The changing face of totalitarianism and fascism. Part One: Germany and Japan

Introduction: Fascism isn’t a thing, an object. As with all things it begins with an idea, a thought, a concept. There have been many manifestations of totalitarianism and fascism over the centuries, but the 20^th century saw perhaps the largest manifestation of fascism on a global scale and where the actual word fascism took root. One could say that many tribes and early nation states functioned in a fascist way, but the true manifestation of fascism occurs when a large nation state formally adopts an authoritarian dictatorship, often represented by one person and/or group and which imposes this ideology in a strict hierarchical power structure. As with many forms of totalitarian ideology, both external and internal enemies are essential.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines fascism as a “populist political philosophy, movement or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government heading by a dictatorial leader and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition.”

But as the Wikipedia page on fascism describes, defining fascism is not so easy and can involve complicated disputes about its exact meaning, and expression. Historian Ian Kershaw once wrote that “trying to define fascism is like trying to nail jelly to the wall.”

As the Wikipedia page explores, scholars agree that a “fascist regime” is foremost an authoritarian form of government, but also that not all authoritarian regimes are fascist. The term was first coined by Benito Mussolini in 1915, and referred to a totalitarian movement linked with corporatism, which evolved in Italy between 1922 and 1943. Therefore, the simplest description of fascism has been Mussolini’s description of the complete merging of interests of the state with corporatism, but which needs to be added, with the cult of a powerful leader of a “proud” nation state. But Mussolini originally saw the need for the merging of interests of worker and employers, to support the nation’s development, and which would be led by the state. Essentially then it was the merging of interests of all for the benefit of the nation as defined by the state. Also in Italy’s case, the creation of the specific and unique state of Italy was a relatively recent construction, achieved in 1861. Interestingly, Germany was only created in 1871, after the Franco-Prussian War and when Prussia won, it led to the incorporation of southern German states into a unified state under Prussian leadership. So both were relatively new countries and which therefore needed to consolidate and establish a unique cultural and racial identity and political structure. The formation of the German Empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, with the King of Prussia, Wilhelm 1, as the Kaiser (emperor). This only lasted until 1918 when it collapsed after WW1 and then after WW2, Germany was divided by the Cold War into East and West Germany, and uniting only in 1990.

It is interesting to note that in the 1920’s and even early 30s’ Mussolini was reaching out to France, UK and the USA to forge closer links to counter the type of fascism rising in Germany. It was only after he was repeatedly rebuked by France and the U.K. especially by the U.K. that he chose to forge an alliance with Hitler. Mussolin’s fascism did not have the extreme racism of Germany fascism. There are many other more nuanced interpretations of what fascism is and how it manifests but it is just useful to note that fascist ideas and ideologies have many types of expressions and that fascism did not end after WW2.

Where did fascism go after WW2?

It didn’t really go anywhere but many leading German fascists were smuggled out of Germany and into the USA, through Operation Paper Clip, in which leading Nazi scientists and military were given papers, at times with the help of the Vatican, and then allowed to leave Germany for the USA and also South America. Interestingly, in the days following the death of Pope Francis, discussion of his role in Argentina in the 1960s has come to the surface again. As a Jesuit priest, he was seen as being complicit in some of the actions of the fascist juntas at the time in Argentina, where he turned a blind eye to the “disappeared” and by default defended the actions of the fascist government, but which was also being supported by the U.S. in its anti-communism fervour. Pope Francis subsequently attempted to appease himself from the actions of these times, speaking up more on human rights issues, including being willing to criticize Israel. That led to his death being celebrated by some high ranking Israelis and a note of condolences being removed from an Israeli government online platform.

In the USA, former German fascists were integrated into intelligence services, scientific research e.g. in rocket technology and other areas of research. Some were also taken to the USSR, especially scientists. Many former Nazi army officers were integrated into NATO command after it was formed in 1949, when it was decided by the West that the threat of Communism was greater than the need to purge Nazi ideology and prosecute more Nazis after the war after in the Nuremburg trials. In Greece, after WW2, a fascist government was established after a civil war in which the British supported the fascists over what was seen as communist insurgents.

The two most extreme belligerents in the war, Germany and Japan, accepted their responsibility by denying any further militarism and in Japan’s case, made a constitutional change which stated that they would essentially become a pacifist state and rejecting the threat or use of force. Even though it can be debated exactly what this meant, essentially that has been Japan’s position and written in Article 9 of its constitution. Attempts to revoke this article have been made and even encouraged now by the U.S. but they have not been able to do so. However, the U.S. has retained substantial forces in Japan since the war and more recently these forces are being built up to counter what the U.S. perceives to be the threat of China. Japan has also been encouraged now to remilitarize and also recently to ally more with the U.S. on the threat of tariffs with China. More on that in a bit.

Germany, similarly accepted a form of pacifist state, and similar to Japan, but even more so, accepted having U.S. military, including nuclear weapons on German soil now for 80 years. Until recently, both countries accepted this subservient military role and did not embark on a significant military build up again, until now. Similarly, in declaring themselves “de-militarized” and in Germany’s case, having to bear both the moral and political consequences of the holocaust, one could say that both countries have tried to bury their past, even using legal means to ensure that the historical facts cannot be challenged, as in laws that ban questioning any aspect of the holocaust. However, an argument can be made that by simply attempting to bury the past with laws, this has led to a type of denial that it ever happened, a form of contrition with having to vocalize it. Yes, there were trials, there was Nuremberg, but there were not Truth and Reconciliation hearings as were held in South Africa to deal with the consequences of apartheid, or similar investigations into what it was that made each country adopt and implement fascist ideology with its extreme militarization. It is well known that Germany suffered the brunt economically from WW1 and the Versailles Treaty that seriously damaged the possibility of real recovery but there is still the fact that fascism arose in Germany and became this terrible thing, that engulfed the whole world. Germany and Italy weren’t alone though. Many fascists were in France, in Holland, Sweden and of course in Spain and Portugal. Also, the UK had many fascist sympathizers, including the Royal Family and famously the politician and aristocrat Oswald Mosley, who was connected to the highest levels of British aristocracy and politics. It could easily have happened that fascism could have taken over Europe, even without Germany invading Britain.

But the case can be made that in both Germany and Japan’s situation, the “psychological” fallout of seeing fascism take root in their countries has never been resolved and now it is being encouraged to take root again. In one case, Japan, it is the U.S. that is encouraging Japan to remilitarize in order to combat China, its historical enemy, and where Japan has been guilty of massive war crimes in the past with China. We had the first Sino-Japanese War in 1894-1895, which was mostly over Korea, with Japan winning and taking control over Taiwan and the Liadong Peninsula, with led to the rise of Japanese nationalism and then the second Sino-Japanese War (1937 to 1945), which overlapped into WW2 but began when Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and erupted into full scale war in 1937, with huge abuses by the Japanese against civilians, including the Rape of Nanking.