The Fascist Revolution: Toward a General Theory of Fascism

230 Pages·2022·1.605 MB·English

by  George L. Mosse

The Fascist Revolution
The Collected Works of
George L. Mosse
Advisory Board
Steven E. Aschheim, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ofer Ashkenazi, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Annette Becker, Université Paris–Nanterre
Skye Doney, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Dagmar Herzog, City University of New York
Ethan Katz, University of California, Berkeley
Renato Moro, Università degli Studi Roma Tre
Anson Rabinbach, Princeton University
Mary Louise Roberts, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Joan Wallach Scott, Institute for Advanced Study
Moshe Sluhovsky, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
David J. Sorkin, Yale University
Anthony J. Steinhoff, Université du Québec à Montréal
John Tortorice, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Till van Rahden, Université de Montréal
The Fascist
Revolution
Toward a General Theory
of Fascism
George L. Mosse
With a critical introduction by
Roger Griffin
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS
Publication of this book has been made possible, in part,
through support from the George L. Mosse Program in History at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The University of Wisconsin Press
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Originally published by Howard Fertig, Inc., under the title
The Fascist Revolution: Toward a General Theory of Fascism,
copyright © 1999 by George L. Mosse
Critical introduction copyright © 2021 by the Board of Regents of the
University of Wisconsin System
All rights reserved. Except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical
articles and reviews, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, transmitted in any format or by any means—digital, electronic, mechanical,
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without written permission of the University of Wisconsin Press. Rights inquiries
should be directed to [email protected].
Printed in the United States of America
This book may be available in a digital edition.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Mosse, George L. (George Lachmann), 1918–1999, author. |
Griffin, Roger, 1948–, writer of introduction. | Mosse, George L.
(George Lachmann), 1918–1999. Works. Selections. 2020.
Title: The fascist revolution : toward a general theory of fascism / George L. Mosse ;
with a critical introduction by Roger Griffin.
Description: Madison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, [2021] |
Series: The collected works of George L. Mosse | Originally published by Howard Fertig,
Inc., under the title The Fascist Revolution: Toward a General Theory of Fascism,
copyright © 1999 by George L. Mosse. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021009792 | ISBN 9780299332945 (paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Fascism. | National socialism. | Racism. |
Europe—Intellectual life—20th century.
Classification: LCC JC481 .M63 2021 | DDC 320.53/3—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021009792
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction to the 1999 Edition ix
Critical Introduction by Roger Griffin xvii
1 Toward a General Theory of Fascism 3
2 Fascist Aesthetics and Society 39
3 Racism and Nationalism 46
4 Fascism and the French Revolution 57
5 Fascism and the Intellectuals 77
6 The Occult Origins of National Socialism 95
7 Fascism and the Avant-Garde 110
8 Nazi Polemical Theater 125
9 On Homosexuality and French Fascism 139
10 Nazi Aesthetics: Beauty Without Sensuality and
the Exhibition of Degenerate Art 145
Notes 157
Index 177

Acknowledgments
For permission to reprint copyright material, the author is indebted to
the following:
“Toward a General Theory of Fascism” reprinted in greatly revised
form from International Fascism, New Thoughts and New Approaches,
ed. George L. Mosse (London: Sage Publications, 1979), 1–5.
“Fascist Aesthetics and Society” reprinted from Journal of Contem-
porary History 31(2) (April 1996): 245–52.
“Racism and Nationalism” reprinted from Nations and Nationalism
1(2) (1995): 163–73, by permission.
“Fascism and the French Revolution” reprinted by permission of Jour-
nal of Contemporary History 24(1) (January 1989): 5–26.
“Fascism and the Intellectuals” reprinted from The Nature of Fascism,
ed. Stuart Woolf (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968), 205–25,
The Graduate School of Contemporary European Studies, University of
Reading.
“The Occult Origins of National Socialism” reprinted from The Jour-
nal of the History of Ideas 22(1) (January–March 1961): 81–96.
“Fascism and the Avant-Garde” first published as “Faschismus und
Avant-Garde” in Faschismus und Avant-Garde, ed. Reinhold Grimm and
Jost Hermand (Frankfurt-am-Main: Athenäeum Verlag, 1980).
“Nazi Polemical Theater: The Kampfbühne” first published as “Die NS
Kampfbühne” in Geschichte im Gegenwartsdrama, ed. Reinhold Grimm
and Jost Hermand (Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1976), 24–39.
“On Homosexuality and French Fascism” first published in Sociétés
17 (March 1988): 14–16, reprinted in revised form.
“Nazi Aesthetics: Beauty Without Sensuality and the Exhibition of
Degenerate Art” originally published in “Degenerate Art”: The Fate of the
Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum
of Art, 1991), 25–32, reprinted by permission.
vii

Introduction to the 1999 Edition
Modern historical scholarship has made great advances in our understand-
ing of fascism as it existed in its epoch, overturning most older interpreta-
tions and reevaluating its consequences.
Historians in the past were prone to look for a single key to unlock the
secrets of fascism’s existence and success. The development of the social
structures or of the economy was most often singled out as the expla-
nation for fascism’s rise and triumphs. Social and economic factors were
congenial tools of historical analysis, while at the same time fascism was
said to lack any coherent political thought or ideology. The structure of
valid political thought, regardless of content, was supposed to follow
established classical models like that of the ancients, or in modern times
that put forward by Karl Marx or Adam Smith. This book hopes to chal-
lenge such traditional attitudes towards politics.
Here, as in many analyses of fascism, Germany was simply consid-
ered an occupied country, brutally taken over by the Nazis. The optimism
about the good and rational nature of “the people” was a heritage of the
Enlightenment which had long ago informed so-called progressive politi-
cal thought, and which was not abandoned but rather reinforced by many
analyses of fascism. This held for Germany which was not able to create
a true anti-fascist movement in order to redeem the people, but also for
Italy which did have an anti-fascist movement tied to the political left
which was strong enough to attempt a civil war during the last years of
the fascist regime.
However, while in the past historians did make crucial contributions
to our understanding of fascism, they could not grapple successfully with
a key question which must be answered about the fascist movement: why
it could attract so much popular support and govern by consensus for
some time after it took power. Economic and social factors certainly played
a role, even if fascism can no longer be thought of simply as a movement
of the bourgeoisie. We now know about its largely cross-class appeal, and
ix