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Another controversial topic is the relationship between fascist movements and the Roman Catholic Church. As mentioned above, Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum anticipated much of the doctrine that became known as fascism. Forty years later, the corporatist tendencies of Rerum Novarum were underscored by Pope Pius XI's May 25, 1931 encyclical Quadragesimo Anno which restated the hostility of Rerum Novarum to both unbridled competition and class struggle.
In the early 1920s, the Catholic party in Italy ( Partito Popolare ) was in the process of forming a coalition with the Reform Party that could have stabilized Italian politics and thwarted Mussolini's projected coup. On October 2, 1922, Pope Pius XI circulated a letter ordering clergy not to identify themselves with the Partito Popolare, but to remain neutral, an act that undercut the party and its alliance against Mussolini. Following Mussolini's rise to power, the Vatican's Secretary of State met Il Duce in early 1923 and agreed to dissolve the Partito Popolare, which Mussolini saw as obstacle to fascist rule. In exchange, the fascists made guarantees regarding Catholic education and institutions.
In 1924, following the murder of the leader of the Socialist Party by fascists, the Partito Popolare joined with the Socialist Party in demanding that the King dismiss Mussolini as Prime Minister, and stated their willingness to form a coalition government. Pius XI responded by warning against any coalition between Catholics and socialists. The Vatican ordered all priests to resign from the Partito Popolare and from any positions they held in it. This led to the party's disintegration in rural areas where it relied on clerical assistance.
The Vatican subsequently established Catholic Action as a non-political lay organization under the direct control of bishops. The organization was forbidden by the Vatican to participate in politics, and thus was not permitted to oppose the fascist regime. Pius XI ordered all Catholics to join Catholic Action. This resulted in hundreds of thousands of Catholics withdrawing from the Partito Popolare, and joining the apolitical Catholic Action. This caused the Catholic Party's final collapse. [1]
When Mussolini ordered the closure of Catholic Action in May 1931, Pius XI issued an encyclical, Non abbiamo bisogno . This document stated the Catholic Church's opposition to the dissolution, and argued that the order "unmasked the 'pagan' intentions of the Fascist state". Under international pressure, Mussolini decided to compromise, and Catholic Action was saved.
Aside from doctrinal similarities, the relationship between the Church and fascist movements in various countries has been very close. For example, in Slovakia, the fascist dictator was a Catholic monsignor. In Croatia, the fascist Ustashe identified itself as a Catholic movement. These regimes have been seen as examples of clerical fascism. (see also Involvement of Croatian Catholic clergy with the Ustasa regime)
The Vichy regime in France was also deeply influenced by the reactionary Catholic ideology of the Action Française. Conversely, many Catholic priests were persecuted under the Nazi regime, and many Catholic laypeople and clergy played notable roles in sheltering Jews during the Holocaust.
For a further exploration of the relationship between Catholicism and Fascism, see the article Roman Catholicism's links with political authorities.
Examples of fascist systems include:
Fascism in practice embodied both political and economic policies, and invites different comparisons. As noted elsewhere in this article, some writers who focus on the politically repressive policies of fascism identify it as one form of totalitarianism, a description they use to characterize not only Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, but also countries such as the Soviet Union, The People's Republic of China or North Korea. It should be noted that "totalitarianism" is a catch-all group which includes many different ideologies that are sworn enemies to each other.
However, some analysts point out that certain fascist governments were arguably more authoritarian than totalitarian. There is almost universal agreement that Nazi Germany was totalitarian. However, many would argue that the governments of Franco's Spain and Salazar's Portugal, while fascist, were more authoritarian than totalitarian.
Writers who focus on economic policies and the use of state apparatuses to broker conflicts between different classes make even broader comparisons, identifying fascism as one form of corporatism. Corporatism was a political outgrowth of Catholic social doctrine from the 1890s. Some highly controversial parallels have been drawn embracing not only Nazi Germany, but also certain parts of Roosevelt's New Deal in the United States, and Juan Peron's populism in Argentina.
Prominent proponents of fascism in pre-WWII America included the publisher Seward Collins, whose periodical The American Review ( 1933- 1937) featured essays by Collins and others that praised Mussolini and Hitler. The America First movement, funded by William Regnery , among others, took a pro-German view of the world during the 1930s, and fought to keep America neutral after Britain entered the war in 1939. Father Charles E. Coughlin's Depression-era radio broadcasts extolled the virtues of fascism.
Henry Wallace, wrote in 1944 during his term as vice president of the United States, "American fascism will not be really dangerous until there is a purposeful coalition among the cartelists, the deliberate poisoners of public information, and those who stand for the K.K.K. type of demagoguery." [Wallace, 1944]| Politics | Business | Finance |
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