What is Fascism, anyhow?
Opinions differ, but we know what it is when we see it.
“Like all sound political conceptions”, Benito Mussolini wrote, “Fascism is action and it is thought”. He also stated that “Fascism [is] the complete opposite of…Marxian Socialism”. Although Mussolini coined the term in 1915 and wrote many a rambling description of it with the help of Giovanni Gentile, people have struggled to define it succinctly. Historian Ian Kershaw once wrote that “trying to define ‘fascism’ is like trying to nail jelly to the wall”
But in action, Fascism is observed to be a centralized authoritarian government led by a “strong man” type that suppresses free speech and other freedoms or liberties in service to a specific dogmatic vision for a country’s progress; where business interests almost always overrule the needs of the people. A fascist regime typically scapegoats a few classes of people within the country that they blame for all the country’s problems.
In thought, Fascism is the acceptance of that scapegoating as fact, and by building up one class of people as “superior” over the others the populace can be distracted from noticing their exploitation by corporate interests.
~ Benito Mussolini
In The Doctrine of Fascism (1932) and a series of speeches including Capitalism and the Corporate State (1933) Mussolini explained how Corporatism is an intrinsic aspect of Fascism. While there is debate among scholars as to whether he summed it up into the sentence above, there is no question of his view or intent.
20 Signs of Fascism
Drawn from Umberto Eco’s Ur-Fascism (1995), Robert Paxton’s Anatomy of Fascism (2004), Jason Stanley’s How Fascism Works (2018), and other scholars. These aren’t a “checklist” where every leader must tick all boxes — but they are the recurring traits fascist regimes and leaders share:
- Cult of Tradition / Glorious Past
Mythologizing a “golden age” that must be restored. - Rejection of Modernism / Liberalism
Framing pluralism, feminism, and democracy as decay or weakness. - Action for Action’s Sake
Valuing impulsive, dramatic gestures over deliberation or reason. - Disagreement = Treason
Branding dissenters as enemies of the nation. - Fear of Difference
Racism, xenophobia, homophobia — scapegoating outsiders. - Appeal to a Frustrated Middle Class
Rallying downwardly mobile groups with nationalist anger. - Obsession with Conspiracy
Belief in shadowy plots undermining the nation. - Enemy as Both Weak and Strong
Opponents are portrayed as pathetic, and simultaneously existentially dangerous. - Pacifism = Treason
Denouncing peace as cowardice; glorifying war and military action. - Contempt for the Weak
Mocking or discarding the vulnerable and marginalized. - Cult of Heroism / Death
Turning violence, sacrifice, and martyrdom into sacred ideals. - Machismo
Exalting strength, virility, and domination (often misogynistic). - Selective Populism
Claiming only one leader speaks for “the people.” - Newspeak
Simplified slogans and repetitive catchphrases that shut down thought. - Disdain for Human Rights
Treating individual rights as expendable for the “greater good.” - Control of Media / Propaganda
Flooding the public sphere with lies, censorship, or state-aligned outlets. - Rigged Elections / Anti-Democracy
Undermining or abolishing free, fair elections to stay in power. - Fusion of Religion and Nationalism
Presenting the nation’s destiny as divinely ordained. - Glorification of Violence
Violence framed as cleansing, purifying, or patriotic. - Permanent State of Crisis
Maintaining constant fear: only the leader can avert catastrophe.
Together, these traits define fascism as a political style: authoritarian, nationalist, exclusionary, and anti-democratic.
“But the Nazis were Socialist, therefore Leftists are the real Nazis!”
There are some who are genuinely confused, because Hitler referred to his political fascist structure as National Socialism. And there are others who know the difference between National Socialism and Marxist Socialism but choose to conflate the two to downplay their own Nazi ideologies.
The facts are thus: Hitler renamed the as NSDAP – Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei. The National Socialist German Worker’s Party. This was cynical political theater to win the votes of socialists in early 1930s Germany. Political parties and regimes often give themselves contradictory names, like Canada’s Progressive Conservatives or North Korea calling itself the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
But among the heaps of evidence that the Nazis weren’t socialist is that once the Nazis were in power, the socialists were among the first groups that the Nazis persecuted. The first Nazi concentration camp, Dachau, was filled with socialists beginning in 1933 – just months after Hitler transferred power from the Presidency to the Chancellory and became the leader of the Nazi state.
Nazis are widely recognized as the OG far right. While Hitler attacked both the far left and the pre-Nazi far right in Mein Kampf, he also claimed that Germany lost the Great War because the leadership under the Kaiser was so inept – ignoring that the Allies kicked the snail snot out of Germany and it couldn’t stay in the fight. He further wrote how people could be induced to believe colossal lies because they would not believe that someone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously”.
Fascism:
Authoritarian Socialism:
Tags:
If you’d like to support our campaigns, pop by our swag store, or subscribe to our Facebook page, or click the button below to donate directly
