Stanley G. Payne

Political Violence During the Spanish Second Republic

Violence became increasingly prominent during the short life of the Spanish Republic, and references to it formed an important aspect of the political rhetoric of the era. Each side of the political polarities accused the other of resorting to violence, while the exiguous centre denounced both sides (although the centre especially denounced the left, since most of the violence by civilian groups came from the left). Yet this violence, which claimed more than 2000 lives, was immediately followed by and subsumed under the much greater violence of the Civil War. Studies of violence in Spain have naturally focused primarily on the latter, while studies of the Republic centre much more on political and social conflict per se. Despite the undeniable importance of escalating political violence in helping to produce the breakdown of Spain’s first attempt at twentieth-century democracy, no general analysis of its character and extent has ever been carried out.

On the Heuristic Value of the Concept of Political Religion and its Application

Abstract The thesis here is that the concept of political religion (PR) is useful as a heuristic device or model to explore certain unique features of modern secular revolutionary and/or ultra‐nationalist movements and regimes which develop elaborate ideologies and public rituals. It depends on a broad or ‘Durkheimian’ definition of religion and is not to be confused with the politicisation of traditional religion, which can be found in varying forms in nearly all historic polities. The differences between modern civil religion (CR) and PR are examined, and some of the principal regimes and movements for whom PR may be a useful concept are analysed with regard to their similarities and differences. The conclusion is that both the politicisation of religion and the cultic forms of PR continue to characterise in varying ways some of the major radical new forces of the twentieth century, while much of the Western world tends toward an inchoate kind of incipient, not fully coded PR most simply characterised as Multicultural Political Correctness.

How to Deal with the Past

Abstract The conclusion first discusses the ways in which dealing with an authoritarian or totalitarian past is relevant to present concerns. It then analyses different approaches: honest reckoning and repentance, reconciliation and forgiveness, drawing a line between past and present, and forgetting the past or forging a new narrative about it. The importance of historical distance is analysed, followed by the problems of identifying who are perpetrators, accomplices, bystanders and victims. The next sections treat transitional justice, and the role and character of different national narratives, which sometimes creates a new myth of victimhood. ‘Collective memory’ and ‘selective memory’ are treated, concluding with a discussion of the limits of retribution and its role in successful democratisation.

The NDH State in Comparative Perspective

Abstract This essay addresses the place of the NDH state within fascist Europe. It treats such issues as its relationship to generic fascism, the comparative degree of mobilisation, the relationship to religion, the place of the NDH state in the history of mass atrocity, its definition as a ‘regime type’, its role within the spectrum of revolutionary civil war, and its relationship to the issue of Balkan fascism.

Historical Fascism and the Radical Right

R.J.B. Bosworth, The Italian Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives in the Interpretation of Mussolini and Fascism, London, Arnold, 1998; 269 pp.; ISBN 0–340–67728–7 (hbk); 0–340–67727–9 (pbk). Xavier Casals i Meseguer, La tentación neofascista en España, Barcelona, Plaza & Janés, 1998; 342 pp.; ISBN 84–01–53031–8 Roger Griffin (ed.), International Fascism: Theories, Causes and the New Consensus, London, Arnold, 1998; 334 pp.; ISBN 0–340–70614–7 (hbk); 0–340–70613–9 (pbk) Richard Griffiths, Patriotism Perverted: Captain Ramsay, the Right Club and British Anti-Semitism 1939–40, London, Constable, 1998; 372 pp.; ISBN 0–09–467920–7 Piero Ignazi, Il profilo escluso: Profilo storico del Movimento Sociale Italiano, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1998; 452 pp.; ISBN 88–15–05234–8 Jeffrey Kaplan and Leonard Weinberg, The Emergence of a Euro-American Radical Right, New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 1998; 239 pp.; ISBN 0–8135–2563–2 (hbk); 0–8135–2564 (pbk) Stein Ugelvik Larsen (ed.), with Bernt Hagvet, Modern Europe After Fascism 1943–1980s, Boulder, Social Science Monographs, 1998; 2 vols., 1932 pp.; ISBN 0–88033–973–X George L. Mosse, The Fascist Revolution: Toward a General Theory of Fascism, New York, Howard Fertig, 1999; 230 pp.; ISBN 0–86527–432–0 José Luis Rodríguez Jiménez, ¿Nuevos fascismos? Extrema derecha y neofascismo en Europa y Estados Unidos, Barcelona, Ediciones Península, 1998; 365 pp.; ISBN 84–8307–130–4 Michel Winock, Nationalism, Anti-Semitism and Fascism in France, trans. Jane Marie Todd, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1998; 351 pp.; ISBN 0–8047–3286–8 (hbk); 0–8047–3287–6 (pbk)

Franco, the Spanish Falange and the Institutionalisation of Mission

The original fascist movement in Spain never enjoyed very effective leadership, even though its chief became the object of a major charismatic cult after his violent, premature death. Despite this weakness, after it had been subsumed within the Franco regime, Falangism became the longest-lived of all fascist-type movements.1 The Franco regime, in turn, was one of the longest non-communist authoritarian regimes, and also the most successful, judged not simply in terms of its longevity but also in terms of factors such as ultimate economic development. Leadership was clearly a major factor in its longevity and success, though the role of charisma in that leadership was complex and difficult to assess. Franco was never a classic charismatic leader of the Mussolini type, but he – and the Falange – did come to embody an important sense of the mission to define a new role for Spain in the world.

Soviet anti-fascism: Theory and practice, 1921-45

Though communism and fascism are commonly seen as bitter rivals, the relationship between the two has received little attention. This article deals briefly with their common characteristics and then surveys the history of the Soviet Unions policy toward fascism. It treats theory, in terms of the changing Soviet interpretations and definitions of fascism, and practice, through the history of Soviet and Comintern policy toward fascist movements, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Differences between the years of the Third Period, the Popular Front and the Nazi-Soviet Pact are treated in detail, concluding with the strangely ambivalent Soviet policy during the Second World War.

Fascism and racism

The analysis of fascist political thought is a difficult task for several reasons. The political genus of fascism is itself poorly defined, and the conclusion has sometimes been advanced that fascism primarily represented a form of praxis, inherently non-ideological and without formal thought or programme. Moreover, as early as 1923 there developed a growing tendency to generalise beyond the initial Italian example and apply the term ‘fascism’ or ‘fascist’ to any form of rightwing authoritarian movement or system. More broadly yet, Soviet Stalinists began to apply the term, usually hyphenated with some additional adjective, to any and all rivals. By the 1930s fascist had sometimes become little more than a term of denigration applied to political foes, and this usage as a very broad and vague pejorative has continued to the present day. A limited consensus has nonetheless emerged among some of the leading scholars in the study of fascism, who use the term to refer to a group of revolutionary nationalist movements in Europe between the two world wars, first in the cases of the Italian Fascist and German National Socialist parties and then in the cases of their clearest counterparts in other European countries. This limited consensus tends to agree that specific movements bearing all or nearly all of the same common characteristics did not exist prior to 1919 and have not appeared in significant form in areas outside Europe or in the period after 1945 (Griffin 1998, pp. 1–16).

Review Article : Historic Fascism and Neofascism

Roger Griffin, The Nature of Fascism, London, Pinter Press, 1991; x + 245 pp.; £32.00. Paul Brooker, The Faces of Fraternalism: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1991; ix + 397 pp.; £40.00. Stein Ugelvik Larsen and Beatrice Sandberg, eds, Fascism and European Literature, Bern, Peter Lang, 1991: 459 pp.; £33.00. Jill Lewis, Fascism and the Working Class in Austria, 1918-1934, Oxford, Berg, 1991; xii + 236 pp.; £32.50. Luciano Cheles et al., eds, Neo-Fascism in Europe, London, Longman, 1991; xii + 299 pp.; £22.00 hardback, £11.99 paperback.

Los Estados Unidos y España: Percepciones, imágenes e intereses

Este trabajo lleva a cabo un repaso general, tanto de las relaciones hispano-norteamericanas, como de la vision que desde los Estados Unidos se tenia de Espana, a lo largo de los ultimos dos siglos. Asimismo, el autor recuerda sus propias experiencias como ciudadano norteamericano, dedicado durante varias decadas al estudio de la Historia contemporanea de Espana.