Are Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump Fascists? (original) (raw)

Spartacus Blog

The History of Fascism: Are Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump Fascists?

Sections

• International Workingmen's Association (IWMA)
• Second International
• Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism
• Adolf Hitler: German Fascism
• What is Fascism?
• Vladimir Putin and Russia
• Xi Jinping and China
• Donald Trump and the United States
• References

In the 19 th century all developed countries adopted the capitalist economic system. At the time the only alternative system was socialism. Interestingly, the most prominent socialist in the UK in the early part of the 19 th century was a successful businessman, Robert Owen. He claimed that capitalism was a cruel economic system. Owen developed political views that has resulted in him being described as the "father of socialism". In the Report to the County of Lanark (1821) suggested that in order to avoid fluctuations in the money supply as well as the payment of unjust wages, labour notes representing hours of work might become a superior form of exchange medium. This was the first time that Owen "proclaimed at length his belief that labour was the foundation of all value, a principle of immense importance to later socialist thought". Owen then spent most of his fortune on forming the Grand National Trade Union and establishing a socialist utopia, New Harmony, in the United States. (1)

The philosopher and economist Karl Marx argued that capitalism was immoral, and that the system would be eventually replaced by communism. Together, with his friend Friedrich Engels, published The Communist Manifesto in 1848. The pamphlet begins with the assertion: "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." Marx argued that if you are to understand human history you must not see it as the story of great individuals or the conflict between states. Instead, you must see it as the story of social classes and their struggles with each other. Marx explained that social classes had changed over time but in the 19th century the most important classes were the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. By the term bourgeoisie Marx meant the owners of the factories and the raw materials which are processed in them. The proletariat, on the other hand, own very little and are forced to sell their labour to the capitalists. (2)

Marx believed that these two classes are not merely different from each other but also have different interests. He went on to argue that the conflict between these two classes would eventually lead to revolution and the triumph of the proletariat. With the disappearance of the bourgeoisie as a class, there would no longer be a class society. "Just as feudal society was burst asunder, bourgeois society will suffer the same fate." (3)

In 1864 trade unionists from the world gathered in London to discuss the formation of a new organisation. The historian Edward Spencer Beesly was in the chair and he advocated "a union of the workers of the world for the realisation of justice on earth". In his speech, Beesly "pilloried the violent proceedings of the governments and referred to their flagrant breaches of international law. As an internationalist he showed the same energy in denouncing the crimes of all the governments, Russian, French, and British, alike. He summoned the workers to the struggle against the prejudices of patriotism and advocated a union of the toilers of all lands for the realisation of justice on earth." (4)

International Workingmen's Association (IWMA)

The new organisation was called the International Workingmen's Association (IWMA). Karl Marx attended the meeting, and he was asked to become a member of the General Council that consisted of two Germans, two Italians, three Frenchmen and twenty-seven Englishmen (eleven of them from the building trade). Marx was proposed as President but as he later explained: "I declared that under no circumstances could I accept such a thing, and proposed Odger in my turn, who was then in fact re-elected, although some people voted for me despite my declaration." (5)

International Workingmen's Association membership card (1864)

The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War took place on 16th July 1870. It was an attempt by Napoleon III to preserve the Second French Empire against the threat posed by German states of the North German Confederation led by the Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck. The International Workingmen's Association had declared at its conference the previous year that if war broke out a general strike should take place. However, Marx had privately argued that this would end in failure as the "working-class... is not yet sufficiently organised to throw any decisive weight on to the scales" (6)

The Paris section of the IWMA immediately denounced the war. However, in Germany opinion was divided but the majority of socialists considered the war to be a defensive one and in the Reichstag only Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel refused to vote for war credits and spoke vigorously against the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine. For this they were charged with treason and imprisoned. (7)

Karl Marx (c. 1862)

Marx believed that a German victory would help his long-term desire for a socialist revolution. He pointed out to Engels that German workers were better organised and better disciplined than French workers who were greatly influenced by the ideas of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon: "The French need a drubbing. If the Prussians are victorious then the centralisation of the State power will give help to the centralisation of the working class... The superiority of the Germans over the French in the world arena would mean at the same time the superiority of our theory over Proudhon's and so on." (8)

A few days later Karl Marx issued a statement on behalf of the IWMA. "Whatever turn the impending horrid war may take, the alliance of the working classes of all countries will ultimately kill war. The very fact that while official France and Germany are rushing into a fratricidal feud, the workmen of France and Germany send each other messages of peace and goodwill; this great fact, unparalleled in the history of the past, opens the vista of a brighter future. It proves that in contrast to old society, with its economical miseries and its political delirium, a new society is springing up, whose international rule will be Peace, because its natural ruler will be everywhere the same - Labour! The Pioneer of that new society is the International Working Men's Association." (9)

Second International

The International Workingmen's Association also known as the First International was dissolved in 1876. In 1889 the Second International (Socialist International) was established with the intention of preventing a world war in Europe. Leading theorists within the Second International included Friedrich Engels, Karl Kautsky, Georgi Plekhanov, William Morris, Keir Hardie, Vladimir Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg. On July 29, 1914, the Second International held an emergency meeting wherein it "resolved unanimously that it shall be the duty of the workers of all nations concerned not only to continue but to further intensify their demonstrations against the war, for peace, and for the settlement of the Austro-Serbian conflict by international arbitration." (10)

However, this did not happen. the Social Democratic Party was the largest party in the German parliament (110 members). However, on 4th August 1914, Karl Liebknecht was the only member of the Reichstag who voted against Germany's participation in the First World War. He argued: "This war, which none of the peoples involved desired, was not started for the benefit of the German or of any other people. It is an Imperialist war, a war for capitalist domination of the world markets and for the political domination of the important countries in the interest of industrial and financial capitalism. Arising out of the armament race, it is a preventative war provoked by the German and Austrian war parties in the obscurity of semi-absolutism and of secret diplomacy." (11)

Karl Liebknecht

Karl Liebknecht and other anti-war activists were arrested for their anti-war activities and spent several short spells in prison. On the release of Rosa Luxemburg in February 1916, it was decided to establish an underground political organization called Spartakusbund (Spartacus League). The Spartacus League publicized its views in its illegal newspaper, Spartakusbriefe. Like the Bolsheviks in Russia, they argued that socialists should turn this nationalist conflict into a revolutionary war. (12)

The French Socialist Party under Jean Jaurés grew rapidly at the beginning of the century but split over the correct response to German militarism. Jaurés advocated a policy of international arbitration whereas others supported the Triple Entente. During the war fever that swept through Europe during the summer of 1914, Jaurés continued to argue for peaceful negotiations between the European governments. Jaurès had been due to attend an international conference on 9th August, in an attempt to dissuade the belligerent parties from going ahead with the war.[ However, on 31st July, 1914, Jaurés was assassinated by a young French nationalist, Raoul Villain, who wanted to go to war with Germany. (13)

The Labour Party was completely divided by the outbreak of the First World War. Those who opposed the war, included Ramsay MacDonald, Keir Hardie, Philip Snowden, John Bruce Glasier, George Lansbury, Alfred Salter, William Mellor and Fred Jowett. Others in the party such as Arthur Henderson, George Barnes, J. R. Clynes, William Adamson, Will Thorne and Ben Tillett believed that the movement should give total support to the war effort. (14)

Hardie was a pacifist and tried to organize a national strike against Britain's participation in the war. He issued a statement that argued: "The long-threatened European war is now upon us. You have never been consulted about this war. The workers of all countries must strain every nerve to prevent their governments from committing them to war. Hold vast demonstrations against war, in London and in every industrial centre. There is no time to lose. Down with the rule of brute force! Down with war! Up with the peaceful rule of the people!" (15)

In the United States the Socialist Party of America kept in line with the policies of the Second International. Between 1914 and 1917 its leader, Eugene V. Debs, made several speeches explaining why he believed the United States should not join the war. After the USA declared war on the Central Powers in 1917, several party members were arrested for violating the Espionage Act. After making a speech in Canton, Ohio, on 16th June 1918, criticizing the legislation, Debs was arrested and sentenced to ten years in Atlanta Penitentiary. (16)

Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism

The First World War destroyed the idea of international solidarity. It also laid the foundations of what was to become known as fascism. Benito Mussolini was born on 29 July 1883 in Dovia di Predappio, a small town in the province of Forlì in Romagna. His father, Alessandro Mussolini, was a blacksmith and a revolutionary socialist. Mussolini was named Benito after the left-wing Mexican president Benito Juárez. (17)

After working briefly as a schoolteacher, Mussolini fled to Switzerland in 1902 to evade military service. Mussolini returned to Italy in 1904 and over the next ten years worked as a journalist and eventually became editor of the socialist newspaper Avanti. Mussolini was active in the socialist movement but moved to right in 1914 when the Italian government failed to support the Triple Alliance. During this period Mussolini considered himself an "authoritarian communist" and a Marxist and he described Karl Marx as "the greatest of all theorists of socialism." (18)

The Italian Socialist Party opposed the war after anti-militarist protestors had been killed, resulting in a general strike called Red Week. Mussolini initially supported the party's decision. However, eventually he developed the view that the war would be a good opportunity to expand the Italian empire. Mussolini had decided to be a nationalist rather than a socialist. As Mussolini's support for the intervention solidified, he came into conflict with the leaders of the Socialist Party and he was eventually expelled from the party. (19)

When Italy entered the war on the side of the Triple Entente, Mussolini served in the Italian Army and eventually reached the rank of corporal. After being wounded in February 1917 he returned to Milan to edit the right-wing newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia. The journal demanded that the Allies fully supported Italy's demands at the Paris Peace Conference. In early 1918 he called for the emergence of a man "ruthless and energetic enough to make a clean sweep" to revive the Italian nation. (20)

In 1921 Benito Mussolini established the National Fascist Party. Mussolini claimed that modern Italy was the heir to ancient Rome and its legacy and historically supported the creation of an Italian Empire to provide spazio vitale ("living space") for colonisation by Italian settlers and to establish control over the Mediterranean Sea. (21)

The building of an empire had a strong racist undercurrent. Mussolini asserted there was a "natural law" for stronger peoples to subject and dominate "inferior" peoples such as the "barbaric" Slavic peoples of Yugoslavia. "When dealing with such a race as Slavic - inferior and barbarian - we must not pursue the carrot, but the stick policy ... We should not be afraid of new victims... The Italian border should run across the Brenner Pass, Monte Nevoso and the Dinaric Alps." (22)

Mussolini argued that Italy was right to follow an imperialist policy in Africa because he saw all black people as "inferior" to whites. Mussolini claimed that the world was divided into a hierarchy of races and that history was nothing more than a Darwinian struggle for power and territory between various "racial masses". Mussolini saw high birthrates in Africa and Asia as a threat to the "white race". Mussolini believed that the United States was doomed as the American blacks had a higher birthrate than whites, making it inevitable that the blacks would take over the United States. (23)

Benito Mussolini was a racist, but he was not anti-Semitic. Jews were accepted as members of the National Fascist Party. He had a long-term affair (1911-1938) with the Jewish author and academic Margherita Sarfatti, who was known as the "Jewish Mother of Fascism". In 1911 Sarfatti was a fellow member of the Italian Socialist Party and the art critic of the socialist newspaper Avanti. (24)

In 1921 General Election, Mussolini won election to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time. He was one of two National Fascist MPs. The Italian Socialist Party, with 123 seats was the largest party but under the PR system with 535 seats was unable to form a government. The Fascisti, led by one of Mussolini's close confidants, Dino Grandi, formed armed squads of war veterans called blackshirts with the goal of restoring order to the streets of Italy with a strong hand. The blackshirts clashed with communists, socialists, and anarchists at parades and demonstrations; all of these factions were also involved in clashes against each other. The Italian government rarely interfered with the blackshirts' actions, owing in part to a looming threat and widespread fear of a communist revolution. (25)

On 27th October 1922, about 30,000 Fascist blackshirts gathered in Rome to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Luigi Facta, the head of a centre-right coalition. On the morning of 28 October, King Victor Emmanuel III, refused the government request to declare martial law, which led to Facta's resignation. The King then handed over power to Mussolini by asking him to form a new government. Mussolini enjoyed wide support in the military and among the industrial elites, while the King and the conservative establishment were afraid of a possible civil war and thought they could use Mussolini to restore law and order. (26)

Mussolini formed a centre-right National Alliance government. In June 1923, the government passed the Acerbo Law, which granted a two-thirds majority of the seats in Parliament to the party or group of parties that received at least 25% of the votes. This law applied in the elections of 6 April 1924. The national alliance, consisting of Fascists, most of the old Liberals and others, won 64% of the vote. Giacomo Matteotti, the leader of the Italian Socialist Party, who requested that the elections be annulled because of the irregularities, was assassinated. (27)

Benito Mussolini, Becco Giallo (1924)

Between 1925 and 1927, Benito Mussolini progressively dismantled virtually all constitutional and conventional restraints on his power and built a police state. A law passed on 24 December 1925 transformed Mussolini's government into a de facto legal dictatorship. On 31 October 1926, 15-year-old Anteo Zamboni attempted to shoot Mussolini in Bologna. Zamboni was lynched on the spot. (28) It has been argued that the boy was likely innocent, and it was staged event, that resulted in laws creating Mussolini's secret police. (29)

Shortly after the attack, the government launched a harsh crackdown with legislation entitled "Laws for the Defence of the State". The new legislation provided for the dissolution of all political parties except the National Fascist Party, the closing down of all opposition newspapers, and the creation of a secret police force (UPI). In accordance with the new electoral law, the general elections took the form of a plebiscite in which voters were presented with a single PNF-dominated list. According to official figures, the list was approved by 98.43% of voters. Mussolini argued that fascism is "opposed to that form of democracy which equates a nation to the majority, lowering it to the level of the largest number." (30)

Mussolini always had the support of the wealthy elite in Italy as they saw fascism as the best defence of the capitalist system. In its early days the blackshirts were used to bring an end to strikes. As the historian, R. J. B. Bosworth, pointed out: "In these circumstances, Italian business had many reasons to applaud Mussolini's rule." (31) Mussolini answer to industrial conflict was the introduction of the corporate state: "Fascism recognises the real needs which gave rise to socialism and trade-unionism, giving them due weight in the guild or corporative system in which divergent interests are coordinated and harmonised in the unity of the State." (32)

Despite the rhetoric Mussolini gradually reduced the power of the trade unions. As Chris Bambery has pointed out: "Italian fascists waged war on the unions when Mussolini took power, burning trade union offices, and beating and torturing trade unionists. In Turin, the key industrial centre, fascist squads celebrated Mussolini coming to power by attacking trade union offices and killing 22 trade unionists…. Whenever fascism has taken power trade unions have been banned. Many trade unionists suffered jail and persecution. That was true in Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy and in Franco's Spain. The reason is simple. Fascism reduces everything in society to complete state control. Everything is under the heel of the state. Trade unions are the basic defence units of working people, defending jobs, wages and working conditions. Fascism cannot tolerate the fact they are independent organisations upholding the interests of working people." (33)

John Heartfield, Face of Fascism (1928)

Over a period of time Mussolini made changes to Italy's education system. In 1923, Religious Education was made a compulsory subject for Primary School students, and this became the same for Secondary School Students in 1929. Prayers were carried out two times during each school day, as Christianity was established as the national religion. (34)

From 1925, the Fascists began to take measures to control the teachers. For example, public employees with anti-Fascist views could be dismissed. In 1926, 101 out of 317 historical texts were banned. In 1928, a single textbook covering all subjects, for each year of elementary school, was created by the government. (35)

In 1931 teachers' associations were combined to form a Fascist Association. It organised indoctrination courses that teachers had to take in order to achieve any promotions. In the same year university professors began to receive instructions to take the oath of loyalty, with only 11 out of more than one thousand two hundred and fifty refusing. After 1933, new educators were required to be members of the Fascist Association. (36)

Benito Mussolini did not believe in equality between the sexes. The role of women in Fascist ideology was foremost to demonstrate her patriotism and supporting her country by giving birth to children which she would raise to become soldiers or mothers who in turn would support expansionism. Women were allowed to study at university, but the cost for women students were raised to discourage it. While women were not banned from working, certain restrictions were introduced to prevent women from being placed in authority over men in the professional life, such as banning women from certain leadership positions in the educational system which could have given them authority over male colleagues. (37)

Christopher Hibbert has pointed out that Mussolini "instituted a programme of public works hitherto unrivalled in modern Europe. Bridges, canals and roads were built, hospitals and schools, railway stations and orphanages; swamps were drained and land reclaimed, forests were planted and universities were endowed". By the 1930s Mussolini began to concentrate on military spending and at least 10% of GDP, almost a third of government expenditure, began to be directed towards the armed services in the 1930s. (38)

In foreign policy, Mussolini's vision centred on forging a new Roman Empire in Africa and the Balkans. Italy controlled Eritrea and Somalia in Africa but had failed several times to colonize neighbouring Ethiopia. When Mussolini came to power he was determined to show the strength of his regime by occupying the country. (39) In October 1935 Mussolini sent in General Pietro Badoglio and the Italian Army into Ethiopia. Mussolini ordered systematic terror against Ethiopian rebels, targeting both combatants and civilians. Mussolini ordered the execution of the entire adult male population in a town and in one district ordered that "the prisoners, their accomplices and the uncertain will have to be executed" as part of the "gradual liquidation" of the population. Mussolini favoured a policy of brutality partly because he believed the Ethiopians were not a nation because black people were too stupid to have a sense of nationality. The other reason was because Mussolini was planning on bringing millions of Italians into Ethiopia and wanted to kill off much of the population to make room. (40)

The League of Nations condemned Italy's aggression and in November imposed sanctions. This included an attempt to ban countries from selling arms, rubber and some metals to Italy. Some political leaders in France and Britain opposed sanctions arguing that it might persuade Mussolini to form an alliance with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. (41)

Winston Churchill was a great admirer of Benito Mussolini and welcomed both his anti-socialism and his authoritarian way of organising and disciplining the Italians. He visited the country in January 1927 and wrote to his wife, Clementine Churchill, about his first impressions of Mussolini's Italy: "This country gives the impression of discipline, order, goodwill, smiling faces. A happy strict school... The Fascists have been saluting in their impressive manner all over the place." (42)

Churchill met Mussolini and gave a very positive account of him at a press conference held in Rome. Churchill claimed he had been "charmed" by his "gentle and simple bearing" and praised the way "he thought of nothing but the lasting good... of the Italian people." He added that it was "quite absurd to suggest that the Italian Government does not stand upon a popular basis or that it is not upheld by the active and practical assent of the great masses." Finally, he addressed the suppression of left-wing political parties: "If I had been an Italian, I am sure that I should have been whole-heartedly with you from the start to the finish in your triumphant struggle against the bestial appetites and passions of Leninism." (43)

Churchill shared Mussolini's opinions on the problems of democracy. Churchill wrote: "All experience goes to show that once the vote has been given to everyone and what is called full democracy has been achieved, the whole political system is very speedily broken up and swept away." (44) Churchill told his son that democracy might destroy past achievements and that future historians would probably record "that within a generation of the poor silly people all getting the votes they clamoured for they squandered the treasure which five centuries of wisdom and victory had amassed." (45)

Adolf Hitler: German Fascism

Adolf Hitler was born on 20th April 1889, in the small Austrian town of Braunau near the German border. Both Hitler's parents had come from poor peasant families. His father Alois Hitler, the illegitimate son of a housemaid, was an intelligent and ambitious man and was at the time of Adolf Hitler's birth, a senior customs official in Lower Austria. (46)

Like Benito Mussolini he welcomed the outbreak of the First World War. It was a chance for him to become involved in proving that Germany was superior to other European countries. Hitler claimed that when he heard the news of war: "I was overcome with impetuous enthusiasm, and falling on my knees, wholeheartedly thanked Heaven that I had been granted the happiness to live at this time.... What a man wants is what he hopes and believes. The overwhelming majority of the nation had long been weary of the eternally uncertain state of affairs; thus it was only too understandable that they no longer believed in a peaceful conclusion of the Austro-Serbian conflict but hoped for the final settlement. I, too, was one of these millions." (47)

Also, like Mussolini he obtained the rank of corporal. One soldier from his regiment, Hans Mend, claimed that Hitler was an isolated figure who spent long periods of time sitting in the corner holding his head in silence. Then all of a sudden, Mend claimed, he would jump up and make a speech. These outbursts were usually attacks on Jews and Marxists, who Hitler claimed were undermining the war effort. He was nicknamed "crazy Adolf" by the men he came into contact with. "He struck me as a psychopath from the start. He often flew into a rage when contradicted, throwing himself on the ground and frothing at the mouth". (48)

Adolf Hitler met Ernst Röhm on 7th March 1919: "There, in that atmosphere of displaced fanaticism, he met a veteran of the Franco-German front, a pale and puny man with a look of exaltation in his eyes, fired by nationalist passion and visionary ambition, a magnetic orator who spoke in short, sharp bursts." Hitler later recalled that they spent the evening "in a cellar where we racked our brains for ways of combating the revolutionary movement". It is believed that night Hitler was recruited as a spy and informer on left-wing organisations. (49)

William L. Shirer, the author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1964) has argued: "He (Röhm) was a stocky, bull-necked, piggish-eyed, scar-faced professional soldier... with a flair for politics and a natural ability as an organizer. Like Hitler he was possessed of a burning hatred for the democratic Republic and the 'November criminals' he held responsible for it. His aim was to re-create a strong nationalist Germany and he believed with Hitler that this could be done only by a party based on the lower classes, from which he himself, unlike most Regular Army officers, had come. A tough, ruthless, driving man - albeit, like so many of the early Nazis, a homosexual." (50)

On 30th May 1919 Major Karl Mayr was appointed as head of the Education and Propaganda Department. He was given considerable funds to build up a team of agents or informants and to organize a series of educational courses to train selected officers and men in "correct" political and ideological thinking. Mayr was also given the power to finance "patriotic" parties, publications and organizations. Captain Röhm was one of those who joined this unit. (51)

It is believed Röhm suggested that Mayr should recruit Hitler as an informer. Mayr later recalled that Hitler was "like a tired stray dog looking for a master" and someone "ready to throw in his lot with anyone who would show him kindness". Mayr argued that at the time Hitler "was totally unconcerned about the German people and their destinies". Mayr added that Hitler was "paid by the month, from whom regular information could be expected." On 5th June 1919, Hitler began a course on political education at Munich University that had been organized by Mayr. Hitler attended courses entitled "German History Since the Reformation", "The Political History of the War", "Socialism in Theory and Practice", "Our Economic Situation and Peace Conditions" and "The Connection between Domestic and Foreign Policy". (52)

In September 1919, Captain Karl Mayr instructed Hitler to attend a meeting of the German Worker's Party (GWP). Formed by Anton Drexler, Hermann Esser, Gottfried Feder, Karl Harrer and Dietrich Eckart, the German Army was worried that it was a left-wing revolutionary group. Harrer was elected as chairman of the party. Alan Bullock, the author of Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (1962) has pointed out: "Its total membership was little more than Drexler's original forty (Committee of Independent Workmen), activity was limited to discussions in Munich beer-halls, and the committee of six had no clear idea of anything more ambitious." (53)

Hitler recorded in Mein Kampf (1925): "When I arrived that evening in the guest room of the former Sternecker Brau (Star Corner)... I found approximately 20–25 persons present, most of them belonging to the lower classes. The theme of Feder's lecture was already familiar to me; for I had heard it in the lecture course... Therefore, I could concentrate my attention on studying the society itself. The impression it made upon me was neither good nor bad. I felt that here was just another one of these many new societies which were being formed at that time. In those days everybody felt called upon to found a new Party whenever he felt displeased with the course of events and had lost confidence in all the parties already existing. Thus it was that new associations sprouted up all round, to disappear just as quickly, without exercising any effect or making any noise whatsoever." (54)

Hitler discovered that the party's political ideas were similar to his own. He approved of Drexler's German nationalism and anti-Semitism but had doubts about the speech made by Gottfried Feder. Hitler was just about to leave when a man in the audience began to question the logic of Feder's speech on Bavaria. Hitler joined in the discussion and made a passionate attack on the man who he described as the "professor". Feder was impressed with Hitler and gave him a booklet encouraging him to join the GWP. Entitled, My Political Awakening, it described his objective of building a political party which would be based on the needs of the working-class but which, unlike the Social Democratic Party (SDP) or the German Communist Party (KPD) would be strongly nationalist.

The German Workers Party used some of this money from Karl Mayr and Ernst Röhm to advertise their meetings. Hitler was often the main speaker and it was during this period that he developed the techniques that made him into such a persuasive orator. Hitler always arrived late which helped to develop tension and a sense of expectation. He took the stage, stood to attention and waited until there was complete silence before he started his speech. For the first few months Hitler appeared nervous and spoke haltingly. Slowly he would begin to relax and his style of delivery would change. He would start to rock from side to side and begin to gesticulate with his hands. His voice would get louder and become more passionate. Sweat poured of him, his face turned white, his eyes bulged and his voice cracked with emotion. He ranted and raved about the injustices done to Germany and played on his audience's emotions of hatred and envy. By the end of the speech the audience would be in a state of near hysteria and were willing to do whatever Hitler suggested. As soon as his speech finished Hitler would quickly leave the stage and disappear from view. Refusing to be photographed, Hitler's aim was to create an air of mystery about himself, hoping that it would encourage others to come and hear the man who was now being described as "the new Messiah". (55)

The Nazi Party won only 12 seats in the May 1928 General Election. The Social Democratic Party had the most seats (153) and the Communists also did well. Propaganda cost money and this was something that the Nazi Party was very short of at that time. Whereas the German Social Democratic Party was funded by the trade unions and the pro-capitalist parties by industrialists, the NSDAP had to rely on contributions from party members. When Hitler approached rich industrialists for help, he was told that his economic policies (profit-sharing, nationalization of trusts) were too left-wing. (56)

To obtain financial contributions from industrialists, Hitler wrote a pamphlet entitled The Road to Resurgence. Only a small number of these pamphlets were printed, and they were only meant for the eyes of the top industrialists in Germany. The reason that the pamphlet was kept secret was that it contained information that would have upset Hitler's working-class supporters. In the pamphlet Hitler implied that the anti-capitalist measures included in the original twenty-five points of the NSDAP programme would not be implemented if he gained power. Hitler claimed that fascism meant all people doing their best for society and posed no threat to the wealth of the rich. Some prosperous industrialists were convinced by these arguments and gave donations to the Nazi Party. (57)

The economic situation changed after the Wall Street Crash and the United States began withdrawing its investments from Germany. In September 1930, the Nazi Party won 230 seats and in March 1933, they obtained 288 seats. They still did not have a majority but the Catholic Centre Party (93 seats) and the Nationalist Pary (52 seats) who hated socialists and communists, were willing to let them take power. On 23rd March 1933, all members of the Nazi Party in the Reichstag voted for the Enabling Bill. This banned the German Communist Party and the German Social Democrat Party from taking part in future election campaigns. This was followed by Nazi officials being put in charge of all local government in the provinces (7th April), trades unions being abolished, their funds taken and their leaders put in prison (2nd May), and a law passed making the Nazi Party the only legal political party in Germany (14th July). (58)

Before the Nazi Party takeover there were 4,700 daily newspapers in Germany. The structure of the German press was so varied that a middle-sized provincial town like Stuttgart (population 400,000) was served by nine separate dailies. In 1933 the Nazi party paper the Völkischer Beobachter, became the country's first national newspaper. All newspapers that had supported the opposition parties were closed down. (59)

Hitler decreed a law bringing an end to collective bargaining and providing that henceforth "labour trustees", appointed by him, would "regulate labour contracts" and maintain "labour peace". Since the decisions of the trustees were to be legally binding, the law, in effect, outlawed strikes. Ley promised "to restore absolute leadership to the natural leader of a factory - that is, the employer... Only the employer can decide." (60)

The German Labour Front was the only union organization allowed in the Third Reich and had over 20 million members. Ley appointed twelve state officials whose job it was to regulate wages, conditions of work and labour contracts in each of their respective districts, and to maintain peace between workers and employers. During his period in control the standard of living of the German workers did not improve. (61)

The Wall Street Crash caused serious problems for the German economy. The collapse in share prices meant an urgent need to repatriate American capital invested abroad. The number of registered unemployed in Germany rose from 1.6 million in October 1929 to 6.12 million in February 1932. Since these figures did not include the "invisible" unregistered unemployed, it has been estimated that the true figure was 7.6 million. "Thirty-three per cent of the workforce were without jobs. Taking into account dependants, perhaps twenty-three million people were affected by unemployment." (62)

During the early 1930s women often found it easier to find jobs than men. The main reason was that female labour was cheaper. As Richard Grunberger has pointed out: "Skilled women earned 66 per cent of men's wages, unskilled ones 70 per cent, which explains why during the Depression nearly one man in three (29 per cent) was dismissed but only one woman in every ten (11 per cent)... In 1933 women formed 37 per cent of the total employed labour force in Germany." (63)

During the election campaign in 1932, Adolf Hitler promised that if he gained power he would take 800,000 women out of employment within four years. Hitler told a delegation who had come to discuss women's rights with him he told them the solution was for every woman to have a husband. The American journalist, William L. Shirer, who was working in Germany at the time, has argued that politicians such as Hitler "thrive only... when the masses were unemployed, hungry and desperate".(64)

Vaughn Shoemaker, Chicago Daily News (1938)

Joseph Goebbels condemned the idea that women had as much right as men to work. "Looking back over the past years of Germany's decline, we come to the frightening, nearly terrifying, conclusion that the less German men were willing to act as men in public life, the more women succumbed to the temptation to fill the role of the man. The feminization of men always leads to the masculinisation of women. An age in which all great idea of virtue, of steadfastness, of hardness, and determination have been forgotten should not be surprised that the man gradually loses his leading role in life and politics and government to the woman." (65)

Adolf Hitler also reinforced this idea. In a speech he made in September 1934, he suggested that the slogan "emancipation of women" was invented by Jewish intellectuals and was clearly associated with Marxism. Women needed to leave the workplace and return to the home. " For her world is her husband, her family, her children, and her home. But what would become of the greater world if there were no one to tend and care for the smaller one? The great world cannot survive if the smaller world is not stable. We do not consider it correct for the women to interfere in the world of the man. We consider it natural if these two worlds remain distinct." (66)

Nazi propaganda was carefully designed to elevate women's role. Motherhood was glorified in posters, paintings and sculptures. "The breastfeeding mother appeared on sometimes graphically deplorable posters and was sculptured for placing in public spaces. Painters depicted mothers surrounded by their families in warm, soft-toned agricultural settings, intended to invoke the peasant rural idyll within which the Nazi fantasy of ideal family life was framed." (67)

Wolfgang Willrich, The Aryan Family (1930)

One of the objectives of the Nazi government was to reduce the number of women in higher education. On 12th January 1934, Wilhelm Frick ordered that the proportion of female grammar school graduates allowed to proceed to university should be no more than 10 per cent of that of the male graduates. (68)

That year, out of 10,000 girls who passed the Abitur entry examinations, only 1,500 were granted university admission. In the year before the Nazis came to power there were 18,315 women students in Germany's universities. Six years later this number had fallen to 5,447. The government also ordered a reduction in women teachers. By 1935 the number of women teachers at girls' secondary schools had decreased by 15 per cent. (69)

The policies that Hitler introduced did help to reduce the number of people unemployed in Germany. The public works programmes started taking effect within a fairly short time. The Nazis instituted an emergency work programme for reforestation, land reclamation, dam building, motorways, etc. Youth unemployment was dealt with by the forming of the Voluntary Labour Service (VLS), a scheme similar to the Civilian Conservation Corps introduced by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States. In 1935 they made a year of work service compulsory for all men registered as unemployed. (70)

The government banned the introduction of some labour-saving machinery. Employers also had to get government permission before reducing their labour force. The government also tended to give work contracts to those companies that relied on manual labour rather than machines. (71)

Large numbers of men were employed in the government's massive motorway programme. The first finished stretch, between Frankfurt and Darmstadt, opened on 19 May 1935, and the first 1,000 km (620 miles) were completed on 23 September 1936. As a result of this scheme Germany developed the most efficient road system in Europe. (72)

Adolf Hitler also abolished taxation on new cars. A great lover of cars himself, and influenced by the ideas of Henry Ford, Hitler wanted every family in Germany to own a car. Hitler also encouraged the mass production of radios. In this case he was not only concerned with reducing unemployment but saw them as a means of supplying a steady stream of Nazi propaganda to the German people. At the time Hitler seized power 4.5 million households had radios, after 10 years this had increased to 16 million, over 70% of the population. (73)

The Treaty of Versailles restricted the German army to 100,000 men and the navy to 15,000. However, on 16 th March 1935 Hitler announced the reintroduction of conscription. This allowed for a rapid expansion of the army, initially aiming for 550,000 troops. By 1938, the German army had 36 infantry divisions, and by 1939, it had 98 divisions with around 1.5 million well-trained men. (74)

In the 1930s, Nazi Germany significantly increased its military spending, moving from 3.5 billion marks in 1933 to 26 billion by 1939. This rapid growth was part of a larger rearmament program aimed at preparing for war. By 1938, Nazi Germany's military spending accounted for about 17% of its GDP, compared to 2.6% in the UK. According to Richard Overy, the Nazi war economy was a mixed economy that combined free markets with central planning; Overy describes it as being somewhere in between the command economy of the Soviet Union and the capitalist system of the United States. (75)

By 1937 German unemployment had fallen from 5,400,000 to 1,800,000. However, the standard of living for those in employment did not improve in the same way that it had done during the 1920s. With the Nazis controlling the trade unions, wage-rates did not increase with productivity, and after a few years of Hitler's rule workers began to privately question his economic policies. (76)

What is Fascism?

There were two other fascist leaders in Europe in the 1930s. António Salazar in Portugal who took power in 1932 and Francisco Franco in Spain who became dictator in 1938. Salazar and Franco both refused to join forces with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini during the Second World War. Nor did they invade other countries and it is the main reason why they both died in their bed: Salazar (July 1970) and Franco (June 1973).

It has been argued by Lawrence W. Britt that Fascism has 14 different characteristics. I have added an extra trait (cult leader) at the end.

(i) Nationalism: Fascists tend to refer to a period in the past when the nation was most powerful. "Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays."

(ii) Corporate State: The economic policy of fascism is largely determined by the industrial and business aristocracy. "They are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite."

(iii) Dictatorship: Some fascist leaders allow parliamentary elections to take place, but this is only when they have enough power to ensure that the opposition parties do not govern.

(iv) Mass Media: Fascist leaders always take direct or indirect control of the mass media.

(v) Trade Unions: All fascist countries either eliminate trade unions or nationalize them. The organizing power of free trade unions provides the only real threat to a fascist government.

(vi) Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats: "The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc."

(vii) Aggressive Foreign Policy and Military Spending: Most fascist leaders attempt to expand the control over other nations. The military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding. Fascists also have a history of advocating territorial expansion.

(viii) Judiciary: Judges or other legal officers are under the control of the government. The fear of internal enemies, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored. This results in "torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc."

(ix) Sexism: "The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation".

(x) Religion: "Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions."

(xi) Education: Fascist governments usually make efforts to introduce a nationalist curriculum. They tend to rewrite textbooks and insist teachers are party members. It is not uncommon for academics to be censored or even arrested.

(xii) The Arts: Fascist governments try to control all artistic activity. This includes subsidizing artists who provide the appropriate message. "Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts."

(xiii) Crime and Punishment: "Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations."

(xiv) Corruption: "Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability." (77)

(xv) Cult of Personality: In all the four historical examples of fascism in Europe, it has involved having a cult leader: Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, António Salazar and Francisco Franco. In all cases, fascism in that country comes to an end with the death of its leader. As the historian of fascism, Timothy Snyder, has pointed out: "A cult of personality is sterile. It cannot reproduce itself. The cult of personality is the worship of something temporary. It is thus confusion and, at bottom, cowardice: The leader cannot contemplate the fact that he will die and be replaced, and citizens abet the illusion by forgetting that they share responsibility for the future." (78)

Vladimir Putin and Russia

I believe that Vladimir Putin is a fascist based on the 14 traits identified by Lawrence W. Britt. It is true that officially Russia is a democracy but, in a country, where Putin controls the mass media and can order the arrest of leaders of opposition parties, having the vote is not important in deciding who enters parliament. Yet, Putin is rarely called a fascist. In fact, it is a term used to describe his enemies. However, as Timothy Snyder, writing in the New York Times, has pointed out: "We err in limiting our fears of fascism to a certain image of Hitler and the Holocaust. Fascism was Italian in origin, popular in Romania - where fascists were Orthodox Christians who dreamed of cleansing violence - and had adherents throughout Europe (and America). In all its varieties, it was about the triumph of will over reason. Because of that, it's impossible to define satisfactorily. People disagree, often vehemently, over what constitutes fascism. But today's Russia meets most of the criteria that scholars tend to apply. It has a cult around a single leader, Vladimir Putin. It has a cult of the dead, organized around World War II. It has a myth of a past golden age of imperial greatness, to be restored by a war of healing violence - the murderous war on Ukraine." (79)

Xi Jinping and China

Some people believe that Xi Jinping the leader of China is a fascist. Michael Beckley is someone who thinks he is. Beckley has argued "China is ramping up domestic repression to a degree that transcends the typical bounds of authoritarianism. This isn't mere autocracy – its regime increasingly resembles fascism. I use the term cautiously, aware of its historical weight, but the hallmarks are too striking to ignore. The first hallmark is the cult-like worship of Xi Jinping. State propaganda portrays Xi as the culmination of a holy trinity in Chinese history. The second hallmark is hyper-nationalism. This isn't the mere pride of a nation asserting itself on the global stage. This promise of restoring a mythical golden age permeates everything from textbooks to state media. It underpins Xi's rhetoric and justifies his policies. Ethnic minorities have borne the brunt of this ideological shift. The Chinese Communist Party increasingly describes Uyghurs and other groups as existential threats – a cancer' that must be excised to protect the integrity of the Chinese state." (80)

All these things are true, and you could make the argument that 14 of the 15 identified traits are true of China. However, China is not a corporate state. Although recent research has shown that it has 814 billionaires, the share of state-owned capital in Chinese companies has been increasing over time, from roughly 61% in 1999 to 85% in 2017. China is a communist party-led state that combines state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and a market economy. While a significant portion of the economy is privately owned and managed, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) plays a crucial role in directing economic policy and maintaining control over key sectors. (81)

Donald Trump and the United States

General John F. Kelly, Donald Trump's longest-serving chief of staff, went public in October 2024 with his concerns that the former president met the definition of a fascist. Speaking to the New York Times, Kelly declared that Trump "would govern like a dictator if allowed". Kelly added: "In many cases, I would agree with some of his policies… But again, it's a very dangerous thing to have the wrong person elected to high office… He said that, in his opinion, Mr. Trump met the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of law. He discussed and confirmed previous reports that Mr. Trump had made admiring statements about Hitler." (82)

A few days later Kamala Harris agreed with him. CNN's Anderson Cooper asked Harris what she thought of General Kelly's comments. She replied: "I think of it as he's just putting out a 911 call to the American people – understand what could happen if Donald Trump were back in the White House. And this time, we must take very seriously those folks who knew him best and who were career people are not going to be there to hold him back." Cooper asked directly if Harris thinks Trump, is a fascist. "Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And I also believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted." (83)

Donald Trump does exhibit several fascist traits. For example,

(i) Nationalism: Trump used the slogan "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) during his successful presidential campaigns in 2016 and in 2024. It has been described as a slogan representing American exceptionalism and promoting an idealistic or romanticized American past that excludes certain groups. Rebecca Solnit has argued "Make America great again, seemed to invoke a return to a Never Never Land of white male supremacy, where coal was an awesome fuel, blue-color manufacturing jobs were what they had been in 1956, women belong in the home, and the needs of white men were paramount." (84)

Donald Trump at a political rally.

Trump often refers to America's golden age of the past and makes constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. "Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays." (85) In his inauguration speech in January 2025 Donald Trump heralded a new "golden age of America". "From this day forward," he said, "our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world." He promised a manufacturing boom and falling consumer. In his joint address to Congress on 4 March, a triumphant parade of his first two months in office, he repeated his promise: "The golden age of America has only just begun – it will be like nothing that has ever been seen before." (86)

(ii) Corporate State: It could be argued that the United States has become a corporate state. The funding model of American politics means that extremely wealthy people and large corporations have a tremendous amount of influence. In the words of Lawrence W. Britt: "They are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite." (87)

Kim Lane Scheppele, a professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, recently talked about Elon Musk relationship with Donald Trump: "They are saying that Social Security pays people who are a hundred and fifty years old, or that Medicaid is going to undeserving people who are just malingering. And they claim to see a lot of corruption in the kinds of welfare programs that the state runs. And that's something that has a very broad audience because, first of all, there probably is a lot of low-scale fiddling with the rules. Many people probably know somebody who's gotten a state benefit that they didn't entirely deserve. And so that kind of corruption looks like something that does have to be wiped out. But then what you get instead is a budget going through Congress that would massively tilt tax benefits toward Trump and Musk. Also, if you look at Elon Musk, his fortune is largely from a basis in what were state contracts. And there have been reports about making the Federal Aviation Administration use Starlink, which he owns, or about firing the people who were investigating his companies. So Musk stands to get massively more wealthy from exactly what he's doing in his government capacity. But this corruption might not be as visible as the street-level stuff that people feel familiar with." (88)

(vi) Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats: According to Lawrence W. Britt: "The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc." (89)

Trump targets immigrants and calls his Democratic opponents "Marxists" and "communists". Ali Swenson has argued: "Trump has used the labels since he first appeared on the political scene, but it lately has become an omnipresent attack line that also has been deployed by other Republicans. The rhetoric is both inaccurate and potentially dangerous because it attempts to demonize an entire party with a description that has long been associated with America's enemies. Experts who study political messaging say associating Democrats with Marxism only furthers the country's polarization - and is simply wrong: Biden has promoted capitalism and Democratic lawmakers are not pushing to reshape American democracy into a communist system." (90)

Zack Beauchamp has compared this behaviour to what took place in Nazi Germany: "German politics made them particularly easy to demonize. They were either vulnerable minorities (Jews) or politically controversial with the German mainstream (communists, socialists, trade unionists)… What's happening in America right now has chilling echoes of this old tactic. When engaging in unlawful or boundary-pushing behavior, the Trump administration has typically gone after targets who are either highly polarizing or unpopular. The idea is to politicize basic civil liberties questions - to turn a defense of the rule of law into either a defense of widely hated groups or else an ordinary matter of partisan politics." (91)

(vii) Aggressive Foreign Policy and Military Spending: Trump's second term foreign policy has been variously described as imperialist, expansionist, isolationist, and autarkist, employing the America First ideology as its cornerstone. Stephen Collinson has argued: "Donald Trump's imperialist designs on Greenland, Canada and Panama often sound like the ramblings of a real estate shark who equates foreign and trade policy to a hunt for new deals. But there's method in his expansionist mindset. Trump, in his unique way, is grappling with national security questions the US must face in a new world shaped by China's rise, the inequalities of globalization, melting polar ice and great power instability. His attitude also embodies the America First principle of using US strength to relentlessly pursue narrow national interests, even by coercing smaller, allied powers." (92)

Donald Trump first raised the matter of making Canada the US's 51st state in a 28th March phone-call with Prime Minister Mark Carney. "The president brings this up all the time. He brought it up yesterday. He brought it up before" Carney said at a campaign press conference. Trump's tariff policies and musings about making its northern neighbour part of the United States become critical issues in the election and helped Carney win a majority at the election. (93)

Trump raised the possibility of acquiring Greenland during his first term as president but has returned to the idea far more frequently in his second term. In an interview in May 2025 he refused to rule out the use of force to take the island of 57,000 people, which is part of the Danish kingdom. Former Danish Prime Minister and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has commented: "I find it shameless that an American president can threaten an ally. Denmark is one of the closest and most reliable allies of the United States." (94)

President Trump hasn't given up on the idea of acquiring Greenland, which he and other top officials see as key to U.S. national security. When vice-president JD Vance visited in March, Mr. Trump said, "We have to have Greenland." The president has also expressed an interest in Greenland because of its rare earth minerals, which are needed in electronics like cell phones and electric cars. (95)

In 1904, Panama granted the United States the right to build and operate a canal and control five miles of land on either side of the water. After the war Panama began to argue that the country was locked out of the prosperity the canal created and in 1977 President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty with Panamanian Chief of Government Omar Torrijos to return the canal area to Panama. Since then, Panama has invested nearly $6 billion to improve the infrastructure and increase the shipping capacity to expand the canal's use worldwide. The Panama Canal was not an issue in the 2024 election, but in December, President Trump began claiming that the United States, the shipping lane's biggest user, was "being severely overcharged and not treated fairly" and threatened to "take (the canal) back or something very powerful is going to happen." (96)

In April 2025 Trump unveiled plans for a 1trilliondefensebudgetforthenextfinancialyear,amassiveincreasethatheclaimedwillprovidethecountrywithunmatchedmilitarystrengthforyearstocome.Thismeansanincreaseindefensespendingby131 trillion defense budget for the next financial year, a massive increase that he claimed will provide the country with unmatched military strength for years to come. This means an increase in defense spending by 13%. His plan also calls for sweeping cuts to a multitude of discretionary programs that the Trump administration has been dismantling since it took office in January. "It would slash 1trilliondefensebudgetforthenextfinancialyear,amassiveincreasethatheclaimedwillprovidethecountrywithunmatchedmilitarystrengthforyearstocome.Thismeansanincreaseindefensespendingby13163 billion from non-defense, discretionary spending, a nearly 23% reduction, bringing it down to roughly $557 billion". (97)

Elon Musk denounced the US president's tax and spending bill on his X social media platform. "This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it… It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt." (98)

Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, added in a post: "Musk is right: this bill is a ‘disgusting abomination'. We shouldn't give 664billionintaxbreakstothe1664 billion in tax breaks to the 1%. We shouldn't throw 13.7 million people off of Medicaid. We shouldn't cut 664billionintaxbreakstothe1290 billion from programs to feed the hungry. Let's defeat this disgusting abomination." (99)

The disagreement over defence spending between Trump and Musk eventually resulted in a deterioration of their once close relationship. On 5th June 2025 the two men began hurling deeply personal insults over several different issues. Musk said on X the reason the Trump administration had not released the files into Jeffrey Epstein was because they implicated the president. He later quote-tweeted a post calling for Trump to be removed and said Trump's tariffs would cause a recession. In return Trump threatened to cut subsidies for Musk's companies as it would save "billions". (100)

(ix) Sexism: Trump desire to return the United States to the 1950s is often seen as an attack on women's rights. As Hibaaq Osman has pointed out: "There are women in the US who have had to fight every step of the way to have their humanity recognised by a bigoted and over-mighty state. African American women, Indigenous American women, Latin American women – their civil rights struggles have been extraordinary and hugely influential across the world…. The Trump administration threatens not only the health and rights of women within the US, but the progress that women have made globally. His cuts to American development, humanitarian and medical aid overseas are already having devastating consequences for women and girls facing violence, armed conflict, disaster and disease." (101)

Areeba Haider has recorded 20 ways the Trump administration has already harmed women's rights. This includes sacking Gwynne Wilcox and General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo from the National Labor Relations Board. This is an independent federal agency that protects employees from unfair labor practices and supports their ability to organize a union. "Research by the National Partnership finds that Black and Asian women and part-time workers had the largest gains in union membership growth in 2024 and women workers who are represented by a union see a multitude of benefits, including higher wages and more access to vital benefits such as paid leave, pensions, and health coverage. Despite the benefits of the NLRB's work, President Trump illegally fired Board member Gwynne Wilcox just one week after his inauguration. She is both the first Black woman to ever sit on the NLRB Board and the first to be terminated from the position. Without Wilcox and a permanent general counsel, the NLRB Board is short of the required three-person quorum and cannot make major decisions." (102)

On his first day back in the White House, the government website offering reproductive health information was taken offline. Since then, the Department of Health and Human Services has removed all mention of abortion protection policies and the Department of Justice has dropped the Biden administration's lawsuit against Idaho, over its near-total abortion ban. Amy Tatum has argued: "The first 100 days of Trump's second term have suggested an aggressive stance towards eroding the rights of women and gender non-conforming people that has been couched in the idea of 'protecting women'. In fact, limiting access to reproductive healthcare, restricting the rights of trans, intersex and non-binary people, and potentially disenfranchising large numbers of women demonstrates a lack of protection and a diminishing of their voices." (103)

The main concern is of the rights to an abortion and the enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. This act made it a federal crime to use force, threats of force, or physical obstruction to prevent people from receiving or providing reproductive health care such as abortions. This legislation was passed in 1994 in response to violence by anti-abortion protestors against abortion providers, such as through blockades, sit-ins at clinics, and bombings. The National Abortion Federation believes that between 1977 and 2022, there were 11 murders, 42 bombings, 531 assaults, and 492 clinic invasions amongst thousands of other criminal activities directed at abortion providers, patients, and volunteers. Death threats and other threats of harm against providers have only increased in the wake of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, yet President Trump's Department of Justice announced in its first days that it would no longer enforce the law except under severe and "extraordinary circumstances." (104)

(x) Religion: Lawrence W. Britt could well be talking about Donald Trump when he says: "Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions." (105)

Throughout his political career Donald Trump has made appeals to conservative Christianity and the Christian right, particularly evangelicals. The fusion of political Christianity with Trump's own views has been described as "Christian Trumpism". According to Brian Naylor: "Evangelical Christians, who made up a large part of the audience… are a key part of Trump's base of support, many of whom have said they are able to overlook the president's three marriages and sometimes crude sexual boasting as he has promoted policies and judges who support their agenda." (106)

Trump used religious imagery in his 2024 presidential campaign. He told one Christian group: "For seven years, you and I have been fighting side-by-side to rescue our country from evil and from the sinister forces who hate it. I believe they hate it, and I believe they actually want to destroy it…. Together, we're warriors in a righteous crusade to stop the arsonists, the atheists, globalists and the Marxists - and that's what they are - and we will restore our Republic as one nation under God with liberty and justice for all." Trump added that he considered himself to be above the law: "Every time the radical left Democrats, Marxists, communists and fascists indict me, I consider it a great badge of courage." (107)

Arthur Hartin has argued: "While Donald Trump's presidency resonated with many Christians due to his policy initiatives, his personal behavior and rhetoric often drew criticism for contradicting core Christian values. Many believers wrestled with the disparity between his deeds that seemed to uphold Christian principles and his actions that undermined them, particularly in areas of humility, compassion, and moral integrity. One of the most frequently cited concerns about Trump's presidency was his divisive and often inflammatory rhetoric. His tendency to insult political opponents, demean individuals on social media, and use derogatory language stood in stark contrast to the biblical call for humility, kindness, and love for one's neighbor. For Christians who value peacemaking and reconciliation, Trump's combative tone and polarizing statements were troubling. His language, rather than building unity, often deepened divisions in an already fractured society." (108)

(xi) Education: Donald Trump's vision for education revolves around a single goal: to rid America's schools of perceived "wokeness" and "left-wing indoctrination." Trump wants to forbid classroom lessons on gender identity and structural racism. He wants to abolish diversity and inclusion offices. Throughout his presidential campaign, the Republican depicted schools as a political battleground to be won back from the left. On his first day in office, Trump has repeatedly said he will cut money to "any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on our children." (109)

On 20th March 2025, Donald Trump issued a statement on education. "The Executive Order directs the Secretary of Education to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the States, while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely. The Order also directs that programs or activities receiving any remaining Department of Education funds will not advance DEI or gender ideology.... Taxpayers will no longer be burdened with tens of billions of dollars wasted on progressive social experiments and obsolete programs. Under the Biden Administration, the Department of Education wasted more than 1billioningrantsfocusedonentrenchingradicalideologiesineducation.Biden′sDepartmentofEducationrewroteTitleIXrulestoexpandthedefinitionof"sex"discriminationtoinclude"genderidentity."TheTrumpAdministrationrecentlycanceled1 billion in grants focused on entrenching radical ideologies in education. Biden's Department of Education rewrote Title IX rules to expand the definition of "sex" discrimination to include "gender identity." The Trump Administration recently canceled 1billioningrantsfocusedonentrenchingradicalideologiesineducation.Biden′sDepartmentofEducationrewroteTitleIXrulestoexpandthedefinitionof"sex"discriminationtoinclude"genderidentity."TheTrumpAdministrationrecentlycanceled226 million in grants under the Comprehensive Centers Program that forced radical agendas onto states and systems, including race-based discrimination and gender identity ideology. (110)

Universities and colleges are frequent targets of right-wing campaigns that view them as incubators for leftist ideology. Many of Trump's higher education proposals involve driving out these perceived ideas. Trump has also vowed to "deport pro-Hamas radicals and make our college campuses safe and patriotic again". In one speech he announced his desire to establish an American Academy, which is designed to work against higher education institutions that are "turning our students into communists and terrorists and sympathizers of many, many different dimensions". He says he would tax, fine and sue private university endowments, which fund those universities, and use the money to create this academy. It would offer a "free world-class education" without adding to the federal debt, he claims, by offering online courses that then give credentials that the federal government and contractors would be required to recognize, and grant people the "equivalent" of a bachelor's degree. (111)

On 4th June 2025, President Donald Trump, issued a statement on the entry of foreign nationals seeking to study or participate in exchange programs at Harvard University. "The Proclamation suspends the entry into the United States of any new Harvard student as a non-immigrant under F, M, or J visas. It directs the Secretary of State to consider revoking existing F, M, or J visas for current Harvard students who meet the Proclamation's criteria." Trump justified this action by claiming that the "Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has long warned that foreign adversaries take advantage of easy access to American higher education to steal information, exploit research and development, and spread false information." Trump accused Harvard has failing to provide sufficient information to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about foreign students' known illegal or dangerous activities." Trump is particularly concerned about Harvard's relationship with China: "Harvard has also developed extensive entanglements with foreign adversaries, receiving more than $150 million from China alone. In exchange, Harvard has, among other things, hosted Chinese Communist Party paramilitary members and partnered with China-based individuals on research that could advance China's military modernization. The Chinese Communist Party has sent thousands of mid-career and senior bureaucrats to study at U.S. institutions, with Harvard University considered the top "party school" outside the country. Xi Jinping's own daughter attended Harvard as an undergraduate in the early 2010s." (112)

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson called Harvard "a hotbed of anti-American, antisemitic, pro-terrorist agitators". Jackson added: "Harvard's behavior has jeopardized the integrity of the entire US student and exchange visitor visa system and risks compromising national security. Now it must face the consequences of its actions." This would have caused serious problems for Harvard as international students make up about a quarter of its student body. (113)

(xii) The Arts: In February 2005 Donald Trump took the unprecedented step of naming himself as chair of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, one of the nation's premier cultural centers, after purging the board of Biden appointees and installing a slate of unqualified donors and loyalists. Trump commented "No more drag shows or other anti-American propaganda... There's no more woke in this country." (114)

(xiv) Corruption: Lawrence W. Britt argued "Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability." (115)

In a recent editorial in the New York Times Trump's corruption was compared to Vladimir Putin: "President Trump has more than doubled his personal wealth since starting his 2024 election campaign. Billions of foreign dollars have flowed into his family's real estate and crypto ventures. A plane that doubles as a "palace in the sky" has been given for Mr. Trump's use by the government of Qatar. It is easy to dismiss this as just a bigger and more brazen version of the self-dealing we saw during the first Trump term. But it poses a more fundamental danger. Our political system is being transformed into something that no longer serves the people. Indeed, the United States is seemingly becoming just another country with a corrupt strongman personalizing and profiting from power. Vladimir Putin pursued this playbook in Russia. The news media was forced into the hands of his political allies. Natural resources and lucrative contracts were turned over to his associates. Mr. Putin repo rtedly became one of the world's richest men while creating a system in which the nation's interests became indistinguishable from its leader's. (116)

Isaac Chotiner has pointed out that Trump has consistently condemned the Washington "swamp". He compares this to other right-wing "populist" leaders such as Viktor Orbán, of Hungary; Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of Turkey; Narendra Modi, of India; Jair Bolsonaro, of Brazil "who have won election by running against a supposedly corrupt system, and then become embroiled in corruption scandals that often vastly eclipse those of their predecessors." (117)

Jan-Werner Mueller, Professor of Politics at Princeton University, has suggested that when it comes to corruption, Donald Trump has no rival among world leaders. While other kleptocrats at least try to conceal their ill-gotten gains, Trump revels in it, signaling to the world that this White House is open for business, even to states that also finance terrorist organizations. "In this regard, the Trump regime is fundamentally different from other autocracies in which the ruler enriches himself and his family. After all, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán have always been careful to hide their ill-gotten wealth. The murdered Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was targeted precisely because he exposed Putin's corruption, offering undeniable evidence of Putin's Palace on the Black Sea. Similarly, Orbán faces growing public scrutiny of his son-in-law, one of the country's richest individuals."

Mueller claims that when it comes to corruption, Trump is in a class of his own. "Since he has always sold himself as a successful businessman, any new venture – no matter how obvious the conflict of interest – appears to strengthen his brand. And unlike other aspiring autocrats, he does not worry about international organizations, let alone international opinion… On the contrary, by having his attorney general shut down anti-kleptocracy units and abolish penalties for US companies paying bribes abroad, Trump is sending a clear signal that self-dealing is now the business of America. And once people are convinced that everyone is corrupt, those truly committed to kleptocracy have won the game." (118)

David Frum has argued that during his first presidency, Donald Trump collected millions of dollars of other people's money. He charged taxpayers nearly 2milliontoprotecthimduringthehundredsoftimeshevisitedhisownproperties.Heacceptedmillionsofdollarsofcampaign−relatedfundsfromRepublicancandidateswhosoughthisfavor.Hisbusinessescollectedatleast2 million to protect him during the hundreds of times he visited his own properties. He accepted millions of dollars of campaign-related funds from Republican candidates who sought his favor. His businesses collected at least 2milliontoprotecthimduringthehundredsoftimeshevisitedhisownproperties.Heacceptedmillionsofdollarsofcampaign−relatedfundsfromRepublicancandidateswhosoughthisfavor.Hisbusinessescollectedatleast13 million from foreign governments over his first term in office. When it was all over, Trump apparently decided he had been thinking too small. In his first term, he made improper millions. In his second term, he is reaching for billions".

Frum goes on to say: "The record of Trump real-estate and business projects is one of almost unbroken failure; from 1991 to 2009, his companies filed for bankruptcy six times. Few if any legitimate investors entrusted their money to Trump's businesses when he was out of office. But since his return to the White House, Trump has been inundated with cash from Middle Eastern governments. Obscure Chinese firms are suddenly buying millions of dollars' worth of Trump meme coins. So are American companies hard-hit by the Trump tariffs and desperately seeking access and influence." Frum ends his article in the The Atlantic Magazine with the comment: "Nothing like this has been attempted or even imagined in the history of the American presidency. Throw away the history books; discard feeble comparisons to scandals of the past. There is no analogy with any previous action by any past president. The brazenness of the self-enrichment resembles nothing seen in any earlier White House. This is American corruption on the scale of a post-Soviet republic or a postcolonial African dictatorship." (119)

(xv) Cult of Personality: Psychologists have claimed that fascists like Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler are able to create "cult worship". Ashlen Hilliard, a cult intervention specialist and founder of People Leave Cults, has pointed out: "Cult leaders are often highly charismatic and persuasive, with a magnetic personality that can attract and influence followers… Cult leaders often have a strong need for control and may exhibit authoritarian behaviors, such as dictating the beliefs and actions of their followers… The cult leader's typical objective is to gain power over others, and to make their followers feel unable to break free." Another cult specialist, Steven Hassan, said that politicians have the ability to use these traits to gain followers: "They would never have followers if they didn't know how to make people feel special and like they're actually the center of attention… They say the right words, but it's not genuine. It's acting." Rachel Bernstein, the host of the IndoctriNation podcast, adds: "If you have been hurt by them, it's somehow your fault, because you must have done something to deserve it, and it's your weakness that caused their mistreatment of you to bother you... They are ultimately emotionally protected and impervious." She also noted that cult leaders tend to answer to no one and live by their own rules. It's their world, and others need to learn how to exist in it. (120)

Elizaveta Gaufman and Adrian Favero of the University of Groningen have argued that Donald Trump's fan base has formed a loyalty ‘cult' around him. To sustain this bond, Trump must constantly "prove that he himself is the master willed by God". The unsuccessful assassination attempt on his life in July 2024 allowed Trump to claim his "God-given" mandate. "An idealistic sense of a radical mission is the essential feature, coupled with personal authority and extraordinary qualities that set the leader apart from ordinary folk. Those qualities include great confidence, personal presence, rhetorical skills, the ability to present themselves as a member of their followers' community, and Manichean demonisation (targeting of enemies)." Gaufman and Favero insist that economic woes such as social deprivation and unemployment aren't enough on their own to explain why Trump's devoted supporters keep faith. "A more likely explanation is that self-professed 'forgotten men and women' are willing to subordinate themselves to an authoritarian leader who defies social rules and legal orders. Trump promises to 'make America great again' (mission), attacks internal and external enemies (Manichean demonisation), exhibits a strong personal presence, and uses derogatory language against opponents (makes supporters feel part of the in-group)." (121)

The historian, Timothy Snyder, is one of those who insists that Trump is a cult leader: "People need truth, which a cult of personality destroys. Theories of democracy, from the ancient Greeks through the Enlightenment to today, take for granted that the world around us yields to understanding. We pursue the facts alongside our fellow citizens. But in a cult of personality, truth is replaced by belief, and we believe what the leader wishes us to believe. The face replaces the mind. The transition from democracy to personality cult begins with a leader who is willing to lie all the time, in order to discredit the truth as such. The transition is complete when people can no longer distinguish between truth and feeling." (122)

An ABC News/Ipsos poll in October 2024, found that 49% of American registered voters considered Trump a fascist, defining the term as a political extremist who seeks to act as a dictator, disregards individual rights, and threatens or uses force against opponents. As ABC News pointed out: "Perceptions of fascism are tied to partisanship: 87% of Democrats call Trump a fascist, compared with 46% of independents and 12% of Republicans. Harris, for her part, is seen as a fascist by 41% of Republicans, 20% of independents and 3% of Democrats." (123)

It would seem some Republicans vote for Trump because they see him as a fascist. If they do, what are their feelings towards those Americans who died fighting against fascism in the Spanish Civil War (681) and the Second World War (407,316)? However, despite all these fascist traits Trump is not the leader of a fascist state. (iii) Dictatorship: the United States still have elections. (iv) Mass Media: Trump does not have direct or indirect control of the mass media. (v) Trade Unions: Trump has not eliminated trade unions. (viii) Judiciary: Judges or other legal officers are not under the control of the government although there are concerns about the influence Trump has over the Supreme Court.

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Robert Vansittart's Spy Network (17th October 2013)

British Newspaper Reporting of Appeasement and Nazi Germany (14th October 2013)

Paul Dacre, The Daily Mail and Fascism (12th October 2013)

Wallis Simpson and Nazi Germany (11th October 2013)

The Activities of MI5 (9th October 2013)

The Right Club and the Second World War (6th October 2013)

What did Paul Dacre's father do in the war? (4th October 2013)

Ralph Miliband and Lord Rothermere (2nd October 2013)