Communism and fascism became the two defining ideologies of the last century. People became adherents of one direction or another and were ready to defend it. Hitler’s ambitions, deeply affected by the ideas of the importance of war, led to catastrophic consequences for all mankind. The currents of the two ideologies swept the countries and they entered into a large-scale World War II. However, fascism and communism did not point to the extermination of certain races and the domination of one person. The “Manifesto of Futurism,” written by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, proclaims the acceptance of the future. The Manifesto of Communism posits a community for all people and the working class included. Thus, the documents do not carry cruel ideas. Nevertheless, they caused civil and world wars to arise in order to fight for the future and equality.
These two ideologies change people’s lives dramatically and contribute to the formation of a new society. From the point of view of fascism, people are divided into classes and some suffer from poverty. Many fail to receive significant education. Thus, their daily life consists in finding a job or a means of subsistence. At the same time, they should praise the state as a deity that gave them the conditions for existence. However, communism is distinguished by its focus on equality and the absence of class hierarchies. All people have the right to receive education and equal conditions in admission to higher educational institutions. Thanks to solidarity, people can receive free education and medical services.
In the history of art, Futurism retains a reputation as a rebellious movement based on revolutionary ideas. Adherents of this trend loudly declared themselves as children of the technical and modern age (Marinetti 18). In his Manifesto, the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti first used the word futurism and revealed its meaning. The Futurists were ready for any twists and turns of the future with exalted optimism and celebration. As new aesthetic values, they promoted and absolutized the external signs of technical civilization and progress. Fortunato Depero, in his painting Skyscrapers and Tunnels, prefers the sketching of modern buildings and gears as technical progress. The theorists of the new trend called on every person to renounce the cultural and moral values of the past and its historical eras. For Futurists, the central deity of ideology was the technical achievements of the people and the industrial spirit in the formation of the new time. Futurism sincerely reflected certain modern demands and the characteristic Milanese context. The main adherents of futurism were people of art, artists and poets.
It is important to note that fascism intercepted these ideas almost completely and reworked them to create their own theory. Subsequently, fascism will take the idea of freedom, war and the future. Thus, the main class favoring this ideology will be the working class and the petty bourgeois against the machine of capitalist society. Fascism embodied the cult of speed, the desire for strong solutions, contempt for the masses and at the same time an exciting appeal to them. This ideology, which so cruelly reflected the ambitions of the supreme parties in Germany, was reflected by a propensity for the hypnotic power of crowds, an exaltation of national feelings, and antipathy towards bureaucracy.
Nevertheless, even fascism has clear differences from futurism, from which it drew its main ideas. The Futurism proclaimed to forget all past epochs and to look into the future (Marinetti 18). However, fascism craves hierarchy, tradition and reverence for authority. Fascism seeks to evoke the spirits of Rome and the classical past. This ideology wishes to remain in the categories of thought drawn by the great Italians and the great Italian institutions, including Catholicism. Futurism is the art of free verse, free expression, free words. Fascism instead wants even more rigorous schools, universal teaching of Latin, and invites people to honor the memory of the minds of previous generations.
Another significant trend of the last century is communism and its commitment to total equality. In communism, the central belief is that each member must give his abilities for the benefit of the people and his needs will be met (Engels and Marx 13). No one is rich or poor in the communist system, all people are equal and work for the common good. In communism, it is the community that maintains production and basic resources. Everyone is united and ready to support each other in difficult times.
Marx and Engels taught that only the proletariat – the consistently revolutionary class of capitalist society – could rally all the working people. The oppressed people believed in new ideas and wanted to storm for the sake of capitalism (Engels and Marx 13). In order to fulfill its world-historical mission as the grave-digger of capitalism and the creator of the new, communist society, the proletariat must have its own workers’ party, for the creation of which Marx and Engels fought tirelessly. Communism is a living revolutionary doctrine, it is constantly developing and improving. The movement is the enemy of all dogmatism; he does not recognize invariable conclusions and formulas, obligatory for all epochs. The main feature of such movement is the organic unity of revolutionary theory and revolutionary practice.
A significant event of the 20th century and a clash of interests was the Second World War. This is the fight between the two global projects that had huge support in society – communist and fascist. Behind each of them is a fundamental philosophy, a huge array of ideas and beliefs, in the name of which people killed and died. The similarity of the two ideologies lies in their attitude towards war and stimulation due to it. Communists believe that war is good for the economy by stimulating production, but should be avoided. Fascists believe that war is good for the morale of the nation and therefore good for the state. Through the conquest of war, the state can achieve glory. Moreover, the state is strengthened by the subjugation of the lower people and the subjugated during the battles. The war does not negatively affect the economy and allows the country to remain strong.
The fascist movement in Germany was not a reaction to communism, but it largely made a name for itself in the fight against it. The fascists were the main antipodes of the communists not only in Germany, but throughout Europe. Thus, Hitler immediately called his party the only real alternative to the communists. However, the emergence of fascism was in no way connected with Bolshevism and had an independent character. The large-scale communist movement in Europe in the 1920s was as much a product of the crisis of bourgeois society after the end of the First World War as fascism itself.
Thus, fascism and communism represent two major currents that clashed during the Second World War. Their fundamental differences lie in their views on the structure of the state. From the point of view of fascism, there should be a strict hierarchy in the country with high society and lower strata of the population. At the same time, communism staked on the equality of people and proclaimed honesty in the public order. However, there are some similarities in their ideas about the structure of life. Thus, both ideologies believe that war can move society forward and improve people’s confidence in the future.
Works Cited
Engels, Friedrich, and Karl Marx. The communist manifesto. Penguin UK, 2004.
Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso. The manifesto of Futurism. Passerino Editore, 2016.