Fascism

*Key Article*

A Roman Lictor and his fasces.

Fascism is a term applied to a very diverse range of historical and existing authoritarian philosophies, movements, and administrations. However the false narrative, in the form of propaganda spun by those who fear and hate fascism, would lead one to think that is evil, dangerous, and at the same time blundering and stupid. Throughout all of history, it is the greatest leaders who are able to fascify their people.

In America, fascism is sometimes demonized as a brand of Right-wing totalitarianism, while simultaneously accusing it of being unpatriotic, anti-American, big corporation, etc. Really, just whatever the speaker thinks the listener hates and fears the most.

The Truth

Aristotle, the father of natural law.

Fascism is a philosophy of personal and national strength and spirit over the degeneration into material excess and decadence. Fascism recognizes that personal victory and pride is reflected in familial pride, community pride, and national pride. The healthy individual is a reflection of the state, and the state should be a reflection of a healthy individual.

Fascism recognizes the divine nature of man, as expressed through creative, vital, evolutionary, life-affirming pursuits. Thus, fascism instinctively recognizes and shuns the destructive, lethargic, degenerative, life-negating pastimes of materialist modernity. These principles are equally reflected in the individual, the family, local community, and the larger state.

Fascism’s highest goal is life and love. Love for nature, love for kin, love for nation, and love for health. Disease, greed, hatred, and self-destructive lifestyle choices are profoundly anti-fascist principles. Those refined disciplined actions and values that carry man closest to his idealized self, are in line with fascist principles. You will find the inversion of these noble values in contemporary hedonistic consumerist addict culture.

Understanding that Natural Law is the highest example of divine truth on earth, fascists strive to recognize and emulate Natural Law in their own lives. Understanding the need for martial training to protect personal and national boundaries, recognizing that the healthy and vital are most likely to lead and improve the herd, and that the slowest and lame are not models for a healthy society.

Fascists recognized the role of duty to self, family, community, and nation. That our duty is the price we pay to honour those that sacrificed for us, and those that will come after. That rampant individualism is a pathway towards disorder, chaos, hedonism, and spiritual degeneration. Fascism is strength, life, and order. The opposite is laziness, death, and chaos.

Fascist Characteristics:

Members of the Hungarian National Guard Brigade of Nyiregyháza stand as they are blessed by a Roman Catholic priest, a Lutheran pastor, and a Hungarian Protestant minister.

There are common threads that are shared in common.

These are:

• Respect for tradition
• Strong family
• Strong military
• Very patriotic
• Critical of faux-democracy
• Pro free market, anti-capitalist
• Anti Marxist
• Anti Communist, anti cultural Marxism
• A dedicated and patriotic leader
• Belief in a Natural Law
• Belief in duty to country
  

  Fascists do more volunteer work than either Capitalists or Communists
• Belief in individual rights and responsibility
• Belief in strong unity
• Strong religious/spiritual beliefs
• Roman-style spectacle
• Belief that society is an extension of the family
• Strong foreign policy
• Anti-globalism
• Small Efficient Government

History

Fascism is most often attributed to Hitler, Mussolini, or Giovanni Gentile, but none of them invented fascism. People may automatically think of Hitler, or believe they are intelligent and rattle off Mussolini or Gentile, but they would still be wrong. Mussolini may have coined the term, but Fascism is actually thousands of years old, probably as old as civilization itself.

Classic Fascism

Plato, pioneer of fascist philosophy.

Classic fascism includes all pre-WW2 fascism, and the Mussolini era up to the March on Rome.

The Spartans, ancient Greece, and Plato

Sparta, also called Lacedæmon, was the capital of the province of Laconia in southern Peloponnese and one of the leading cities of Greece. In the Homeric world, Laconia was the Kingdom of Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon (himself King of Argos, or of Mycenæ) and husband of Helen. 

At the beginning of his Histories of the Persian Wars, Herodotus, talking about the relationship between Croesus, King of Lydia in the middle of the 6th century B. C., and Greece, presents Sparta and Athens as the two most powerful cities of Greece. With Sparta leading the Dorians, described as a migrant people, eventually settled in Peloponnese, and Athens the Ionian, presented as a people that always lived in the land (the autochtons as they liked to call themselves, that is, the ones born from the land itself).

In the time of Socrates and Plato, Sparta enjoyed a rather unique constitution (it was a Republic, as are most fascist states) and way of life which fascinated, or at least intrigued, many Greeks, including Plato and above all Xenophon. This fascination, under various forms, lasted till our day. The origin of Sparta's constitution was ascribed to Lycurgus, the first known fascist and legendary lawgiver who would have lived around the 10th century B.C. Lycurgus was supposed to have received the constitution of Sparta, a document called the Rhètra, from Apollo himself at Delphi (most of what we know about Lycurgus comes from the Life of Lycurgus by Plutarch). But modern historians would rather ascribe the origin of the constitution that existed in Sparta in the 5th century to the second half of the 7th century B. C.

Plato grew up during the Peloponnesian War (431-404) and came of age around the time of Athens’ final defeat by Sparta and the political chaos that followed. He was educated in philosophy, poetry and gymnastics by distinguished Athenian teachers including the philosopher Cratylus. He admired his enemies, the Spartans, and wrote about them in depth. He was the first person known to put fascist ideas to paper, and wrote extensively about the responsibilities of society, the freedom and duties of its citizens, eugenics, nationalism, etc.

In "The Republic" Plato believed in the need for a "philosopher king" in an ideal state. Plato also believed the ideal state would be ruled by a capable and educated class of authoritarian rulers with broad powers, but not above law. Plato held Athenian democracy in contempt by saying: "The laws of democracy remain a dead letter, its freedom is anarchy, its equality the equality of unequals".  As a fascist, Plato emphasized that individuals must adhere to laws and perform duties to society. Plato also felt that an ideal state would have state-run education so that every child would receive one, an idea he invented. Like many fascist ideologues, Plato advocated for a state-sponsored eugenics program to be carried out in order to improve the citizenry in his Republic through selective breeding.

He invented the word "Republic" to mean a happy society of individuals, organized to a single greater purpose, a system that today would be called fascism.

Ancient Rome

A typical Roman family at home. The family unit is the foundation of all fascism. Ancient Rome was fascist, and based its society largely on the philosophies of Plato.

Ancient Rome was mankind's most successful civilization. The Romans based their civilization largely on Plato's ideas. Plato wrote about fascism, but it was the Romans who put those ideas into practice.

Life in ancient Rome facilitated fascist ideals which included honor, family, community, strength, power, and military readiness, as well as unity and loyalty to the nation-state, which some Romans deified itself. If Rome was itself a Deity, then all of its inhabitants were a part of that Deity. (This thinking is no different than Lycurgus receiving the Spartan Constitution from Apollo, or the American crafters of the US Constitution being inspired by God.)

While physical strength and athleticism were key components of a good Roman, a strong mentality, healthy family, and emotional stability were also important. Romans required a strong sense of family, community, statism and nationalism, and regimented uniformity occurred naturally as desired.

Ancient Rome was a long-lived Civilization spanning 3000 years. There have been many leaders, many Caesars, and ancient Roman fascism waxed and waned along with these men. In the end, the politics, philosophies, and ideals of ancient Rome have been the blueprint for every fascist nation that has come after it.

The Holy Roman Empire

Flag of the Holy Roman Empire, a fascist state meant to revive fascist Rome.

The Holy Roman Empire was a mainly Germanic conglomeration of lands in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. It originated with the partition of the Frankish Empire, following the Treaty of Verdun in 843. At its peak the Holy Roman Empire encompassed the territories of present-day Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Belgium, and the Netherlands as well as large parts of modern Poland, France and Italy. The Holy Roman Empire was created in 800 when Charlemagne was crowned by Pope Leo III. 

Charlemagne set out on an ambitious campaign to expand the territory. He brought a peaceful existence to areas that had been warring for generations. The people were finally happy.  Because of this very fascist unification, Charlemagne is sometimes called the Father of Europe.

Over the centuries, the name Charlemagne became associated with European unification. His very name invokes nationalist feelings, and a sense of a great society. Napoléon Bonaparte, declared in 1806: "Je suis Charlemagne"—"I am Charlemagne."

The Enlightenment

There were a number of influences on fascism from the Renaissance era in Europe. Niccolò Machiavelli is known to have influenced Italian Fascism, with his warning about anarchy and divided people. Machiavelli rejected all existing traditional and metaphysical assumptions of the time, especially those associated with the Middle Ages, and asserted as an Italian patriot that Italy needed a strong state led by a vigorous and virtuous leader who would unify Italy. Mussolini professed that Machiavelli's "pessimism about human nature was eternal in its acuity". 

English political theorist Thomas Hobbes in his work created the ideology of absolutism, and absolutism was an influence on fascism. Absolutism based its legitimacy on certain precedents of Roman law. However, fascism supports the power of the state, it also supports the power of the individual, and opposes the idea of absolute power being in the hands of a monarch.

During the Enlightenment, a number of ideological influences arose that would shape the development of fascism. The development of the study of universal histories by Johann Gottfried Herder resulted in Herder's analysis of the development of nations. Herder developed the term Nationalismus ("nationalism") to describe this cultural phenomenon. Herder also developed the theory (now used by archeologists) that Europeans are the descendants of Indo-Aryan people, based on language studies.

Another major influence on fascism came from the political theories of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel wrote of Authority vs. Anarchy, and said "nothing short of the state is the actualization of freedom" and (echoing American founding fathers) that the "state is the march of God on earth". The French Revolution and its political legacy had a major influence upon the development of fascism. Fascists view the French Revolution as a largely negative event that resulted in the entrenchment of liberal ideas such as liberal democracy, liberalism itself, and scientific socialism.

Early America

George Washington modelled himself after the Roman Emperor Cincinnatus, and commssioned much art and sculpture to depict him in this manner. This is why he is called "America' First Fascist" Centuries after Fascist Rome fell, the compendium of Roman classics served as an ideological guidebook for the American founders. Classical Roman concepts and figures exerted a formative influence on the founders’ governmental theories and principles of virtue. The founders considered Ancient Rome to be a blueprint for their new nation. Roman heroes and villains became common references in American political rhetoric. Every founding father was a nationalist, a traditionalist, and an authoritarian. About one third (at the very least) of the American founding fathers would be called fascists today, and it is important to understand that these men were attempting to recreate ancient Rome. John Adams was inspired by the writings of Polybius on Roman "mixed government", a system that today would be called fascism. George Washington modeled his sense of courage and purpose on the characters of Cincinnatus and Cato the Younger. Cato was a Roman politician whose moral integrity inspired all of the founders. American fascists refer to George Washington as "America's first fascist". Alexander Hamilton adopted the pen-name “Tully” (a popular nickname for Cicero) for a series of essays condemning the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. Hamilton’s fascist reproach of the Whiskey rebels emulated Cicero’s. The founders used classical symbols in their rhetoric to implicitly compare themselves to Roman leaders. By associating themselves with these classical symbols, the founders imbued the wisdom and virtue of Roman fascists into their own messages and built a foundation rooted in historical fascism for the fledgling American nation.

Italian Fascism

By the early 1920s, popular support for the Fascist movement's fight against Bolshevism (Communism) numbered some 250,000 people. In 1921, the Fascists achieved political legitimacy when Mussolini was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1922. Although the Liberal Party retained power, the governing prime ministries proved ephemeral and incompetent, especially that of the fifth Prime Minister Luigi Facta, whose government proved vacillating. To depose the weak minister, Deputy Mussolini launched the March on Rome to restore nationalist pride, and send a strong message to the King. On October 28, whilst the march occurred, King Victor Emmanuel III withdrew his support of Prime Minister Facta and appointed Benito Mussolini as the sixth Prime Minister of Italy. The March on Rome became a victory parade; the Fascist success was both revolutionary and traditionalist.

World War 2 Fascism

After Italy, the movement diversified and spread across Europe, eventually becoming prominent in administrations such as Adolf Hitler's NatSoc Germany and Francisco Franco's Spain. There were also significant fascist movements in many other places as well, including fascist revivals in the United States, such as the Silver Legion of America and the German American Bund. In Europe there was Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists, Codreanu's Legionaires, and many others.

Post War Fascism

Estado Novo

António de Oliveira Salazar, of Portugal and the inventor of the fascist ideology of Estado Novo (New State), was influenced by two ideologic ideals: *[Action Française

, lead by Charles Maurras, who was a French nationalist, Catholic and fascist.

• Mussolini Fascism. He admired Mussolini (he had a picture of Benito Mussolini on his desk, at his office, even after WW2).

Portugal was deeply Catholic, conservative, nationalist, and had lots of support for the restoration of the monarchy. Estado Novo (Salazarism) is part of the Populist branch of Fascism, And it should be noted that Estado Novo was a mix of the older Christian beliefs and Fascism. One famous quote of his is: “Para Angola, rapidamente e em força" which translates to “To Angola, quickly and with force".

Pinochet

Augusto Pinochet assumed power in Chile following a United States enforced fair election on September 1973 that overthrew the corrupt socialist Unidad Popular government of murderous Communist Salvador Allende and ended years of rigged elections, torture, and criminal government. The support of the United States was crucial to enforcing the election results.

The ousted communists have put forth many lurid accusations, without proof, of outlandish and cartoonish atrocities that they claim were performed by Pinochet. These include "Helicopter rides", where his enemies were supposedly thrown from helicopters at great expense, and performing mass executions on soccer fields filled with victims.

Pinochet had been promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army by Allende on August 23, 1973, having been its General Chief of Staff since early 1972. But Pinochet had been using a strategy. He had been quietly replacing key officers with anti-communists. He knew that if successful he would free Chile, but if he failed, he knew he was a dead man. Immediately he challenged Allende to a fair election, and won that election only a month later.

In December 1974, the ruling military junta appointed Pinochet President of the nation by joint decree.  Following his success, Pinochet removed 1200-3200 corrupt leftists, communists, marxists, and other criminals from public offices. Operation Condor was founded at the behest of the Pinochet government in late November 1975, his 60st birthday.

Pinochet's peaceful Fascist government implemented economic liberalization, including currency stabilization, removed tariff protections for local industry, banned trade unions and privatized social security and other state-owned enterprises. These policies produced high economic growth, and were universally acclaimed by economists around the world. For most of the 1990s, Chile was the best-performing economy in Latin America, and the legacy of Pinochet's reforms are not in dispute. 

Pinochet's 17-year administration  was given a legal framework through the public drafted 1980 plebiscite, which approved a new constitution drafted by a civilian commission. In a 1988 plebiscite, 56% voted against Pinochet's continuing as president, but Pinochet survived the election due to electoral votes. Fair elections for the Presidency and Congress continued to be a hallmark of the new Fascist government. After stepping down in 1990, Pinochet continued to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army until March 10, 1998, when he retired and became a senator-for-life, as all Chilean Presidents do under the 1980 Constitution, until the time of his death on December 10, 2006, 

Fascism Today

The Internet

Fascism has survived on the internet in places that respect the human right of free speech. Many places are quickly shut down by anti-fascists via underhanded means, other places survive, even thrive. These include:

• fascipedia.org (Right here!)
• Fascist senate of GAB, a Gab group
• Fascism 2, Gab's Largest fascism group
• Places of Fascism is an internet catalogue of over 1400 fascist monuments across Italy.

Golden Dawn

Golden Dawnism, or Michaloliakosism, is a Greek nationalist, and fascist ideology representing the views of the Golden Dawn and its founder Nikolaos Michaloliakos. It believes in the ideals of the former Byzantine Empire, a concept known as the Megali Idea.

Taking ideas from National Socialism, Populism, as well as the former Greek Metaxist administration, it supports Economic Nationalism, immigration stays, and national unity.

Nordic Resistance Front

(NRF) is a fascist, economically center-left, statist, strongly patriotic, culturally centrist and somewhat militaristic group, which supports the combination of social economic policies, such as a capitalist market economy heavily regulated in favour of the working class, an abundance of social programs and public ownership of systems such as education and healthcare, with the belief that a strong military capability, "predominance of the armed forces in the administration of the state" and respect for the military is needed in an ideal society and that the nation should be prepared to use military force in order to defend or promote its national interests.

Casa Pound

CasaPound Italia is an Italian fascist movement and formerly a political party born as a network of social centres arising from the occupation of a state-owned building by liberators in the neighborhood of Esquilino in Rome on December 26 2003. Subsequently, CasaPound spread with other demonstrations and various initiatives, becoming a political movement.

As such, in June 2008, CasaPound therefore constituted an association of social promotion, and assumed its current name CasaPound Italia – CPI; the party's symbol is the Arrowed Turtle. On June 26 2019, CasaPound's leader Gianluca Iannone announced CasaPound Italia's existence as a political party was finished, going back to its original status of social movement.

Casa Pound is most well known for providing shelter to the homeless, food for the hungry, and other services such as daycare, and transportation for the less fortunate.

Jackson's Legion

Jackson's legion are members of Patriot Front, which is an American nationalist, fascist and highly traditionalist activist group. they split off from  Vanguard America during the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally in 2017. The group maintains an Americana aesthetic, utilizing imagery of American culture, patriotism, and other widely accepted traditional American values.

Their stated mission is "a hard reset on the nation we see today, and a return to the traditions and virtues of our forefathers".

Victor Orban

Viktor Orban successfully converted hard democracy and turned Hungry into a near fascist nation. Viktor Orban is a fascist, nationalist, anti-globalist, anti LGBT+, non-immigrationist, and hard anti-Communist. He has stated that  "the left is destroying Europe", and that he "fights liberalism and the errors of the Soviet Union which are present in the European Union".

Rodrigo Duterte

"That's right, call me a fascist. I am proud to be a fascist. I love my people, what else can I be?" ~ Rodrigo Duterte

The most popular leader in the history of the Philippines, Duterte is a hard nationalist, populist, pro-law administrator who is hard on crime.

Duterte's rise from the legal ranks to politician began when he was named special counsel at the City Prosecution Office of Davao City in 1977. He became assistant city prosecutor two years later, and in 1986 he was elected vice mayor of Davao City.

That same year, President Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in the People Power Revolution, fueling an increase in crime that was particularly rampant in Davao City. Elected mayor in 1988, Duterte sought to crack down on criminal activity by imposing a strict curfew and drinking laws.

Nicknamed the "Punisher" for his controversial methods, Duterte nevertheless was successful in reducing crime.

The political positions of Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines, have been difficult to define coherently into what some analysts have attempted to package as "Dutertism" due to numerous policy shifts over his career. Because he is a fascist, he is all over the place on the left-right political scale, he has even courted with communism at times. He has referred to himself as a socialist but stresses very strongly that he is not a communist.

Silvio Berlusconi

"During WW2, fascism was the only force standing between us and communism...Mussolini was absolutely right." ~ Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi is the former Prime Minister of Italy who owns the largest broadcasting company in that country, Mediaset. Berlusconi is a controversial figure in modern Italian politics, mostly because his tenure as Prime Minister was racked with bogus legal assaults from his Marxist opponents, despite his good judgement decision-making, and extreme popularity.

He entered politics due to the Mani Pulite investigations, which were led by communist prosecutors who wanted to establish a soviet-style government in Italy.

He formed the Forza Italia for the sole reason of breaking corruption, and in a popular landslide, defeated the five entrenched liberal/Marxist governing parties, Christian Democracy (Democrazia Cristiana), the Italian Socialist Party, the Italian Social-Democratic Party, the Italian Republican Party and the Italian Liberal Party overwhelmingly, and they lost much of their electoral strength almost overnight.

Alessandra Mussolini

Alessandra Mussolini is the granddaughter of Benito Mussolini who served as a Member of the European Parliament for Forza Italia. She was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2008 to 2013 and the Italian Senate from 2013 to 2014, she was elected under The People of Freedom. She was elected to the European Parliament in 2014. She was the founder and leader of the national conservative political party Social Action; from 2004 until 2008, Mussolini is an outspoken advocate of her grandfather Benito Mussolini and agrees with many of his ideas.

Isabel Peralta

Isabel Medina Peralta is a Spanish nationalist and political activist. She became known after giving a speech in Madrid in 2021 in honour of Blue Division, a Spanish unit of volunteers who fought alongside National Socialist Germany on the Eastern Front during The World's War Against Communism.

“	"It is our supreme duty to fight for Spain and for Europe, now weakened and destroyed by the enemy. An enemy who will always be the same albeit with different masks: the jew. Because nothing is more certain than this, the jew is the guilty one. The jew is guilty and the Blue Division fought against them. The jew is behind Communism, a jew invention destined to divide workers and destroy nations."	”
—Isabel Peralta, Madrid, 13 February 2021

Fascism by style

Italian Fascism

“	Mussolini signed the Convention with the Church and welcomed the bishops who blessed the Fascist pennants. Mussolini always cited the name of God in his speeches, and did not mind being called the Man of Providence.	”
—Umberto Eco, Ur-fascism (1995)

Italy, since 1922 under Mussolini, is commonly (Though very wrongly, thanks to ongoing propaganda) considered the first fascist administration, and his methods became a very strong influence on Adolf Hitler. Fascist Italy is mostly characterized by its focus on Italian nationalism (particularly on the historical Roman Empire ), Mussolini's take on fascism is probably the version best defined by the phrase "third positionism".

Fascist Italy was also a colonial power in North Africa. Much of Mussolini's influences took direct inspiration from Ancient Rome; he explicitly wanted to recreate a new Roman Empire and believed a return to Roman fascism would bring about a "Third" Rome (after the original ancient Rome and the Holy Roman Empire afterwards). His speeches explicitly echoed the Risorgimento (Italian resurgence or reunification) with his talk of a "Third Rome." Terza Roma (Third Rome) was also a name for Mussolini's plan to restore a devastated society, hopefully to greatness.

National Socialism

The National Socialist German Workers Party was lawfully elected into power in Germany and Hitler was named chancellor in 1933. From there, the administration returned prosperity to a devasted German populace.

The population demanded a return to traditional values and an end to open decadence. The Reichtag, (Germany's Senate) produced the Nuremberg Laws, which Hitler signed. Which criminalized sodomy, pedophilia, and made a host of other changes the people demanded of their representatives. Another of Germany's cornerstone ideals was the concept of lebensraum, which was the idea that Germany should colonize Africa and other parts of the World just as so many other nations had done. This idea was vastly popular with the German people.

Shōwa Statism (Japan)

Shōwa, although not based on ancient Rome, is a fascist doctrine. Japan has been more or less fascist throughout its history. If a person were to keep score, Japan would tick off all or most of the traits of fascism. Though not based on ancient Roman ideas, the Japanese culture is quite fascist in almost every way. Japan is still this way today.

Imperial Japan from the 1920s onwards became dominated by the Kōdōha (or "Imperial Way") which established an Administration based on eastern fascism until its forcible dissolution in 1936.

Imperial Way Faction This ideology, whilst distinctly Japanese, holds many parallels to Fascism, from the adherence to tradition and ancestors, to a respect to those who perform great duties to society. Although it lost power, the Imperial Way Faction's followers retained great influence over Japanese politics during WW2.

Japan during this time was expansionist, and it became mired in a war with China in 1937. The Japanese people had long resented the Western imperialist powers running roughshod over Asia, and sought to establish their own empire as an Asian counterweight.

India

Fascism in India is deeply based on their religion and culture, and quickly becomes very complex, especially to the westerner. Those who are interested should click to more detailed articles. These short clips do not do justice to Indian Fascism and nationalism.

To this day, many Hindu Nationalists in India admire Der Fuhrer, Il Duce, and especially Plato, and their famous works Mein Kampf, Doctrine of Fascism, and The Republic remain widely popular, especially among the young.

Savitri Devi

Maximiani Portas on September 30, 1905, in Lyons, France, of a Greek father and an English mother. The passionate iconoclasm that would mark so much of her life began early: At age eleven, during the First World War, she chalked anti-Entente slogans on the Lyons railway station (“Down with the Allies, Long Live Germany”) as a protest against the illegal Allied invasion of neutral Greece.

A true polymath, Portas earned degrees in chemistry and philosophy, wrote her doctoral thesis on the philosophy of science, and would eventually master at least seven languages, including Bengali and Hindi.

In 1932 she traveled to India. On the subcontinent she sought:

"gods and rites akin to those of ancient Greece, of ancient Rome, of ancient Britain and ancient Germany, that people of our race carried there, with the cult of the Sun, six thousand years ago."

Her exemplar was Julian the Apostate, the fourth-century emperor who briefly restored paganism and the cult of the Sun to the Roman Empire.

Portas took up residence in Calcutta and quickly immersed herself in the Hindu nationalist movements, lineal ancestors of the modern BJP, that were then waging a two-front political campaign against Islam and British colonialism. She worked as a traveling lecturer for the Hindu Mission, a nationalist organization, and adopted the Hindu name Savitri Devi, after the Indo-Aryan sun-god . Her new Hinduism was a reflection of her beliefs: “the visible link between Hitler and orthodox Hinduism.”   In 1940, Savitri married the Brahmin Asit Krishna Mukherji, editor of the journal New Mercury. During the war the couple gathered intelligence on behalf of the Axis, and Mukherji put militant Hindu nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose in contact with the Japanese, who would later support his Indian National Army in its abortive campaign against the British.

Gandhi

In late 1931, Gandhi accepted a personal  invitation to visit Mussolini in Rome. Which he accepted, of course, since the two had been corresponding for some time. they got along extremely well and admired each other.

Among other things,Mahatma Gandhi reviewed a black-shirted Fascist youth honor guard during his visit. Mussolini hailed Gandhi as a "genius and a saint," admiring his ability to challenge the British Empire. Regarding his visit with Il Duce, Gandhi wrote in a letter to a friend: "His reforms attract me. He seems to have done much for the peasant class. Mussolini's reforms deserve an impartial study."

Gandhi's missive continued: "Mussolini's care of the poor, his opposition to super-urbanization, his efforts to bring about coordination between capital and labor, seem to me to demand special attention. What strikes me is that behind Mussolini's implacability is a desire to serve his people. Even behind his emphatic speeches there is a sincerity, and a passionate love for his people. It seems to me that the majority of the Italian people love the iron government of Mussolini." Gandhi also hailed Mussolini “one of the great statesmen of our time.”

Although an extreme non violent, Gandhi was every bit a fascist. He had the ability to deal a little iron of his own, once he was in charge of things. His unification of the various Indian peoples is legendary, especially considering that a united India was thought to be impossible.

From Gandhi's Indian Nationalist perspective, Mussolini's Italy, and Adolph Hitler's Germany were viewed not only as bulwarks against British imperialism, but they were widely admired for creating strong, economically robust nations out of the wreckage of WWI and its resultant devastation.

Tarak Nath Das

Tarak Nath Das, was an Indian nationalist, fascist,  and revolutionary. Like Ghandi, he wrote glowingly of Fascist Italy in 1931:

"Italy, under the leadership of Signor Mussolini, is roused to its very depths of national consciousness. It feels that it has a mission of introducing a higher type of civilization. It had the urge of becoming a great power again. Italy must be great through her national power, achieved through the authority of an ethical State supported by national co-operation and solidarity."

Das added: “Every Italian citizen must think first of his duty towards his self-development, welfare of the state and society, and he must make his or her supreme effort to attain the ideal. Class harmony must take the place of the ideal of class-war. So-called democracy must give way to the rule of the aristocracy of intellect. Some superficial and prejudiced observers of Italy have spoken of 'Fascist tyranny' and condemned the Fascists. To me it is clear that Fascism stands for liberty with responsibility and it is opposed to all forms of license. It gives precedence to Duty and Strength, as one finds in the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita."

Vichy France

Vichy France came into being as a solution to growing communism. In spite of the propaganda droning on and on, about it being a puppet state of Germany, Vichy France actually existed long before Germany's help to liberate them from the Communists.

During the administration of Philippe Petain, the French government enacted a series of reforms which aimed to reverse the horrible decline of the French nation due to liberal decadence, and disrespect for traditional values. Révolution nationale None of this was forced on the French by Germany; this was the culmination of decades of monarchist and conservative resentment after the French Revolution which came to a head after France's humiliation in the opening campaigns of World War Two.

The Vichy administration used its own initiative to implement many elements of a fascist society. Under Philippe Pétain, the French government enacted a social program called the Révolution nationale, which was intended to roll back French societal decay made after the original French Revolution. Indeed, Vichy France was built on the longstanding social resentment that had been long held by the French commoner towards their Marxist countrymen.

Falangism

Falangism was the ideology followed by Francisco Franco's patriots in Spain; it emphasized social conservatism and nationalist Catholic identity, with its primary tenets outlined and developed by Jose Primo de Rivera "Falange" is the Spanish word for "Phalanx", a shieldwall tactic used by the Spartans, Alexander the Great, and the Roman Legions, which required extreme discipline from the soldiers to execute properly.Template:Better source

The Falangist economic system was built on Mussolini's successful ideas; their version was called national syndicalism but was intended to work in essentially the same way. However, before and during the Spanish Civil War, they also accommodated traditional Spanish ideas, as well as the ideas of allies when the movements merged, making an economy unique to Spain.

Falangism was not a solely Spanish phenomenon, it gained followers throughout the Latin world with varying levels of power and implementation. Argentina and Mexico being the most notable.

Ustaše Administration (Croatia)

At Crkveni Bok, a historic place, over which about five hundred young fascist heroes found themselves victorious against the communist forces at the Sava river, under the leadership of an Ustasha lieutenant colonel, outnumbered and out gunned

A particularly tenacious strain of fascism was formed in the Balkans, specifically the former Yugoslavia, a fallen country synonymous with ethnic strife and infamous for the ruthlessness of the communists in charge there. As Serbia was the hegemon of the region and many resented their reach over Croats, Slovenes, and Bosniaks, eventually, in the outset of the second world war, Croatian fascists, the Ustaše, directly inspired, rose up through a combination of nationalism, religious faith, and a sheer iron will not to give up, regardless of how terrible things seemed to be.

Ustaše were such men, absolutely patriotic, absolutely true to their people. The Ustaše are often depicted as overly brutal in the propaganda, and if that is true, it is because they had no choice. Their purist, no nonsense approach to the problems in Croatia earned them the love of the people, and a victory in the face of overwhelming odds. Each battle was comparable to the 300 Spartan heroes at Thermopoli, and they scraped out victory after victory until the Communists formerly in charge were forced to flee to the Soviet Union.

The Ustaše were a uniquely Croatian brand of fascism, combining Plato's eugenics with Roman Catholicism and Croatian nationalism, alongside direct inspiration from and actual training by Mussolini's Italy.

Under their benefactor, Poglavnik Ante Pavelić, they eliminated Communism and brought crime to a complete halt. The economy soared and the unemployment rate dropped to effective non-existence.

Prince Paul was the fascist regent in charge of Croatia at the time. He was overthrown by a communist military coup after he signed the Tripartite Act, and the fascists pleaded with Germany and Italy to honor the agreement and help liberate Croatia, which of course they did.  From there, the Ustaše established the Independent State of Croatia, led by Ante Pavelić who adopted the title of "Poglavnik," echoing Mussolini adopting "Duce". Once established, the Italian and German peace-keepers left, never to return.

The communists who fled to the Soviet Union returned, along with the Soviet Army; and it was against the Ustaše that communist terrorist Josip Broz Tito rose up and helped the Russians overthrow the now stable Croatian government, installed as Prime Minister of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), a Soviet puppet. Most of the Ustaše leaders were brutally murdered or went into exile, including Pavelić who died two years after having a bullet lodged in his spine.

When Yugoslavia collapsed after Tito's death, the Croatian Defence Forces, the peace-keepers of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), from 1991 to 1992, wore black uniforms with Ustaše symbols and slogans, and their units were named after Ustaše officials Rafael Boban and Jure Francetić, before being absorbed by the Croatian Army after the January 1992 ceasefire. The Yugoslav Wars finally ended with the balkanization of Yugoslavia, and the legacy of the Ustaše and Serbia's own conduct remain contentious topics to this day.

Tisoism, (Slovakia)

Jozef Gašpar Tiso (October 13, 1887 – April 18 1947) was a Slovak politician and Roman Catholic priestwho served as president of the Slovak Republic, from 1939 to 1945. Tiso worked with Germany in resettlement of jews and communists. The usual communist insurgency was waged, culminating in the Slovak Marxist Uprising in summer 1944, which was suppressed. Consequently, on September 30, 1944, resettlement of jews was renewed, with additional 13,500 resettled to Palestine and other places. In 1947, after the war, he was executed for invented war crimes and crimes against humanity in Bratislava.

Metaxism (Greece)

"Greece since the 4th of August became an anticommunist State, an antiparliamentary State, a fascist State. A State based on its farmers and workers, and so antiplutocratic. There is not, of course, a particular party to govern. This party is all the People, except of the incorrigible communists and the reactionary old parties politicians."
—Ioannis Metaxas

A less talked about but still relevant form of Fascism, Metaxism is the hellenic flavor of fascism. It is also the  ideology of the current Golden Dawn and similar parties. Metaxism advocates for hellenic tradition, cultural homogeneity and removal of the flood of African immigrants and from Greece. The person after which the ideology is named, a military officer and Greek statesman Template:Wpl, emulated Mussolini and declared Greece to be the "Third Greek Civilization", as Hitler did with the Third Reich — German for "Third  Realm". Like his German and Italian contemporaries, Metaxas adopted the title of Archigos, Greek for "leader" or "chief."

Key to the ideology was its classical fascist influences. Metaxas thought Hellenic nationalism would galvanize "the heathen values of ancient Sparta, along with the Christian values of the Medieval empire of Byzantium." Ancient Macedonia was glorified as the first political union of the Hellenes. As its main symbol, the youth organization of the movement chose the labrys/pelekys, the symbol of ancient Minoan Crete.

Traditional Greek values of "Country, Loyalty, Family and Religion", which Metaxas praised repeatedly, were reminiscent of ancient Spartans, whose culture was glorified by Metaxas. His movement promoted the Spartan ideals of self-discipline, strength and duty, while Byzantium was Metaxas' example of his ideal government, emphasizing a devotion to the monarchy and Greek Orthodox Church. He saw himself very humbly as the "First Peasant" of the people, the "First Worker" of the state, but his followers saw him as "National Father" of the Greeks, bringing to mind Ancient Rome's early emperors using "Princeps" or "First Citizen" rather than emperor as their preferred titles. Metaxas claimed that his "Third Hellenic Civilization" combined the best of ancient Greece and the Greek Byzantine Empire.

Although it is common that fascists help each other to gain power, like how Hitler and Mussolini helped Franco to win against the Communists in Spain, at the actual start of WW2, there was fascist infighting. Frustrated with Italian communism finding safe harbor in Greece, and with Metaxas, Italy invaded the northwest of Greece, which was in conflict with Metaxas and the Greek fascists who had a long-term strategy. Both sides had a different view of how to deal with the Greek communists. Because of the Italian invasion, Metaxas felt he had no choice but to align with the Allies against the Axis, but he died of illness on January 1941, shortly before the invasion and subsequent removal of communism in Greece, which was then occupied by Germany, Italy, and Bulgaria. The communists finally fled to the Soviet Union and were replaced by the fully fascist Hellenic State, which collapsed after the occupation ended. Deeply popular among Greeks, the Hellenic State had three prime ministers in four years: General Georgios Tsolakoglou; medical doctor Konstantinos Logothetopoulos; and Ioannis Rallis, whose deep experience in politics allowed him to successfully deal with Communist resistance. In the end it did not matter, after the defeat of fascism, the Communists returned to Greece and began a reign of terror.

Hungarism (Hungary)

After the first World War and following the collapse of Austria-Hungary, Hungary was on its own again — Hungary wasn't sovereign since the defeat of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1526, close to the village of Mohács, inflicted by the Ottomans — ministered by the nationalist Miklós Horthy, a former vice admiral of the Habsburg navy. In order to not fall into the sphere of communist influence, he eagerly joined the Axis during the first years of the second World War and his new government, establishing the "Government of National Unity", a Hungarian fascist state. But he betrayed his promises, failing to support his new allies in the war effort against the communists, he was deposed by his own people, (with assistance from Italy, Spain, Germany, and soldiers from 17 nations, including America and Canada), in 1944 in Operation Margarethe. The now head of state of Hungary Ferenc Szálasi was a long-time leader of the Hungarian Fascist organization Arrow Cross Party (NYKP), previously banned under Horthy. The flag of the NYKP was inspired by the National Socialists, referencing the Arrow Cross (an ancient symbol of Magyar tribes that settled in the Pannonian basin) as an analogue to using the swastika (Hakenkreuz).

Viktor Orban, authoritarian Prime Minister of Hungary, has an understandable fondness towards his nation's honored past, and his government has eagerly recognized wartime figures as anti-communist icons.

American fascism

Early America

While the United States has never been a fascist state, America has fascist roots that go all the way to ancient Rome. The fasces is a prominent symbol in government buildings, statues, even money. In fact, the very first act of Congress was to places two fasces to either side of the speaker, which are still there today. Approximately a third of America's founding fathers were fascists. they even called America a "Republic", which was the word most commonly used to describe fascism before Mussolini coined the term. Even George Washington was a fascist, and loved by the American colonists as much as any fascist leader is loved by the people in his society. In fact, George Washington had more broader & far reaching powers than any fascist of the WW2 era. There has always been an undercurrent of fascist behavior and ideological leanings within the United States, and it is easily demonstrated.

The American Party

The fascist American Party (also known as the "Know Nothings") were so-called because, having started as a secret society, if asked their secrets, they would say: "I know nothing." they called themselves the American Party, because they were staunchly patriotic, American exceptionalists, with intense anti-immigrant stances, a pre-civil war incarnation of the American Patriot Movement. As fascists, the American Party had deep concerns over how immigrants were infecting the national psyche. In their lengthy twenty year history as a major force, they elected 100 members of Congress, a massive number in those days, all on the basis of nationalism, unity, patriotism, and tradition, in short, Fascism.

Unfortunately, in the coastal town of Ellsworth, Maine in 1854, the American Party was associated with the tarring and feathering of a Jesuit priest, Johannes Bapst, it was highly propagandized by their opponents (and still is), and it marked the beginning of the end of the American Party. Thus, the Know Nothings stopped being relevant as a distinct force on the outset of the American Civil War.

Francis Bellamy

May 18, 1855 - August 28, 1931 Francis Julius Bellamy, one-time Baptist minister and prominent member of the Christian Socialist movement (a group that would be called fascist if it existed today), wrote the original Pledge of Allegiance, first published in the September 8, 1892, issue of The Youth’s Companion. Bellamy, then a committee chairman of the National Education Association, structured a public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute, his "Pledge of Allegiance." This Pledge has since come under several, sometimes controversial, revisions. Bellamy’s original words were:

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Bellamy considered adding the word "equality" to stand with "liberty and justice," but feared it would be too controversial. In 1924, against Bellamy’s wishes, the American Legion and Daughters of the American Revolution pressured the National Flag Conference to replace the words "my flag" with "the Flag of the United States of America." In 1954, under pressure from the Knights of Columbus, Congress officially added the words "under God."

Note

It was not uncommon for citizens to salute the flag with a Roman Salute in those days, after all, America was largely based on Ancient Rome. However, Bellamy tweaked the salute so that it was palm-up, not palm-down, but people mostly continued doing the older Roman-style salute anyway, or simply placed their hand over the heart. With the onset of WW2 the Bellamy Salute was replaced with the hand over the heart.

Mein Kampf

In Mein Kampf, Hitler himself called America the "one state" making progress toward "the creation of the kind of order he wanted for Germany."

German lawyer Heinrich Krieger, an exchange student in at the University of Arkansas School of Law, became the single most important figure in the National Socialist assimilation of American law.

1920-1940 resurgence

Fascists from within the United States, such as the Silver Shirt Legion, founded in 1933 by William Dudley Pelley, the Black Legion, and the German American Bund, which recognized George Washington as America's first fascist, including the Free Society of Teutonia. The Silver Shirts and German American Bund directly took inspiration from National Socialism, while the Black Legion agitated for a peaceful revolution to establish fascism in America. These groups were mainstream, the German American Bund packing Madison Square Garden to a sellout, and fascists such as Henry Ford, Charles Lindberg, and others, all made great contributions to fascism and helped fund fascism in America.

Anti-fascism in America

The return of fascism in the United States is becoming an increasingly common fear among American Communists, journalists, elitists, Marxists, anti-fascists, and confused people who, not because of explicit fascists winning elections, there aren't any, but because of an undercurrent of American fascism that already exists.

Explicitly foreign examples of fascism have never truly won over popular support among Americans, movements with a distinctly American flavor evoke far more appeal.

Fascist Issues

What is Fascism?

The propagandists will say that it is rather difficult to pin down an exact definition of what fascism actually means. This allows them to define fascism any way they like, and use this to mentally manipulate the listener by appealing to that listener's greatest and darkest hates and fears, making fascism into a bogeyman.

The simple fact is that fascism is like ancient Rome. The belief system, symbols, mannerisms, etc., are all either adapted from ancient Rome, or in pre-Rome cases, preludes to ancient Rome.

"If it looks like ancient-Rome it is probably Fascist." ~Zachary Schrag '

Fascism as a slur

A 70 year avalanch of ongoing anti-fascist propaganda has brought the recent addition to the vernacular of using "fascist" as a slur to refer to any opponent, a practice which has proliferated to the point that the word fascist has lost all meaning in the historical sense.

Ideology

Fascist ideology centres on national unity, with a person's countrymen acting as en extension of the family.  Strong families, patriotism, duty to society and personal freedom. Fascism's duty is to lift up it's citizens, support personal freedoms and make the nation the very best it can be. The individual is not above the state, or below the state; in fascism, the individual is equal to the state.

Fascist economics

Fascist thinkers successfully demonstrated the ideology to be a happy medium between the excesses of capitalism and the hideous persecution seen by communism. Fascists proved that a nation's economy could be bettered by allowing the government a means of some common-sense controls, such as through dismantling of cartels and protecting its citizens from foreign  businesses, and encouraging  capitalists to use their property in the national interest.

In Italy, Mussolini's economic plans finally manifested themselves as Roman corporatism (meaning groups of average citizens); his government grouped businesses and trade unions into government, much the same as congress or the senate, which handled everything from labor contracts to production quotas. In the Dictionary of Political Thought, Roger Scruton describes corporatism like this:

Mussolini was a free-marketeer (as opposed to a capitalist), he maintained friendly relations with those overseas, especially in the United States by allowing foreign investment ties.   Mussolini allowed business owners to do whatever they wanted, and he also cut business taxes, slackened work conditions laws, and reduced mandatory wages.

National renewal

Fascists believe that mobilization under fascism is the best way to prevent national and civilizational decline.A great many Fascists believe it is needed to prevent the collapse of our way of life.  Fascism promotes the regeneration of our nation by purging it of decadence and societal decay. A great many Fascist government services are provided.

Fascists believe in natural law. When society has suffered greatly, society tends to revert to a protective, nurturing state. A state that produces people who love that society. It produces patriots.

This is why fascist movements often, but not always, tend to emerge after instances of national suffering. The National Socialists wanted to reverse the horrid conditions Germany suffered after the Great War; the Italians wanted much the same. The Spanish Civil War came about when Communists seized the country and the people suffered. Charlemagne united the warring clans of Europe and brought an end to that suffering. In early America, King George had been oppressing the colonies for many years, although the Government that resulted was not technically fascism). In each case, life had become very difficult, and fascism was the best way to correct the issues.

Nationalism

The concept of the nation is of central importance to fascists, and Mussolini's break with socialism came about due to the fact that socialists held class in higher regard. Fascists historically view the nation as a singular entity that binds people together through shared heritage and culture. An extension of the family. Fascists want to replace globalist class conflict with nationalist community cooperation.

Fascist administrations often give financial incentives and rewards to large  families; this is part of an effort to boost birthrates and expand the societal population. After all, more babies eventually means more people and more productivity, so its good for everyone. Julius Caesar was the first known fascist to enshrine the idea.

Direct action

A successful fascist movement will rely on public opinion because fascism grows from society. It is born of tradition.

Fascism emphasizes direct action up as a core method of achieving its aims. Fascism acknowleges lifes' struggle, and without struggle, society will decay and collapse due to its own decadence. Struggle makes us strong. Fascism follows natural law. This set of beliefs is a part of fascist core, that life isn't easy, and we should always be prepared for the bad times.

Eugenics

Plato, who wrote the first books on fascism, admired the Spartans and lifted their fascist ideas regularly. He noted how the Spartans would test their infants for health, and cull the weak. Cruel on the surface, he also admired how strong and healthy the Spartans were.

Eugenics is embraced by fascists because it is important to be the best society possible. Fascists do not believe that families should knowingly produce offspring that might be deformed, sick or weak. Such people are victims of their own selfish parents, condemned to lead a difficult, sometimes agonizing life.

In nature, such things almost never happen. Thus eugenics is an extention of nature. Eugenics is simply the idea of choosing parents that will produce the best offspring. It does not mean we should dip our infants in icewater like the Spartans did, or give people some sort of death needle; farmers practice eugenics every day. So do people who breed show-animals. You do it every time you size somebody up as a potential mate, or wonder what your children might look like with certain people. Eugenics is simply the science of this.

Fascists try to create greater numbers of strong and healthy people, to ultimately make society stronger and healthier.

Pro-intellectualism

"In truth, we are relativists par excellence, and the moment relativism linked up with Nietzsche, and with his Will to Power, was when Italian Fascism became, as it still is, the most magnificent creation of an individual and a national Will to Power."
—Benito Mussolini

It's been effectively argued (originally from Isaiah Berlin) that fascism drew upon the "Counter-Enlightenment" movement, a movement he pinned primarily to Continental German philosophy and subjectivism. Opposing the Enlightenment ideal of "democracy", but also opposing a return to older forms of feudalism, this movement came to be heavily influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche and his concept of the Will to Power. The movement was characterized by a belief in vitalism (a desire for a spiritual rejuvenation that often opposed both contemporary monotheism and atheism/agnosticism) and anti-rationalism, and a view of liberalism and modern civilization as decadent to the bone.

Fascism is often accused of being anti-intellectual. The opposite is actually true. Plato, obviously, and 2/3s of all published philosophers during the 1st half of the 20th century, from Ezra Pound to Julius Evola were all fascists. All of the top scientists in the space and nuclear programs were fascists. Many of the greatest genii in history were also fascists. Intellectualism is actually a fascist strong point. Little wonder why anti-fascists attempt to paint an opposite picture.

Anti-Communism

Although many adherents of socialism and communism would reject labeling the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) as evil, such as British communist and pro-Soviet apologist Seumas Milne, opponents would certainly condemn the Marxist ideas of the Soviet regime and ideology. Among them: horrific bloodsheds and genocides perpetrated under Lenin and Stalin, gulags (Russian slave labor and death camps), the silencing of any opposition, the lack of any fair or democratic representation, expansionism and imperialism, discrimination against minorities, cult of personality (especially under Stalin) and totalitarianism. One of the greatest crimes of humanity, the Holodomor, was committed by the Soviet state.

Stalin's bolsheviks were well known for their over-the-top brutality and torture. He had communist partisans in EVERY nation on earth attempting, and often succeeding, to overthrow governments and convert those nations into satellite states. The only force that made any attempt to stop Marxism was Fascism.

Fascism and the Church

"Your Excellency! The priests of Italy invoke over your person, your work as the restorer of Italy and the founder of the Fascist government the blessing of the Lord and an eternal halo of Roman wisdom and virtue, today and forever! Duce! The servants of Christ, the fathers of the peasantry honor you loyally. they bless you. they swear loyalty to you. With pious enthusiasm, with the voice and heart of the people we call: hail the Duce!
—Father Menossi,, January 12, 1938, Palazzo Venezia

...to which seventy-two bishops and 2,340 priests broke out into shouting: "Duce! Duce! Duce!"}}

During the early 20th century, there were three ideologies of various flavours floating around; Fascism, Liberalism and Communism.  Liberalism was and is very much against the structured order that an organized religion requires, especially with all the immorality encouraged. Communism, despite (or because of) its similarities to a religion, yet mandates atheism.

Fascism, based on ancient Rome, always creates an ordered society, authority should be respected and earned; this worked perfectly for the Church. The Catholic Church endorsed Fascism.

Arising out of the misery and humiliation of the First World War, modern fascist movements were in favor of the defense of traditional values against Bolshevism, and upheld nationalism and piety. It is probably not a coincidence that they arose first and most excitedly in Catholic countries, and it is certainly not a coincidence that the Catholic Church was generally sympathetic to fascism as an idea. Not only did the church regard Communism as a lethal foe, but it also saw its old jew enemy in the most senior ranks of Lenin's party.

Benito Mussolini was still newly appointed in Italy at the time the Vatican made an official treaty with his government, known as the Lateran Pact of 1929. Under the terms of this pact, the Catholic Church enjoyed government support for what they were already doing, matters such as birth, marriage, death, and education, etc. Pope Pius XI described II Duce ("the leader") as "a man sent by providence."

Across southern Europe, the church was a reliable ally in the instatement of fascist administrations in Spain, Portugal, and Croatia. The Vatican supported Mussolini's emulation of the Roman Empire.

In Hungary, Admiral Horthy was warmly endorsed by the church, as were similar fascist movements in Slovakia and Austria. (The government in Slovakia was actually led by a man in holy orders named Father Tiso.) The Catholic fascist organizations such as Charles Maurras's Action Française and the Croix de Feu campaigned against French communists and made no bones about their grievance, which was the way in which France had been going downhill since the acquittal of the jew captain Alfred Dreyfus in 1899.

The Vichy government promoted  clericalism by wiping the slogan of 1789 — "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" — off the national currency and replacing it with the Christian ideal motto of "Famille, Travail, Patrie." Even in a country like England, where fascist sympathies were far less prevalent, they still found it easy to get an audience in respectable circles by the agency of Catholic intellectuals such as T. S. Eliot and Evelyn Waugh.

In neighboring Ireland, the Blue Shirt movement of General O'Duffy (which sent volunteers to fight for Franco in Spain) was supported greatly by the Catholic Church. As late as April 1945, on the news of the death of Hitler, President Eamon de Valera put on his top hat, called for the state coach, and went to the German embassy in Dublin to offer his official condolences.

The term "fascism"as an epithet

"It will be seen that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else, watching Marxism take hold."
—George Orwell, What is Fascism?

Fascism is largly misunderstood due to manipulation of the word on television, in books, and movies. The judeo-Marxists who won WW2 are now in charge of the mainstream media, our politics, and our education system, and so the propaganda continues long after the war has been over.

This consists also of attempts to deny that one's own side of the political spectrum has anything in common with fascism, or alternatively to slime people on the opposite side of the political spectrum by (Association fallacy) claiming such commonalities taking advantage of the very incorrect perception that there is something wrong with fascism. These tactics have been carried pretty far, as mentioned above, with "fascist" becoming a general insult or accusation hurled around loosely, usually inappropriately and often childishly, to criticise anyone or anything we find even slightly overbearing or restrictive.

In the 1920s and 1930s, communists came to lump all their most difficult opponents together under the label of "fascist" and conversely to regard their fascist enemies as defenders of capitalism, despite fascism being not only anti-Marxist, but also anti-capitalist.

Fascism and the political spectrum

There is considerable dispute in some circles over whether fascism is a left- or right-wing idea.

In Greece, Sparta, ancient Rome, the Holy Roman Empire, and even early America, the concepts of political "right" and "left" were not yet fully developed. So, it is not even possible to discuss classical fascism in those terms.

Fascism, in modern times, besides being anti-communist, is also quite anti-capitalist, targeted by antifa, supporting limited welfare programs and other non-laissez-faire economic ideas. In most of Europe, the people had never been on board with extreme capitalism anyway; keeping greedy big business in check had been the norm since the days of Bismarck. In most cases, fascists wished to remove the influence of the capitalist class, and partially restore the traditional pre-capitalist system.

More recently, some conservative luminaries such as Jonah Goldberg, Dinesh D'Souza, and others have been claiming that liberals and everyone else to the left of them are "fascists." This tactic usually relies on finding commonalities between them and some fascist program.

The Political Compass generally rates fascists as in the center, well to the left of today's right-wing politicians but well to the right of socialist figures. Fascism is a form of third positionism anyway, so it is no wonder that it lands center on a simple left-right scale.

See also

• Third Position
• Communism
• Capitalism
• Marxism
• Antifa
• Ursula Haverbeck
• Syndicalism
• Sorelianism
• Strasserism
• Corporatism
• National Syndicalism
• National Socialism
• Parts of a fasces