The most anti-communist group in history was trying to form a communist state? Go read the wiki or something for a refresh on high school history.
Nazi Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Nazi Party is generally described as being at the extreme or far right of the left-right political axis. While the party incorporated elements from both left and right-wing politics, the Nazis formed most of their alliances on the right."
Nice try, but FAIL.
Thats an article on Hitler's Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers' Party) and I was speaking solely about Mussolini and certainly stand by the fact that he created the biggest welfare state in Europe.
'Generally described', btw, does not make it so, as a careful examination of the facts shows.
Mussolini started off as a fervent Marxist, a revolutionary socialist (early quote: ""The Socialist party reaffirms its eternal faith in the future of the Workers' International, destined to bloom again, greater and stronger, from the blood and conflagration of peoples. It is in the name of the International and of Socialism that we invite you, proletarians of Italy, to uphold your unshakeable opposition to war"."). He was the leader of the Italian Socialist party. He was also an editor of several Socialist magazines for many years.
Over time he lost faith in Marxism because of its 'internationalist' nature and because he list faith in the ability of the proletariat to lead a successful revolution M: 'Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State', because working class rabble can achieve little more than destruction. Influenced by Nietzche and the ideas of the ubermensch, he decided only a powerful State, with powerful leaders, can enforce his utopia. He believed in a revolution by an ELITE (a la Plato "The Republic' another big influence on him), but it was still to be a socialist revolution.
He saw the revolutionary socialist as merely reactive, driven by hate more then anything else, rather then truely righteous ideas.
Mussolini: ""If the bourgeoisie think they will find lightning conductors in us they are the more deceived; we must start work at once .... We want to accustom the working class to real and effectual leadership".
He rightly realised that the nation state cannot be superceded by an ideology. This caused him to break with the revolutionary socialists and start his Nationalist Socialist doctrine, ie Fascism, with its militaristic and ultra-nationalist nature. For a long time he despised Hitler and even asked the Pope to excommunicate him. Only later did he join forces with Hitler, as they shared their views on the nationalistic and authoritarian path towards Socialism. His vision of a utopian Socialism remained.
The Communists were on the other hand fanatically anti-nationalist and thus violently opposed Mussolini. They thus stood in the way of his vision and he spared no energy trying to crush them. Hitler and Mussolini both saw the Communists as a road block to their own vision. However they shared much with their idealogically, both being fiercely anti-capitalist, for example.
You may also note my quote above were even Hitler said Communists would make better Nazis then Social Democrats. Because their end goals are similar. Nationalism was anethema to the Communists ('workers of the world unite', as opposed to German workers unite to make Germany reign supreme etc).
Anyway, that really is enough from me.
hehe. 