After the outbreak of World War II, a word such as “fascism” acquired an unambiguously negative meaning, and now this term is abused a lot, calling its political opponents and labeling them. On the other hand, such a vague definition of this absolutely terrible phenomenon makes it possible to revive ultra-right parties, which, however, do not call themselves that, although in their doctrine they are very close to fascism or contain some elements of this ideology. But is it so easy to clearly define what fascism is and to outline the boundaries of this term?
Classical fascism, that is, in the narrow historical meaning of the word, in 1922 became dominant in Italy after the famous "Campaign to Rome" by Benito Mussolini's black shirts . The name "fascism" has Italian roots, originating from the word "fasco" (fascio), that is, a corporation, a union. A radical political organization led by Mussolini was called the Fight Union (Fascio di combattimento). Fascio, in turn, is associated with the Latin fascis (ligament, bunch) - the so-called honorary weapon of the lictors, the guardians of the Roman Republic. By the way, fascias are still present in the symbols of state power in some countries (for example, in the emblem of the Russian Federal Bailiff Service). But symbols are symbols, and now it is customary to consider the swastika of the German Nazis as a symbol of this movement. But what is the ideology of fascism, and what are the main features of this ideology?
The movement of black shirts can be called definitely authoritarian, nationalistic, and also using extreme violence as a normal form of political struggle. But, for example, anti-Semitism and racism in Italian fascism did not stand at the forefront of their ideology, as was the case with the German Nazis. However, since the Italian fascists had a clear ultra-right orientation, the left parties considered it necessary to brand this political ideology, sometimes going too far and calling their opponents, even rivals from the left camp, for example, for example, some communists called the Social Democrats “social fascists”. At the VII Congress of the Comintern, the classic “left” definition of what fascism is was given by Georgy Dimitrov: “... this is a terrorist dictatorship of the reactionary structures of financial capital ... In foreign policy, fascism is chauvinism in its most rude form, which cultivates uterine hatred of other nations.”
However, in this definition, the ideology of this movement is not clearly distinguished, which prevents us from clearly characterizing what fascism is. Modern science has tried to make up for this shortcoming and compiled a list of traits, the presence of which in the program or ideology of the party allows us to call it fascist. This is ardent anti-communism, radical nationalism and even extremism, militarism, traditionalism, leaderism, statism, exaltation of the “titular nation” and open discrimination of national minorities, elements of populism and the declaration of protection to the general public (however, many parties commit this sin). But the main distinguishing feature of the fascist party that came to power is totalitarianism, that is, total control of the state, penetrating into all spheres of human life.
However, even such a definition of the features of fascism makes it possible to name many nationalist parties and regimes with such a word (for example, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan) and even brings to the scene such a term as Jewish fascism, applying it to the openly discriminatory policy of the state of Israel.
To understand (define) what fascism is, it helps to study related, arising approximately at the same time with the Italian classical type of movements, with which Mussilini collaborated or who set the movement of black shirts as an example of their own struggle. In Germany, it was National Socialism (or Nazism), in Spain - phalanxism and Francoism, in Portugal - the New State, in Hungary - "Crossed Arrows", in Romania - "Iron Guard", in Brazil - integralism (although in its ideology there was no racism), Bulgarian, Austrian, Japanese and Belgian variants of fascism.