Fascism in North America
Encyclopedia
Fascism in North America was composed of a set of related political movements in Canada
, the United States
, Mexico
and elsewhere which were variants of fascism
. Fascist movements in North America
never realized power, unlike their counterparts in Europe. Although the geopolitical
definition of North America varies for convenience sake it can be assumed to include Central America
and the Caribbean
, where fascist variants also flourished.
-based Canadian Union of Fascists
was modelled on the British Union of Fascists
and led by Chuck Crate
. The Parti national social chrétien
, later renamed the Canadian National Socialist Unity Party, was founded by Adrien Arcand
and inspired by Nazism
. The Canadian Union of Fascists in English Canada
never reached the level of popularity the Parti national social chrétien enjoyed in Quebec
. The Canadian Union of Fascists focused on economic issues while the Parti national social chrétien concentrated on racist themes. The influence of the Canadian fascist movement reached its height during the Great Depression
and declined from then on.
led the paramilitary Black Legion
, a violent off-shoot of the Ku Klux Klan
that sought a revolution to establish fascism in the USA. Although responsible for a number of attacks the Black Legion was very much a peripheral band of militants. More important were the Silver Legion of America
, founded in 1933 by William Dudley Pelley
, and the German American Bund, which emerged the same year from a number of older groups, including the Friends of New Germany
and the Free Society of Teutonia
. Both of these groups looked to Nazism
for their inspiration.
Whilst these groups enjoyed some support they were largely peripheral but two other leaders emerged who sparked fears that they could become the leader of a fascist America amongst some on the left. However Huey Long
did not take on the role as he was overarchingly populist
rather than fascist whilst Father Charles Coughlin
, who publicly endorsed fascism to an extent that Long never did, was unable to become involved in active politics due to his status as a priest. Other fascists active in the US included the publisher Seward Collins
, the broadcaster Robert Henry Best, the inventor Joe McWilliams
and the writer Ezra Pound
.
was founded in 1937 by José Antonio Urquiza. The group demonstrated some of the palingenetic ultranationalism
at the core of fascism as it sought a rebirth of society away from the socialism
, liberalism
, secularism
and Americanism that it saw as dominating Mexico. It differed from European fascism however by being very Roman Catholic in nature. Although supportive of corporatism
the National Synarchist Union was arguably too counterrevolutionary
to be considered truly fascist.
The red shirts of Mexico
, considered fascist by some scholars, were an anticlerical uniformed paramilitary active in the 1930s formed by Tomás Garrido Canabal
during his second term as Governor of Tabasco
. A similar group, the Gold Shirts
, founded in 1933 by Nicolás Rodríguez Carrasco
, also bore some of the hallmarks of fascism.
A Falange Española Tradicionalista was also formed in Mexico by Spanish merchants based there who opposed the consistent support given to the Republican
side in the Spanish Civil War
by Lázaro Cárdenas
. The group neither sought nor had influence outside this immigrant population, however. A Partido Nacional Socialista Mexicano was also active, with most of its 15,000 members being of German background.
in Central America by populism and the military has meant that there has been little space for the development of proper fascist movements. The closest the area came to an important domestic fascist was Arnulfo Arias
of Panama
who, during the 1940s, became a strong admirer of Italian fascism
and advocated it following his ascension to the presidency in 1940.
As a minor movement the Nazi Party was active amongst German
immigrants in Costa Rica
(where a liberal government largely tolerated their activity in the name of freedom of speech
), El Salvador
(where the government cracked down on activity) and Guatemala
(which outlawed the Nazi Party and Hitler Youth
in May 1939), amongst others. They also organised in Nicaragua
although Falangism was more important, especially in the Colegio Centro América
in Managua
where this brand of fascism flourished in the 1930s.
well after the main era of fascism in much of the area. However Falangist movements have been active in Cuba
, notably under Antonio Avendaño and Alfonso Serrano Vilariño from 1936 to 1940. A Cuban Nazi party was also active but this group, which attempted to change its name to the 'Fifth Column
Party' was banned in 1941. As in Cuba, Falangist
groups have been active in Puerto Rico
, especially during World War II
, when an 8000 strong branch came under FBI scrutiny.
Support, of sorts, for fascism was also briefly logged in Jamaica
during the 1930s. Although based in London
for much of that decade, Marcus Garvey
remained an important political figure on the island that had often been his home base. In the early 1930s Garvey expressed a strong admiration for Benito Mussolini
and argued that "we were the first fascists", comparing the mass membership and discipline of Mussolini's followers to that of his own. Garvey changed his opinion following the invasion of Abyssinia
and soon denounced Mussolini as "a tyrant, a bully, [and] an irresponsible upstart".
, first Canada and then the United States came into conflict with the Axis powers
, and so as part of the war effort suppressed the fascist movements within their borders, which were already weakened by widespread public perception that they were fifth column
s. This suppression consisted of the internment of fascist leaders, the disbandment of fascist organizations, the censorship of fascist propaganda
, and pervasive government propaganda against fascism. In the US this culminated in the Great Sedition Trial of 1944 in which George Sylvester Viereck
, Lawrence Dennis
, Elizabeth Dilling
, William Dudley Pelley
, Joe McWilliams
, Robert Edward Edmondson
, Gerald Winrod, William Griffin, and, in absentia, Ulrich Fleischhauer
were all put on trial for aiding the Nazi cause
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and elsewhere which were variants of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
. Fascist movements in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
never realized power, unlike their counterparts in Europe. Although the geopolitical
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
definition of North America varies for convenience sake it can be assumed to include Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, where fascist variants also flourished.
Canada
In Canada, fascism was divided between two main political parties. The WinnipegWinnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
-based Canadian Union of Fascists
Canadian Union of Fascists
The Canadian Fascist Party was a fascist political party based in the Canadian city of Winnipeg. The formative core of the party was a splinter group from the Canadian Nationalist Party that found the principles of corporativism to be more important than the largely racial motivations of the...
was modelled on the British Union of Fascists
British Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
and led by Chuck Crate
Chuck Crate
Chales Brandle "Chuck" Crate was a Canadian fascist and leader of the Canadian Union of Fascists.He was born and grew up in northern Ontario, moving into a working class district of Toronto in 1927. The poverty and unemployment brought by the Great Depression turned the young Crate into a radical,...
. The Parti national social chrétien
Parti national social chrétien
The Parti National Social Chrétien was a Canadian political party formed by Adrien Arcand in February 1934. The party identified with anti-semitism, and German leader Adolf Hitler's Nazism. The party was later known, in English, as the Canadian National Socialist Unity Party or National Unity...
, later renamed the Canadian National Socialist Unity Party, was founded by Adrien Arcand
Adrien Arcand
Adrien Arcand was a Montreal journalist who led a series of fascist political movements between 1929 and his death in 1967...
and inspired by Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. The Canadian Union of Fascists in English Canada
English Canada
English Canada is a term used to describe one of the following:# English-speaking Canadians, as opposed to French-speaking Canadians. It is employed when comparing English- and French-language literature, media, or art...
never reached the level of popularity the Parti national social chrétien enjoyed in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. The Canadian Union of Fascists focused on economic issues while the Parti national social chrétien concentrated on racist themes. The influence of the Canadian fascist movement reached its height during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and declined from then on.
United States
During the 1930s Virgil EffingerVirgil Effinger
Virgil H. "Bert" Effinger was a renegade member of the Ku Klux Klan who became the leader of the Black Legion in the United States. He advocated a fascist revolution in the US with himself as dictator.-Early life:...
led the paramilitary Black Legion
Black Legion (political movement)
The Black Legion was an organization that splintered from the Ku Klux Klan and operated in the United States in the 1930s. The organization was founded by William Shepard in east central Ohio...
, a violent off-shoot of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
that sought a revolution to establish fascism in the USA. Although responsible for a number of attacks the Black Legion was very much a peripheral band of militants. More important were the Silver Legion of America
Silver Legion of America
The Silver Legion of America, commonly known as the Silver Shirts, was an American fascist organization founded by William Dudley Pelley on January 30, 1933, coincidentally, the same day Adolf Hitler, whom Pelley admired, seized power in Germany....
, founded in 1933 by William Dudley Pelley
William Dudley Pelley
William Dudley Pelley was an American extremist and spiritualist who founded the Silver Legion in 1933, and ran for President in 1936 for the Christian Party.-Family:...
, and the German American Bund, which emerged the same year from a number of older groups, including the Friends of New Germany
Friends of New Germany
Friends of New Germany was an organization founded in 1933 in support of the Nazi party in the United States.In May 1933, the Nazi Deputy Führer, Rudolf Hess, authorized a German citizen living in the United States, Heinz Spanknobel, to form a Nazi American organization. The result was the creation...
and the Free Society of Teutonia
Free Society of Teutonia
The Free Society of Teutonia was a German American organisation that was associated with a strong support for Nazism.The FST was formed in 1924 by four German immigrants, including Nazi Party members Fritz and Peter Gissibl, based in Chicago...
. Both of these groups looked to Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
for their inspiration.
Whilst these groups enjoyed some support they were largely peripheral but two other leaders emerged who sparked fears that they could become the leader of a fascist America amongst some on the left. However Huey Long
Huey Long
Huey Pierce Long, Jr. , nicknamed The Kingfish, served as the 40th Governor of Louisiana from 1928–1932 and as a U.S. Senator from 1932 to 1935. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D...
did not take on the role as he was overarchingly populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
rather than fascist whilst Father Charles Coughlin
Charles Coughlin
Father Charles Edward Coughlin was a controversial Roman Catholic priest at Royal Oak, Michigan's National Shrine of the Little Flower church. He was one of the first political leaders to use radio to reach a mass audience, as more than thirty million tuned to his weekly broadcasts during the...
, who publicly endorsed fascism to an extent that Long never did, was unable to become involved in active politics due to his status as a priest. Other fascists active in the US included the publisher Seward Collins
Seward Collins
Seward Bishop Collins was an American New York socialite and publisher. By the end of the 1920s, he was a self-described "fascist".-Biography:...
, the broadcaster Robert Henry Best, the inventor Joe McWilliams
Joe McWilliams
Joseph Elsberry "Joe" McWilliams was born to a poor pioneer family in the small town of Hitchcock, Oklahoma.In his earlier days McWilliams was well known for using an American-flag-draped covered Conestoga wagon for publicizing his rallies and speeches, as well as for drawing attention to his cause...
and the writer Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
.
Mexico
The National Synarchist UnionNational Synarchist Union
The National Synarchist Union is a Mexican political organization. It was historically a movement of the Roman Catholic extreme right, in some ways akin to clerical fascism and falangism, violently opposed to the leftist and secularist policies of the revolutionary governments that ruled Mexico...
was founded in 1937 by José Antonio Urquiza. The group demonstrated some of the palingenetic ultranationalism
Palingenetic ultranationalism
Palingenetic ultranationalism is a theory concerning generic fascism formulated by British political theorist Roger Griffin. The key elements are that fascism can be defined by its core myth, namely that of "national rebirth" — palingenesis...
at the core of fascism as it sought a rebirth of society away from the socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, secularism
Secularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
and Americanism that it saw as dominating Mexico. It differed from European fascism however by being very Roman Catholic in nature. Although supportive of corporatism
Corporatism
Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...
the National Synarchist Union was arguably too counterrevolutionary
Counterrevolutionary
A counter-revolutionary is anyone who opposes a revolution, particularly those who act after a revolution to try to overturn or reverse it, in full or in part...
to be considered truly fascist.
The red shirts of Mexico
Red Shirts (Mexico)
The Red Shirts were a paramilitary organization, existing in the 1930s, founded by the virulently anti-Catholic, atheist and anticlerical Governor of Tabasco, Mexico, Tomás Garrido Canabal during his second term. As part of their attempt to destroy the Church, they systematically destroyed...
, considered fascist by some scholars, were an anticlerical uniformed paramilitary active in the 1930s formed by Tomás Garrido Canabal
Tomás Garrido Canabal
Tomás Garrido Canabal , was a Mexican politician and revolutionary. Garrido Canabal served as dictator and governor of the state of Tabasco from 1920 to 1924 and again from 1931 to 1934, and was particularly noted for his anti-Catholic persecution...
during his second term as Governor of Tabasco
Governor of Tabasco
List of governors of the Mexican state of Tabasco* Víctor Manuel Barceló served as a governor temporarily when Roberto Madrazo requested license-Source:*...
. A similar group, the Gold Shirts
Gold shirts
The Revolutionary Mexicanist Action , better known as the Gold shirts , was a Mexican fascist paramilitary organization in the 1930s.The group was founded by general Nicolás Rodríguez Carrasco in 1933 with the official title of Acción Revolucionaria Mexicana...
, founded in 1933 by Nicolás Rodríguez Carrasco
Nicolás Rodríguez Carrasco
Nicolás Rodríguez Carrasco was a Mexican general and fascist.During the Mexican Revolution Rodríguez fought alongside Pancho Villa. He managed to become brigadier general but deserted in 1918. After the revolution he moved to the right and joined several racist, antisemitic and antisinist...
, also bore some of the hallmarks of fascism.
A Falange Española Tradicionalista was also formed in Mexico by Spanish merchants based there who opposed the consistent support given to the Republican
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
side in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
by Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río was President of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.-Early life:Lázaro Cárdenas was born on May 21, 1895 in a lower-middle class family in the village of Jiquilpan, Michoacán. He supported his family from age 16 after the death of his father...
. The group neither sought nor had influence outside this immigrant population, however. A Partido Nacional Socialista Mexicano was also active, with most of its 15,000 members being of German background.
Central America
The dominance of right-wing politicsRight-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
in Central America by populism and the military has meant that there has been little space for the development of proper fascist movements. The closest the area came to an important domestic fascist was Arnulfo Arias
Arnulfo Arias
Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid was president of Panama on three occasions: 1940–41, 1949–51, and for two weeks in October 1968.- Origins :...
of Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
who, during the 1940s, became a strong admirer of Italian fascism
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
and advocated it following his ascension to the presidency in 1940.
As a minor movement the Nazi Party was active amongst German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
immigrants in Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
(where a liberal government largely tolerated their activity in the name of freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
), El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
(where the government cracked down on activity) and Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
(which outlawed the Nazi Party and Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
in May 1939), amongst others. They also organised in Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
although Falangism was more important, especially in the Colegio Centro América
Colegio Centro América
The Colegio Centro América is a school located in Managua, Nicaragua. It was established in 1916 and serves as an Elementary, Middle, and High school. The school was created by the Jesuits in the city of Granada and quickly became the preferred boarding school for children of elite families...
in Managua
Managua
Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua as well as the department and municipality by the same name. It is the largest city in Nicaragua in terms of population and geographic size. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Xolotlán or Lake Managua, the city was declared the national capital in...
where this brand of fascism flourished in the 1930s.
Caribbean
Fascism has also been a rare feature of politics in this region, not only for the same reasons as Central America but also due to the continuation of colonialismColonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
well after the main era of fascism in much of the area. However Falangist movements have been active in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, notably under Antonio Avendaño and Alfonso Serrano Vilariño from 1936 to 1940. A Cuban Nazi party was also active but this group, which attempted to change its name to the 'Fifth Column
Fifth Column
Fifth Column was a Canadian all-women experimental post-punk band from Toronto, which came about during the early 1980s. They took the name Fifth Column after a military manoeuvre by Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War, in which nationalist insurrectionists within besieged Republican...
Party' was banned in 1941. As in Cuba, Falangist
Falange
The Spanish Phalanx of the Assemblies of the National Syndicalist Offensive , known simply as the Falange, is the name assigned to several political movements and parties dating from the 1930s, most particularly the original fascist movement in Spain. The word means phalanx formation in Spanish....
groups have been active in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, especially during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when an 8000 strong branch came under FBI scrutiny.
Support, of sorts, for fascism was also briefly logged in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
during the 1930s. Although based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
for much of that decade, Marcus Garvey
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League...
remained an important political figure on the island that had often been his home base. In the early 1930s Garvey expressed a strong admiration for Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
and argued that "we were the first fascists", comparing the mass membership and discipline of Mussolini's followers to that of his own. Garvey changed his opinion following the invasion of Abyssinia
Ethiopian Empire
The Ethiopian Empire also known as Abyssinia, covered a geographical area that the present-day northern half of Ethiopia and Eritrea covers, and included in its peripheries Zeila, Djibouti, Yemen and Western Saudi Arabia...
and soon denounced Mussolini as "a tyrant, a bully, [and] an irresponsible upstart".
World War II
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, first Canada and then the United States came into conflict with the Axis powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
, and so as part of the war effort suppressed the fascist movements within their borders, which were already weakened by widespread public perception that they were fifth column
Fifth column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within.-Origin:The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War...
s. This suppression consisted of the internment of fascist leaders, the disbandment of fascist organizations, the censorship of fascist propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, and pervasive government propaganda against fascism. In the US this culminated in the Great Sedition Trial of 1944 in which George Sylvester Viereck
George Sylvester Viereck
George Sylvester Viereck was a German-American poet, writer, and propagandist.-Biography:...
, Lawrence Dennis
Lawrence Dennis
Lawrence Dennis was an mixed raced American diplomat, consultant and author. He advocated Socialist fascism in America after the Great Depression, arguing that capitalism was doomed.-Life:...
, Elizabeth Dilling
Elizabeth Dilling
Elizabeth Dilling Stokes was an American anti-communist and later antisemitic social activist, as well as an anti-war campaigner and writer in the 1930s and '40s. She stood trial for sedition in what is now called the Great Sedition Trial of 1944.The author of four political books, Dilling...
, William Dudley Pelley
William Dudley Pelley
William Dudley Pelley was an American extremist and spiritualist who founded the Silver Legion in 1933, and ran for President in 1936 for the Christian Party.-Family:...
, Joe McWilliams
Joe McWilliams
Joseph Elsberry "Joe" McWilliams was born to a poor pioneer family in the small town of Hitchcock, Oklahoma.In his earlier days McWilliams was well known for using an American-flag-draped covered Conestoga wagon for publicizing his rallies and speeches, as well as for drawing attention to his cause...
, Robert Edward Edmondson
Robert Edward Edmondson
Robert Edward Edmondson was an anti-Jewish pamphleteer and a defendant in the Great Sedition Trial of 1944. He was an organizer of the Pan-Aryan Conference. Edmondson had roots that went back to the colonial days of Virginia and Maryland and was primarily of Scottish descent...
, Gerald Winrod, William Griffin, and, in absentia, Ulrich Fleischhauer
Ulrich Fleischhauer
thumb|Ulrich Fleischhauer Ulrich Fleischhauer was a leading antisemitic publisher of books and news articles reporting on an alleged Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory and supposed "nefarious plots" by clandestine Jewish interests to dominate the world.His career was at first grounded in the Imperial...
were all put on trial for aiding the Nazi cause
United States
- People associated with the Business PlotBusiness PlotThe Business Plot was an alleged political conspiracy in 1933. Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler claimed that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans' organization and use it in a coup d’état to overthrow United States President Franklin D...
. - American FrontAmerican FrontAmerican Front is a white supremacist organization started in 1987 in San Francisco, California by Bob Heick. It began as a loose organization modeled after the British National Front. Heick began working with Tom Metzger's White Aryan Resistance in 1988. Heick and artist Boyd Rice posed for...
, an umbrella organisation. - American Nazi PartyAmerican Nazi PartyThe American Nazi Party was an American political party founded by discharged U.S. Navy Commander George Lincoln Rockwell. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Rockwell initially called it the World Union of Free Enterprise National Socialists , but later renamed it the American Nazi Party in...
, founded by George Lincoln RockwellGeorge Lincoln RockwellGeorge Lincoln Rockwell was the founder of the American Nazi Party. Rockwell was a major figure in the neo-Nazi movement in the United States, and his beliefs and writings have continued to be influential among white nationalists and neo-Nazis.-Early life:Rockwell was born in Bloomington,...
in 1959. This group was central to the foundation of the World Union of National SocialistsWorld Union of National SocialistsThe World Union of National Socialists is an organisation founded in 1962 as an umbrella group for neo-Nazi organisations across the globe.-Formation:...
. - Aryan BrotherhoodAryan BrotherhoodThe Aryan Brotherhood, also known as The Brand, the AB, or the One-Two, is a white supremacist prison gang and organized crime syndicate in the United States with about 20,000 members in and out of prison...
, a prison gangPrison gangPrison gang is a term used to denote any type of gang activity in prisons and correctional facilities. Prison officials and others in law enforcement use the term security threat group or STG...
. - Aryan NationsAryan NationsAryan Nations is a white supremacist religious organization originally based in Hayden Lake, Idaho. Richard Girnt Butler founded the group in the 1970s, as an arm of the Christian Identity organization Church of Jesus Christ–Christian...
, a Christian IdentityChristian IdentityChristian Identity is a label applied to a wide variety of loosely affiliated believers and churches with a racialized theology. Many promote a Eurocentric interpretation of Christianity.According to Chester L...
organization founded by Richard Girnt ButlerRichard Girnt ButlerRichard Girnt Butler was an American aerospace engineer for Lockheed, who later became the leader of the Christian Identity white supremacist group Aryan Nations.-Biography:...
. - Creativity Movement, a White separatist religion.
- Libertarian National Socialist Green Party, a group that seeks to fuse Nazism, environmentalismEnvironmentalismEnvironmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
and libertarianismLibertarianismLibertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
. - National Alliance, founded in 1974 by William Luther PierceWilliam Luther PierceWilliam Luther Pierce III was the leader of the white separatist National Alliance organization, and one of the most important ideologists of the white nationalist movement. Pierce originally worked as an assistant professor of physics at Oregon State University, before he became involved in...
, the author of The Turner DiariesThe Turner DiariesThe Turner Diaries is a novel written in 1978 by William Luther Pierce under the pseudonym "Andrew Macdonald"...
. - National Renaissance Party of occultistOccultThe word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
James H. MadoleJames H. MadoleJames Hartung Madole was the leader of the National Renaissance Party in the United States. He is now recognized as a pivotal figure in the development of post-war occult-fascism.-Beliefs:...
. - The National Socialist MovementNational Socialist Movement (United States)The National Socialist Movement is a neo-Nazi party operating in the United States. The group was founded in 1974 by Robert Brannen, former member of the American Nazi Party before its decline. The group claims to be the largest and most active neo-Nazi organization in the United States. Its...
, formed in 1974. - National Socialist Party of AmericaNational Socialist Party of AmericaThe National Socialist Party of America was a Chicago-based organization founded in 1970 by Frank Collin shortly after he left the National Socialist White People's Party. The NSWPP had been the American Nazi Party until shortly after the assassination of leader George Lincoln Rockwell in 1967...
, founded in 1970 by Frank CollinFrank CollinFrancis Joseph "Frank" Collin formerly served as the leader of the National Socialist Party of America, whose plan to march in the predominantly Jewish suburb of Skokie, Illinois was the centerpiece of a major First Amendment decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, National Socialist Party of America...
. - National States' Rights PartyNational States' Rights PartyNational States' Rights Party was a far right, white supremacist party that briefly played a minor role in the politics of the United States.-Foundation:...
, founded in 1958 by J. B. StonerJ. B. StonerJesse Benjamin "J.B." Stoner was an American segregationist who was convicted in 1980 of the bombing in 1958 of the Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.J. B...
. - New OrderNew Order (National Socialist)New Order, a successor organization to the original American Nazi Party, is now a self-styled National Socialist religious group which promotes Esoteric Nazism as an alternative faith for "Aryans" ....
, led by Matt KoehlMatt KoehlMatt Koehl is the leader of a self-defined religious organization called the New Order. As deputy commander, in August 1967 Koehl succeeded the assassinated George Lincoln Rockwell as 'Commander' of the National Socialist White People's Party...
from the point of developing a religion based on Nazism. - The OrderThe Order (group)The Order, also known as the Brüder Schweigen or Silent Brotherhood, was an organization active in the United States between 1983 and 1984...
, a revolutionary group established by Robert Jay MathewsRobert Jay MathewsRobert Jay Mathews was the leader of an American white nationalist group The Order.Mathews was burned to death during the intense gunfight with approximately seventy-five of the federal law enforcement agents who surrounded his house on Whidbey Island, near Freeland, Washington.Mathews' life was...
in 1983. - StormfrontStormfront (website)Stormfront is a white nationalist and supremacist neo-Nazi Internet forum that has been described as the Internet's first major hate site.Stormfront began as an online bulletin board system in the early 1990s before being established as a website in 1995 by former Ku Klux Klan leader and white...
, a white nationalist website. - Universal Order, founded by James MasonJames Mason (National Socialist)James N. Mason is an American National Socialist.- American National Socialist :When he was 14 years old he began communicating with George Lincoln Rockwell's American Nazi Party and became a youth member until his 18th birthday when he was sworn into the renamed National Socialist White People's...
and heavily influenced by Charles MansonCharles MansonCharles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
. - VolksfrontVolksfrontVolksfront describes itself as an international fraternal organization for persons of European descent. It has been called "neo-Nazi" and a "racist-skinhead group" in press reports...
, a white power skinhead group led by Randall Krager. - White Aryan ResistanceWhite Aryan ResistanceWhite Aryan Resistance is a neo-Nazi white separatist organization founded and led by former Ku Klux Klan leader Tom Metzger. Part of the American far right, it is based in Warsaw, Indiana and is incorporated as a business....
, a highly racist organization led by Tom MetzgerTom MetzgerThomas Metzger is an American white nationalist who founded White Aryan Resistance . His far-right activist groups, including WAR, have been monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an American organization that tracks hate groups...
. - White Patriot PartyWhite Patriot PartyThe White Patriot Party was an American anti-Semitic white supremacist paramilitary political party associated with Christian Identity and the Ku Klux Klan. Using paramilitary tactics, the group developed from the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan chapter; it was founded in 1980 by Frazier...
, a group founded in 1980.
Canada
- Canadian Association for Free ExpressionCanadian Association for Free ExpressionThe Canadian Association for Free Expression is a political organization based in Canada that campaigns for free speech. It is often accused of having ties to the racist far-right....
, founded by Paul Fromm in 1981. - Heritage FrontHeritage FrontThe Heritage Front was a Canadian neo-Nazi white supremacist organization founded in 1989 and disbanded around 2005.The Heritage Front maintained a telephone message line with a different editorial each day. The voice on the hotline was Gary Schipper...
, founded in 1989 and disbanded in 2005. - National-Socialist Party of Canada, founded by Terry TremaineTerry TremaineTerrence Cecil Tremaine is the founder and national director of the National-Socialist Party of Canada. He is a White Nationalist organizer who has posted on White Nationalist web forums such as Stormfront and other websites using the screen name “mathdoktor99,” and on other websites as...
in 2006. - Nationalist Party of CanadaNationalist Party of CanadaThe Nationalist Party of Canada is an unregistered Canadian political party that was founded in 1977 by Don Andrews , who continues as leader of the party...
, founded in 1977 by Don AndrewsDon AndrewsDonald Clarke Andrews is a Canadian white supremacist. He is also the leader of the neo-Nazi Nationalist Party of Canada and a perennial candidate for mayor of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-Early years:...
. - Northern Alliance, a confrontational activist group formed in 1977.
- Western Guard PartyWestern Guard PartyThe Western Guard Party was a white supremacist group based in Toronto, Canada. It evolved out of the far-right anti-Communist Edmund Burke Society that had been founded in 1967 by Don Andrews, Paul Fromm, Leigh Smith and Al Overfield.Andrews became the dominant figure in the EBS, and relaunched...
, an extremist off-shoot of the Edmund Burke SocietyEdmund Burke SocietyThe Edmund Burke Society was a far right organization formed by Paul Fromm, Don Andrews, Al Overfield and Leigh Smith in 1967 at the University of Toronto. The group was anti-communist and promoted conservative values...
founded in 1967.
See also
- Fascism in AfricaFascism in AfricaFascism in Africa refers to the phenomenon of fascist parties and movements that were active in Africa. Due to the status of Africa as an area of colonialism during the inter-war period fascist movements rarely developed...
- Fascism in AsiaFascism in AsiaFascism in Asia refers to political ideologies in Asia which adhered to fascist policies.-Iran:Fascism in Iran was organised SUMKA , a neo-Nazi party founded by Davud Monshizadeh in 1952...
- Fascism in Europe
- Fascism in South AmericaFascism in South AmericaFascism in South America was an assortment of political parties and movements modelled on fascism. Although originating in Europe and primarily associated with that continent the ideology did cross the Atlantic Ocean between the wars and had an influence on South American politics...