Fascism and the Right in Europe 1919-1945 by Martin Blinkhorn

Author:Martin Blinkhorn [Blinkhorn, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, Germany, Military, World War II, General
ISBN: 9781317898030
Google: QWUSBAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-07-22T16:06:19+00:00

Central and eastern Europe

The many dictatorships and authoritarian regimes established in central and eastern Europe between the two world wars took a variety of forms, from what has been called ‘authoritarian democracy’ in the Baltic states of Estonia and Latvia, to more fascist-tinged systems in Lithuania and Poland, a Catholic-corporativist authoritarian regime in pre-Anschluss Austria, a conservative-authoritarian ‘regency’ in Hungary, and a variety of ‘royal dictatorships’ in the Balkans. While all these regimes attracted the designation of ‘fascism’ from their opponents, nowhere in central and eastern Europe did a fascist or national socialist movement, strictly defined, win sole power before the start of the Second World War.

The authoritarian regimes of constitutional presidents Konstantin Päts in Estonia and Karlis Ulmanis in Latvia were both introduced in 1934 and extinguished, along with the states themselves, following the Hitler-Stalin pact in 1940. Neither was by any serious reckoning fascist; indeed, in both cases, authoritarianism was adopted as a means of restraining extremes of both left and far right, the latter being represented by, respectively, the radical-rightist Estonian Veterans’ League and the nazi-style Latvian Thunder Cross, both of which were now dissolved. The Pats and Ulmanis regimes reflect the problems which political extremism of any and all kinds presented to new and still provisional democracies lacking the firmer foundations and consequent resilience evident further west, or even as it turned out in Finland. In Estonia and Latvia, previously moderate politicians concluded that a degree of authoritarianism was necessary in order to prevent something far worse. Both Päts and Ulmanis ruled by decree with the help of bureaucracy, army and a paramilitary ‘defence league’, but also retained a degree of pluralism and steered clear of even the superficial ‘fascistization’ adopted by other dictatorships further south [92; 76].

Developments in Lithuania and Poland differed markedly from those in Estonia and Latvia. Here, parliamentary democracy collapsed much earlier, in the 1920s, while the resulting authoritarian regimes lived with radical rightist and fascist groups in a complex relationship that fluctuated between partnership and confrontation. The regime of Antanas Smetona, established in Lithuania following the coup of 1926, was an unambiguously rightist response not only to chronic political instability but also to the sudden intrusion of a left-wing government with radical intentions and a pro-Soviet posture. Smetona adopted the right-wing nationalist LTS or Tautininkai as his official party, but found himself frequently at loggerheads with its more extreme elements, notably the followers of Augustinas Voldemaras (prime minister 1926–29) and the secret Iron Wolf organization. From 1934, with the now rebellious Voldemaras jailed and Iron Wolf banned, Smetona’s personal power stood unchallenged. During the late 1930s, with the LTS mainstream still active within the regime and Smetona influenced by Catholic corporativism, Lithuania was moving decisively towards a dictatorship of what might be termed the ‘fascism from above’ variety [89].

Much the same was true in Poland, where following the death of Pilsudski and the introduction of a new constitution in 1935, the country was subjected to a brand of Catholic corporativist authoritarianism

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