1934 Montreux Fascist conference

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The 1934 Montreux Fascist conference, also known as the Fascist International Congress, was a meeting held by deputies from a number of European Fascist organizations. The conference was held on 16–17 December 1934 in Montreux, Switzerland. The conference was organised and chaired by the Comitati d'Azione per l'Universalità di Roma [it] (CAUR; English: Action Committees for the Universality of Rome).

Background

CAUR was a network founded in 1933 by

anti-Semitism, corporatism, and state structure.[1]

Participants

Countries of origin of the Montreux conference participants.

The first world conference of the CAUR convened at Montreux on 16 December. Participants from fascist organisations in 13 European countries attended, including

União Nacional of Salazar, were headed by António Eça de Queiroz (son of the famous writer, and future head of the Emissora Nacional, the National Radio Station of Portugal),[4] as well as delegates from Austria, Belgium,[5]
Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Notable in their absence were any representatives from

Proceedings

From the outset, the conference was marred by serious conflicts between the participants. Coselschi, acting as President of the Conference, clashed with Quisling over the importance of Nazi Germany to international fascism.[6] Moța, supported by the Danish and Swiss delegates, likewise created a rift by underlining the centrality of anti-Semitism to fascist movements, a move opposed by Coselschi and O'Duffy.[6] The Romanian Iron Guard stressed the need for race to be an integral component of fascism.[8]

On the matter of anti-Semitism, several compromise resolutions were adopted. These declared that "the Jewish question cannot be converted into a universal campaign of hatred against the Jews" while also stating, "Considering that in many places certain groups of Jews are installed in conquered countries, exercising in an open and occult manner an influence injurious to the material and moral interests of the country which harbors them, constituting a sort of state within a state, profiting by all benefits and refusing all duties, considering that they have furnished and are inclined to furnish, elements conducive to international revolution which would be destructive to the idea of patriotism and Christian civilisation, the Conference denounces the nefarious action of these elements and is ready to combat them."[6]

The delegates at the conference also unanimously declared their opposition to

Third International.[6]

Results

A second and final conference was held in Montreux in April 1935. José Antonio Primo de Rivera made a brief appearance at this conference, using the opportunity to express sympathies with the movement while stating that Spain was not ready to participate in any venture of international fascism because his movement was estrictamente nacional (strictly national).[9]

The conference was not able to bridge the gulf between those participants who proposed achieving national integration by a corporative socio-economic policy and those who favored an appeal to race.[10] Pretensions to "universal fascism" could not survive this rift, and the movement did not meet its goal of acting as a counterbalance to international communism.[10]

The CAUR did not win official endorsement from the Italian Fascist Party or the Spanish Falange. It was unsuccessful either to present a commonly agreed definition as to what "fascism" was or to unite most major fascist parties into one international movement.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d Payne, Stanley G. "Fascist Italy and Spain, 1922–1945". Spain and the Mediterranean Since 1898, Raanan Rein, ed. p. 105. London, 1999
  2. from the original on July 10, 2012.
  3. ^ Griffin, Roger. The Nature of Fascism St. Martin's Press, New York. 1991, page 121
  4. ^ Cordeiro, Filipe. Nacional Sindicalismo / Estado Novo / Archived 2009-01-15 at the Wayback Machine. Unica Semper Avis, website of the Causa Real (federation of Portuguese Monarchist associations), 18 October 2001 09:58:07 PM
  5. ^ Lionel Baland, La Légion nationale belge. De l'Ordre nouveau à la Résistance, collection Le devoir de mémoire, Ars Magna, Nantes, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "Pax Romanizing". TIME Magazine, 31 December 1934
  7. ^ Payne, Stanley G. "Fascist Italy and Spain, 1922–1945". Spain and the Mediterranean Since 1898, Raanan Rein, ed. page 106-107. London, 1999
  8. ^ Morgan, Philip. Fascism in Europe, 1919–1945. London, UK; New York, US: Routledge, 2003. Pp. 169-170.
  9. ^ Payne, Stanley G. "Fascist Italy and Spain, 1922–1945". Spain and the Mediterranean Since 1898, Raanan Rein, ed. page 107. London, 1999
  10. ^ a b Cassels, Alan. Ideology and International Relations in the Modern World Routledge, New York. page 158