Fascist Forces Research Articles

For love and country: queering nationalism in Kate O’Brien’s Mary Lavelle and Farewell Spain

ABSTRACT Considering Irish writer Kate O’Brien in the context of sapphic modernisms might seem misguided as her fiction is traditional in form. Still, revisiting her writing has illuminated its play with modernist themes, and her radical establishment of transnational feminisms in her juxtaposition of Ireland and Spain. Referencing theories by Nira Yuval-Davis and the work by Jane Garrity that map the intersection of gender, sexuality and citizenship, this article argues that O’Brien presents alternative possibilities for women’s relationship to nationhood in her representations of Spain in her 1936 novel, Mary Lavelle, and her 1937 Farewell Spain. The travelogue, chronicling O’Brien’s sojourn in Spain accompanied by Mary O’Neill, her life partner, is an elegy to her experiences of a country ravaged by Franco’s fascist forces. Tracing the sapphic erotics that course through her love letter to the “femme fatale among countries,” from the language of ecstatic pleasure in her description of bullfights, and her adoring depictions of gendered, anthropomorphized towns, O’Brien presents a love of Spain in sapphic terms that is itself an object of queer devotion. As a result, her relationship with Spain revises perceptions of women’s connection to nationhood, even if temporarily, and opens new spaces for a queer nationalism.

Narativi o Holokaustu i komemoracije u Srbiji i Španiji, s posebnim osvrtom na 2005. godinu

This paper aims to analyze the approach of Serbian and Spanish authorities towards Holocaust commemoration during the year 2005. During the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, there was further institutionalization of Holocaust memory by designating January 27 as the official day of remembrance on a global and European level. Adapting old forms of commemoration to new transnational frameworks brought other issues to the forefront – the memory of wars, the question of suffering of the Serbian/Spanish and Jewish people and the interpretation of the role of local fascist forces in the Holocaust.

The Influence of Sino-American Relations on the Nanjing National Government During the Second Sino-Japanese War

The Second Sino-Japanese War is an important part of World War II and also a key factor in the formation of the international political situation in the contemporary world. This article focuses on the development and change of Sino-American relations during this period and concretely elaborates on three aspects: the joint fight against the Japanese fascist forces, the struggle between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party in China, and the Soviet Union's intervention in Chinese affairs. In order to summarize the influence of the development and change of Sino-American relations on the Nanjing National Government and the resulting influence on East Asia and the post-war Cold War pattern.

Russia's search for ontological security and the Ukraine invasion

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 astounded political commentators across the globe. Seemingly nonsensical from a physical security perspective, the announcement of invasion resulted in economic sanctions against Russia, the rapid decline of President Vladimir Putin’s reputation in the international sphere, and dissent amongst Russian citizens. This article contends that while invasion is difficult to justify from a physical security approach, the pursuit of ontological security is a convincing and meaningful explanation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Unpacking how biographical narratives and behavioural patterns sustain a state’s sense of Self demonstrates that Russian state selfhood was reaffirmed through invasion. This argument is developed in reference to masculinist narratives surrounding the Russian Self, including an imperialist role identity, a masculine Self contrasted with a feminine Ukrainian Other, and a drive to defeat supposed fascist forces within Ukraine. In addition, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sustains ontological security through fitting into a behavioural pattern of consistent conflict. Ontological security is a highly necessary consideration when analysing global conflict, particularly in the case of the 2022 Ukraine invasion.

Violência/poder/força e luta contra o tempo no Brasil contemporâneo: Fórum sobre a atualidade da “Crítica da Violência” de Benjamin em seu centenário, Parte V

Abstract Walter Benjamin published his influential essay ‘Critique of Violence’/‘Zur Kritik der Gewalt’ in 1921, and the work has troubled and provoked thinkers across disciplines for over a century now. This Forum gathers a group of scholars in philosophy, political science, international relations and legal studies to reflect on the actuality of Benjamin’s essay for contemporary critical theory. In Part V of the Forum, Rafael Barros Vieira argues that Benjamin’s essay ‘Zur Kritik der Gewalt’ (Critique of Violence/Power/Force) is deeply penetrated by the historical problems of the revolution and counterrevolution in Germany. In a certain sense, it is a conjunctural text, although it goes beyond its own context by seeking to apprehend historical phenomena of longue durée. Unfortunately, Vieira argues, this contextual aspect tends to disappear in readings that emphasize only a kind of philosophical ‘purity’ of this essay. Vieira hypothesizes that the essay, in addition to facing conjunctural problems, can be used to understand other conjunctures by highlighting the relations between law, history and social classes (in a wide conception of social classes that will be present in Benjamin’s work and will be made explicit in his late writings). The purpose of turning to this essay is to critically understand the exercise of violence/power/force in liberal states, particularly that of Brazil, highlighting the movement through which the authoritarian and fascist forces rise around liberal state structures. As Benjamin points out in one of the variants of the essay on the work of art, fascism is the conservation of relations of production and property through violence. However, violence is not a product only of this type of regime, although it certainly radicalizes it. Vieira proposes to understand how this is expressed in this recent period of Brazil, marked by the combination of the rise of a president with fascist traits, the reorganization of certain liberal institutions and the implementation of typically neoliberal reforms.

Robert Jordan in Hemingways for Whom the Bell Tolls is For Freedom and Authenticity: An Existential Analysis

Abstract: Authentic existence is when we become what we are. Robert Jordan is an American fighting in support of the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. He is given the task of blowing up the bridge as soon as the loyalists attack. Jordan, placed into this situation, displays authenticity in his existence as he makes choices and decisions and even puts his life into risk. Jordan succeeds in his mission of blowing up the bridge so that the Fascist forces may not use the road. Hemingway introduces a number of elements to increase difficulties in Jordan's way. But Jordan constantly proves his commitment by remaining single-minded and committed to his mission.

Historiography of a Defender: Narratives of Victimhood, Resistance, and Triumph in Sylvia Pankhurst's London-based New Times and Ethiopia News

The paper navigates Ethiopia's history of resistance against Italian colonial aggression as reported by New Times and Ethiopia News (NTEN) founded and edited by Sylvia Pankhurst in defence of Ethiopia. Her London-based weekly, which started the day fascist forces took control of Addis Ababa, was in the years to come to step up discursive pressure on Italy and the big powers for the salvation of the Eastern African nation. The paper reported on the freedom fighters’ victories in the antifascist resistance through the empire as well as the diplomatic and activist crusades in Geneva, London and the United States by the government in exile as well as friends of Ethiopia. Using a sample of archival corpus of the newspaper and employing rhetorical methods, the study examines narratives of victimhood, resistance and victory as carried in headlines covering the period 1936–41.

Queer Camera: Christopher Isherwood’s Goodbye to Berlin and Prater Violet

ABSTRACT This essay locates Christopher Isherwood’s radical energy in the use of emergent visual technologies to curate a space for queer desire in his works Goodbye to Berlin (1939) and Prater Violet (1945). Isherwood subverts the heteronormative cinematic discourses by pausing them and preparing Instantaneous Photographs out of small moments that engage in a play of stillness and movement. The pauses enable the narratives to constantly draw attention toward themselves as well as the namesake narrators who voice their queer desire in those moments. This presents to us the unique esthetics of Isherwood wherein the visual does not only serve the novelistic in being a narrative strategy but becomes an epistemological mode through which the visual constructs queer subjectivity, in a world witnessing the rise of fascist forces. In short, the “queer camera,” seizing the grand narrative of history, forges queer time and queer voice, and, thereby, an alternative history that acknowledges queer presence.

트리컨티넨탈리즘의 단편— 마리아떼기와 라틴 아메리카의 인종 문제 —

Since the emergence of Marxist theoretical practise, it has had a mediated relationship with the workers’ movement. After the Russian Revolution, dogmatic Stalinism controlled the realm of the left, and fascist forces obscured the prospects of Marxist politics and theories. In the non-West, however, under the rule of imperialism as a stage of capitalism, there was an emergent development of Marxism along with a national liberation movement. The idea of Mariategui in Peru is an example of Tricontinental Marxism developed in the non-West. He first performed a Marxist analysis of economic and racial issues there, based on his specific understanding of Latin American history. In keeping with the materialist position of Marxism, he argued that racial problems in Latin America were fundamentally related to the economy. This point of view was far from economism and was intended to explore the practical relations between the economy and other historical elements. His Marxist outlook conflicted with the Comintern’s dogmatic official lines and was dismissed at the 1st Latin American Communist Congress in 1929. His legacy, however, has not been lost but again spotlighted in the movement for social equality in Latin America in the late 20th century.

"BALKAN HEADQUARTER" IN THE OPTIC OF ALBANIAN COMMUNISTS IN THE 1939-1944 YEARS

This paper aims to present the features of the Balkan cooperation of the left political forces during the years of World War II, respectively the project of the Balkan Headquarters, in the view of the Albanian communists. The idea of Balkan co-operation spread to all communist movements in the Balkan countries, the most active was the Yugoslav Communist Party, which aimed to create a "Balkan Headquarter" under the conditions of war and a "Balkan Federation" after its end. At the end of 1942, the Yugoslav Communist leadership established contacts with the Communist Parties of Bulgaria, Greece and Albania to coordinate actions in the fight against Nazi fascist forces. Taking in consideration that the Albanian communists had the orientation compass in those years the Yugoslavs, under their influence, tried to achieve the objectives of this project as far as possible. Thus within the anti-fascist alliance but also under the Yugoslav directives, especially during the German occupation, the links and cooperation between the Albanian national liberation movement and the liberation movements of Yugoslavia and Greece intensified, especially in the border areas. With the EAM and the National Liberation Army of Greece (ELAS), an important area of cooperation was the Konispol region and generally Cameria. Pursuant to the agreement reached between the General Council of the Albanian National Liberation Army and the Greek National Liberation Front, they were sent to these representative areas on both sides to propagate the common war goals in the population and to mobilize them in the mutual partisan formations. But it should be noted that the Albanian National Liberation Army combative co-operation with ELAS was limited. Within the framework of cooperation with the Yugoslav National Liberation Army, several joint operations have been undertaken, especially in border areas. The fact that Kosovo Albanians are engaged in the national liberation movement, which has contributed to the increase of cooperation in these areas, should be considered. Cooperation between the two liberation movements has been more visible in Macedonia's area.This paper aims to present the features of the Balkan cooperation of the left political forces during the years of World War II, respectively the project of the Balkan Headquarters, in the view of the Albanian communists. The idea of Balkan co-operation spread to all communist movements in the Balkan countries, the most active was the Yugoslav Communist Party, which aimed to create a "Balkan Headquarter" under the conditions of war and a "Balkan Federation" after its end. At the end of 1942, the Yugoslav Communist leadership established contacts with the Communist Parties of Bulgaria, Greece and Albania to coordinate actions in the fight against Nazi fascist forces. Taking in consideration that the Albanian communists had the orientation compass in those years the Yugoslavs, under their influence, tried to achieve the objectives of this project as far as possible. Thus within the anti-fascist alliance but also under the Yugoslav directives, especially during the German occupation, the links and cooperation between the Albanian national liberation movement and the liberation movements of Yugoslavia and Greece intensified, especially in the border areas. With the EAM and the National Liberation Army of Greece (ELAS), an important area of cooperation was the Konispol region and generally Cameria. Pursuant to the agreement reached between the General Council of the Albanian National Liberation Army and the Greek National Liberation Front, they were sent to these representative areas on both sides to propagate the common war goals in the population and to mobilize them in the mutual partisan formations. But it should be noted that the Albanian National Liberation Army combative co-operation with ELAS was limited. Within the framework of cooperation with the Yugoslav National Liberation Army, several joint operations have been undertaken, especially in border areas. The fact that Kosovo Albanians are engaged in the national liberation movement, which has contributed to the increase of cooperation in these areas, should be considered. Cooperation between the two liberation movements has been more visible in Macedonia's area.As would be seen from the subsequent actions of the Yugoslav leadership, during the Nazi-occupation period it prepared the ground for the post-war devastation of Albania within the Yugoslav Federal Republics, despite their failure to achieve this objective. During the research work of this case study, the qualitative method was generally applied by conducting a research: collecting, descriptive and explanatory, based mostly on historical facts and literature analysis.

Reality to Dream: Western Pop in Eastern Avant-Garde (Re-)Presentations of Socialism's End – the Case of Laibach

Reality to Dream: Western Pop in Eastern Avant-Garde (Re-)Presentations of Socialism's End – the Case of Laibach

The Second World War and its Consequences in Kosovo, Opoje and Gorr

In this scientific work are given details of how the Second World War in Yugoslavia started and how it reflected in Kosovo, Opoja and Gore. The disintegration of Albania's territories, the bad living conditions, ethnic and religious discrimination in Kosovo, by Serbia, caused occupation to be considered as a liberation. During the when Kosovo had joined Albania in the Italian time Albanians, treated Serbs well, not being vindictive to them, despite the fact that they had previously committed terrible crimes against them. Still nowadays Serbs deny the war crimes committed against Kosovo Albanians. With the establishment of Italy in the Albanian territories a fragile democracy was installed. Exploiting the illiteracy of the Kosovo Albanian population, these invaders appeared as their liberators. They allowed Albanian language to be used in institutions, army and school, allowed the establishment of national symbols, but what they intended with of all this, was to gain the population`s trust and to change their position from neutral to the pro fascist. After the occupation of Kosovo, by fascist forces, in Albanian territories were stopped the violence, the killing, the abduction, and the burning of villages and neighborhoods inhabited by Albanian population. It was also interrupted, even though temporarily, the violent migration of Albanians, and a new free and better life started. However, there was a part of Kosovo Albanians who still considered Italy as an occupier and made military resistance for national liberation.

110-Я ОТДЕЛЬНАЯ КАЛМЫЦКАЯ КАВАЛЕРИЙСКАЯ ДИВИЗИЯ НА ЗАЩИТЕ ДОНСКИХ ПЕРЕПРАВ И ЕЕ РОЛЬ В СПАСЕНИИ ЧАСТИ ВОЙСК ЮЖНОГО ФРОНТА ЛЕТОМ 1942 Г.

The article deals with the history of combat operations for the defense of Don River crossings in the Manych and Sala River valleys conducted by the 110th Separate Kalmyk Cavalry Division (in the stanitsas of Bagaevskaya, Melikhovskaya and Razdorskaya) in July of 1942. After the heavy defeats of the late 1941 - early 1942 the German military command realized the impossibility of conducting strategic operations on all fronts, and chose the South direction as the main one within the new campaign aiming to secure the Caucasian oil fields and, thus, win the war not by direct attacks but as a result of economic oppression. The Wehrmacht planned to encircle and eliminate troops of the Southwestern and Southern Fronts within a chain of operations on the right bank of the Don - so as to clear the way towards their goal. So, Army Group South accumulated large forces equipped with latest military machinery and weapons. During the Donbass defensive operation of 1942 the Soviet troops attempted to counter the attacks of fascist forces but were defeated. And those were Don River crossings - including the mentioned ones - that proved critical to the rescue of Southern Front units. The rivers crossings next to the stanitsas of Bagaevskaya, Melikhovskaya and Razdorskaya were defended by the 110th Separate Kalmyk Cavalry Division. The national military unit had been formed shortly before in Kalmykia, had no combat experience, and became fully armed (except for air defense guns) only on the eve of the battles. Nonetheless, the 110th Cavalry Division was perfectly manned (including with those from the discontinued 111th Kalmyk Cavalry Division), its soldiers had passed full training courses, were acquainted with and trusted their commanding officers. The Soviet top military were well aware that a cavalary division was not designed for such defense activities, especially on the 58 km long front, but no infantry units that could replace the Kalmyk cavalry were found. Recognizing the importance of those river crossings, the Germans had constantly bombed the area, and then forwarded there the most elite division of the Wehrmacht - the Panzer Grenadier Division Grossdeutschland. Still, due to efficient actions, valour and tremendous efforts of soldiers and officers who worked and defended the crossings, they managed to rescue and transport to the southern bank over 425 thousand people, 215 tanks, approximately 1 300 artillery pieces, over 8 thousand tractors and trucks (including multiple rocket launchers), 10 thousand carts, 22 thousand horces, etc. It was through those river crossings that the bulk of the 37th, 24th and 9th Armies as well as diverse remnants of some other armies of the former Southwestern Front - that had played a significant role in the Battle of the Caucasus at the initial stage - were evacuated. As a result, the German top military's plans of encircling the troops of the Southern and Southwestern Fronts were disrupted, which proved crucial to the general failure in achieving the main goal of the 1942 campaign. And the 110th Separate Kalmyk Cavalry Division largely contributed to this failure of the Wehrmacht.

War Veterans, Fascism, and Para-Fascist Departures in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, 1918–1941

This article discusses the role played by war veterans in the various fascist and para-fascist groups present in Yugoslavia in the interwar period. The article finds that significant numbers of veterans and the nationalist associations to which they belonged contributed to proposed or actual departures from the democratic norm in interwar Yugoslavia, and were especially supportive of King Aleksandar Karadjordjevic’s dictatorship of 1929–1934. In this respect, they could be termed ‘para-fascist’. The article also notes that whilst the two groups typically identified in the literature as ‘fascist’, the Croatian Ustashe and Serbian/Yugoslav Zbor, fit into the ‘second-wave’ of 1930s fascist forces not usually marked by a strong presence of First World War veterans, their membership and ideological organisation were nevertheless significantly influenced by both the traditions of the war and the men who fought in it.

The Vatican, Nazi-Fascism, and the Making of Transnational Anti-communism in the 1930s

Given the recent scholarly interest in the history of anti-communism, it is surprising that relatively little has been written on the ambitious transnational anti-communist campaign launched by the Vatican in the early 1930s. Drawing on new archival material, this article explores how the Vatican founded an organization known as the Secretariat on Atheism, which disseminated a form of anti-communism grounded in Catholic teachings. The Secretariat sought to buttress the position of the Roman Catholic church in international affairs and unite Catholic groups across Europe and the Americas, all the while maintaining its independence from other forms of anti-communism – particularly those espoused by Nazi and Fascist forces. However, the Secretariat was only partially successful in preserving its independence. For if the Vatican campaign avoided the antisemitic and nationalistic motifs that characterized Nazi-Fascist propaganda, the key protagonists of the movement cooperated with Nazi, Fascist and proto-Fascist forces on the ground. The Vatican campaign led to joint surveillance efforts, the toning down of the Pope's public denunciations of Nazi-Fascism, and the papal sanction of violence against purportedly communist enemies. Despite its potentially damning association with Nazi-Fascist forces, the Vatican anti-communist movement would outlive both Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy and leave a lasting mark on Cold War politics.

La literatura de los emigrantes políticos eslovenos después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en Argentina

La literatura de los emigrantes políticos eslovenos después de laSegunda Guerra Mundial en Argentina

Port of Last Resort: The Diaspora Communities of Shanghai. By Marcia Reynders Ristaino. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. xviii, 369 pp. $60.00 (cloth).

This book examines two large and generally overlooked diaspora communities, one Jewish and the other Slavic, which found refuge in Shanghai during the period 1900-1950. Victims of discrimination and persecution in their own lands-Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Ukraine-they chose Shanghai as their destination because no documentation was required to enter the city and settle there. In their struggle to survive and build a life in this Chinese open port, they encountered severe political, social, economic, and cultural challenges. The Jewish diaspora community began forming in the early 1900s and increased to more than 18,000 after the initial triumphs of Nazism. The Slavic community eventually numbered about 30,000 people, escaping revolution and persecution from Bolshevik and fascist forces at home and in north China. This book focuses on how these diverse groups, adhering to various religious and cultural traditions, formed communities, preserved their national and cultural identities, chose their leaders, found gainful employment, coped with the alien Chinese culture, educated and raised their children, and established a considerable presence in this large, cosmopolitan city. The author examines at length the different experiences and responses of the two diaspora groups during World War II under the Japanese occupation of Shanghai. With the Chinese Communist takeover of the city in 1949, both groups found themselves in a renewed struggle to find a home, adding still another chapter to the saga of their diaspora experiences. The book concludes with an account of how the two groups handled this new challenge and where they finally found refuge. Apart from the particulars of the Shanghai experience, the story of the two communities clearly resonates with today's accounts of societies in conflict, dislocated populations, and varied struggles to survive and sustain life under trying conditions.

Civil Wars, Revolutions and Counterrevolutions in Finland, Spain, and Greece (1918-1949): A Comparative Analysis

Much has been written on the different civil wars of the interwar period in Europe-there is a veritable flood of books about the Spanish Civil War, and fewer, but still numerous books, about the Finnish, Russian, Irish an Greek Civil Wars. Surprisingly, there are no comparative analyses of these events. For students of comparative macro sociology, Finland, Spain or Greece were small countries with little or no influence on the political and economic world system. For most historians, history is singular by nature and this focus does not lend itself to comparisons. The research I am presenting here reflects my interests in theoretical and comparative work and my view that there is a need to explore the connection between history and social theory. Such a perspective ought to be grounded in rigorous empirical analysis and be accompanied by an awareness of the pitfalls and methodological difficulties entailed in any comparison. This research is also closely related to ongoing debates con cerning breakdowns of democracy, revolutionary alternatives, and fascism. From a symbolic and cultural point of view, the Finnish Civil War was the first national war of the period, with red and white sides. For the socialists, the Civil War was a battle for the preservation of democracy and, at the same time, a revolutionary war. For "the Whites," on the other hand, it was a war of liberation, a fight to rid the country of evil influences of Bolshevism in order to establish Finland's independence1. The Spanish Civil War was not only a battle among Spaniards or between revolution and counterrevolution, but also was a battlefield between forces of democ racy on one side and reactionary and fascist forces on the other. The Greek Civil War, finally, has been considered as one of the first major battles of the cold war. Red and white; fascism and democracy; capitalism and communism: