Fascism

Fascism is a political system that believes that the nation is more important then any individual. A dictator rules the nation and imposes economic and social regimentation. It is often an autocratic system that has a militarized government backed up by popular militias. Special salutes to the dictator are also common. Equally common in Fascist societies is strict information control, such as the "people's radio" in Nazi Germany which delivered only one channel of propaganda, 24/7. Allowing only information which supports the state is a common means of fascist control.

The prototypical fascist regime was that of Benito Mussolini, who ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943. Other regimes which included fascist elements are those of Francisco Franco in Spain (1936-1975), Antonio Salazar in Portugal (1932-1968) and Augusto Pinochet in Chile (1973-1990). German Nazism has many similarities to fascism, though the extent to which it can be assimilated to fascism continues to be a matter of debate.

Though fascism is generally considered to be an ideology of the extreme right, it has important differences from conventional conservatism: for example, fascists reject free-market capitalism in favor of state-sponsored corporatism. While fascists and conservatives have co-operated in some countries, conservatives have clamped down on fascist movements in others (witness the fate of the Iron Guard in Romania, and Salazar's opposition to the National Syndicalists in Portugal).

Fascism was comprehensively discredited in the eyes of most Westerners by the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II, and "fascist" is today frequently used as a term of abuse against one's political opponents. While few people are willing to describe themselves as fascists or endorse the fascist regimes of the past, fascism continues to be a minor but significant force in European politics.

The name "fascism" derives from an ancient Roman symbol, the fasces, a group of birch rods bundled together with an axe. It symbolizes strength in unity; the rods are weak by themselves but strong when bundled together.

Fascism and conservatism

One of the many controversies regarding the nature of fascism is its relationship to traditional authority and conservative ideology. Fascists often claimed to defend the social order, traditional values, national culture and civilization itself, against the forces of modernity (particularly liberalism and socialism). At the same time, fascists claimed to offer a radically new approach to politics, and a new form of government that could reshape society.Thus, fascism attempted to be both conservative and radical. Benito Mussolini embraced this apparent contradiction, saying "I am a reactionary and a revolutionary."

World War I produced a great deal of social change in Europe and led to the dissolution of most traditional monarchies, including the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and Tsarist Russia. Conservatism, which drew its strongest supporters from the political, economic and intellectual elites in pre-war Europe, found itself in crisis. The established elites in Central and Eastern Europe were weakened or rendered powerless by the introduction of universal suffrage, the collapse of traditional social hierarchies and the creation of nation-states in place of the old multinational empires. At the same time, many segments of the population - particularly the rural peasantry and the skilled professionals - felt threatened by the prospect of industrialization, increased social mobility or the creation of a welfare state. Following the Bolshevik Revolution, many also felt there was a real possibility that the working class might rise up in a communist insurrection. Normally, those segments of the population would have rallied behind traditional conservatism, but with traditional conservative parties severely weakened in the aftermath of the war, there was a political vacuum on the right.

This political vacuum was filled by the rising fascist movements. They gained power and support from older conservative classes, and in some cases received direct approval from the traditional conservative parties. The conservative British newspaper The Daily Mail published a lead article in 1934 under the title "The Blackshirts have what the Conservatives need". The rise to power of the Italian Fascists and German Nazis was largely funded and supported by aristocratic landlords, wealthy industrialists, army officers, and other groups with strong conservative leanings. The fascists gathered this support by successfully presenting themselves as the last line of defense against liberal democracy, land reform, demilitarization and the socialization of the means of production. Thus, many traditional conservatives were persuaded that fascism was the only realistic alternative to liberalism and socialism. A French businessman remarked in 1935, "better Hitler than Léon Blum".

Fascism did not rely solely on the support of traditional conservative elites. It was also a mass movement, drawing its rank-and-file members from the general population, particularly the lower middle class, skilled professionals, and the peasantry. Many of these people did not come from conservative backgrounds; some of them had been strongly influenced by classical liberalism. To its voters, fascism presented itself as a form of new and even revolutionary conservatism that could reconcile the interests of the elite with those of the common man. Fascist ideology emphasized the concept of class collaboration, which held that social inequality and hierarchy could be beneficial to rich and poor alike. The fascist model of the corporate state was decidedly different from traditional monarchy, yet claimed to be based on the same fundamental principles.

Adolf Hitler expressed the Nazi view of politics, in 1937, as follows:

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The main plank in our program is to abolish the liberal concept of the individual and the Marxist concept of humanity, and to substitute for them the Volk community, rooted in the soil and united by the bond of its common blood.

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