What is fascism?

The word has taken on a variety of distinct definitions since the Nazi government was dismantled. The term “fascist” is often used as a pejorative adjective in modern political discourse, however has a fuzzy meaning in the minds of those unfamiliar with the creation and destruction of fascist states around the world throughout recent history. It appears that today the term fascism is synonymous with totalitarian and racist, however a fascist is not necessarily either of those things. The term fascism originates from the Latin term fasces meaning a bundle of rods. The term became associated with the ancient Roman fascio littorio, which was a bundle of rods tied around an axe, which was often carried by the lictors of the Roman civic magistrate.

Fascism is a political philosophy before a form of government. A fascist society holds to the belief, “united we are stronger.” One stick may easily break with little force; a bundle of sticks is more resilient. This concept of civic unity through nationalistic ideology is not revolutionary.

Socialism and communism

are often juxtaposed against capitalism. On a purely economic scale these terms can be contrasted due to differences in capital ownership and control, however this comparison is often presented in such a way as to represent a false dichotomy. In actuality there are multiple political and economic dichotomies at play, however the primary distinction between liberalism and collectivism is often misrepresented. Collectivism is often equated to communism, which is nothing more than a form of slavery to the whole, whereas fascism is commitment to the whole while retaining liberal economic characteristics of private property, profit seeking, and the self-determination in how one wishes to contribute to society.

The only way in which fascism is truly totalitarian in theory is that individuals are required to, in the very least, remain neutral to the benefit of society, in such a way that they must not ever work to undermine the common interest of society. Societies which stem from liberalism make no such distinction, as what is or is not beneficial to society is not to be decided by any single unified force, but rather to be identified as conflicts arise in the form of precedent.

One crucial distinction

many people fail to consider in modern liberal societies is the role of the state as an external entity. Many Americans on both sides of the political coin who depend on private markets and careers for personal well-being tend to think of the state as an entity which is outside of themselves, a bureaucratic institution in which we all have a minor voice as to which personal liberties the state is allowed to restrict for the common interest. This is more often observed with the political right such as republicans and libertarians, because the free market is idealized as the force from which human well-being springs as opposed to the left which holds similar views towards the state. The problem is that both sides view the state as a foreign entity, an external force, regardless of whether this force is seen as a positive or negative element to societal well-being.

The fascist rejects this observation.

The fascist understands that the state is the people, and the people are the state. Modern political philosophy is ripe with misnomers such as populist as an indicative of a negative, yet democratic as an indicative of a positive, however the juxtaposition of the two terms is subjective and often contradictory. This brings into focus a more fundamental question: who, or what, best determines the identity of a state?

Fascism does not attempt to erode

the difference between the state and the individual per communism, as a fascist system retains personal liberties and property. Fascism does not require a totalitarian government nor a racist ideology. Fascism requires a rallying point, an identity which all peoples within the society place above personal identity, and are therefore indoctrinated to hold above personal interests. Capitalist republics are built upon the idea of consumerism, and hold primal satisfaction as the intrinsic source of well-being to which companies and organizations are best suited to market their products and services. Fascist societies hold collective well-being above that of an individual’s primal satisfaction. Unlike other collectivist ideologies, fascism does not seek to erode or eliminate classes, but rather ensure that it is a social norm to treat the poorest of citizenry as intrinsically valuable as the wealthiest, and to allow mobility between classes.

The fascist society must, above all else, have core values

to be used as rallying points. In the past, fascist societies have used ethnicity as a value which has led to societal cleansing, thereby creating worldwide disdain for even the word fascism itself. The most appropriate values to use as the rallying point are subjective to the society in question. One of the great misunderstandings about fascism is the idea that if every sovereign state adapted fascism tomorrow, they would all appear as racist, totalitarian dictatorships. The truth is that fascism is naturally subjective to the adopting society in question. The goal is to highlight the cultural strengths of the people which adopt the philosophy.

Fascism would look very different from state to state, depending on geography, traditions, values, culture, and most valuable of all, people.