The influence of neo-Nazism has been on a steady rise in America. It is a political platform that is used to promote the ideas of fascism in our country. The recent spike in this party has been the cause of a considerable amount of debate in America. The Nazi ideology was almost non-existent in America prior to World War II. Fourteen years after, the American Nazi Party was founded and the rise of neo-Nazism in America began.
Starting as just the simple ideas of fascism, and then sweeping over most of Europe through the rise of dictators, the concept of neoNazism has gained prominence through its ideology, history, and modern-day political platform. The neo-Nazis’ beliefs are a branch of the ideas of fascism. Webster’s Dictionary defines fascism as” a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government. ” Fascism resembles communism.
But unlike communism, which calls for the government to own all industry, fascism allows industry to remain in private ownership, though under government control. Other important features of fascism include extreme patriotism, warlike policies, and persecution of minorities. The word fascism also describes any governmental system or political belief that resembles those of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler (Williams 1). Fascism works by using propaganda to target and destroy those who seem dangerous to the government (Williams 9). The first example of a fascist government was Nero in AD fifty-four.
Nero used the Hegelian principle to rule over Rome. This idea is to attack oneself, blame the attack on one’s enemies, and then tell the public that you can protect them (Williams 11). This unified the people under Nero’s control against a common foe and prevented any revolts from rising during his reign. Nero’s reign ended however when it was discovered that he had set fire to the city in the Great Fire of Rome. He killed himself before he could be executed. After that, the fascist philosophy wasn’t heavily practiced again until the rise of the dictators in Europe during the mid-1900s.
In the 1900’s three dictators rose to power that practiced the ideas that the neo-Nazi party promotes, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Francisco Franco. Adolf Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany during World War II. He rose to power because of the eagerness of Germany to remove to attack the source of the many issues it had during that era (Smitha 2). Another large role of the creation of Nazi Germany was the fact that many Germans felt betrayed after World War I, especially by the jews (Snyder 2) Hitler used the emotions of the Germans to climb to the top of the political scene in Germany.
He was elected as Chancellor of Germany in 1933 under the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. After his election, he declared himself fuhrer and Reichskanzler, meaning leader and chancellor of the Reich, and disbanded all other political parties in Germany. He then, through the use of propaganda, promoted the spread of nazism by taking over Europe. Germany remained in a fascist state until Germany was defeated in 1945. Mussolini was the fascist leader of Italy during this time. He rose to power in 1922.
Similar to Hitler, Mussolini took advantage of the Italians’ emotions to grow in stature. The Italians were impressed by Mussolini’s physique and style of oratory (Britannica 9). Italy during this time was going through an economic and political crisis, and they were looking for someone to lead them. In 1922, there was a workers’ strike in Italy. He declared that if the government didn’t take care of the strike the fascists would. Since the government didn’t try to stop the strike, Mussolini began his March on Rome. King Victor
Emmanuel III eventually gave in and made Mussolini the prime minister of Italy. Then a fraudulent election took place in 1924, allowing the fascists to obtain a majority in the Italian parliament. He soon took the role of dictator in Italy, which was actually welcomed by the people (Britannica 15). His fatal mistake as dictator was aligning with the Axis powers during World War II out of fear of Hitler’s conquest. In the war, Italy was actually a hindrance to the Axis powers, having to be saved by Germany multiple times.
When Italy was defeated by the Western Allies, Mussolini was imprisoned on the island of Ponza. He managed to escape but was shot and killed in Italy a few days later. While fascism was taking over in Italy, there was also a revolution happening in Spain. Franco Francisco led a revolt in 1936 in hopes of overthrowing the government. He led an army towards Madrid, and he was eventually successful in taking over Spain. He then became the dictator of Spain. Spain, however, was a failing country at the time. When World War II started, he remained neutral until the fall of France.
After the fall of France, Franco met Hitler to indicate his willingness to join the Axis side in exchange for economic and military aid. Hitler, however, didn’t except the steep price and even said he would “as soon have three or four teeth pulled out as go through another bargaining session like that again” (Britannica 10). Franco remained neutral in the war and died from a long fought illness in 1975. These dictators were ruled their respected countries using the ideas that neo-Nazis promote today. The American Nazi Party is leading the charge to bring these fascist ideas to America.
The American Nazi Party has many goals. It wants to protect the environment, create a national healthcare system, a free education system, and withdraw the United States of America’s military presence around the world. In the past 60 years, the American Nazi Party has been led by three leaders, George Rockwell, Matt Koehl, and Rocky Suhyada. George Rockwell was the founder of the American Nazi Party. The former United States Navy commander founded the party in 1959 (Rucke 2). He established the party because of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s stance against communism. Rockwell held rallies for his party to obtain media support.
He also assisted groups such as the Ku Klux Klan during the Civil Rights movement. Rockwell was assassinated on August 25, 1967, outside a laundromat. Matt Koehl took over as leader after Rockwell’s assassination. He staved mainly under the radar during his command. In 2014, Rocky Suhyada took over as leader of the American Nazi Party. He has been looking to revive the influence that the party once had under Rockwell. He has held multiple rallies and has gained many supporters already. Suhyada’s main goal is to preserve the white race. He states, “We believe that our most precious assets are our racial resources” (Suhyada 12).
He dreams of a nation ruled by only whites with a thriving economy and spiritual life. A once unheard of philosophy, neo-Nazism is now a prominent ideology in today’s society, due to its well-known history and modern-day political platform. Whether it was through Hitler’s conquest of Europe, Mussolini’s rise to power, or Franco’s revolution in Spain, the ideas practiced by today’s American Nazi Party was dominant in Europe during the first half of the 1900s. Today the American Nazi Party promotes neo-Nazism in America and is a prominent figure in the political world.