What is fascism?

The word fascism should be used cautiously - too often the term is used loosely and is often invoked simply as a term of abuse. It is not unusual to hear Conservative politicians or the police branded as "fascist". Unfortunately this does much to obscure the nature of fascism and weakens the anti-fascist case.

Fascism is difficult to define precisely. The term originally referred to the fascist movement in Italy formed in 1919 by Benito Mussolini, the word deriving from the "fasces", a bundle of rods with a projecting axe which was carried before the consuls as the insignia of state authority in ancient Rome. However, as a political movement or system, fascism appeared in virtually every nation after the First World War; the German Nazi Party, the British Union of Fascists, the Spanish Falange, the Romanian Iron Guard.

Although each of these movements displayed differences, they shared enough features in common to be recognised - by themselves as well as others - as being of the same ilk. They held similar doctrines and beliefs, and organised along broadly similar lines. All were ultra-nationalist, anti-communist and anti-socialist; and all despised liberalism and democracy. They all also sought to establish a one-party authoritarian state, and to that end organised themselves along paramilitary lines and used paramilitary violence and terrorism to create a climate of fear both to mobilise support and intimidate their opponents.

It was fascism's ultra-nationalism that ensured that in each country fascism manifested itself in different forms. It was also its ultra-nationalism that ensured that fascism was invariably racist. Some academics make great play of cases where fascism has not been aggressively racist (e.g. Italy), and while it is true that race is not always central to a particular fascist party's ideology, it still nevertheless maintains a presence. This is especially true of today's fascist groups where racism is a central and dominant part of their ideologies. This can be explained, in part, by the fact that since the 1940s Nazism has become the dominant model for most fascist movements.

There are, of course, those groups that virulently deny that Nazism is their main source of inspiration. The fact remains that from the late 1930s the German Nazi regime exercised considerable influence over all of Europe's fascist movements - the power and success of the Nazis attracted their less successful counterparts and ensured that these groups emulated the Nazi example and adapted Nazi ideology into their own.

Perhaps it is hardly surprising that many of today's fascists wish to deny Nazi influences and inspiration for they conjure up the horrific spectacle of the atrocities committed by that regime: the mass exterminations, the gas chambers and Hitler's irrational and racist quest for world domination. Many of today's fascists operate in countries that suffered Nazi invasion

In addition, what the Nazis are chiefly remembered for is the Holocaust: the systematic and scientific annihilation of Europe's Jews, Gypsies and other communities. This is hardly a legacy to be proud of, which is precisely why a major facet of modern day fascist propaganda is to deny the fact of the Holocaust.

This is not to say that post-war fascism is simply or solely a carbon copy of its inter-war predecessors. Like any other movement or ideology such as socialism, communism, liberalism, fascists have sought to develop and adapt their ideology to existing circumstances and have evolved it accordingly.

Several major forms can be identified;

Nationalism

There are those groups who focus upon, and seek to mobilise support around, a fairly narrow ultra-nationalism, relying on xenophobia as a major plank for recruitment with slogans such as "Britain for the British" and "France for the French". Racism and cultural homogeneity is the cornerstone of these groups' ideology. They also attempt to clothe themselves in "respectability", stressing their conservative, conformist, indeed right-wing reactionary credentials. Their propaganda relies very much on denouncing what they refer to as the "liberal establishment" and the "permissive society" - both seen as the product of "secretive" and "hidden" forces. What these "secret" and "hidden" forces actually are is rarely spelt out; it is only when such groups state that these forces are the "alien financiers", controlling and manipulating Wall Street and the Stock Exchange, that it becomes clear that they are referring to Jews - their commitment to the Nazi antisemitic conspiracy theory is coded.

Strasserites

Within the narrow nationalist camp, there are those groups who eschew the reactionary and conservative elements and claim to be "left-wing" or socialist in orientation. These groups have taken much of their inspiration from the Strasser brothers (Otto and Gregor), who formed a distinct faction within Hitler's Nazi Party in the mid-1920s and early 1930s. They formed an alternative Nazi group (the Black Front) opposed to Hitler's compromise with the conservative elite. The Strasserites, as they are referred to, along with other opponents of Hitler, were the victims of "the Night of the Long Knives" in June 1934. Latterday Strasserites seek to win support from the ranks of the working class and have been involved in the infiltration of trade unions.

Whilst subscribers to both of the above forms of fascism have attempted to win support and attain power largely through conventional political channels and kept their paramilitarism low key (so that it can be denied), there are those groups who have rejected this approach.

Third Positionists

One strand in rejecting conventional political paths, known as the "Third Position", has developed a theory known as the "strategy of tension". This theory argues that in order to gain power, it is necessary to bring about chaos and the destabilisation of the existing economic, social and political structures. This is to be achieved through acts of terrorism and assassination. The greatest act of fascist terror since the Second World War was carried out by advocates of this theory - the bombing of Bologna railway station in 1980, which left 85 dead and over 200 injured. Some Third Positionists advocate ideas that appear almost anarchist or "alternative" in orientation in an attempt to blur the distinction between right and left. Their propaganda will, for example, attempt to equate racial separatism and cultural "autonomy" with racial and cultural equality, seeking to disguise the underlying Nazi inspiration of their doctrines. This is also apparent in their espousal of green values and their attempt to infiltrate and exploit the ecological movement.

Fascist terrorists

Some of those who have rejected the ballot box approach have, unlike the Third Positionists, made no attempt to conceal their admiration for Nazi doctrines. "The Order" in the United States typifies these and has inspired groups in other countries to follow its example. Essentially these groups have "declared war" against all authority believing that the Western governments are controlled by the Jews. They refer to this as the "Zionist Occupation Government" or "ZOG". It is this belief that they use to justify the murder and killing of all those they oppose and hate. These are the violent "revolutionary" terrorists of the right.

There are, then, many different strands to post-war fascism which display many different characteristics. They are, however, the direct heirs of the movements that flung the world into war in 1939 and left tens of millions dead. They subscribe to the same ideas that led to the establishment of extermination camps in which millions of defenceless men, women and children perished at the hands of armed cowards for no other reason than their ethnic origin.