the movement was only in effect for a short while in a select few countries, it’s repercussions

are still felt to this day. So, what exactly is fascism?

Essentially, fascism was born out of the idea that rational egalitarian democracies would

ultimately lead to severe crisis and weakness. Around the late 1800s, a more irrational and

emotional structure based on social Darwinism began to overtake the idea that people should

have equality. Instead, fascism promised to create the rebirth of a new, stronger, and

greater society, stripped of all its weaknesses. Some point to Italian writer and poet Gabriele

D'Annunzio as the originator of this ideology. During the 1930s and 40s, it saw significant

influence. First in Italy, then in Germany and Japan, although a large number of countries

borrowed the ideology around the same time.

In effect, fascism operates under a strict doctrine. First off, it attempts to unify

country under a single genetic banner. Often this nationalism includes the concept of “racial”

or “cultural” purity as a method of weeding out weakness. Hitler used this to paint Jews

and other groups as not being part of a “pure Aryan race," and thus worthy of being eliminated.

Second, is the total control of society and people by the state, called totalitarianism.

Citizens are expected to have unwavering faith in a single party ruling elite, in nearly

all cases a dictator. It is intended to directly oppose pluralism, which is the ability of

multiple parties to compete for power.

Economically, fascism seeks to solve the problems of materialist capitalism and Marxist socialism.

In practice, countries did this by promoting private enterprise, and handsomely rewarding

successful businessmen while abolishing unions. However, the state would only allow businesses

which served and promoted the national interest. They also sought to ban foreign trade to avoid

becoming dependent on any other country. The end goal is to become fully self sufficient,

and to be able to allocate significant resources towards the military.

Fascism is also intensely supportive of violence to achieve political means. That specifically

includes removing “weak” people from the fascist state, either by executing or deporting

them. All through strict social laws enforced by a violent police army. In the 30s these

were Hitler’s Brown Shirts and Mussolini’s Blackshirts.

Finally, as a social ideology, fascism promotes youth and revolution, with a particular focus

on strengthening desirable, and supposedly “moral” characteristics. For example,

in Fascist Italy homosexuality was seen as moral weakness and expressly forbidden, along

with pornography and prostitution. In Nazi Germany, abortions were legal, and often compulsory

in cases of deformity or non-Aryan racial characteristics. However for healthy Aryan

babies, abortion was illegal.

Fascism is intended to craft a society to the ultimate ambitions of a single ruling

party. As history has shown, this has promoted mass murder, eugenics, censorship, propaganda,

and severe inequality. Some have said fascism defies the political spectrum entirely, and

is neither left nor right. In the end, fascism is exactly what it sounds like: a nightmare.

Want to learn more about political theories? Check out our full playlist including this

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