My father joined Betar, a right-wing Zionist group ancestor to the Likud Party. In the context of the Warsaw Ghetto in an increasingly anti-Semitic Poland, it was a bit like the Black Panthers, though because of the laws and low funds they drilled with broomsticks rather than rifles. The group had been great fans of Mussolini, for his anti-Communism and because they saw in his stated desire to turn Italians into Romans a mirror of their desire to turn Żydzi into Hebrew Warriors. (I have seen the claim that a fair number of Italian Jews joined the Fascist Party, I would guess for its simultaneous anti-Bolshevism and initial anti-clericalism.)
He said that the invasion of Abyssinia ended this: marching, they sang a little ditty praising Il Duce's bravery in sending-out bombers and machine guns against spears, bigoted in its own way but not far from the truth. He regretted having wasted a lot of tea attempting to dye a shirt black….
(He didn't know about the leadership's continued alliance with the Fascisti, which lasted until Mussolini promulgated anti-Jewish laws.) (He later would know great hunger during the war as a P.W., and became a Social Democrat on the basis of having decided that starving men's better natures tend to be muted and a system that allowed starvation amidst plenty could not be a good one.)
“We are accustomed to thinking of fascist regimes, especially because of the prominence of Nazi Germany in the popular imagination, as having their shit together”
It’s important to remember that Nazi Germany, of course, did not in fact have its shit together. In this, it and other fascist regimes are part of a consistent pattern of authoritarian regimes being systemically corrupt, incompetent, and bureaucratically chaotic/clown shoes. That doesn’t lessen their ability to repress their own populations and unleash destruction on others; in some ways, I think these features might make said regimes *more* dangerous. “Working towards the Fuhrer” is an important concept in understanding this.
My father joined Betar, a right-wing Zionist group ancestor to the Likud Party. In the context of the Warsaw Ghetto in an increasingly anti-Semitic Poland, it was a bit like the Black Panthers, though because of the laws and low funds they drilled with broomsticks rather than rifles. The group had been great fans of Mussolini, for his anti-Communism and because they saw in his stated desire to turn Italians into Romans a mirror of their desire to turn Żydzi into Hebrew Warriors. (I have seen the claim that a fair number of Italian Jews joined the Fascist Party, I would guess for its simultaneous anti-Bolshevism and initial anti-clericalism.)
He said that the invasion of Abyssinia ended this: marching, they sang a little ditty praising Il Duce's bravery in sending-out bombers and machine guns against spears, bigoted in its own way but not far from the truth. He regretted having wasted a lot of tea attempting to dye a shirt black….
(He didn't know about the leadership's continued alliance with the Fascisti, which lasted until Mussolini promulgated anti-Jewish laws.) (He later would know great hunger during the war as a P.W., and became a Social Democrat on the basis of having decided that starving men's better natures tend to be muted and a system that allowed starvation amidst plenty could not be a good one.)
thats very interesting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betar_Naval_Academy
Gerald, I'm writing the biography of someone who was shot by the Betar fighters. Can you e-mail me at sylwetkatancerza (at) gmail?
Good stuff. Nice to interject new material and a new perspective into a debate (on Ukraine) already gone prematurely stale.
Regarding this:
“We are accustomed to thinking of fascist regimes, especially because of the prominence of Nazi Germany in the popular imagination, as having their shit together”
It’s important to remember that Nazi Germany, of course, did not in fact have its shit together. In this, it and other fascist regimes are part of a consistent pattern of authoritarian regimes being systemically corrupt, incompetent, and bureaucratically chaotic/clown shoes. That doesn’t lessen their ability to repress their own populations and unleash destruction on others; in some ways, I think these features might make said regimes *more* dangerous. “Working towards the Fuhrer” is an important concept in understanding this.
Anyway, good post.