Antifa is anti-fascist, but do we know what fascism is?

While taking a theology class a few years back a reference was made to “fascism,” but nobody seemed to really know what fascism was, and the instructor seemed apprehensive to give an explanation.

More recently, I found myself asking a similar question, “What is an antifa?” these militant demonstrators creating controversy. Anti-fa means anti-fascist, but such a reply presupposes we know what fascism is.

Fascism and Nazism are often fused and confused as if they are the same thing. The two might have some resemblance, and we could even say fascism and nazism share a common source with Marxism: the voice of the people.

How does the voice of the people become embodied in a charismatic figure whose non-negotiable doctrines govern society?

All three – Marxism, Nazism and fascism – are identified with one-party rule – of Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler, and Benito Mussolini. Hitler’s party stands for “national socialism,” and Mussolini originally belonged to the Italian Socialist Party.

These leaders emerged out of economic crises  – Marx in Russia, Hitler in Germany, and Mussolini in Italy. Marxism and Nazism show the greatest ideological resemblance in that both are godless ideologies. Marxism and the recycled forms of Marxism impose or promote atheism, the suppression of religious expression, and the destruction of human life beginning by aborting babies. In the case of Nazism, “inferior human beings” were sent to death camps; abortion and euthanasia were part of Nazi supremacy doctrine.

Mussolini’s fascism simply cannot be placed within these godless ideologies. Nevertheless, a distinction needs to be made between the earlier and later Mussolini, from his rise to power in October 1922, to the later Mussolini of the 1930s who made the colossal error of creating an axis with Hitler and Nazism.

When Mussolini attempted to bring a “racial supremacy” doctrine into fascism under the influence of Hitler, the supremacy doctrine was unpopular with the fascists and flatly rejected by the Roman Catholic Church.

The real threat perceived by the Catholic Church was communism. Italy in the 1919 general election was in a near state of political anarchy. The northern triangle of Genoa-Milan-Turin was prosperous but migrants moving into cities from other parts of Italy, especially the south, put pressure on the limited resources.

The outcome was not only factory-worker strikes and the shut down of industries, but increasing street crime. Italy’s 1919 election failed to bring about an expected coalition between the Socialists and Popularists.

The Italian Popular Party represented Catholic militancy while drawing from the social doctrine of Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum. Founded by Don Luigi Sturzo, a priest from Sicily and now beatified, the Popularists refused an alliance with the Socialists due to their Marxist-Leninist leanings. The rejection of Marixst-driven socialism brought Mussolini to power. 

Italians sought a strong leader to give the country direction based on nationalist, economic, and religious aspirations. The Roman Catholic Church itself even seemed to prefer Mussolini, as Pope Pius XI stated, “We needed the man who Providence sent us.”

The Roman Catholic Church was not only concerned about Communism and its errors spreading, but also what was known as the “Roman Question.” Rome was the designated capital of Italian nationalists since the beginning of Italy’s unification in 1860. Rome was also the Eternal City for the Roman Catholic Church – the seat of the Papacy. The threat of papal territory being lost to anti-clerical nationalists meant that the Vatican was in danger of losing its status as a sovereign state.

Pope Pius XI, before his election as the Supreme Pontiff, had already experienced the viciousness of anti-Catholic ideologies as apostolic visitor in Poland when the Communist Red Army advanced into Warsaw in 1920. 

In Mexico the Catholic Church suffered extreme persecution due to anti-clerical nationalist movements where thousands of priests, religious, and faithful were executed.

Pope Pius XI could not risk a godless strike against the Eternal City. Mussolini offered to recognize the sovereignty of the Vatican State. In turn, the Roman Catholic Church would recognize Rome as the capital of Italy (Lateran Treaty of 1929).

In line with Roman Catholic teaching, Mussolini’s government prohibited divorce, made abortion a crime, marriages were only performed by the Church, elementary schools were returned to the Church, blasphemy was illegal, and Roman Catholicism became the official religion of Italy.

Even when Mussolini attempted to have complete control over Italy’s youth clubs, the Church protested, maintaining it gave fascism complete control over youth activities.

Mussolini conceded to the Church, permitting Catholic Action (Azione Cattolica) to continue to recruit youth, ensuring Roman Catholic formation.

At the Italian parish of La Madonna della Difesa in Montreal, a fresco of Mussolini on horseback painted by the Italian-Canadian artist and Roman Catholic Guido Nincheri was painted in 1930 to honour Mussolini for the Lateran Treaty. (Nincheri also designed the stained glass window of Our Lady of the Rosary at Holy Rosary Cathedral in Vancouver.) 

Mussolini’s downfall stemmed from the Axis he created with Hitler and Nazism. Italians were not interested in supremacist doctrines or imperialist wars. Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were shot and then hung, his executioners believed to be Communists. In 1957, at the request of Mussolini’s wife, Rachele, Mussolini received a Roman Catholic burial.

Father David Bellusci is a Dominican priest and assistant professor of philosophy at Catholic Pacific College in Langley.  [email protected]