Bureaucracy as the real monster

In Robert Paxton’s novel The Anatomy of Fascism he examines many points that led to the rise of fascism. He pays special attention to the examples of Italy under Mussolini, and Germany under Hitler. On page 41 there is an outline of 8 main points that helped to ignite the movement that is fascism. Paraphrasing these points, he argued that the rise of fascism came about from an overwhelming sense of crisis, and duty to a higher power. He also argues that people must feel victimized, and the feelings of this victimization may lead to a fear of the decline in the community and the need for authority. Lastly he points to the seeming superiority of the leaders’ instinct and seeming beauty of violence, as well as the right of the ruling class to dominate all the others. These observations are very insightful yet it misses one crucial point. Although Paxton does express the importance of subordinates to these leaders he fails to capture the vast expanse of bureaucracy that must exist to create a Nazi Germany or a Fascist Italy. Hannah Arendt coined the phrase “the banality of evil,” when describing the trial of Eichmann in Nazi Germany. In Arendt’s opinion Mussolini was not a sociopath nor was people in his secret police forces. These people felt a sense of duty towards the higher powers which justifies them carrying out the atrocities that they did. If it were not for the vast hierarchies and bureaucratic machines that these two men created they would have not been nearly as “effective,” in carrying out their goals for their country. When Mussolini created the “black shirts,” and later the MVSN, he created a web of hierarchies where people were detached from their responsibility of carrying out atrocious acts of violence. This bureaucratic machine reduced the victims to less then humans, and was very effective in removing responsibility from individual soldiers. Everyone was just following orders coming from above, and therefore their subjects were dehumanized. Without the vast bureaucratic machine which helped to brainwash all of the people within it Mussolini and Hitler would not have been so powerful. This is why it is important to look at the modernized bureaucratic machine as a key reason for the rise of fascism.