Communism, Fascism, Nazism
by Rit NosotroComparative Essay
Describe and compare the ideologies of Communism, Fascism and Nazism.
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Summary: Communism, Fascism, and Nazism were three types of government systems that intended to make life better for the people. Fascism and Nazism planned to make life better for the people through expanding the power of the government. Then, the government could supposedly provide for the people of the nation. Communism thought that people could have better lives if there was not a class system. As a result, the government would eventually fall away and everyone would live in utopia. Though these political ideas sound hopeful, selfish leaders in these systems followed their own agendas and caused great damage to their nations and other nations all around the world.
Communism, Fascism and Nazism are three big ideas for a political government. Each one had its advantages and disadvantages. Different countries used these three systems as their form of governments. Some people thought that they were really good government systems while some people thought otherwise. What were so different about these three ideologies? How were they similar? Why were these ideologies accepted but later rejected by many people?
Communism is a theoretical economic system of a political movement based on common ownership of the means of production. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, both socialists, believed that communism was desirable for a system of government because it entails the full realization of human freedom. He believed that with communism, people could do anything they wanted and nobody would be exploited. Socialism and communism was often used interchangeably in the late eighteenth century. However both Marx and Engels realized that socialism was a stage leading up to communism. There were still class differences in socialism and they believed that communism would be the last stage of society with no class differences, freedom for everyone, and no government. Many people in Russia were happy with this thinking, accepting it and hoping that soon their country would become communist. They believed that if there was freedom for them and no government or class differences, they could all live in harmony. In Russia in 1917, Vladimir Lenin succeeded in taking control of the country, leading his branch of the party known as the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution. This was the starting point of Soviet Marxism and this demonstrated the growth of modern communism. The Bolsheviks adopted the name of the Communist Party and the socialist policies they named under Leninism. In the early 1920’s, the Soviet Union was formed and their program of communism held, developing a harmonious classless society. This was Lenin’s democratic centralism.
Fascism was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. It was the system of government that exercised a dictatorship of the extreme right. It combined the elements of totalitarian, nationalism, militarism, and anti-Communism. It was opposed to socialism, liberalism, democracy and individualism. Basically, fascism was that the government had all authority and governed and controlled every single person in the country. Fascist state had control over all aspects of political, social, cultural, and economic life. As you can see, Fascism was the complete opposite of communism. While communism is the ideology that there should be freedom for all people and no government or class differences, the ideology of fascism was that the government had complete control over all people and their lives.
The name Adolf Hitler is always associated with Nazism. This is because Hitler was the leader of the dictatorship of Germany during the time of the Nazis. Nazism is very similar to fascism; some even say it is a particular form of fascism. Nazism is anti-Communistic and is opposed to democracy. This shows how similar fascism and Nazism are. The basic relationships between the three ideologies are communism is the opposite of Nazism and fascism while Nazism and fascism are very alike. However, there are some differences between Nazism and fascism. The purpose of the fascist government was basically to make the state as the supreme over everyone else. It included every person and did not mind if every different types of people helped to achieve their goal. This was nationalism. The Nazi government was racist and only wanted certain people, that is the German white race, to help accomplish their goal.
In their beginnings, many people accepted these three ideologies as good ideas.
For communism, many people thought it was a great idea because it was meant
to give them complete freedom with no government ruling over them or no class
differences. For fascism, it gained a lot of political support from different
people like businesses, farmers, and even the poor because they were promised
work and bread. For Nazism, many Germans were attracted to it. Hitler promised
many things to the Germans, which the Germans were very happy about. Some of
these things were limiting profits, abolishing rents and increasing social benefits,
all for Germans in Germany only. Some rich and powerful people even saw Nazism
as beneficial for them.
However, later on, most people rejected these three ideologies. There were many
criticisms of communism especially during the time Trotsky was ruling the Soviet
Union. Many people agreed with the communist principles such as freedom for
the people and no government, but the communist policies were different and
the people were opposed to these policies. One example was violating the human
rights in Communist states. Even though communism promised freedom for people,
there were restrictions on freedom of speech. Stalin, for example, even violated
human rights by executions and killing people.
For Fascism, the people of the middle class in Italy were worried and there
was a feeling of fear. There were many economic, political, and cultural pressures
especially since it was postwar, meaning the people were suffering from postwar
depression. But Mussolini exploited the fears regarding the survival of capitalism
and there were lots of feelings of national shame and humiliation.
For Nazism, many people at first believed that it was a supreme power. But when
the Second World War came and at the last part they were losing, many people
realized that the ideology of Nazism was not that great at all. The idea of
the white people of Nazi Germany was just an illusion. Many people were killed
in the war too and many people realized that because of that ideology, many,
many Jews were killed.
Commentary
Communism, Fascism, and Nazism were three types of government systems that intended to make life better for the people. However, each system tried to accomplish this goal without God. Fascism and Nazism wanted to acheive the goal by making the government provide for the people. However, the Bible says the job of the government is to protect the people rather than provide for them (Romans 13). Communism wanted to provide for the poor by taking away from the rich. However, the Jesus said that there will always be poor people (John 12:8). In the end each system failed not only for the above reasons but because they put their trust in man. The Bible says that the heart of man is deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). In order to have a truly successful government, the government should put their trust in God rather than in man.
QuickQuiz:
Bibliography:
~ “Communism.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 10 Jan. 2006. Wikimedia
Foundation. 11 Jan. 2006. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism>.
~ “Criticisms of communism.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 7 Jan. 2006. Wikimedia Foundation. 11 Jan. 2006. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticisms_of_communism>.
~ “Fascism.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 11 Jan. 2006. Wikimedia Foundadtion. 11 Jan. 2006. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism>.
~ “Nazism.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 10 Jan. 2006. Wikimedia Foundation. 11 Jan. 2006. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism>.
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