Hitler And Mussolini Cults

When the term “fascist government” is mentioned it is associated with the fear of loosing the fundamental right to determine the system in which a persons lives under and who controls them. However when the term “cult” is mentioned it is associated with loosing the right of what to think. These institutions often employ the same types of tactics in order to control the people that follow them, whether it is willingly or unwillingly. This leads to the question, how did the tactics of control in fascist dictatorships compare to the tactics of control in cults? The fascist governments under Mussolini and Hitler were in place to control the people along with the leadership of cults such as, The People’s Temple Cult. The structure of fascist governments …show more content…
In 1922 in Italy Mussolini was appointed as the Prime Minister during a time of political upheaval in Italy. With this appointment he was determined to consolidate his power and create a corporate state under totalitarian control. In his reign of power he established institutions that would make Italy a totalitarian state. The system he created was based on the ideology of fascism, with one political party and the paraphernalia linked to the personality cult. (Lee) Mussolini was guaranteed support through indoctrination and coercion. During the 1930s Mussolini was facing an economic depression and he needed his state to appear as strong therefore he started n active foreign policy and began engaging in many wars. Between 1936 and 1940 the regime began to continue control by enforcing more policies of fascism this led to the increase in repression of the people and even more opposition from the rest of the people. (Lee) The structure of the fascist government allowed it to become repressive of its people and it gave Mussolini total control. He was able to control the people through the fascist institutions and parties yet he couldn’t stop all opposition to his rule, no mater how hard he tried. The structure of the government allowed Mussolini this facade of power when in reality most of the former institutions under Italian …show more content…
Religion in fascist Italy under Mussolini was entirely an institution used to satisfy the needs of the people. A fascist government is ideally atheist, however Mussolini knew if he forced a devout Catholic population to become atheist he would have an uprising on his hands. Mussolini chose to declare Catholicism as the primary religion of his government to appease the people. Along with this religious cover, Mussolini implemented the “Cult of Duce” which was a cult like worship of him. According to Lee, “ The Cult of Duce, or Mussolinianism, met a deep psychological need and therefore responded to public demand rather than creating it. In their situation the population found hero worship as an essential antidote to fear since it provided hope...” This shows that in order for the people to stay stable in the fascist government they started to worship Mussolini, and he accepted this worship because he knew that it would allow for more control of the people. The people in Italy under the fascist government were undergoing an oppressive and financially unstable time. This is supported when Favero says, “When Mussolini’s movement seized power in 1922 and sought an alliance with nationalists, Mussolini himself was obsessed by the (de)population problem, to such a degree that he expressed his concerns in the famous 1927 Ascension Day Speech.” Mussolini was obsessed with