As for myself (and I am unanimous in this) Fascism could never be an ideal system. Since I often argue for more power for monarchs many people mistakenly think me someone who favors dictatorship, and a likely Fascist-not true. Even absolute monarchs are often restricted by tradition and religious principles, in any country. The absolute monarchies I admire were all limited in many ways (they were not as creative in taking power and finding new ways to control people as modern politicians). Fascism to me is too risky. However, I will say that many people are unjust toward the concept of Fascism. Not all Fascism is bad. One cannot compare the well-known Mussolini to Generalissimo Franco, or even Antonio Salazar of Portugal or the Romanian Legion of the Archangel Michael. In Spain the defeat of the Carlists meant a more liberal monarchy, which was ultimately betrayed and overthrown (you can never bargain with these people!) and after a long period of disgust the people turned to the Fascist Franco.
Franco restored the honored position of the Church, protected conservative traditional values, and stopped the establishment of communism in Spain. And, even though he was aided by Hitler and Mussolini, Franco rejected all of Hitler's efforts to convince him to join the Axis forces. When Hitler tried to convince Franco to take the British port of Gibraltar the Generalissimo said later, "I would rather have all of my teeth pulled than talk to that man again." His situation was similar to that of Finland, though the Finns did join the Axis war effort, in that Germany was the only one to offer help to him. When Finland was attacked by the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany was the only nation to come to their aid. The Finns called them, "the only ally left to us". In fact, Franco may well have joined the Allied side in World War II, but after going through such a terrible civil war he made the right choice for his people and stayed out of the conflict entirely.
Another reason that I will stay a monarchist and keep away from Fascism, despite what I have just said, is that, from what I can see, modern Fascists seem to be more focused on following the example of pagan Roman Fascism, as used by Mussolini, rather than following the example of Franco and the traditionalist Catholic Fascists of Spain. Despite being surrounded by the power of Mussolini, my hero Pope Pius XI firmly condemned this style of Fascism which exalted pagan ideas and a brand of nationalism so extreme that it made the country/government into a god. This, as seems to be much of the Fascism of today, I would just as firmly condemn. For any traditional, Christian Fascists I will stick up for you if I have the opportunity, but simply on principle, not on allegiance. To me it remains a dangerous form of government, but one that we should have a more educated view of and not be so quick to lump all Fascists together in league with the likes of Mussolini. For a better alternative, go to the links page of this website and click on the link to Charles A. Coulombe and read his article "Quest for the Catholic State". |
