Fascism
Fascism found its roots in the Post-World War I period, a time of great nostalgia, poverty and anarchy. In this period, the failing economy and social and political theories of Darwinism and colonialism made it easy to force blame on minority groups, particularly the Jews. The cost of necessities often rose so high that families could not afford staples like bread. Many men found themselves out of work. To many, it felt as though their lives were falling apart and society was collapsing. In this state of turmoil, it was easy to regress into racism and nationalism — especially when strong leaders were offering those ideologies as solutions to the chaos.
One of those strong men was Benito Mussolini, who founded a fascist party in Italy in 1919, and just 6 years later, established a dictatorship. The most infamous of fascist leaders was Hitler. In 1933, Hitler began his National Socialist (Nazi) Revolution. Years later, in 1939, he invaded Poland, which many consider the flashpoint of World War II.
Before we can understand these men and their movements, we must first understand what fascism is. Philosopher Ernst Nolte called it the great “anti” philosophy because it riled people into anti-Semitism, anti-socialism, anti-feminism and anti-democracy. Fascism is hard to place on the political spectrum as well. It had components of Left-wing politics in its rejection of class elitism and economic controls, but also had the Right-wing appeals to national identity and race. In reality though, fascism identified with neither, but sought whatever available strategies and policies it could use to achieve power and “rejuvenate the nation”.
It’s unifying principles are:
Hatred of democracy
power is best held by someone strong and clever enough to take it, particularly a dictator.
The necessity of violence
violence and force are powerful, valid ways to achieve power, and serve an important role. War brings us together.
Biology as destiny
men should work, women should have children. Europeans are better by breeding and education.
National identity
People should be loyal to their own, and competition between nations is constructive and inevitable.
Politics is everything
Politics are irremovable from every part of society — everything is political.
Although it is tempting to say that fascism was discredited and destroyed with the fall of fascism in Germany and Italy after they lost World War II, the ideology still remained in use in the governments of Spain, Portugal and Latin America. Disturbingly, it still exists today in Britain and the United States on the “fringes of politics”.
Fascism still exists in two forms:
Cultists
According to the Telegraph, “these people are unafraid to be labelled fascist and might even use the Nazi swastika: they were among the people who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017.”
They are likely to join violent organizations like the Ku Klux Klan or the British National Party. They tend to have criminal histories.
They may also be a part of the “Alt-right”, which the Telegraph describes as a “a largely online movement that routinely abuses racial minorities and women, and which has been known to appropriate fascist symbols.”
Neo-Nazis
This group doesn’t want any association with the historical fascists or don’t believe they are a fascist. To which the Telegraph cites an old saying: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.