After WWII died down, suchthe word as “fascism” has acquired an unambiguously negative meaning, and now this term is abused a lot by naming its political opponents and labeling them. On the other hand, such a vague definition of this unconditionally scary phenomenon allows for the revival of ultra-right parties, which, however, do not call themselves that, although in their doctrine they are very close to fascism or contain some elements of this ideology. But is it so easy to clearly define what fascism is and define the boundaries of this term?
Классический фашизм, то есть в узком историческом meaning of the word, in 1922 became the dominant in Italy after the famous "Trekking on Rome" black shirts Benito Mussolini. The name "fascism" has Italian roots, derived from the word "fascio" (fascio), that is, a corporation, a union. And the radical political organization headed by Mussolini was called the Union of Struggle (Fascio di combattimento). Fascio, in turn, is associated with the Latin fascis (bundle, bundle) - so called the honorary weapon of lictors, the guardians of the Roman Republic. By the way, the fascias are still present in the symbolism of the state authorities of some countries (for example, in the emblem of the Russian Federal Service of Bailiffs). But symbols are symbols, and it is now considered to be the symbol of this movement of the swastika of the German Nazis. But what is the ideology of fascism, and what are the main features of this ideology?
The movement of blackshirts can be calleddefinitely authoritarian, nationalistic, and also using extreme violence as a common form of political struggle. But, for example, anti-Semitism and racism in Italian fascism were not at the forefront of their ideology, as was the case with the German Nazis. However, since the Italian fascists had a clear ultra-right orientation, the left parties considered it necessary to stigmatize this political ideology, sometimes bending the stick and calling their opponents, even the left-wing rivals, for example, called the Social-Democrats "social-fascists". The classic “left-wing” definition of what fascism is at the Seventh Congress of the Comintern was given by Georgi Dimitrov: “... this is a terrorist dictatorship of reactionary financial capital structures ... In foreign policy, fascism is chauvinism in the roughest form, which cultivates uterine hatred towards other nations.”
Однако в этом определении не совсем четко the features of the ideology of this movement stand out, which prevents us from clearly describing what fascism is. Modern science has tried to fill this shortcoming and compiled a list of features whose presence in the program or ideology of the party makes it possible to call it fascist. They are ardent anti-communism, radical nationalism and even extremism, militarism, traditionalism, leaderism, statism, the exaltation of the “titular nation” and the open discrimination of national minorities, elements of populism and the declaration of protection to wide sections of the population (however, many parties are wronged by this). But the main distinguishing feature of the fascist party that came to power is totalitarianism, that is, total control of the state, penetrating into all spheres of human life.
However, even this definition of the features of fascism givesthe opportunity to call with this word many nationalist parties and regimes (for example, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan) and even brings to the arena such a term as Jewish fascism, applying it to the openly discriminatory policies of the state of Israel.
Understand (to define) what is fascism,helps the study of such adjacent, arising approximately in the same way with the Italian classical type of movements with which Mussilini collaborated or who put the black-shirt movement as an example of their own struggle. In Germany, it was National Socialism (or Nazism), in Spain - phalangism and francism, in Portugal - the New State, in Hungary - “Crossed Arrows”, in Romania - “Iron Guard”, in Brazil - Integralism (although in its ideology racism was absent), Bulgarian, Austrian, Japanese and Belgian versions of fascism.
