Twentieth Century Totalitarian Nationalism….Fascism and Socialism

The real Right Wing alternatives to Left Wing ideology are supporters of such totalitarian regimes as Fascism which was pioneered by Mussolini. As a Left Wing ex-journalist, he was a political genius who created a new form of government based on mass media and new form of mytho-dynamics. He formed a populist political party based on a synthesis of the ancient Roman traditions and symbols with those of the nationalistic Risorgimento whilst maintaining links with the Catholic Church and Religious Monarchy. To eliminate rival elites he based his party on socialist egalitarianism principles. When Mussolini’s overtures were rejected by the English and French he was drawn into Hitler’s camp. A similar figure today is Vladimir Putin, who also began as a socialist but has realised that the support of the Orthodox Church as the inheritors of the Eastern Roman Empire could bolster his regime. His control and use of the mass media in Russia is equally skilful. The Falangist General Franco, like General Pinochet, gained power in a secular republic through a military coup, he too used the Church to legitimise his anti-communist regime and like Putin was skilled at manipulating corrupt oligarchs.