[Paleopsych] Wikipedia: Fascism

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Fascism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism
[Links omitted.]

                                               This article is part of the
                                                           Fascism series.

                This series is linked to the Politics and elections series

                                      Varieties and derivatives of fascism

                                                               Neo-Fascism
                                                                    Nazism
                                                                    Rexism
                                                                 Falangism
                                                          Clerical fascism
                                                             Austrofascism
                                                            Crypto-fascism
                                                          Japanese fascism
                                                             Greek fascism
      _________________________________________________________________

                                   Fascist political parties and movements

                                               Arrow Cross Party (Hungary)
                                                      Blueshirts (Ireland)
                                                     Brazilian Integralism
                                                   British Fascist parties
                                                         Faisceau (France)
                                                          Falange Española
                                                      Iron Guard (Romania)
                                                 Nasjonal Samling (Norway)
                                            Silver Legion of America (USA)
                                                          Ustase (Croatia)
                                                            Kodoha (Japan)
      _________________________________________________________________

                                                        Fascism in history

                                                                    Fascio
                                                             March on Rome
                                                   Italian Social Republic
                                                             Greek Fascism
      _________________________________________________________________

                                                            Relevant lists

                                                          List of fascists
      _________________________________________________________________

                                                          Related subjects

                                                         Fascist symbolism
                                                              Roman salute
                                                               Blackshirts
                                                               Corporatism
                                                      National syndicalism
                                                            Black Brigades
                                                           Actual Idealism
                                              Fascist unification rhetoric
                                       Conservative Revolutionary movement
                                                              Adolf Hitler
                                                        National anarchism
                                                       National Bolshevism
                                              International Third Position
                                                               Neo-Fascism
                                                                Neo-Nazism
                                      Neo-Nazi groups of the United States
                                                   Neofascism and religion
                                                             edit this box

    Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian
    political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the
    leadership of Benito Mussolini. Similar political movements spread
    across Europe between World War One and World War Two and took several
    forms such as Nazism and Clerical fascism. Neofascism is generally
    used to describe post-WWII movements seen to have fascist attributes.

    Fascism was typified by attempts to impose state control over all
    aspects of life. The definitional debates and arguments by academics
    over the nature of fascism, however, fill entire bookshelves. There
    are clearly elements of both left and right ideology in the
    development of Fascism.

    Modern colloquial usage of the word has extended the definition of the
    terms fascism and neofascism to refer to any totalitarian worldview
    regardless of its political ideology, although scholars frown on this.
    Sometimes the word "fascist" is used as a hyperbolic political
    epithet.

    The word "fascism" comes from fascio (plural: fasci), which may mean
    "bundle," as in a political or militant group or a nation, but also
    from the fasces (rods bundled around an axe), which were an ancient
    Roman symbol of the authority of magistrates. The Italian 'Fascisti'
    were also known as Black Shirts for their style of uniform
    incorporating a black shirt (See Also: political colour).

    Italian Fascism is often considered to be a proper noun and thus
    denoted by a capital letter "F", whereas generic fascism is
    conventionally represented with the lower-case character "f". Italian
    Fascism is considered a model for other forms of fascism, yet there is
    disagreement over which aspects of structure, tactics, culture, and
    ideology represent a "fascist minimum" or core.

Contents

      * 1 Definition
      * 2 The origin and ideology of Fascism
      * 3 Italian Fascism
      * 4 Nazism and Fascism
      * 5 Mussolini's influences
      * 6 Fascism and the political spectrum
      * 7 Fascism and other totalitarian regimes
      * 8 Anti-Communism
      * 9 Fascism and the Catholic Church
      * 10 Fascism and the Protestant churches
      * 11 Practice of fascism
      * 12 Fascism as an international phenomenon
      * 13 Fascism in the United States?
      * 14 Neo-Fascism
      * 15 Fascist mottos and sayings
      * 16 Related topics
      * 17 References
      * 18 General bibliography
           + 18.1 Bibliography on Fascist ideology
           + 18.2 Bibliography on international fascism
      * 19 Further reading
      * 20 External links



Definition

    The term fascism has come to mean any system of government resembling
    Mussolini's, that in various combinations:
      * exalts the nation and party above the individual, with the state
        apparatus being supreme.
      * stresses loyalty to a single leader, and submission to a single
        culture.
      * engages in economic totalitarianism through the creation of a
        Corporatist State, where the divergent economic and social
        interests of different races and classes are combined with the
        interests of the State.

    As a political and economic system in Italy, fascism combined elements
    of corporatism, totalitarianism, nationalism, and anti-Communism. In
    an article in the 1932 Enciclopedia Italiana, written by Giovanni
    Gentile and attributed to Benito Mussolini, fascism is described as a
    system in which "The State not only is authority which governs and
    molds individual wills with laws and values of spiritual life, but it
    is also power which makes its will prevail abroad... For the Fascist,
    everything is within the State and... neither individuals nor groups
    are outside the State... For Fascism, the State is an absolute, before
    which individuals or groups are only relative..."

    Mussolini, in a speech delivered on October 28, 1925, stated the
    following maxim that encapsulates the fascist philosophy: "Tutto nello
    Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato."
    ("Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against
    the State".) Therefore, he reasoned, all individuals' business is the
    state's business, and the state's existence is the sole duty of the
    individual.

    Another key distinguishing feature of fascism is that it uses a mass
    movement to attack or absorb the organizations of the working class:
    parties of the left and trade unions. Peter Fritzsche and others have
    described fascism as a militant form of right-wing populism, although
    in terms of the political compass Fascism is more of a third
    positionist doctrine of the 'extreme center'. This mobilization
    strategy involves the creation of a Corporative State [1], in brief,
    this is a form of state action designed to both minimize the power of
    key business leaders and labor unions. Mussolini, for example,
    capitalized on fear of a Communist revolution [2], finding ways to
    unite Labor and Capital to prevent class war. In 1926 he created the
    National Council of Corporations, divided into guilds of employers and
    employees, tasked with managing 22 sectors of the economy. The guilds
    subsumed both labor unions and management, and were represented in a
    chamber of corporations through a triad comprising of a representative
    from management, from labour and from the party. Together they would
    plan aspects of the economy for mutual advantage. The movement was
    supported by small capitalists, low-level bureaucrats, and the middle
    classes, who had all felt threatened by the rise in power of the
    Socialists. Fascism also met with great success in rural areas,
    especially among farmers, peasants, and in the city, the
    lumpenproletariat. This working class support arose from the greater
    allegiance that many had to their State over class.

    Unlike the pre-World War II period, when many groups openly and
    proudly proclaimed themselves fascist, since World War II the term has
    taken on an extremely pejorative meaning, largely in reaction to the
    crimes against humanity committed by the National Socialist Nazis, who
    were allied with Mussolini during the war.

    Today, very few groups proclaim themselves as openly fascist, and the
    term is almost universally used for groups for whom the speaker has
    little regard, often with minimal understanding of what the term
    actually means. The term "fascist" is often ascribed to individuals or
    groups who are perceived to behave in an authoritarian or racialistic
    manner; by silencing opposition, judging personal behavior, or
    otherwise attempting to concentrate power. More particularly,
    "fascist" is sometimes used by members of the Left to characterize
    some group or persons of the Right. This usage receded following the
    1970s, but has interestingly enjoyed a strong resurgence in connection
    with anti-globalization activism, even though most genuine Fascist
    movements are rabidly anti-Globalist.

    In addition to being anti-Globalist, fascism may be understood as
    being anti-liberalism, anti-socialist, anti-Communist,
    anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian, anti-rationalist etc., and in some
    of its forms anti-religion and anti-monarchy.


The origin and ideology of Fascism

    Etymologically, the use of the word Fascism in modern Italian
    political history stretches back to the 1890s in the form of fasci,
    which were radical left-wing political factions that proliferated in
    the decades before World War I. (See Fascio for more on this movement
    and its evolution.)

    One of the first of these groups were the Fasci Siciliani who were
    part of the first movement that consisted of the Italian working-class
    peasants that made real progress. The Fasci Siciliani dei lavoratori,
    were revolutionary socialists that were led by Giuseppe De Felice
    Giuffrida.


Italian Fascism

    The Doctrine of Fascism was written by Giovanni Gentile, a
    neo-Hegelian philosopher who served as the official philosopher of
    fascism. Mussolini signed the article and it was officially attributed
    to him. In it, French socialists Georges Sorel, Charles Peguy, and
    Hubert Lagardelle were invoked as the sources of fascism. Sorel's
    ideas concerning syndicalism and violence are much in evidence in this
    document. It also quotes from Ernest Renan who it says had
    "pre-fascist intuitions". Both Sorel and Peguy were influenced by the
    Frenchman Henri Bergson. Bergson rejected the scientism, mechanical
    evolution and materialism of Marxist ideology. Also, Bergson promoted
    an elan vital as an evolutionary process. Both of these elements of
    Bergson appear in fascism. Mussolini states that fascism negates the
    doctrine of scientific and Marxian socialism and the doctrine of
    historic materialism. Hubert Lagardelle, an authoritative syndicalist
    writer, was influenced by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon who, in turn,
    inspired anarchosyndicalism.

    There were several strains of tradition influencing Mussolini. Sergio
    Panunzio, a major theoretician of fascism in the 1920s, had a
    syndicalist background, but his influence waned as the movement shed
    its old left wing elements. The fascist concept of corporatism and
    particularly its theories of class collaboration and economic and
    social relations have similarities to the model laid out by Pope Leo
    XIII's 1892 encyclical Rerum Novarum[3]. This encyclical addressed
    politics as it had been transformed by the Industrial Revolution, and
    other changes in society that had occurred during the nineteenth
    century. The document criticized capitalism, complaining of the
    exploitation of the masses in industry. However, it also sharply
    criticized the socialist concept of class struggle, and the proposed
    socialist solution to exploitation (the elimination, or at least the
    limitation, of private property). Rerum Novarum called for strong
    governments to undertake a mission to protect their people from
    exploitation, while continuing to uphold private property and reject
    socialism. It also asked Catholics to apply principles of social
    justice in their own lives.

    Seeking to find some principle to compete with and replace the Marxist
    doctrine of class struggle, Rerum Novarum urged social solidarity
    between the upper and lower classes. Its analogy of the state as being
    like a body working together as "one mind" had some cultural influence
    on the early Fascists of Catholic nations. It also indicated the state
    had a right to suppress "firebrands" and striking workers. Further
    Rerum Novarum proposed a kind of corporatism that resembled medieval
    guilds for an industrial age. This relates far more directly to
    Brazilian Integralism form of Fascism than anything in Italy. There
    are also disputable claims that it influenced The New Deal. The
    encyclical intended to counteract the "subversive nature" of both
    Marxism and liberalism.

    Themes and ideas developed in Rerum Novarum can also be found in the
    ideology of fascism as developed by Mussolini. Although it also
    contains ideas like "the members of the working classes are citizens
    by nature and by the same right as the rich" or "the State has for its
    office to protect natural rights, not to destroy them; and, if it
    forbid its citizens to form associations, it contradicts the very
    principle of its own existence," that never fit easily with Italian
    Fascism.

    Fascism also borrowed from Gabriele D'Annunzio's Constitution of Fiume
    for his ephemeral "regency" in the city of Fiume. Syndicalism had an
    influence on fascism as well, particularly as some syndicalists
    intersected with D'Annunzio's ideas. Before the First World War,
    syndicalism had stood for a militant doctrine of working-class
    revolution. It distinguished itself from Marxism because it insisted
    that the best route for the working class to liberate itself was the
    trade union rather than the party.

    The Italian Socialist Party ejected the syndicalists in 1908. The
    syndicalist movement split between anarcho-syndicalists and a more
    moderate tendency. Some moderates began to advocate "mixed syndicates"
    of workers and employers. In this practice, they absorbed the
    teachings of Catholic theorists and expanded them to accommodate
    greater power of the state, and diverted them by the influence of
    D'Annunzio to nationalist ends.

    When Henri De Man's Italian translation of Au-dela du marxisme
    emerged, Mussolini was excited and wrote to the author that his
    criticism "destroyed any scientific element left in Marxism".
    Mussolini was appreciative of the idea that a corporative organization
    and a new relationship between labour and capital would eliminate "the
    clash of economic interests" and thereby neutralize "the germ of class
    warfare.'"

    Renegade socialist thinkers, Robert Michels, Sergio Panunzio, Ottavio
    Dinale, Agostino Lanzillo, Angelo Oliviero Olivetti, Michele Bianchi,
    and Edmondo Rossoni, turning against their former left-wing ideas,
    played a part in this attempt to find a "third way" that rejected both
    capitalism and socialism.

    Many historians claim that the March 23, 1919 meeting at the Piazza
    San Sepolcro was the historic "birthplace" of the fascist movement.
    However, this would imply that the Italian Fascists "came from
    nowhere" which is simply not true. Mussolini revived his former group,
    Fasci d'Azione rivoluzionaria, in order to take part in the 1919
    elections in response to an increase in Communist activity occurring
    in Milan. The Fasci di Combattimenti were the result of this
    continuation (not creation) of the Fascist party. The result of the
    meeting was that Fascism became an organized political movement. Among
    the founding members were the revolutionary syndicalist leaders
    Agostino Lanzillo and Michele Bianchi.

    In 1921, the fascists developed a program that called for:
      * a democratic republic,
      * separation of church and state,
      * a national army,
      * progressive taxation for inherited wealth, and
      * development of co-operatives or guilds to replace labor unions.

    As the movement evolved, several of these initial ideas were abandoned
    and rejected.

    Mussolini's fascist state was established nearly a decade before
    Hitler's rise to power (1922 and the March on Rome). Both a movement
    and a historical phenomenon, Italian Fascism was, in many respects, an
    adverse reaction to both the apparent failure of laissez-faire
    economics and fear of the Left.

    Fascism was, to an extent, a product of a general feeling of anxiety
    and fear among the middle class of postwar Italy. This fear arose from
    a convergence of interrelated economic, political, and cultural
    pressures. Under the banner of this authoritarian and nationalistic
    ideology, Mussolini was able to exploit fears regarding the survival
    of capitalism in an era in which postwar depression, the rise of a
    more militant left, and a feeling of national shame and humiliation
    stemming from Italy's 'mutilated victory' at the hands of the World
    War I postwar peace treaties seemed to converge. Such unfulfilled
    nationalistic aspirations tainted the reputation of liberalism and
    constitutionalism among many sectors of the Italian population. In
    addition, such democratic institutions had never grown to become
    firmly rooted in the young nation-state.

    This same postwar depression heightened the allure of Marxism among an
    urban proletariat who were even more disenfranchised than their
    continental counterparts. But fear of the growing strength of trade
    unionism, Communism, and socialism proliferated among the elite and
    the middle class. In a way, Benito Mussolini filled a political
    vacuum. Fascism emerged as a "third way" -- as Italy's last hope to
    avoid imminent collapse of the 'weak' Italian liberalism, and
    Communist revolution.

    While failing to outline a coherent program, fascism evolved into a
    new political and economic system that combined corporatism,
    totalitarianism, nationalism, and anti-Communism in a state designed
    to bind all classes together under a capitalist system. This was a new
    capitalist system, however, one in which the state seized control of
    the organization of vital industries. Under the banners of nationalism
    and state power, Fascism seemed to synthesize the glorious Roman past
    with a futuristic utopia.

    Despite the themes of social and economic reform in the initial
    Fascist manifesto of June 1919, the movement came to be supported by
    sections of the middle class fearful of socialism and communism.
    Industrialists and landowners supported the movement as a defense
    against labour militancy. Under threat of a fascist March on Rome, in
    October 1922, Mussolini assumed the premiership of a right-wing
    coalition Cabinet initially including members of the pro-church
    Partito Popolare (People's Party).

    The regime's most lasting political achievement was perhaps the
    Lateran Treaty of February 1929 between the Italian state and the Holy
    See. Under this treaty, the Papacy was granted temporal sovereignty
    over the Vatican City and guaranteed the free exercise of Catholicism
    as the sole state religion throughout Italy in return for its
    acceptance of Italian sovereignty over the Pope's former dominions. In
    the 1930s, Italy recovered from the Great Depression, and achieved
    economic growth in part by developing domestic substitutes for imports
    (Autarchia). The draining of the malaria-infested Pontine Marshes
    south of Rome was one of the regime's proudest boasts. But growth was
    undermined by international sanctions following Italy's October 1935
    invasion of Ethiopia (the Abyssinia crisis), and by the government's
    costly military support for Franco's Nationalists in Spain.

    International isolation and their common involvement in Spain brought
    about increasing diplomatic collaboration between Italy and Nazi
    Germany. This was reflected also in the Fascist regime's domestic
    policies as the first anti-semitic laws were passed in 1938.

    Italy's intervention (June 10th 1940) as Germany's ally in World War
    II brought military disaster, and resulted in the loss of her north
    and east African colonies and the American-British-Canadian invasion
    of Sicily in July 1943 and southern Italy in September 1943.

    Mussolini was dismissed as prime minister by King Victor Emmanuel III
    on July 25th 1943, and subsequently arrested. He was freed in
    September by German paratroopers under command of Otto Skorzeny and
    installed as head of a puppet "Italian Social Republic" at Salo in
    German-occupied northern Italy. His association with the German
    occupation regime eroded much of what little support remained to him.
    His summary execution on April 28th 1945 during the war's violent
    closing stages by the northern partisans was widely seen as a fitting
    end to his regime.

    After the war, the remnants of Italian fascism largely regrouped under
    the banner of the neo-Fascist "Italian Social Movement" (MSI). The MSI
    merged in 1994 with conservative former Christian Democrats to form
    the "National Alliance" (AN), which proclaims its commitment to
    constitutionalism, parliamentary government and political pluralism.


Nazism and Fascism

    Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler
    Enlarge
    Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler

    The extent and nature of the affinity between Fascism and Nazism has
    been the subject of much academic debate. Although the modern
    consensus sees Nazism as a type or offshoot of fascism, there are many
    experts who argue that Nazism was not fascist at all, either on the
    grounds that the differences are too great, or because they deny that
    fascism is generic.

    Differences

    Nazism differed from Fascism proper in the emphasis on the state's
    purpose in serving a racial rather than a national ideal, specifically
    the social engineering of culture to the ends of the greatest possible
    prosperity for the so-called "Master race" at the expense of all else
    and all others. In contrast, Mussolini's Fascism held that cultural
    factors existed to serve the state, and that it wasn't necessarily in
    the state's interest to serve or engineer any of these particulars
    within its sphere. The only purpose of government under fascism proper
    was to uphold the state as supreme above all else, and for these
    reasons it can be said to have been a governmental statolatry. Where
    Nazism spoke of "Volk", Fascism talked of "State".

    While Nazism was a metapolitical ideology, seeing both party and
    government as a means to achieve an ideal condition for certain chosen
    people, fascism was a squarely anti-socialist form of statism that
    existed as an end in and of itself. The Nazi movement, at least in its
    overt ideology, spoke of class-based society as the enemy, and wanted
    to unify the racial element above established classes. The Fascist
    movement, on the other hand, sought to preserve the class system and
    uphold it as the foundation of established and desirable culture,
    although this is not to say that Fascists rejected the concept of
    social mobility. Indeed a central tenet of the Corporate State was
    meritocracy. This underlying theorem made the Fascists and National
    Socialists in the period between the two world wars sometimes see
    themselves and their respective political labels as at best partially
    exclusive of one another, and at worst diametrically opposed to one
    another.

    Affinities

    Nevertheless, despite these differences, Kevin Passmore (2002 p.62)
    observes:

      There are sufficient similarities between Fascism and Nazism to
      make it worthwhile applying the concept of fascism to both. In
      Italy and Germany a movement came to power that sought to create
      national unity through the repression of national enemies and the
      incorporation of all classes and both genders into a permanently
      mobilized nation.

    Hitler and Mussolini themselves recognised commonalities in their
    politics.

    The second part of Hitler's Mein Kampf, "The National Socialistic
    Movement", first published in 1926, contains this passage:

      I conceived the profoundest admiration for the great man south of
      the Alps, who, full of ardent love for his people, made no pacts
      with the enemies of Italy, but strove for their annihilation by all
      ways and means. What will rank Mussolini among the great men of
      this earth is his determination not to share Italy with the
      Marxists, but to destroy internationalism and save the fatherland
      from it. (p. 622)



Mussolini's influences

    Fascism did not spring forth full-grown, and the writings of Fascist
    theoreticians cannot be taken as a full description of Mussolini's
    ideology, let alone how specific situations inevitably resulted in
    deviations from ideology. Mussolini's policies drew on both the
    history of the Italian nation and the philosophical ideas of the 19th
    century. What resulted was neither logical nor well defined, to the
    extent that Mussolini defined it as "action and mood, not doctrine".

    Nonetheless, certain ideas are clearly visible. The most obvious is
    nationalism. The last time Italy had been a great nation was under the
    banner of the Roman Empire and Italian nationalists always saw this as
    a period of glory. Given that even other European nations with
    imperial ambitions had often invoked ancient Rome in their
    architecture and vocabulary, it was perhaps inevitable that Mussolini
    would do the same.

    Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Italy had not again
    been united until its final unification in 1870. Mussolini desired to
    affirm an Italian national identity and therefore saw the unification
    as the first step towards returning Italy to greatness and often
    exploited the unification and the achievements of leading figures such
    as Garibaldi to induce a sense of Italian national pride.

    The Fascist cult of national rebirth through a strong leader has roots
    in the romantic movement of the 19th century, as does the
    glorification of war. For example, the loss of the war with Abyssinia
    had been a great humiliation to Italians and consequently it was the
    first place targeted for Italian expansion under Mussolini.

    Not all ideas of fascism originated from the 19th century; for
    example, the use of systematic propaganda to pass on simple slogans
    such as "believe, obey, fight" and Mussolini's use of the radio both
    were techniques developed in the 20th century. Similarly, Mussolini's
    corporate state was a distinctly 20th-century creation.


Fascism and the political spectrum

    Early fascists demonstrated a willingness to do whatever was necessary
    to achieve their ends, and easily shifted from left-wing to right-wing
    positions as suited their purposes. This inconsistency makes it
    difficult to strictly categorize fascism on the traditional political
    spectrum. Some scholars argue that Italian Fascism, unlike some other
    contemporary movements, did not grow out of a strict theoretical
    basis. Layton describes Fascism as "not even a rational system of
    thought", and as "unique but not original".

    Fascism tends to be associated with the political right, but the
    appropriateness of this association is often contested. In one sense,
    fascism can be considered to be a new ideological development that
    transcends the right/left framework. At the same time, it does contain
    ideological elements usually associated with the right. These two
    facets can be seen in the following quote from Mussolini himself,
    writing in The Doctrine of Fascism: "Granted that the XIXth century
    was the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy, this does not
    mean that the XXth century must also be the century of socialism,
    liberalism, democracy. Political doctrines pass; nations remain. We
    are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century
    tending to the 'right', a Fascist century."

    Griffin, Eatwell, Laqueuer, and Weber are among the top scholars of
    fascism, and they are reluctant to call fascism simply a right-wing
    ideology. Yet in their lengthy discussions they observe that generally
    fascism and neofascism allies itself with right-wing or conservative
    forces on the basis of racial nationalism, hatred of the political
    left, or simple expediency.

    Laqueuer: "But historical fascism was always a coalition between
    radical, populist ('fascist') elements and others gravitating toward
    the extreme Right" p. 223.

    Eatwell talks about the need of fascism for "syncretic legitimation"
    which sometimes led it to forge alliances with "existing mainstream
    elites, who often sought to turn fascism to their own more
    conservative purposes." Eatwell also observes that "in most countries
    it tended to gather force in countries where the right was weak" p.
    39.

    Griffin also does not include right ideology in his "fascist minimum,"
    but he has described Fascism as "Revolution from the Right" pp.
    185-201.

    Weber: "...their most common allies lay on the right, particularly on
    the radical authoritarian right, and Italian Fascism as a
    semi-coherent entity was partly defined by its merger with one of the
    most radical of all right authoritarian movements in Europe, the
    Italian Nationalist Association (ANI)." p. 8.

    Thus according to these scholars, there are both left and right
    influences on fascism, and right-wing ideology should not be
    considered part of the "fascist minimum". However, they also show that
    in actual practice, there is a gravitation of fascism toward the
    political right.

    The adoption of the name by the Italian Fascist Party reflected the
    previous involvement of a number of ideologues who intersected with
    radical left politics. While opposing communism and social democracy,
    fascism was influenced by the theories of Gabriele D'Annunzio (a
    former anarchist), Alceste de Ambris (influenced by
    anarcho-syndicalism), and former socialist Benito Mussolini.

    Fascists themselves often rejected categorization as left or
    right-wing, claiming to be a "third force" (see international third
    position and political spectrum for more information).

    Analysts on the left counter that Fascism rejects Marxism and the
    concept of class struggle in favor of corporatism. Contrary to the
    practice of socialist states, fascist Italy did not nationalize any
    industries or capitalist entities. Rather, the left insists, it
    established a corporatist structure influenced by the model for class
    relations put forward by the Catholic Church. (For more on the
    influence of Catholicism on fascism see links between the clergy and
    fascist parties.)


Fascism and other totalitarian regimes

    Some historians and theorists regard fascism and "Soviet Communism"
    (or more specifically, Stalinism) as being similar, lumping them
    together under the term "totalitarianism". Friedrich Hayek argues that
    the differences between fascism and totalitarian forms of socialism
    (see Stalinism) are rhetorical rather than actual. Others see them as
    being so dissimilar as to be utterly incomparable.

    According to the libertarian Nolan chart, "fascism" occupies a place
    on the political spectrum as the capitalist equivalent of communism,
    wherein a system that supports "economic liberty" is constrained by
    its social controls such that it becomes totalitarian.

    Hannah Arendt and other theorists of totalitarian rule argue that
    there are similarities between nations under Fascist and Stalinist
    rule. They condemn both groups as dictatorships and totalitarian
    police states. For example, both Hitler and Stalin committed the mass
    murder of millions of their country's civilians who did not fit in
    with their plans.

    In 1947, Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises published a short book
    entitled "Planned Chaos". He asserted that fascism and Nazism were
    socialist dictatorships and that both had been committed to the Soviet
    principle of dictatorship and violent oppression of dissenters. He
    argued that Mussolini's major heresy from Marxist orthodoxy had been
    his strong endorsement of Italian entry into World War I on the Allied
    side. (Mussolini aimed to "liberate" Italian-speaking areas under
    Austrian control in the Alps.) This view contradicts the statements of
    Mussolini himself (not to mention his socialist opponents), and is
    generally viewed with skepticism by historians. Critics of von Mises
    often argue that he was attacking a straw man; in other words, that he
    changed the definition of "socialism" in his book, for the precise
    purpose of accommodating fascism and Nazism into it.

    Critics of this view point out that Mussolini imprisoned Antonio
    Gramsci from 1926 until 1934, after Gramsci, a leader of the Italian
    Communist Party and leading Marxist intellectual, tried to create a
    common front among the political left and the workers, in order to
    resist and overthrow fascism. Other Italian Communist leaders like
    Palmiro Togliatti went into exile and fought for the Republic in
    Spain.

    The Marxist concept of dictatorship of the proletariat alluded to by
    Von Mises is not the same as the dictatorship concept employed by
    fascists, argue proponents of communism. Dictatorship of the
    proletariat is supposed to mean workers' democracy, or dictatorship by
    the working class, rather than dictatorship by the capitalist class.
    They claim that this concept had been distorted under Stalin to mean
    dictatorship by the General Secretary over the party and the working
    class. In this, Stalin deviated from Marx, and therefore it cannot be
    said that the Stalinist form of government is Marxist. Opponents of
    Communism, however, argue that the Soviet Union was dictatorial
    already under Lenin.

    The fascist economic model of corporatism promoted class collaboration
    by attempting to bring classes together under the unity of the state,
    a concept that is anathema to classic socialism.

    The fascist states from the period between the two world wars were
    police states, as were the ostensibly socialist USSR and the post-WWII
    Soviet bloc states. Conversely, there have been multi-party socialist
    states that have not been police states, and non-socialist states that
    have been police states.

    Examples of police states in modern times, outside of the Communist
    world, include:
      * Afghanistan under the Taliban;
      * Brazil under Getulio Vargas (fascism-like state) and also during
        the military dictatorship from 1964 to 1986;
      * Burma (Myanmar) under the current military dictatorship;
      * Chile under General Augusto Pinochet;
      * the Republic of China under Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang;
      * Iran under the Mohammad Ali Shah, as well as under the last Shah,
        Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and later on under the Islamic Republic;
      * Iraq and Syria under Ba'athist dictatorships;
      * South Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore, etc. during certain periods
        of their recent history;



Anti-Communism

    Fascism and Communism are political systems that rose to prominence
    after World War I. Historians of the period between World War I and
    World War II such as E.H. Carr and Eric Hobsbawm point out that
    liberalism was under serious stress in this period and seemed to be a
    doomed philosophy. The success of the Russian Revolution of 1917
    resulted in a revolutionary wave across Europe. The socialist movement
    worldwide split into separate social democratic and Leninist wings.
    The subsequent formation of the Third International prompted serious
    debates within social democratic parties, resulting in supporters of
    the Russian Revolution splitting to form Communist Parties in most
    industrialized (and many non-industrialized) countries.

    At the end of World War I, there were attempted socialist uprisings or
    threats of socialist uprisings throughout Europe, most notably in
    Germany, where the Spartacist uprising, led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl
    Liebknecht in January 1919, was eventually crushed. In Bavaria,
    Communists successfully overthrew the government and established the
    Munich Soviet Republic that lasted from 1918 to 1919. A short lived
    Hungarian Soviet Republic was also established under Béla Kun in 1919.

    The Russian Revolution also inspired attempted revolutionary movements
    in Italy with a wave of factory occupations. Most historians view
    fascism as a response to these developments, as a movement that both
    tried to appeal to the working class and divert them from Marxism. It
    also appealed to capitalists as a bulwark against Bolshevism. Italian
    fascism took power with the blessing of Italy's king after years of
    leftist-led unrest led many conservatives to fear that a communist
    revolution was inevitable.

    Throughout Europe, numerous aristocrats, conservative intellectuals,
    capitalists and industrialists lent their support to fascist movements
    in their countries that emulated Italian fascism. In Germany, numerous
    right-wing nationalist groups arose, particularly out of the post-war
    Freikorps, which were used to crush both the Spartacist uprising and
    the Munich Soviet.

    With the worldwide Great Depression of the 1930s, it seemed that
    liberalism and the liberal form of capitalism were doomed, and
    Communist and fascist movements swelled. These movements were bitterly
    opposed to each other and fought frequently, the most notable example
    of this conflict being the Spanish Civil War. This war became a proxy
    war between the fascist countries and their international supporters
    -- who backed Francisco Franco -- and the worldwide Communist movement
    allied uneasily with anarchists and Trotskyists -- who backed the
    Popular Front -- and were aided chiefly by the Soviet Union.

    Initially, the Soviet Union supported a coalition with the western
    powers against Nazi Germany and popular fronts in various countries
    against domestic fascism. This policy was largely unsuccessful due to
    the distrust shown by the western powers (especially Britain) towards
    the Soviet Union. The Munich Agreement between Germany, France and
    Britain heightened Soviet fears that the western powers were
    endeavoring to force them to bear the brunt of a war against Nazism.
    The lack of eagerness on the part of the British during diplomatic
    negotiations with the Soviets served to make the situation even worse.
    The Soviets changed their policy and negotiated a non-aggression pact
    known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939. Vyacheslav Molotov
    claims in his memoirs that the Soviets believed this was necessary to
    buy them time to prepare for an expected war with Germany. Stalin
    expected the Germans not to attack until 1942, but the pact ended in
    1941 when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in Operation
    Barbarossa. Fascism and communism reverted to being lethal enemies.
    The war, in the eyes of both sides, was a war between ideologies.
      * See also: Anti-Communism



Fascism and the Catholic Church

    Another controversial topic is the relationship between fascist
    movements and the Catholic Church. As mentioned above, Pope Leo XIII's
    1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum included doctrines that fascists used
    or admired. Forty years later, the corporatist tendencies of Rerum
    Novarum were underscored by Pope Pius XI's May 25, 1931 encyclical
    Quadragesimo Anno[4] restated the hostility of Rerum Novarum to both
    unbridled competition and class struggle. The criticism of both
    socialism and capitalism in these encyclicals was not fascist per se,
    but by weakening support for either alternative such writings arguably
    opened the door to fascism.

    In the early 1920s, the Catholic party in Italy (Partito Popolare) was
    in the process of forming a coalition with the Reform Party that could
    have stabilized Italian politics and thwarted Mussolini's projected
    coup. On October 2, 1922, Pope Pius XI circulated a letter ordering
    clergy not to identify themselves with the Partito Popolare, but to
    remain neutral, an act that undercut the party and its alliance
    against Mussolini. Following Mussolini's rise to power, the Vatican's
    Secretary of State met Il Duce in early 1923 and agreed to dissolve
    the Partito Popolare, which Mussolini saw as obstacle to fascist rule.
    In exchange, the fascists made guarantees regarding Catholic education
    and institutions.

    In 1924, following the murder of the leader of the Socialist Party by
    fascists, the Partito Popolare joined with the Socialist Party in
    demanding that the King dismiss Mussolini as Prime Minister, and
    stated their willingness to form a coalition government. Pius XI
    responded by warning against any coalition between Catholics and
    socialists. The Vatican ordered all priests to resign from the Partito
    Popolare and from any positions they held in it. This led to the
    party's disintegration in rural areas where it relied on clerical
    assistance.

    The Vatican subsequently established Catholic Action as a
    non-political lay organization under the direct control of bishops.
    The organization was forbidden by the Vatican to participate in
    politics, and thus was not permitted to oppose the fascist regime.
    Pius XI ordered all Catholics to join Catholic Action. This resulted
    in hundreds of thousands of Catholics withdrawing from the Partito
    Popolare, and joining the apolitical Catholic Action. This caused the
    Catholic Party's final collapse. [5]

    When Mussolini ordered the closure of Catholic Action in May 1931,
    Pius XI issued an encyclical, Non abbiamo bisogno. This document
    stated the Catholic Church's opposition to the dissolution, and argued
    that the order "unmasked the 'pagan' intentions of the Fascist state".
    Under international pressure, Mussolini decided to compromise, and
    Catholic Action was saved. For Catholics, the encyclical's disapproval
    of any system that puts the nation above God or humanity remains
    doctrine.

    Aside from certain ideological similarities, the relationship between
    the Church and fascist movements in various countries has often been
    deemed close. An early example is Austria which developed a
    quasi-fascist authoritarian Catholic regime some call the
    "Austro-fascist" Ständestaat between 1934 and 1938. There is little
    debate over Slovakia, where the fascist dictator was a Catholic
    monsignor; and Croatia, where the fascist Ustashe identified itself as
    a Catholic movement. The Iron Guard in Romania identified itself as an
    Eastern Orthodox movement (with no connection to Roman Catholicism),
    and had particularly strong leanings toward clerical fascism. (See
    also Involvement of Croatian Catholic clergy with the Ustasa regime.)

    The Vichy regime in France was also deeply influenced by the
    reactionary Catholic-influenced ideology of the Action Française. This
    group had actually been led by an agnostic and condemned by the
    Catholic Church in 1926. Many of its members were reactionary
    Catholics so this condemnation damaged the group, but then in 1938 the
    condemnation was lifted. Conversely, many Catholic priests were
    persecuted under the Nazi regime, and many Catholic laypeople and
    clergy played notable roles in sheltering Jews during the Holocaust.

    For a further exploration of the relationship between Catholicism and
    Fascism, see the article article on Clerical Fascism.


Fascism and the Protestant churches

    Hitler, in his manifesto, Mein Kampf, listed Martin Luther as one of
    Germany's great historic reformers. In Luther's 1543 book On the Jews
    and Their Lies, Luther advocated the burning of synagogues and
    schools, the deportation of Jews, and many other measures that
    resemble the actions later taken by the Nazis.

    Protestant churches made no comment on the Nazis' growing anti-Jewish
    activities. Many Protestants opposed the governments of the Weimar
    Republic in the 1920s which they saw as coalitions between the
    Socialists and the Catholic Centre party. In 1932, many German
    Protestants joined together to form the German Christian Movement
    which enthusiastically supported Nazi propaganda, and sought to join
    Church and State. 3,000 of the 17,000 Protestant pastors in Germany
    were to join the movement. Hitler wished to unite a Protestant church
    of 28 different federations into one nationalist body. Pastor Ludwig
    Muller, the leader of the German Christian Movement, was soon
    appointed Hitler's advisor on religious affairs. He was elected
    Reich's Bishop in charge of the German Protestant churches in 1933.

    An "Aryan Paragraph" was introduced to the constitution which stated
    that no one of non-Aryan background, or married to anyone of non-Aryan
    background, could serve as either a pastor or church official. Pastors
    and officials who had married a non-Aryan were to be dismissed. Much
    of the Lutheran and Methodist establishment in Germany had fallen
    behind Hitler in his promise to oppose Bolshevism and instability.

    The new measures began to raise some opposition to the German
    Christians from a minority of Lutherans and Evangelicals who disliked
    state interference in church affairs. A small group of Protestant
    clergy under Martin Niemoeller separated from the main churches to
    form the Confessing Church. Neither the official, nor the Confessing
    church, however, openly opposed the Nazis' anti-Jewish policies.


Practice of fascism

    Examples of fascist systems include:
      * Mussolini's Italy
      * Nazi Germany
      * Clerical fascism

    Fascism in practice embodied both political and economic policies, and
    invites different comparisons. As noted elsewhere in this article,
    some writers who focus on the politically repressive policies of
    fascism identify it as one form of totalitarianism, a description they
    use to characterize not only Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, but also
    countries such as the Soviet Union, The People's Republic of China or
    North Korea. It should be noted that "totalitarianism" is a catch-all
    group which includes many different ideologies that are sworn enemies.

    However, some analysts point out that certain fascist governments were
    arguably more authoritarian than totalitarian. There is almost
    universal agreement that Nazi Germany was totalitarian. However, many
    would argue that the governments of Franco's Spain and Salazar's
    Portugal, while fascistic, were more authoritarian than totalitarian.
    Spain under the Falange Española y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional
    Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS) Party of Francisco Franco, was a
    coalition that included fascists.

    Those who focus on economic policies and state intervention in the
    economy, identify fascism as corporatism. In this corporatist model of
    private management, the various functions of the state were
    controlling and regulating trade, while maintaining de jure private
    ownership. This contrasts with state socialism, in which the state
    controls industry through outright nationalization. Private activity
    is controlled by the state, so that the state may subsidize or suspend
    the activities of any entity in accordance with their usefulness and
    direction. Corporatism was a political outgrowth of Catholic social
    doctrine from the 1890s. Some contested examples of fascism are
    Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal in the United States and Juan Peron's
    populism in Argentina.

    Prominent proponents of fascism in pre-WWII America included the
    publisher Seward Collins, whose periodical The American Review
    (1933-1937) featured essays by Collins and others that praised
    Mussolini and Hitler. The America First anti-war movement fought to
    keep the US neutral after Britain entered the war in 1939, but was not
    supportive of fascism. Father Charles E. Coughlin's Depression-era
    radio broadcasts extolled the virtues of fascism. Henry Wallace, wrote
    in 1944 during his term as vice president of the United States,
    "American fascism will not be really dangerous until there is a
    purposeful coalition among the cartelists, the deliberate poisoners of
    public information, and those who stand for the K.K.K. type of
    demagoguery." [Wallace, 1944]


Fascism as an international phenomenon

    It is often a matter of dispute whether a certain government is to be
    characterized as fascist, authoritarian, totalitarian, or just a plain
    police state. Regimes that are alleged to have been either fascist or
    sympathetic to fascism include:

    Austria (1933-1938) - Austro-fascism: Dollfuß dissolved parliament and
    established a clerical-fascist dictatorship which lasted until Austria
    was incorporated into Germany through the Anschluss. Dollfuß's idea of
    a "Ständestaat" was borrowed from Mussolini.

    Italy (1922-1943) - The first fascist country, it was ruled by Benito
    Mussolini (Il Duce) until he was dismissed and arrested on the 25 July
    1943. Mussolini was then rescued from prison by German troops, and set
    up a short lived puppet state named "Repubblica di Salò" in northern
    Italy under the protection of the German army.

    Germany (1933-1945) - Ruled by the Nazi movement of Adolf Hitler (der
    Führer). In the terminology of the Allies, Nazi Germany was as their
    chief enemy the mightiest and best-known fascist state. See above for
    a discussion on the differences and similarities between Nazism and
    fascism.

    Spain (1936-1975) - After the 1936 arrest and execution of its founder
    José Antonio Primo de Rivera during the Spanish Civil War, the fascist
    Falange Española Party was allied to and ultimately came to be
    dominated by Generalissimo Francisco Franco, who became known as El
    Caudillo, the undisputed leader of the Nationalist side in the war,
    and, after victory, head of state until his death over 35 years later.
    However, it was best described as an autocracy based on the Falangist
    fascist principles in its early years. By the mid-50s, the Spanish
    Miracle and the rise of the Opus Dei in the Franco regime led to
    Falangist fascism being discarded and fascists minimized in
    importance.

    Portugal (1932-1974) - Although less restrictive than the Italian,
    German and Spanish regimes, the Estado Novo regime of António de
    Oliveira Salazar was quasi-fascist. However, it was closer to the
    Spanish example of paternal authoritarianism than the Italian fascist
    or German Nazi model.

    Greece - Joannis Metaxas' 1936 to 1941 dictatorship was not
    particularly ideological in nature, and might hence be characterized
    as authoritarian rather than fascist. The same can be argued regarding
    Colonel George Papadopoulos' 1967 to 1974 military dictatorship, which
    was supported by the United States.

    Brazil (1937-1945) - Many historians have argued that Brazil's Estado
    Novo under Getúlio Vargas was a Brazilian variant of the continental
    fascist regimes. For a period of time, Vargas' regime was aligned with
    Plínio Salgado's Integralist Party, Brazil's fascist movement.
    However, it also showed great affinity with organized labour and
    leftist ideas, leaving its classification open to interpretation.

    Belgium (1940-1945) - The violent Rexist movement and the
    Vlaamsch-Nationaal Verbond party achieved some electoral success in
    the 1930s. Many of its members assisted the Nazi occupation during
    World War II. The Verdinaso movement, too, can be considered fascist.
    Its leader, Joris Van Severen, was killed before the Nazi occupation.
    Some of its adepts collaborated, but others joined the resistance.
    These collaborationist movements are generally classified as belonging
    to the National Socialist model or the German fascist model because of
    its brand of racial nationalism and the close relation with the
    occupational authorities.

    Slovakia (1939-1944) - The Slovak People's Party was a quasi-fascist
    nationalist movement associated with the Catholic Church. Founded by
    Father Andrej Hlinka, his successor Monsignor Jozef Tiso became the
    Nazis' quisling in a nominally independent Slovakia. The clerical
    element lends comparison with Austrofascism or the clerical fascism of
    Croatia, though not to the excesses of either model. The market system
    was run on principles agreeing with the standard Italian fascist model
    of industrial regulation.

    France (1940-1944) - The Vichy regime of Philippe Pétain, established
    following France's defeat by Germany, collaborated with the Nazis,
    including in the death of 65,000 French Jews. However, the minimal
    importance of fascists in the government until its direct occupation
    by Germany makes it appear to seem more similar to the regime of
    Franco or Salazar than the model fascist powers. While it has been
    argued that anti-Semitic massacres performed by the Vichy regime were
    more in the interests of pleasing Germany than in service of ideology,
    anti-semitism was strong in France before World War II.

    As early as October 1940 the Vichy regime introduced the infamous
    statut des Juifs, that produced a new legal definition of Jewishness
    and which barred Jews from certain public offices. Worse still, in May
    1941 the Parisian police force had collaborated in the internment of
    foreign Jews. As a means of identifying Jews, the German authorities
    required all Jews in the occupied zone to wear the Star of David on
    their clothing. On the 11th June, they demanded that 100, 000 Jews be
    handed over for deportation.

    The most infamous of these mass arrests was the so-called grande rafle
    du Vél' d'Hiv' which took place in Paris on the 16th and 17th July
    1942. The Vélodrome d'Hiver was a large indoor sports arena situated
    on the rue Nélaton near the Quai de Grenelle in the 15th arrondissment
    of Paris. In a vast operation codenamed vent printanier, the French
    police rounded up 12,884 Jews from Paris and its surrounding suburbs.
    These were mostly adult men and women but there were around 4,000
    children amongst them. The rounding up was made easier by the large
    number of files on Jews complied and held by Vichy authorities since
    1940. The French police, headed by René Bousquet, were entirely
    resonsible for this operation and not one German soldier assisted.

    Romania (1940-1944) - The Iron Guard, turned more and more into a
    pro-Nazi and pro-German movement, and took power in September 1940
    when Ion Antonescu forced King Carol II to abdicate. However, the
    cohabitation between the Iron Guard and Ion Antonescu was short-lived.

    The Antonescu regime that followed hardly qualifies as fascist, as it
    did not have a clear political program or party. It was rather a
    military dictatorship. The regime was characterized by nationalism,
    anti-semitism, and anti-communism, but had no social program. Despite
    the Iasi pogrom and a near-liquidation of the Jews of many parts of
    Moldavia, the regime ultimately refused to send the Romanian Jews to
    German death camps. The regime was overturned on the 23rd of August
    1944 by a coup lead by the king Mihai of Romania.

    Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945) - Poglavnik Ante Pavelic,
    leader of the infamous Ustase movement, came to power in 1941 as the
    Croatian puppet leader under the control of Nazi Germany. Under the
    indirect control of Germany, the Ustase regime was based heavily upon
    both upon clerical fascism and the Italian model of fascism, with
    elements of racial integrity and organic nationalism drawn from
    Nazism.

    Norway (1943-1945) - Vidkun Quisling had staged a coup d'état during
    the German invasion on April 9th, 1940. This first government was
    replaced by a Nazi puppet government under his leadership from
    February 1st, 1943. His party had never had any substantial support in
    Norway, undermining his attempts to emulate the Italian fascist state.

    Hungary (1932-1945) - By 1932, support for right-wing ideology,
    embodied by Gyula Gömbös, had reached the point where Hungarian Regent
    Miklos Horthy could not postpone appointing a fascist prime minister.
    Horthy also showed signs of admiring the efficiency and conservative
    leanings of the Italian fascist state under Mussolini and was not too
    reluctant to appoint a fascist government (with terms for the extent
    of Horthy's power). Horthy would keep control over the mainstream
    fascist movement in Hungary until near the end of the Second World
    War. Ferenc Szálasi headed the extremist Arrow Cross party, which had
    been banned until German pressure lifted the law. In 1944, with German
    support, he replaced Admiral Miklós Horthy as Head of State; following
    Horthy's attempt to have Hungary change sides. The regime changed to a
    system more in line with Nazism and would remain this way until the
    capture of Budapest by Soviet troops. Starting in 1938, several racial
    laws were passed by the regime, and over 400,000 Jews were sent by
    Hungary to German death camps from 1941 to 1944.

    Argentina (1946-1955 and 1973-1974) - Juan Perón admired Mussolini and
    established his own pseudo-fascist regime. After he died, his third
    wife and vice-president Isabel Perón was deposed by a military junta.
    Similarities are best drawn, though, with the Vargas regime of Brazil.

    South Africa (1948-1994) - Many scholars have labelled the apartheid
    system built by Malan and Verwoerd as a type of fascism. Whether it
    was a fascist regime or an example of a socially conservative
    administration with excessive powers is hotly debated. The racial and
    nationalist ideas were implanted inside the South African regime,
    however the economic structure of the country was not as regulated as
    that of a typically fascist state.

    Guatemala (1953-1980s) - Mario Sandoval Alarcón, a self-declared
    fascist, headed the National Liberation Movement after a coup d'état
    overthrew the democratic government of Col. Jacobo Arbenz. Sandoval
    became known as the "godfather of the death squads" during the
    Guatemalan military's 30-year counter-insurgency campaign and at one
    point served as Guatemala's vice president.

    Rhodesia (1965-1978) - The racial segregation system by Ian Smith is
    similarly considered by some to be a form of fascism. See the comments
    of South Africa.

    Lebanon (1982-1988) - The right wing Christian Phalangist Party,
    backed by its own private army and inspired by the Spanish Falangists,
    was nominally in power in the country during the 1980s but had limited
    authority over the highly factionalised state, two-thirds of which was
    occupied by Israeli and Syrian troops. Phalangists, trained and
    supported by Israel are alleged to have carried out the Sabra and
    Shatila Massacre in 1982.

    Iran (1950-1953) - Under the Iranian National Front, during the regime
    of Mohammad Mossadegh, attacks on the political left were led by
    right-wing groups with fascistic elements including the Iranian Nation
    Party, led by Dariush Forouhar; the Sumka (The National Socialist
    Iranian Workers Party) led by Dr. Davud Monshizadeh; and Kabud
    (Iranian Nazi Party) founded by Habibollah Nobakht.


Fascism in the United States?

    This idea was first brought up in the cautionary novel It Can't Happen
    Here by Sinclair Lewis. Cases have been made both for and against this
    allegation on all sides of the political spectrum. For example, there
    are those on the right who claim that the US has been Fascist since
    the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Some on the political left see
    fascism in authoritarian policies of various Republican
    administrations or the Christian Right. Few scholars take these claims
    seriously (see Neo-Fascism).

    In 1933, retired General Smedley Butler testified to the
    McCormack-Dickstein Committee that he had been approached by a group
    of wealthy business interests, led by the Du Pont and J. P. Morgan
    industrial empires, to orchestrate a fascist coup against Roosevelt.
    The alleged coup attempt has come to be known as the Business Plot.


Neo-Fascism

    Contemporary neo-fascism and allegations of neofascism are covered in
    a number of other articles rather than on this page:
      * See: Neo-Fascism; Neo-Nazism; Neofascism and religion; Christian
        Identity; Creativity Movement; National Alliance; Nouvelle Droite;
        American Nazi Party; Alain de Benoist; William Luther Pierce;
        George Lincoln Rockwell.



Fascist mottos and sayings

      * Me ne frego, literally "I don't care," closer, in meaning, to "I
        don't give a damn": the Italian Fascist motto.
      * Libro e moschetto - fascista perfetto, "The book and the musket -
        make the perfect Fascist."
      * Viva la Morte, "Long live death (sacrifice)."
      * The above mentioned Tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello
        Stato, nulla contro lo Stato, "Everything in the State, nothing
        outside the State, nothing against the State."
      * Credere, Obbedire, Combattere ("Believe, Obey, Fight")



Related topics

      * Fascio (usage 1890s to World War I)
      * The Manifesto of the Fascist Struggle
      * George Seldes, early reporter of US fascism.
      * Horst Wessel Lied, a German song that encapsulates much of Fascist
        ideology.
      * Fascist symbolism
      * Japanese nationalism, Japanese Radical Right-Nationalist Local
        Ideology from the World War II times to the present day.



References

      * Hitler, Adolf. Mein Kampf (1992). London: Pimlico. ISBN 071265254X
      * "Labor Charter" (1927-1934)
      * Mussolini, Benito. Doctrine of Fascism which was published as part
        of the entry for fascismo in the Enciclopedia Italiana 1932.
      * Sorel, Georges. Reflections on Violence.
      * Wallace, Henry. "The Dangers of American Fascism". The New York
        Times, Sunday, 9 April 1944.



General bibliography

      * Hughes, H. Stuart. 1953. The United States and Italy. Cambridge,
        MA: Harvard University Press.
      * Payne, Stanley G. 1995. A History of Fascism, 1914-45. Madison,
        Wisc.: University of Wisconsin Press.
      * Eatwell, Roger. 1996. Fascism: A History. New York: Allen Lane.



Bibliography on Fascist ideology

      * Laqueur, Walter. 1966. Fascism: Past, Present, Future, New York:
        Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
      * Griffin, Roger. 2000. "Revolution from the Right: Fascism,"
        chapter in David Parker (ed.) Revolutions and the Revolutionary
        Tradition in the West 1560-1991, Routledge, London.
      * Schapiro, J. Salwyn. 1949. Liberalism and The Challenge of
        Fascism, Social Forces in England and France (1815-1870). New
        York: McGraw-Hill.
      * Laclau, Ernesto. 1977. Politics and Ideology in Marxist Theory:
        Capitalism, Fascism, Populism. London: NLB/Atlantic Highlands
        Humanities Press.
      * Sternhell, Zeev with Mario Sznajder and Maia Asheri. [1989] 1994.
        The Birth of Fascist Ideology, From Cultural Rebellion to
        Political Revolution., Trans. David Maisei. Princeton, NJ:
        Princeton University Press.
      * Fritzsche, Peter. 1990. Rehearsals for Fascism: Populism and
        Political Mobilization in Weimar Germany. New York: Oxford
        University Press. ISBN 0195057805
      * Gentile, Emilio. 2002. Fascismo. Storia ed interpretazione .
        Roma-Bari: Giuseppe Laterza & Figli.



Bibliography on international fascism

      * Coogan, Kevin. 1999. Dreamer of the Day: Francis Parker Yockey and
        the Postwar Fascist International. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Autonomedia.
      * Griffin, Roger. 1991. The Nature of Fascism. New York: St.
        Martin's Press.
      * Paxton, Robert O. 2004. The Anatomy of Fascism. New York: Alfred
        A. Knopf.
      * Weber, Eugen. [1964] 1982. Varieties of Fascism: Doctrines of
        Revolution in the Twentieth Century, New York: Van Nostrand
        Reinhold Company, (Contains chapters on fascist movements in
        different countries.)



Further reading

      * Seldes, George. 1935. Sawdust Caesar: The Untold History of
        Mussolini and Fascism. New York and London: Harper and Brothers.
      * Reich, Wilhelm. 1970. The Mass Psychology of Fascism. New York:
        Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
      * Mises, Ludwig von. 1944. Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the
        Total State and Total War. Grove City: Libertarian Press.

External links

    Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about:
    Fascism
      * The Doctrine of Fascism by Benito Mussolini (complete text)
      * Fascism and Zionism - From The Hagshama Department - World Zionist
        Organization
      * Fascism Part I - Understanding Fascism and Anti-Semitism
      * Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt -
        Umberto Eco's list of 14 characteristics of Fascism, originally
        published 1995.
      * Site of an italian fascist party Italian and German languages
      * Site dedicated to the period of fascism in Greece (1936-1941)
      * Text of the papal encyclical Quadragesimo Anno.
      * The Economics of Fascism, Supporters Summit 2005, October 7-8,
        2005, Mises Institute, Auburn, Alabama.


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