Ultra-nationalist ideologies as historical threats and influences

¶ … ultra-nationalist ideologies were far more threatening on a worldwide scale than communism to the liberal belief in individual rights from 1920-1945," because it is unequivocally true. One of the principle means of corroborating this statement is to analyze the atrocities and events that led up to and included World War II, which took place during the aforementioned time frame. World War II was largely about the propagation offFascism, which is ultra-nationalism at its finest -- or at its worse for the millions of people who were slaughtered in the wake of this ideology prior to and during World War II. An examination of first hand sources from the Japanese invasion of China, Italy, and from communist Russia indicate that ultra-nationalism was far more restrictive in individual rights than communism -- for the simple fact that the latter belief circumscribed such rights while the former simply eradicated them.

Japan's invasion of China during the so-called fall of Nanking was largely based upon nationalistic tendencies. The Japanese prioritized its own nation above China, and were seeking to appropriate its territory and resources -- including people, commerce, and property -- for its own gain. As such, the Japanese offered little if any individual rights for the Chinese during this invasion and occupation. Their wanton slaughter of Chinese people and their wholesale raping and extermination of Chinese women was so pervasive that other international forces tried to intervene and set up an area in the country where there could be a safety zone to attempt to protect the Chinese citizens, whose individual and even human rights were grossly violated. An examination of the following quotation from the diary of the German leader of that safety zone, John Rabe, demonstrates that even this zone did little to stop the Japanese troops from doing whatever they wanted to the Chinese.

Of the perhaps one thousand soldiers that we had quartered at the Minsitry of Justice, between 400 and 500 were driven from it with their hands tied. We assumed they were shot since we later heard several salvos of machine-gun fire. These events have left us frozen with horror (Rabe 245).

This passage indicates that the Japanese were willing to murder disarmed Chinese troops. Other entries in Rabe's diary allude to looting and raping, and simply slaughtering innocent Chinese citizens. It is crucial to note that the Japanese did not regard the Chinese as innocent, however. Their noxious actions were largely fueled by a nationalist sentiment that perpetuated the notion that those from China -- whether they were actual soldiers or not -- were the enemy. Thus, it is apparent that in the name of nationalism, the Japanese violated the individual rights of the Chinese.

Once one realizes the link between a strong national identity/ideology and fascism, it becomes possible to see how such an ideology is more harmful than communism for the simple fact that it is both violent and martial in nature. Communism, as opposed to fascism, merely seeks to unite the workers of the world and to have the proletariats take care of their labor. Fascism, however, fueled by strong nationalist tendencies, seeks to spread war and destruction. One of the more noted fascists of the 20th century, Benito Mussolini, stated as much in outlining a political treatise on the subject -- "The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism." In it, the author states that fascism "repudiates the doctrines of Pacifism" and that states that it its wake that "War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to meet it" (Mussolini 236). In this passage, Mussolini is acknowledging that war is an acceptable and integral component of Fascism. The preceding example regarding Japan shows how troops regularly violate individual and human rights in war.