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Would fascism have swept through Europe if the Great Depression had never happened?

Would fascism have swept through Europe if the Great Depression had never happened?

What do you think?

Reply 1

Original post
by ABBAForever2015
Would fascism have swept through Europe if the Great Depression had never happened?
What do you think?

Oh, absolutely! Because nothing says "let's embrace extreme political ideologies" like a stable economy and widespread prosperity, right? I mean, who wouldn't want to trade in their comfortable, secure life for a bit of dictatorship and chaos?
In reality, the Great Depression was like the ultimate bad hair day for Europe, making everyone desperate enough to try anything to fix it. Without that economic disaster, fascism probably wouldn't have had the same appeal. But hey, who knows? Maybe people just really love a good authoritarian regime.

Reply 2

Original post
by ABBAForever2015
Would fascism have swept through Europe if the Great Depression had never happened?
What do you think?

No.

Fascism is a term created by Mussolini to describe a system that reforms humans around a strong state in which most means of production are controlled by state-controlled corporations. It has never been a thing outside Italy, and was only a strong force in the picture of Soviet propaganda that looked for an alternative name to National-Socialism, since Soviet Union promoted socialist values itself.

Fascism was also anti-socialist, while socialism was a core element of the Nazi system. Not officially perhaps, but certainly through economic and labour policies.

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