Proto-fascism

{{Short description|Ideologies and cultural movements forming the basis of fascism}}

{{Prose|date=November 2022}}

File:Gabriele D'Annunzio 1922.jpg, an Italian nationalist and poet who is considered a prominent proto-fascist]]

Proto-fascism represents the direct predecessor ideologies and cultural movements that influenced and formed the basis of fascism.{{cite book |last=Spackman |first=Barbara |title=Fascist Virilities: Rhetoric, Ideology, and Social Fantasy in Italy |page=78}}{{cite book |first1=Peter |last1=Davies |first2=Derek |last2=Lynch |title=The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right |location=London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA |publisher=Routledge |page=94}} A prominent proto-fascist figure is Gabriele D'Annunzio, the Italian nationalist whose politics influenced Benito Mussolini and Italian fascism. Proto-fascist political movements include the Italian Nationalist Association ({{lang|it|Associazione Nazionalista Italiana}}, ANI), the German National Association of Commercial Employees ({{lang|de|Deutschnationaler Handlungsgehilfen-Verband}}, DHV), the German National People's Party ({{lang|de|Deutschnationale Volkspartei}}, DNVP) from 1931 onwards, and the Union of the Russian People ({{langx|ru|Союз русского народа|translit=Soyuz russkogo naroda}}; СРН/SRN).Figes, p. 196 Other people who have been labeled proto-fascist because they shared an ideological basis with fascism include:

• Joseph de Maistre (1753–1821){{cite speech |title=The Second Onslaught: Joseph de Maistre and Open Obscurantism |url=https://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/lists/nachlass/maistre.pdf |page=22–23 |last=Isaiah |first=Berlin |year=1965 |location=Harkness Theater, Columbia University }}
• Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881){{cite book |first1=Ulrich |last1=Broich |first2=H. T. |last2=Dickinson |first3=Eckhart |last3=Hellmuth |first4=Martin |last4=Schmidt |title=Reactions to Revolutions: The 1790s and Their Aftermath |page=255}}
• Paul de Lagarde (1827–1891)[https://www.britannica.com/topic/fascism/Intellectual-origins Fascism: Intellectual origins], Encyclopaedia Britannica[http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1774 Paul de Lagarde on Liberalism, Education, and the Jews: German Writings (1886)], German History in Documents and Images''Johnson, Paul (1983), “Modern Times”, Harper and Row: New York
• Hermann Goedsche (1815–1878)"The Jew in the modern world: a documentary history", by Paul R. Mendes-Flohr, Jehuda Reinharz, 1995, {{ISBN|019507453X}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0Bu5GnLZCw0C&dq=%22world+domination%22&pg=PA360 a footnote at p. 363]
• Goldwin Smith (1823–1910){{cite book |editor1-last=Kramer |editor1-first=Naomi |date=2007 |title=Civil Courage: A Response to Contemporary Conflict and Prejudice |publisher=Peter Lang |pages=142–143 |isbn=978-1433100574}}{{cite book |last= |first= |author-link= |date=2021 |title=Routledge Library Editions: Racism and Fascism |url= |location= |publisher=Routledge, Taylor & Francis |page=32 |isbn=9781138934221}}
• Georges Ernest Boulanger (1837–1891){{cite book |first=Robert Lynn |last=Fuller |author-link=Robert Lynn Fuller |title=The Origins of the French Nationalist Movement, 1886-1914 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S-qLviZxVGMC&pg=PA251 |year=2012 |publisher=McFarland |page=251 |isbn=9780786490257}}
• George Fitzhugh (1806–1881){{cite journal |last=Reyes |first=Stefan Roel |title=Antebellum Palingenetic Ultranationalism: The Case for Including the United States in Comparative Fascist Studies |journal=Fascism |volume=8 |number=2 |date=December 2019 |pages=307–330 |publisher=Brill Publishers |doi=10.1163/22116257-00802005|doi-access=free }}
• Georges Vacher de Lapouge (1854–1936){{cite journal|last=Hecht|first=Jennifer Michael|title=Vacher de Lapouge and the Rise of Nazi Science|journal=Journal of the History of Ideas|year=2000|volume=61|issue=2|pages=285–304|doi=10.1353/jhi.2000.0018|s2cid=170993471}}
• R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz (1887–1961)Joscelyn Godwin, "Schwaller de Lubicz: les Veilleurs et la connexion Nazie", in Politica Hermetica, number 5, pages 101-108 (Éditions L'Âge d'Homme, 1991).Joscelyn Godwin, Arktos: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism, and Nazi Survival, pages 54-55 (Adventures Unlimited Press, 1996). {{ISBN|0-932813-35-6}}.
• John Ruskin (1819–1900){{Cite book |last=McGovern |first=William Montgomery |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.237119 |title=From Luther to Hitler |publisher=Harrap |year=1941 |pages=180 |author-link=William Montgomery McGovern}}{{Cite book |last=Tennyson |first=G. B. |url=https://archive.org/details/victorianprose00davi/mode/2up |title=Victorian Prose: A Guide to Research |publisher=The Modern Language Association of America |year=1973 |isbn=9780873522502 |editor-last=DeLaura |editor-first=David J. |location=New York |pages=78 |chapter=The Carlyles |quote=G. I. Morris in "Divine Hitler" ([Die Neueren Sprachen], 1935) cites his own experience . . . A headmaster had told his students that 'Ruskin and Carlyle were the first National Socialists.' |url-access=registration}}
• Ion Dragoumis (1878–1920){{cite book |first=John |last=Mazis |title=Man For All Seasons: The Uncompromising Life of Ion Dragoumis |date=2014 |publisher=The Isis Press |isbn=978-9754285277}}{{Cite news |url=https://ethnikonkratos.gr/2017/06/05/%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%AC%CE%BD%CE%BD%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%BC%CE%AC%CE%B6%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%BF-%CE%B4%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%B3%CE%BF%CF%8D%CE%BC%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%B4%CE%B5%CE%BD-%CE%AD%CF%87%CF%89-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%BC/ |script-title=el:Γιάννης Μάζης: "Ο Δραγούμης δεν έχω καμία αμφιβολία ότι ήταν ένας πρωτοφασίστας" |title=Giánnis Mázis: "O Dragoúmis den écho kamía amfivolía óti ítan énas protofasístas" |trans-title=Yannis Mazis: "I have no doubt that Dragoumis was a proto-fascist" |date=4 June 2017 |work=Εθνικόν Κράτος |access-date=23 October 2018 |language=el-GR}}
• Vladimir Purishkevich (1870–1920)Liubosh, S. B., Russkii fashist V. M. Purishkevich, Leningrad: Byloe Publishing House, 1925Shenfield, Stephen Russian Fascism: Traditions, Tendencies and Movements Routledge, 2015, p. 31{{Cite web|url=http://www.krotov.info/lib_sec/17_r/rez/reznik.html|title=krotov.info|website=www.krotov.info}}
• D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930). The English philosopher Bertrand Russell characterized Lawrence as a "proto-German fascist".{{cite book |first=Bertrand |last=Russel |author-link=Bertrand Russell |title=The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell 1872-1914 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |date=1951 |page=112}} This characterization is useful as a demarcation point between fascism and proto-fascism. The former has totalitarian uniformity as its paradigm, but Russell is referring to Lawrence as a "nonconformist prophet" struggling with individual alienation, looking to the shared identity of ancestral blood and soil for reconnection i.e. an evolution of the German 19th-century Völkisch movement,{{cite journal |first=Luke |last=Ferretter |title="A Prison for the Infinite": D. H. Lawrence and Bertrand Russell on the War |journal=Études Lawrenciennes |year=2015 |issue=46 |doi=10.4000/lawrence.226 |doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal|last=Kurlander|first=Eric|date=2002|title=The Rise of Völkisch-Nationalism and the Decline of German Liberalism: A Comparison of Liberal Political Cultures in Schleswig-Holstein and Silesia 1912-1924|journal=European Review of History: Revue européenne d'histoire|volume=9|issue=1|pages=23–36|doi=10.1080/13507480120116182|s2cid=145167949|issn=1350-7486|author-link=Eric Kurlander}} an ideology that was adopted by the Nazis.
• Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872). The famous Genoese patriot strongly influenced Italian fascism, especially in its early years. In particular, fascism inherited from Mazzini the fervent irredentism, the concept of class collaboration, the pedagogical vocation and the spirit of solidarity. Mussolini himself was a great Mazzini admirer, and many fascist exponents were Mazzinian such as Italo Balbo, Giovanni Gentile, Giuseppe Bottai, and Dino Grandi.{{cite book |last=Sullam |first=Simon Levis |title=Giuseppe Mazzini and the Origins of Fascism |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |date=2015 |isbn=978-1137514585}}
• Francesco Crispi (1818–1901). The known Sicilian statesman was admired by the dictator Mussolini and considered by many scholars as a precursor of Italian fascist regime due to his authoritarian policies, the nationalist character, his strongman reputation, and the aggressive colonial policy implemented during his government.[https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-82803451 Nation-building in 19th-century Italy: the case of Francesco Crispi]{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Christopher Duggan, History Today, February 1, 2002[http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-87708350/randolph-churchill-italy-francesco.html The Randolph Churchill of Italy], by David Gilmour, The Spectator, June 1, 2002 (Review of Francesco Crispi, 1818-1901: From Nation to Nationalism, by Christopher Duggan)
• Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925){{Cite web |last=Staudenmaier |first=Peter |date=2009-01-10 |title=Anthroposophy and Ecofascism |url=https://social-ecology.org/wp/2009/01/anthroposophy-and-ecofascism-2/ |access-date=2024-07-20 |website=Institute for Social Ecology |language=en-US}}