Was Salazar a fascist in the strict definition of the word?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B3nio_de_Oliveira_Salazar Salazar's regime was dictatorial. His political philosophy was based around Catholic social doctrine, much like the contemporary regime of Engelbert Dollfuss in Austria. The economic system, known as corporatism, was based on the papal encyclicals Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno, which was supposed to prevent class struggle and supremacy of economism. Salazar himself banned Portugal's National Syndicalists, a much more unambiguously Fascist party, for being, in his words, a "Pagan" and "Totalitarian" party. Salazar's own party, The National Union, was formed as a subservient umbrella organisation to support the regime itself, and was therefore lacking in any ideology independent of the regime. It could be argued whether Salazar's government can truly be considered 'Fascist', given the strong Roman Catholic, monarchist, regionalist, agrarian and restorational tendency of his rule, which is in sharp contrast to the innovative and revolutionary re-structuring of society so prevalent in Fascist countries. There is no doubt, however, that he admired (or at least respected) especially Fascist leader Benito Mussolini at some point in time. He said once "I'm with Mussolini in Italy, but I can't be in Portugal."[citation needed]. Of course at the time many European countries feared communism as a destructive force. Many neutral states in WWII, from the Baltic to the Atlantic, would at least in principle sympathize with any state that would wage war on the USSR, the communist state in the east. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B3nio_de_Oliveira_Salazar On 17/07/07, Roland Francis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Cornel, And how could you miss our very own Fascist in your list? The 'honorable' Antonio de Oliveira Salazar was like the other three, also profoundly Roman Catholic. If it were not for the eminent Goan, Prof Froilano De Melo and a few Goans of his eminence who challenged Salazar on the downgrading of equal Portuguese nationality that the Government of the Marquis de Pombal so magnanimously granted Goans in the 18th century, not many Goans outside of Portugal would be Portuguese nationals today. Those interested might find this very interesting: http://www.geocities.com/PauloCD/PortNatLaw.htm Roland. On 7/15/07, CORNEL DACOSTA <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Words like "fascist" are used loosely by many but also rigorously by scholars. For now, I would prefer to refer to just three particular fascists as firmly recognised in history texts. They were Hitler, Franco and Mussolini. All three were profoundly Roman Catholic much to the chagrin of Gilbert Lawrence of course.
-- Frederick Noronha Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] P: +91-832-2409490 M: +91-9970157402 Yahoo: fredericknoronha Skype: fredericknoronha GTalk: fredericknoronha 784, Sonarbhat, Near Lourdes Convent, Saligao 403511 Goa India
