One of the key features of fascism is its link with militarism. Both are permeated with the machismo outlook. Leaders of the main European strands of fascism have come from a military background or have been raised in families with a military background.

Mussolini, who founded the first fascist party, fought in the First World War as a private in the trenches in Italy rising to sergeant. Hitler was also in the First World War. He became a corporal in the German army as a messenger at the front line. Franco was a general in the Spanish army when the Civil War started in 1936 which led to him becoming the fascist ruler of Spain in 1939. Oswald Mosley was Britain’s first fascist leader. He went to Sandhurst Military Academy and fought in the First World War. He started the British Union of Fascists in 1932 which reached its peak after the Second World War in 1947-48. In France, Le Pen, who led the fascist National Front from its inception in 1972, was a paratrooper who fought in Indochina and Algeria in the 1950s.

Of the younger generation of fascist leaders Haider is leader of the fascist Freedom Party in Austria. He trained as a lawyer but his father was in the Hitler Youth movement and subsequently a Nazi SA storm trooper. Nick Griffin, current leader of Britain’s main fascist party, the British National Party, also trained as a lawyer. His father was in the British Army in the Second World War.

People who have joined fascist movements have often come from military backgrounds. Mussolini drew members of the Arditi, special assault troops in the Italian army. Hitler’s Nazi activities in the early 1920s drew ex-servicemen and ex-Freikorps men, volunteers in the armed bands which roamed Germany in the aftermath of the First World War. After the Second World War Mosley drew supporters from the British League of Ex-Servicemen. Le Pen drew on members of the OAS terrorists who fought in Algeria. Haider’s supporters include Nazi soldiers from the Second World War. The BNP holds an attraction for many who have been soldiers in the British army.

These points illustrate how fascism emerges and draws strength from the military culture of machismo.

This is not to imply that anyone with a military background is inevitably tainted or attracted to fascism. Nor does the link provide a full account of fascism. One can say however that the military is a main reservoir of infection for those susceptible to the disease of fascism and that there is a striking connection which is worthy of exploration in the quest to understand fascism.

Indoctrination in the military is probably a prime source of nationalism, racism and willingness to use of force in the pursuit of power which are central to fascism. These values can be passed on in other ways in other contexts. Child rearing can be especially influential. Fascist parents can indoctrinate their children from the earliest age (as we see with Haider and Griffin and others active in fascist parties of more recent times).

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