, if one of them succeeds in blowing me to pieces with a well-placed bomb, he will never sleep any the worse for it. He is serving his country, which has the power to absolve him from evil.
One cannot see the modern world as it is unless one recognizes the overwhelming strength of patriotism, national loyalty. In certain circumstances it can break down, at certain levels of civilization it does not exist, but as a positive force there is nothing to set beside it. Christianity and international Socialism are as weak as straw in comparison with it. Hitler and Mussolini rose to power in their own countries very largely because they could grasp this fact and their opponents could not.
George Orwell, “The Lion And The Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius”, 1941-02-19.
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May 6, 2021
Il Duce and the Fascist Abuse of History | B2W: ZEITGEIST! I E.17 – Harvest 1922
TimeGhost History
Published 5 May 2021The modern age is an age of modern things. But it is also an age when people yearn for times past. One of the main men to weaponize this yearning is Benito Mussolini, and this season, he moves to recreate the Roman Empire in his fascist image.
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Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Francis van Berkel
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Maria Kyhle
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Francis van Berkel and Timothy Smith
Image Research by: Lucas Aimo
Edited by: Lucas Aimo
Sound design: Marek KamińskiColorizations:
– Daniel Weiss
– Mikołaj UchmanArchive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
TimeGhost History
2 days ago (edited)
The only thing more interesting than learning about history is learning about how people in history learned about history.For starters, it is just interesting in itself. Anyone with a passion for history will want to hear about the circumstances of how a new discovery was made or how certain historical narratives were preserved over time. But more analytically, looking at how a society understood its history can tell you a lot about that society understood itself and the contemporary world around it. That second point is particularly true of the modern age. Ironically, it is a very modern “thing” to be so aware of history. Indeed, the modern age saw the birth of the museum, of nationalist histories, and even the concept of what “History” itself was (note the capital H).
It’s such a massive topic and one that perhaps isn’t suited to a single pinned comment. Interested in learning more? Maybe we’ll do another video on it someday. In the meantime, you can read up the works of Reinhart Koselleck … that should keep you occupied.
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December 10, 2020
QotD: Italian Fascism and “corporatism”
From Benito Mussolini: “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power.”
This quote is often misconstrued nowadays by leftists who view profit-making corporations under capitalism (especially multinational corporations) as instruments of the devil. They love the implied image of capitalist fat-cats and fascist dictators conspiring in gilded opulence. Alas for them that this quote actually doesn’t imply anything like that; the terminological ground under it has shifted.
The “corporatism” Mussolini to which was referring had, actually, nothing to do with corporations, joint-stock or otherwise (in the 1920s the word “corporation” did not yet have its modern sense, either in English or Italian). His use of the word had to do with a feature of fascist theory forgotten by almost everybody but specialist historians.
In fascist theory, “corporations” were bodies like unions, craft guilds, professional societies, and grange associations. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism for discussion; see especially the section “[F]ascist corporativism” [section name changed since 2009].
What Mussolini was actually enunciating was a sort of organic statism in which the state would bless or admit representatives of various “corporations” into its governing councils — and no, that didn’t mean Fiat or Beretta but (say) the Abruzzo Building Trades Association, or the Society of University Professors.
While corporations-in-the-modern-sense were not outright excluded from being legitimized “corporations” in the fascist sense, neither did they have any special status or power in the system. Actually, it was rather the reverse …
It’s worth remembering that the founders of fascism were mainly Leninists like Mussolini with a sprinkling of anarcho-syndicalists (George Sorel being the best known of those). Actual fascism retained the founders’ doctrinal hostility to what modern leftists would call “corporate power”, never renouncing its state-socialist roots and being (in fact) hostile to all centers of power other than the state itself.
The modern idea that German and Italian fascism were conservative or pro-business ideologies is essentially a fantasy constructed by pro-Soviet propagandists during and after World War II. In fact, classical fascism never wandered very far from its left-wing origins; corporatism can be seen as an elaboration of the theoretical role of worker’s soviets in Leninist theory.
Eric S. Raymond, “Misconstruing Mussolini”, Armed and Dangerous, 2009-06-29.
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July 31, 2020
“Coat Of Arms” – The Greco-Italian War – Sabaton History 078 [Official]
Sabaton History
Published 30 Jul 2020Morning of October 28th, 1940.
The Italian ambassador to Greece had entered the house of Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas. An unacceptable ultimatum in hand, he demanded subjugation under Italian rule. Refusal would mean war. An ardent Ochi! was the answer. No, the Greek would not bow to fascist demands, but instead fight for the defense of their country and their honor. What followed were months of bitter fighting in the harsh environment of Epirus and the Macedonian mountains.
The Greco-Italian War.
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Listen to “Coat Of Arms” on the album Coat Of Arms:
CD: http://bit.ly/CoatOfArmsStore
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Apple Music: http://bit.ly/CoatOfArmsAppleMusic
iTunes: http://bit.ly/CoatOfArmsiTunes
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Google Play: http://bit.ly/CoatOfArmsGooglePlayWatch the Official Music Video of “Coat Of Arms” here:
https://youtu.be/wtax3Fl-UZoThe episode of WW2 in Real-Time Indy was talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYznP…
Listen to Sabaton on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/SabatonSpotify
Official Sabaton Merchandise Shop: http://bit.ly/SabatonOfficialShopHosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Markus Linke and Indy Neidell
Directed by: Astrid Deinhard and Wieke Kapteijns
Produced by: Pär Sundström, Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Community Manager: Maria Kyhle
Executive Producers: Pär Sundström, Joakim Broden, Tomas Sunmo, Indy Neidell, Astrid Deinhard, and Spartacus Olsson
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Sound Editing by: Marek Kaminski
Maps by: Eastory – https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory
Archive by: Reuters/Screenocean https://www.screenocean.com
Music by SabatonSources:
Bundesarchiv
Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
Imperia War Museums: 205197881
Diplomatic and Historical Archive Department
Italian map by F l a n k e r from Wikimedia
The icons from Noun Project: Oksana Latysheva, Wichai Wi, baken studio, ProSymbolsAn OnLion Entertainment GmbH and Raging Beaver Publishing AB co-Production.
© Raging Beaver Publishing AB, 2019 – all rights reserved.
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July 21, 2020
Spanish Republican Exiles – Nazi Colonialism & Hitler + Mussolini ≠ 
– WW2 – OOTF 014
World War Two
Published 16 Jul 2020What did Spanish Republicans do during the Second World War? How would the Axis have divided Africa? And did Hitler plan to keep Mussolini around after the war? Find out as Indy and the Chair of Infinite Knowledge answer three more intriguing questions in this episode of Out of the Foxholes!
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Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tvSubmit your own question for Out of the Foxholes here: https://community.timeghost.tv/c/Out-…
Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @World_war_two_realtime https://www.instagram.com/world_war_two_realtime
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Written by: Rune Væver Hartvig
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Rune Væver Hartvig
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Karolina DołęgaVisual Sources:
Bundesarchiv
US Holocaust Memorial Museums
Library of Congress Geography and Map Division
Nasjonalbiblioteket from Norway
Icons from The Noun Project by: Milinda Courey, Eucalyp, Luis Prado, Gan Khoon Lay, DonBLC, Pavel N and Rigo PeterMusic:
“Deviation In Time” – Johannes Bornlof
“Superior” – Silver Maple
“Underlying Truth” – Howard Harper-BarnesArchive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
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– WW2 – OOTF 014 February 13, 2020
The Animated History of Italy | Part 2
Suibhne
Published 23 Apr 2018The Armchair Historian Collab: https://youtu.be/vGM54x0LsII
Beginning part two, Italy has been recaptured by the Byzantines thanks to the tenacious ambitions of Emperor Justinian. But throughout the Middle Ages, the land became a battleground for more powerful empires. The 19th Century Italian revolution would see the peninsula swept up in the waves of nationalism that was taking the continent by storm.
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November 8, 2019
Not all Fascists Are Nazis – Civil War in Austria | BETWEEN 2 WARS I 1934 Part 2 of 4
TimeGhost History
Published 7 Nov 2019Austria is very divided in the 1930s. Austrian Nationalism opposes the idea of a Greater German Reich, which triggers the emergence of Austrofascism. They find themselves in a violet struggle against Nazis, Communists, Democrats and Socialists.
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Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Spartacus Olsson, Joram Appel and Francis van Berkel
Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Naman Habtom, Joram Appel and Francis van Berkel
Edited by: Daniel Weiss
Sound design: Marek KaminskiColorized pictures:
– Daniel Weiss,
– Julius Jääskeläinen (https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/),
– Dememorabilia (https://instagram.com/dememorabilia)Sources:
– Image sources: Bundesarchiv, Bundesarchiv, Bild_183-R36187/102-10358/102-00842A/102-00836/102-00840/102-00839/102-09844. Fortepan_28800(FOTOFORTEPAN MZSLOfner Károly)
– Icons from the Noun Project: School by David, college by anbileru adaleru, Law by Delwar Hossain, Parliament by Gerald Wildmoser, Diploma by Alena, guns by Cards Against Humanity, poll by Bastien Ho,A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
TimeGhost History
2 days ago (edited)
A lot comes together in this episode. Austria in 1934 is where a lot of political movements, ideologies and methods we saw throughout the ’20s and ’30s in previous episodes go head to head. We explain how Austro-Fascism differs from fascism and how Nazism and Austrofascism engage in a violent clash.So, this episode covers Communism, Fascism, Austrofascism and Nazism in the context of Austria in 1934. I can predict some of the comments that will appear under this video, so allow me to explain how we interpret and explain the key differences between some of these. In academia, we use a right-left axis to place political movements on based on their ideology, NOT just because of their methods or form of state. Our definition is not politically motivated or does not relate to current day politics. We only apply this definition to the specific historical context of the interwar era and World War Two. In short: totalitarian or authoritarian governments are not all the same. Fascism and Nazism are generally placed on the right because they were driven by state or race superiority, Communism and Socialism are placed on the left as they were driven by class-differences and (theoretical) equality.
Granted, there is a rich scholarly debate surrounding the function and interpretation of the left-right axis. Anyone who is interested to read more about that can read ‘Andrew Heywood, Political Ideologies: An Introduction (2017) 15-17.’ However, there are limits to what is accepted as an academic argument and what is plain propaganda. Socialism and Nazism are not the same by any respectable definition. Communism and Nazism both embracing totalitarian regimes does not make them the same. We love to engage in debates about this, and we will do so with anyone who presents a real argument with real examples and sources. We will not engage with trolls who are politicising this historical debate with a modern-day agenda.
Cheers,
Joram
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November 3, 2019
Mussolini plays Hitler like a Fiddle – The Invasion of Greece – WW2 – 062 – November 2, 1940
World War Two
Published 2 Nov 2019A new front opens up in Greece as the Italians invade, while the Battle of Britain seems to come to an end.
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Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sourcesWritten and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Map animations: EastoryColorisations by Norman Stewart and Julius Jääskeläinen https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/
Sources:
– IWM: HU 76031, E 15223, E 450, E 6661, A 22111
– killer by Arthur Shlain from the Noun Project
– National Portrait Gallery, London
– Torpedo body icon by Blaise Sewell from the Noun Project
– FDR Presidential Library & MuseumEastory’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
3 days ago (edited)
This week covers about two major events with effects that will ripple through the remainder of the war. Actually, both have been attributed by historians for being “the one event” that caused the war to end as it did. You’ll have to stick around to find out how and when that will be though. Though I can tell you one thing now. History is rarely that simple. If you like our series and want to enable us to cover the complex web of events, locations, individuals and techniques that changed the outcome of the war, please consider supporting us on https://www.patreon.com/timeghosthistory or on our own website at https://timeghost.tv. If you would like to make a one-time contribution, you can do so via PayPal to (paypal@timeghost.tv).
Cheers, Joram
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October 27, 2019
Hitler is Disappointed by his Allies – WW2 – 061 – October 26, 1940
World War Two
Published 26 Oct 2019Hitler finds out that not everyone is ready to do his bidding. Much to the frustration of Hitler, Franco, Petain and Mussolini all have their reasons to take the high road.
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Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sourcesWritten and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Map animations: EastoryColorisations by Norman Stewart and Julius Jääskeläinen https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/
Sources: Biplane by Hea Poh Lin from the Noun Project
Eastory’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
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October 6, 2019
Hitler and the Art of the Deal – WW2 – 058 – October 5 1940
World War Two
Published 5 Oct 2019Hitler is trying to get new Axis Powers on board in his fight against Britain, promising them all huge territorial gains.
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Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sourcesWritten and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Map animations: EastoryColorisations by Norman Stewart and Julius Jääskeläinen https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/
Eastory’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.Sources:
– IWM: A 220
– Photos of Herbert Morrison and John Anderson by Yousuf Karsh, Dutch National Archives
– National Library of Australia
– Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
– Colorized portrait of Mao Zedong by Olga Shirnina, aka Klimbim
– Flag of Spain by SanchoPanzaXXI on Wikimedia CommonsA TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
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September 29, 2019
Being a dictator is a stressful vocation
Gustav Jönsson reviews a new book by Professor Frank Dikötter on twentieth-century dictators:
One of the first things to emerge from Professor Frank Dikötter’s eagerly awaited new book How to Be a Dictator is that it is a stressful vocation: there are rivals to assassinate, dissidents to silence, kickbacks to collect, and revolutions to suppress. Quite hard work. Even the most preeminent ones usually meet ignominious ends. Mussolini: summarily shot and strung upside down over a cheering crowd. Hitler: suicide and incineration. Ceausescu: executed outside a toilet block. Or consider the fate of Ethiopia’s Haile Selassie: rumoured to have been murdered on orders of his successor Mengistu Haile Mariam, he was buried underneath the latter’s office desk. Not the most alluring career trajectory, one might say.
Dikötter’s monograph is a study of twentieth century personality cults. He examines eight such cults: those created by Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Kim Il-sung, Duvalier, Ceausescu, and Mengistu. For them, cultism was not mere narcissism, it was what sustained their regimes; foregoing cultism, Dikötter argues, caused swift collapse. Consider Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Cambodians were unsure of Pol Pot’s exact identity for years, even after he had assumed leadership of the country. The Khmer Rouge, meanwhile, was in its initial stages merely called “Angkar” — “The Organisation.” There was no inspiring iconography. There was no ritualised leader worship. There was only dark terror. Dikötter quotes historian Henri Locard: “Failing to induce adulation and submissiveness, the Angkar could only generate hatred.” The Khmer Rouge soon lost its grip on the country. Dikötter makes an obligatory reference: “Even Big Brother, in George Orwell’s 1984, had a face that stared out at people from every street corner.”
Readers of Orwell will remember that INGSOC has no state ideology. There is only what the Party says, which can change from hour to hour. Likewise, Dikötter argues, there was no ideological core to twentieth century dictatorships; there was only the whim of the dictator. Nazism, for example, was not a coherent creed. It contained antisemitism, nationalism, neo-paganism, etc., but its essence was captured in one of its slogans: The Führer is Always Right. That is what the creed amounted to. Indeed, the NSDAP referred to itself simply as “the Hitler movement.” Nazism was synonymous with Hitlerism. Italian Fascism was perhaps even more vacuous. The regime’s slogan was simple: Mussolini is Always Right. Explaining his method of politics, Mussolini said: “We do not believe in dogmatic programmes, in rigid schemes that should contain and defy the changing, uncertain, and complex reality.”
While it is uncontroversial to argue that Nazism and Fascism were without ideology, as Dikötter writes, the “issue is more complicated with communist regimes.” Naturally, Marxism was connected with Stalin, Mao, Ceausescu, Kim, and Mengistu. But Dikötter rightly says that it was Lenin’s revolutionary vanguard, not Marx’s philosophical works, that inspired them. Doctrines can be interpreted in contradictory ways, creating schismatic movements — as shown throughout the history of socialism. In this regard personality cults are far safer because they are substantively empty. Marxist dictators thus subverted Marxism. Engels had said that socialism in one country was impossible, but that is what Stalin’s Soviet Union favoured. Or consider Kim’s North Korea, which in 1972 replaced Marxism with Great Leader Thought. And as Dikötter writes, “Mao read Marx, but turned him on his head by making peasants rather than workers the spearhead of the revolution.” Reading Marx under Marxism, Dikötter says, was highly imprudent: “One was a Stalinist under Stalin, a Maoist under Mao, a Kimist under Kim.” In short, Marxism was whatever the dictator said, and not what Marx had actually written.
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