Fascism: History, Ideology, and its Impact
Fascism: A Historical Overview
Fascism emerged in Europe between 1918 and 1939 as a potent ideology and political movement.
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
The term derives from the Italian fascio (bundle, fasces), rooted in the Latin fasces.
Fascism sought to establish a totalitarian state with a command economy.[1] [2] It emphasized the submission of reason to will and action, strong nationalism, victimization of perceived enemies through propaganda, a cross-class social base, and a rejection of the traditional left-right political spectrum. Historiography and political science often place fascism on the far-right, linking it to plutocracy, state capitalism,[3] or chauvinistic state socialism.[4]
Fascism presented itself as a ‘third way’[5] opposed to liberal democracy and the traditional workers’ movement (anarchist or Marxist), although its opposition extended to a wider range of ideologies:
Fascism has its enemies grouped in three fronts: the social-communist, democratic-liberal-Masonic, and Catholic populism.FE Review 1933 [9]
The concept of a “fascist regime” applies to certain totalitarian or authoritarian regimes[6] in interwar Europe, many imposed by the Axis powers during World War II.
Notable examples include Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Italy (1922), Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich in Germany (1933), and Francisco Franco’s Nationalist Spain (1936-1975). These regimes exhibited ideological differences and distinct historical trajectories. Nazi Germany’s National Socialism incorporated a significant racist component, initially less prominent in Italian fascism. Religious elements (Catholic or Orthodox) were also essential in some cases, leading to the concept of clerical fascism, as seen in Spain.[7]
Italian Fascism
The people are the body of the state, and the state is the spirit of the people. In fascist doctrine, the people are the state, and the state is the people.
Everything in the State, nothing against the State, nothing outside the state.Mussolini [8]
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany focused on race, identifying with the Volk or Volksgemeinschaft (a community of people or race, or an expression of popular support for the Party and the State):
| Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer! | “One People, one Empire, one Leader!” |
Precedents and Legacy
Precedents of fascism include Action Française (1898), led by Charles Maurras, with its ultranationalist, reactionary, fundamentalist Catholic, and anti-Semitic ideology. After World War II, neo-fascist or neo-Nazi movements emerged, often mimicking the aesthetics and rhetoric of their predecessors, despite widespread condemnation. Many countries have laws prohibiting or limiting these groups, their actions (especially hate crimes), propaganda (Holocaust denial), and the display of their symbols.
Anti-fascism: The Opposition
Anti-fascism opposes fascist and Nazi ideologies, organizations, governments, and individuals.
Historically, anti-fascism was associated with political resistance in fascist or Nazi-governed countries. Since the 1970s, European and American groups have confronted right-wing parties and groups through propaganda and street mobilization.
Many European left-wing terrorist groups, such as ETA, Terra Lliure, Resistência Galega, EGGC, GRAPO, the Red Army Faction, and the Red Brigades, also identified as anti-fascist.
Anti-fascism has also served as a point of collaboration among diverse groups: the Left, Marxist-Leninists, the labor movement, anarchists, liberals, democrats, the center-right, and others. These groups united in opposition to authoritarianism, repression, discrimination (homophobia, sexism, racism), and restrictions on civil liberties, such as freedom of religion (see Human Rights).