NATIONALISM AND TOTALITARIANISM

1. NATIONALISM AND TOTALITARIANISM

2. TOTALITARIAN NATIONALISM – French Origins • Late- 19th century context: Franco-Prussian War had caused a crisis in French nationalism…Napoleon III and the monarchists (1852-70) • Created the 3rd Republic • problems with the democratic approach (a multiplicity of parties, shifting coalitions, wide-ranging ideologies – known as Immobilismeresulted in an increase in monarchist influence,

3. The leftists (Clemenceau) to name General Boulanger to the cabinet in 1886 as Minister of War (he was a Cath./monarchist presence that the other parties accepted) • Bismarck saw it as a threat and began to strengthen the German army; Boulanger was thus dismissed from the cabinet as a pre-emptive measure • Boulanger was then elected as the Mayor of Paris and (still a threat), though he fled to Belgium and committed suicide on his mistress’s grave…

4. By the 1930s, this extremism only intensified in the context of the Great Depression, Hitler’s rise to power, and the Spanish Civil War. The actions of the Vichy France government can also be explained given this context, but the WW II experience and subsequent U.S involvement helped to minimize the influence of the Fr. right…

5. TOTALITARIAN NATIONALISM • a form of gov’t unique to the 20th c. where absolute/total power is concentrated in the hands of dictator • assoc. w/ leaders such as Stalin, Hitler, & Mussolini, each of whom exercised unprecedented control & was able to mobilize his nation for various purposes (ex: war effort, eco. restructuring) • tot. nat’lism is a reaction to failed moderate 19th c. ideologies (esp. lib.) and is the opposite of doctrinaire Marxism (continued unstable conditions in Europe  extremism)

6. But really its nothing new, before this they had Authortanism (which were the Kings and Queens of Europe) • GOAL FOR BOTH TOTAL. AND AUTH = keeping control and maintaing the status quo (what is already there) • So What changed? • TECHNOLOGY • NATIONALISM • LIBERALISM It was unpopular to be king…so it was similar in its control but different in its methods of getting there. Now control came in the form of Totalitarianism

7. FACTORS in Totalitarianism • non-dem. tradition already present ( i.e. CON. AUTH.) • modern technology • reaction to previous ideologies • poor economic/social conditions • * totalitaranism is also indebted to the TOTAL WAR EFFORT first seen in WWI • army & civilians geared to one goal: VICTORY • population as a whole forced to sacrifice & increasingly under gov’t control • ELIE HALEVY: “The varieties of modern totalitarianism– (fascism, Nazism, and communism) – may be thought of as feuding brothers with a common father, the nature of modern war.”

8. all this is first put to the test in Russia by Lenin, where his ideal of the VANGUARD illustrated that a determined minority could succeed in gaining control of a society • After the success of the November Revolution Lenin convinces people for the need of one controlling government. Was the first military dictatorship • he simply took the total effort of WWI & perpetuated it into peacetime, constantly providing new goals for the people (an idea which finds its way into Stalin’s 5 year plans) • in this respect, totalitarianism is an unfinished revolution

9. Problem: this category includes fascism, Nazism (R) & Stalinism (L) which would traditionally would be on opposite sides of the linear political spectrum • to remedy this, various political spectrums have been devised to account for the new 20th c. ideologies • the new shapes show that while ideological differences continue to exist (ex: gov’t role in the economy, property rights), these ideologies are very similar in method (repression) • also highlights the question of reform potential - ?