1940: Fascism

Tripartite Pact.

The year 1940 was the culminating point of the power and spread of Fascism. Many hitherto democratic countries succumbed to Fascism, among them France, who for the last one hundred and fifty years had been the inspiring example of democratic development all over the European continent and in the Near East. The conclusion of a close alliance, or Tripartite Pact, between Germany, Italy and Japan, on Sept. 27, 1940, documented the will and hope of the Fascist Powers to establish their control over the whole world. Though this alliance represented a revival of the old anti-Comintern pact, it was this time directed not so much against the Soviet Union, with which Fascist Germany cooperated closely, as against the democracies, Great Britain, and especially the United States. This alliance had as a result the definite transition of Japan from a liberal constitutional state to a totalitarian government.

Democracy versus Fascism.

On the other hand the almost world-wide success of Fascism awakened in the democratic countries a strong will to resistance, and made the democratic peoples realize the tremendous implications of any further growth of Fascism. The heroic resistance of the British Isles in face of the threatened Fascist invasion and in spite of the vast losses inflicted by the German air attack, the defeat of the Fascist forces in Greece and in Egypt, the resolute stand taken by the American people in their determination to put the immense resources of the United States at the disposal of the nations fighting against Fascist aggression and to transform America into the 'arsenal of democracy' — all these factors dimmed Fascist hopes of world domination by the end of 1940.

Fascism Changes Face: New Order of German World Domination.

Until 1939, Fascism in Germany, Italy and Spain had always proclaimed itself as the defender of all conservative interests against Communism and against social revolution. On the strength of this propaganda the German, Italian and Spanish Fascists had enlisted the sympathy and frequently the cooperation of some conservative circles in the democracies. Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco were often regarded as defenders of the established order, as a bulwark against Bolshevism or, as in the case of General Franco, as 'Christian gentlemen.' This illusion was dispelled not only by the conclusion of the pact of friendship between National Socialist Germany and Communist Russia and their cooperation in economic and diplomatic fields, but even more by the fact that Fascist propaganda in 1940 stressed more and more the social revolutionary character of Fascism and proclaimed itself the true bearer of proletarian revolution against democracy, plutocracy and capitalism. The former vitriolic attacks against 'Jewish Communism' ceased entirely; they were replaced by vitriolic attacks against 'Jewish capitalism' which was seen as especially dominant in London, Washington and, until the downfall of France, in Paris. The official organ of the National Socialist Elite Guard, the Schwarze Korps, published on Feb. 3 a leading article in which it declared that Protestantism of the Anglo-Saxon Calvinist type was the modern version of the Old Testament, that the existence of Germanic racial ties between Germany and England was a myth, and that in reality the English were a nation of 'white Jews.' 'The dream of Anglo-German cousinship has been dispelled for good. Experience has taught us that Latin peoples, yes, even the peoples of distant Japan, are incomparably closer to us in their attitude toward life than our 'Germanic cousins' on the British Isles.'

When Chancellor Hitler, who formerly had stressed union with Great Britain in the fight against Communism, mobilized Communism in the fight against Great Britain, the National Socialists used the slogans of the 'Communist Manifesto' by Marx to interpret the present war as a class struggle for the 'liberation' of labor under Fascist leadership from the 'yoke' of capitalism. Dr. Robert Ley, the head of the German Labor Front, appealed on Feb. 13 to the workers of the world in the following words, which combined Marx with Richard Wagner: 'Workers of all lands, unite to smash the rule of English capitalism! You young upward-striving nations of the earth, combine to annihilate the old English dragon, who blocks the treasures of the earth and withholds from you the riches of the world! The young revolutionary nations must necessarily unite in this struggle to drive from the field the old petrified world of the money bag. We Germans, and therewith the German workers, are proud to form an advance guard in this young world. We are accustomed and willing to hit capitalism on the head wherever we find it and in whatever form or person it appears, and we shall not rest until the capitalistic center of England and its City are smashed and annihilated. Workers of all lands, including the English and French workers, unite!' Thus Dr. Ley stole the thunder of Karl Marx in his appeal to the proletarians of the world.

The 'new order' will be an 'order' based entirely on domination by the Germans as the mightiest and most creative cultural lords of the Occident. The new age that began for the whole world, according to German Fascist opinion, with Adolf Hitler, will be a German age in which everything will be subordinated to the needs and the leadership of this master race. Small nations will have only a right of existence under the protection and command of the great nation; whatever space Germany needs to insure the wants of her people will be taken and settled by German farmers and artisans. As Dr. Ley said, 'It is the fate of every single German to belong to his high race. A lower race needs less room, less food, less culture than a higher race. The German cannot live under the same conditions as the Pole and the Jew.' This principle, which had first been applied only to the Jews within Germany, was after the conquest of Poland applied to the Poles. From all districts which the Germans wished to annex, all Poles were ejected, and their lands were resettled by German farmers and artisans. As far as Poles were allowed to carry on, they were only allowed to do it in complete submission to this new order and by putting all their efforts at its service. The same system was then applied in the West, where all French people were expelled from Alsace and Lorraine to make room for German settlers and artisans. For other conquered lands a similar relation of the master race and the subject races was planned, without political rights for the latter and with strictly limited economic and educational opportunities.

Italian Fascism.

Fascism in Italy has created two great national holidays, the 28th of October, the anniversary of the march on Rome, and the 21st of April, the anniversary of the foundation of Rome, which now takes the place of May 1 as the workers' day. On April 21, 1940, Mussolini in a speech to the Italian working class declared, 'In this moment I wish to tell you only one word: work and prepare yourselves for the greatness of the nation. That is the order of the day for the Italian people.' On March 1 the Fascist militia was incorporated into the Italian army to be used there in time of war, mainly as 'shock troops.' In a programmatic editorial published Jan. 13 in Mussolini's Popolo d'Italia and probably written by him, the three main points of Fascist policy were restated as struggle against democracy, against Bolshevism, and against the bourgeoisie. On the same day Giovanni Ansaldo wrote in Count Ciano's newspaper, the Telegrafo of Leghorn, that Italy controlled the Mediterranean. 'No nation can today navigate the Mediterranean, a sea created by God for submarine warfare, against the will of Italy.' On Oct. 10 Raffaelo Riccardi, the Italian Minister of Foreign Exchange, published an article in which he declared the new economy for all Europe would be autarchy, based on the Italian lira and the German mark. 'There will have to be a hierarchy of nations, and each of these will have the right to its quota of raw materials and natural wealth. Existing colonial empires will be redistributed. The autarchic concept in the Fascist sense will be continued integrally. The two Axis countries will divide their tasks in Europe and Africa, each achieving its own autarchic goal. Naturally the two directing powers will have to fix the tasks, initiatives, and goals of each controlled state. Free trade must be considered absolutely outmoded. Multilateral exchanges will be developed, payments will be effected with the two European currencies.'

It may be that the defeats suffered by Italy in the late fall of 1940, at least temporarily, relegated these high plans to the background. It is doubtful whether after having revealed her whole military and economic weakness and unpreparedness, and having had to appeal for German help and protection against Greece and Great Britain, Italy will be allowed any longer to regard herself as an equal of Germany in the Fascist world; not only has her domination of the Mediterranean been proved a vain boast, but the division of Africa which Italy claimed for herself encountered sharp opposition from the counter-claims of France and Spain. Thus in spite of the fact that France was defeated in June when Italy entered the war, Italy at the end of 1940 had not achieved even the least of her war aims — Corsica, Tunisia, Nice, and Savoy — nor any control of the Mediterranean and of the Suez Canal. Within the Fascist triangular group, it may be said that the year 1940 brought a complete eclipse of Italy.

Fascism in Spain.

In Spain the Franco government continued its persecution of all liberal, progressive and Socialist elements. Several of the republican and Catalan leaders who after the defeat of the republican government had taken refuge in France, were extradited by the semi-Fascist government in France; most of them were executed by the present Spanish government. On March 2 a law of extraordinary severity was published threatening heavy punishment for all Spanish members of Masonic orders. The law is retroactive and concerns all persons who have ever belonged to the Masons. Any former member who cannot clear himself to the satisfaction of the government is liable to six years' imprisonment, or in case he held higher degrees, to twelve years; any person who cannot exonerate himself entirely from the charge of Masonic allegiance is barred from holding any post in national or local government. Spanish Fascists encouraged claims for a revival of the Spanish Empire and demanded not only parts of Northwestern Africa, but also the former Spanish colonies in Central America, the Philippines, and, at least in the domain of cultural and economic hegemony, South America.

South America.

Spanish propaganda also helped German and Italian Fascist propaganda throughout Latin America, but most Latin American governments exercised a stricter vigilance than in former years and were aware of the dangers implied in such propaganda. In all these countries, however, the embassies and consulates, and also the German- and Italian-operated airlines were centers for the infiltration of Fascist influence in cultural, economic and strategic fields. Some of the Latin American governments, like the dictatorship which General José Felix Estigarribia set up on Feb. 18 in Paraguay and that of President Getulio Vargas in Brazil, which can look back on ten years of existence, contained some Fascist elements, but most of them, especially Brazil, confirmed at the same time their friendship with the United States and their readiness to cooperate in hemispheric defense against the threat of Fascist invasion. The Brazilian government also took special care to supervise schools having children of German, Italian and Japanese descent, and to insist upon their assimilation as Brazilian patriots and upon the exclusion of all alien influences and ideologies. On the other hand, a speech by President Getulio Vargas on June 11 contained much of Fascist ideology, and lauded virile peoples who bring about a new epoch and remove the debris of old ideas and of sterile ideals. On Oct. 5 Francisco Campos, Minister of Justice and Interior in the Brazilian government, published a book in which he described the democratic way of life as decadent. The book, called 'The National State, Its Structure and Ideological Content,' subjected democracy to severe criticism and praised the 'new state' created by Vargas, as a totalitarian democracy. In a subsequent interview Dr. Campos reinterpreted his views in the sense that he was only against the abuses of democracy, and that he was wholeheartedly in favor of cooperation with the United States.

Practically, Brazil is siding with the United States in view of the imminent danger of Nazi domination which was revealed by government investigations not only in Brazil but also in Argentine and in Uruguay. Everywhere the activities of large colonies of German descent were integrated into strong fighting groups to establish the new German 'living space' in South America and thus to disintegrate the unity of these countries. In Uruguay government investigations of 'fifth column' activities provided documentary proof of an almost unbelievable Fascist political penetration into South America. In June, under pressure from the Uruguayan government, the German National Socialist organizations in Uruguay were, at least outwardly, dissolved, and a number of German leaders in Uruguay were arrested. The Uruguay government cooperated closely with the United States government, and American press correspondents did much to reveal the whole extent of Fascist penetration and control in Latin American countries. (See also ARGENTINA; BRAZIL; MEXICO, and URUGUAY.)

Transition in Japan.

Japan hesitated a long time before deciding upon an out-and-out adoption of Fascism in the country. The great success of Germany in the European war, and the seeming weakness and vacillating policy of the United States, finally confirmed Japan in the decision to reach out for joint world domination together with Nazi Germany. The racial mysticism of the Japanese people had long kindled in them the fire of a missionary zeal to establish a Japanese-ruled world order. In July Prince Fumimaro Konoye formed a government whose task it was to transform Japan. By August the last political party in Japan, its largest one, the Minseito, formally dissolved itself to pave the way for the new political structure, so that the nation's total power could be regimented for the attainment of its aims in a period when the world had entered a revolutionary stage unprecedented in history.

Japan's liberal era had come to a definite close when on Feb. 2 one of the most respected elder statesmen of Japan, Tako Saito, a leading member of the Minseito and a most popular orator, who had studied at Yale at the beginning of this century, had in a speech in Parliament mildly criticized the army's Chinese policy. His 'critical views on the objective of Japan's holy war were found by the army to be scornful of the ideals of the present incident,' as an influential statesman expressed it. As a result Mr. Saito was forced to resign the Parliamentary seat he had held for nearly a lifetime, although his speech had been couched in mild and harmless terms. Indeed, until the army complained, neither the Speaker nor the Prime Minister had taken any exception to it.

The new totalitarian régime brought about also a recrudescence of emphasis on the patriotic religion of Japan, the Shinto, and demanded, as in all Fascist states, the complete devotion of the individual to the nation. Christianity was expected to compromise with this attitude, and a special brand of Japanese patriotic Christianity was to develop, especially after all foreign Christians and their influence were eliminated from Japanese Christianity. All Japanese Christian sects were to be unified in a Japanese Church, to conform with Japan's nationalist and totalitarian ideals. The most famous Japanese Christian, Toyohiko Kagawa, was arrested in September on a charge of violating the military code. The Rotary clubs in Japan decided to dissolve themselves, and the Japanese Women's Suffrage Union voted its own dissolution after sixteen years of existence.

The mainspring of Japan's totalitarian movement is the 'Imperial Rule Assistance Association,' the aim of which is to establish a new order in Greater East Asia and also a new world order in accordance with the spirit of the founding of the Japanese Empire. The outcome of the European War will decide whether Japan will pursue a purely Fascist course, determined to build a 'new world order' together with Germany, or whether Japan will slowly return to the more moderate and liberal policy of the last decades. Meanwhile Japanese propaganda and economic activities in Latin America were coordinated with those of Germany and Italy. See also JAPAN.

Fascism in Conquered Lands.

In France, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium, the German conquest introduced or strengthened Fascism. None of these countries went as far as France, where in June the defeat of the French army was used to put a semi-Fascist group in control of the state. This group, headed by Marshal Pétain, Pierre Laval, M. Flandin and other anti-democratic generals and politicians, abolished the Third Republic and all democratic institutions in France, established an authoritarian régime modeled after Fascist examples, and completely discarded the achievements and slogans of the French Revolution, including 'liberty, fraternity, equality' (See FRANCE). In the other conquered countries free governments continued to function outside National Socialist control, and the peoples themselves, loyal to their governments abroad, showed bitter resistance to the intrusion of Fascist ideals and ways of life. Nevertheless there were efforts toward such intrusion with the help of Germany.

Norway.

In Norway at the end of September a new government was instituted under Major Vidkun Quisling which tried to model Norwegian life entirely after German patterns and which violently attacked Great Britain and the government of King Haakon. In November Major Quisling published a collection of his speeches and articles under the title, 'Quisling Has Said,' with a preface by his Propaganda Minister Gudbrand Lund, who emphasized the fact that it was Providence that sent the Major to the Norwegian people at the moment when they needed him most. The Fascist Party, called Nasjonal Sammling (National Rally), became the only party; all trade unions and organizations were dissolved; the party organ Fritt Folk set the pace for all other newspapers; and many arrests and persecutions followed. However, the resistance remained unbroken, especially in the schools where the Nazi youth organization (the Unghirden) tried unsuccessfully to make converts. In the Netherlands, the local National Socialist party under Anton Adrian Mussert and Rost van Tonningen got open support from the German Reich.

Resistance to Fascism.

In the few remaining free European countries Fascism was kept under control. In Sweden the elections of 1940 resulted in a decisive victory for the profoundly democratic Social Democrats; the Swedish National Socialists were unable to gain even one seat. In Yugoslavia at the beginning of November the police raided the headquarters of the Fascist movement, Zbor (Rally), under the leadership of Dmitri Lyotitch, a former Minister of Justice. In Switzerland the local National Socialist party presented in November an ultimatum to the authorities, demanding the right to publish newspapers and to conduct its propaganda openly. On the ground that it attempted to overthrow democracy, the party was dissolved by decree and all further Fascist activities were forbidden.

The United States.

In the United States, Fascist activity, both by groups under direct German or Italian influence and by native Fascist groups, showed in 1940 some restraint in view of the strong awakening of democratic consciousness and the greater vigilance of the public against subversive activities. Fascist and pro-Fascist sympathizers worked largely to keep America isolated, and to contrive that help for Great Britain and the embattled democracies should be either too little or too slow. Representative Dies of Texas, Chairman of the House Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities, released in November a White Book documenting the evidence to substantiate the charge that Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia are working in the United States to prevent it from preparing quickly for defense and for giving more active aid to Great Britain. Activities of Fascist agents were revealed, directed not only toward propaganda and military espionage but toward penetration into the economic structure of this country and of the Latin American republics.

The growing will of the American people to reassert democracy and to give speedy 'all-out' aid to Great Britain, a tendency in which President Roosevelt and the Republican presidential candidate, Mr. Wendell Willkie, found themselves in complete agreement, weakened the impact of foreign and native Fascist propaganda in the United States. See also WORLD PEACE.