The dialectics of new fascism in Greece (original) (raw)
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International Fascism and the Allure of the ‘Third Way’ in Interwar Greece
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The rise and victory of Italian Fascism in the first half of the 1920s passed Greece by. Yet soon afterwards the international experience of ‘fascism’ found more receptive audiences within the prodigious dissident ‘third spaces’ where more and more mainstream Greek political actors chose to operate in the interwar period. This article explores the dynamics of the ideological and political formation of ‘third ways’ in interwar Greece, paying attention to the interplay between international stimuli and local contextual singularities. In these thirding spaces ‘fascism’ was understood and operationalised in very different, subjective, and ever-shifting ways by each of these actors. It was regarded mostly as a potential component of diverse thirding processes/solutions and rarely as the desired outcome thereof. This explains why fascism came to inform a range of very different thirding projects in interwar Greece—from pursuing rupture and renewal to aspiring to status quo-affirmation; fr...
This article analyses legal texts written by Nikolaos Koumaros that were foundational to the 4th of August regime in Greece. It demonstrates the regime possessed an ideology that did not differ substantially from other authoritarian regimes of the period. In particular, the choice of Koumaros as the central legal theorist of the regime can be explained by his familiarity with anti-liberal theories of the time. His engagement with these theories was linked with his studies in France and Italy during the interwar period, exposing him to fascist ideals. A detailed examination of the conceptual transfers that informed the main legal texts of the regime demonstrated their reasoning followed closely the theoretical developments of the time. Mussolini’s doctrine of fascism and a specific reading of Rousseau functioned as the basis for the legitimisation of a new, anti-liberal political order. These ideas became key analytical pillars of the legal texts that gave shape to the regime’s normative and political foundation, demonstrating that explicit fascist theories informed the political physiognomy of the regime.
Social Policy in Greece in the Interwar Period: Events, Conflicts, and Conceptual Transformations
SAGE Open, 2012
This study gives an outline-by period-of the most basic social policy measures and health and welfare programs of the Venizelist political center. The periodization involves a breakdown of the above-mentioned policy into three separate phases whose distinguishing characteristics are then outlined-namely, the first period from 1910 to 1916 where the predominant feature is the attempt to develop a range of structures and services that might begin to try to cover the growing needs of the population of a geographically expanding Greece. In the second period between 1918 and 1920, this expansionist strategy of the social state would come to be regarded as too advanced by the Venizelist center itself, and on the basis of forms of social and political expression, including some previously developed inside the working class, attempts would be made to roll it back. In the third period between the years 1928 and 1932, which was to be marked by a greater sharpening of social conflict, the politics of the Liberals were to involve endeavors to carry out bourgeois modernization as a counter to the social crisis, efforts conducted in a spirit of pragmatism in a situation where a whole array of economic, social, and political parameters were limiting the potential for promoting implementable policy measures at that time. Moreover, in this final phase, all such social policy measures were characterized by obvious efforts to manipulate and control the political and social forms of organization of the popular classes. Starting from the above considerations, our analysis seeks to distinguish itself from views particularly prevalent among Greek politicians even today, as well as among sections of the electorate, that portray Venizelos as a representative of advanced social radicalism. But we also distinguish ourselves from those who regard him as an exponent of bourgeois modernization. Whereas the former view perceives Venizelos' policies as part of a continuous linear course toward progress, the latter sees everything as the outcome of a bourgeois class strategy for modernization of economic and social processes. Both stances suffer from an inability to comprehend that social evolution develops unevenly, and above all is the product of social balances of forces that are overturned, modified, and transformed.
The Entrepreneurial Bourgeoisie and Fascism
G. Albanese, R. Pergher (editors), In the Society of Fascists. Acclamation, Acquiescence, and Agency in Mussolini’s Italy, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2012
The aim of this chapter is to analyze the relationship between the economic elite and Italian fascism during the dictatorship years. This relationship was fundamental in fascism’s rise to power and in the subsequent effort to stabilize the regime. The expansionist and “imperial” aims of fascism attached importance to an economic-elite role: only an industrially powerful State could yearn to be a great power on the international political scene. Meanwhile, the Italian economy’s structural constraints (raw materials and capital shortage, national budget deficit, decreasing international trade) could potentially limit the ability to reach political targets. Mussolini, though not an expert in the field of economics and lacking in technical competence, followed, daily and resolutely, the evolution of economic difficulties. His determination and attention testifies to the importance that “il Duce” gave to those problems. Fascism’s compromise with the economic elite originated not only from the requirements of political stabilization or social consensus but also from the awareness that without it fascism couldn’t overcome the Italian economy’s structural constraints and, therefore, realize its political aims. To deal with the relationship between political power and the economic elite in the fascist regime we can’t restrict ourselves to using concepts such as consensus/dissent, complicity/opposition, exchange, negotiations and dealing. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible to explain why the great depression years was the period of highest allegiance by the economic elite with Fascism, in spite of the very bad performance of industrial and finance companies. From the moment of the revaluation of lira at “quota 90” in the middle of the Twenties – the beginning of a fascist economic policy – the relationship between economic and political power was determined not only by negotiations exchange of favours and self-interest but also by deeper and more lasting factors such as: a) a common repulsion of industrial disputes that made possible a social equilibrium guaranteed by fascism, based on low wage levels and abrogation of strikes and freedom in union organization; b) a change in hierarchy and balance between companies e between economic sectors during the Twenties and Thirties, a result of fascist government intervention and not only of economic and social process; c) the growing entwinement of leaders of the National Fascist Party (Partito nazionale fascista), union leaders, public corporation bureaucracy and private company management, caused by decreasing market power and growing public expenditure; d) the development of a “corporatist” way of interaction between State and economic interest, based on direct participation of unions and employers’ associations in public policy; e) a cultural and ideological background shared both by fascist leaders and members of the economic elite (nationalism, colonialism, protectionism, strict hierarchy between social classes). The chapter’s objective is to offer an in-depth analysis of these themes. In this way, it aims to offer a general interpretation of the allegiance of the elite to the dictatorship and then to enlighten on how fascism governed a modern industrial society like Italy and how the economic elite influenced choices and decisions of dictatorship.
Feeding fascism in Greece: the memorandum, the state of exception and the police
"In an attempt to provide some answers concerning the emergence and evolution of fascism in Greece, we will describe the course of Golden Dawn’s rise and stabilization in the political scene throughout the important events of the last five years. Afterwards, we will try to highlight the relationship of the state to this fascist movement, and the example of the police in particular, approaching this phenomenon as one that reflects the interests of the dominant political and financial forces, which, as it will become evident, have definitely tolerated Nazi activity, if not promoted it. This interaction between the political establishment and Nazism has been intensified throughout the crisis years, among other reasons, due to the state of exception that has been imposed by successive Greek governments in order to carry on implementing the directives of the memoranda despite popular reaction."