What is fascism? The word gets thrown around a lot—sometimes carelessly, yet it refers to one of the most destructive political phenomena of the 20th century, and one we can’t afford to misunderstand today.
Historical Origins
Fascism first emerged in early 20th century Europe, born from the chaos of World War I and economic upheaval. Benito Mussolini coined the term in Italy around 1919, drawing from the ancient fasces, a bundle of rods symbolizing a ruler’s power. Adolf Hitler later adapted these ideas in Germany during the 1920s and 1930s.
Unlike liberalism, conservatism, or socialism, fascism didn’t spring from philosophical treatises or economic theories. Instead, it arose as a reaction—a violent response to perceived national humiliation, economic crisis, and social fragmentation. This reactive quality helps explain both its appeal and its danger.
Common Features of Fascism
Even if scholars debate precise definitions, most agree that fascist movements share certain recurring characteristics:
Extreme Nationalism: Fascism elevates the nation—often defined in ethnic or racial terms—above individual rights, international law, or universal principles. The nation becomes a mystical entity deserving total devotion.
Authoritarian Leadership: A single leader emerges as the embodiment of the nation’s will. This isn’t mere dictatorship but a cult of personality where the leader claims to represent the “real” people against corrupt elites.
Suppression of Dissent: Free speech, political opposition, independent unions, and autonomous institutions are systematically dismantled. Criticism becomes treason; disagreement becomes betrayal.
Militarism and Glorification of Violence: Violence isn’t just accepted but celebrated as purifying and necessary for national renewal. War and struggle become virtues in themselves.
Scapegoating and Fear of Outsiders: Internal minorities and external enemies are cast as existential threats to national unity. This creates a perpetual state of crisis requiring extreme measures.
Mass Mobilization and Spectacle: Through rallies, parades, propaganda films, and ritual ceremonies, fascism seeks to bind citizens emotionally to the movement and create a sense of collective ecstasy.
Umberto Eco captured this recurring pattern in his concept of “Ur-Fascism” or eternal fascism. In his influential essay, he outlined 14 characteristics that may appear in different combinations across time and place:
- Cult of Tradition – A syncretic belief in ancient truths, rejecting modern interpretations.
- Rejection of Modernism – Viewing the Enlightenment and rationalism as the root of moral decline.
- Cult of Action for Action’s Sake – Valuing action over reflection, leading to anti-intellectualism.
- Disagreement is Treason – Suppressing dissent and critical thinking as threats to unity.
- Fear of Difference – Exploiting xenophobia and racism to unify the in-group against outsiders.
- Appeal to a Frustrated Middle Class – Mobilizing those feeling economically or socially displaced.
- Obsession with a Plot – Promoting conspiracy theories to justify aggression against perceived enemies.
- Enemies are Both Too Strong and Too Weak – Portraying adversaries as simultaneously formidable and feeble.
- Pacifism is Trafficking with the Enemy – Viewing life as perpetual warfare, dismissing peace efforts as betrayal.
- Contempt for the Weak – Glorifying strength and dismissing compassion as weakness.
- Everybody is Educated to Become a Hero – Promoting a cult of death and martyrdom.
- Machismo – Elevating aggressive masculinity and denigrating non-conforming sexual behaviors.
- Selective Populism – Claiming to represent the unified will of the people, dismissing individual rights.
- Newspeak – Employing an impoverished vocabulary to limit critical thought.
Why Is Fascism Hard to Define?
These common features help us recognize fascism, but they also reveal why it’s so difficult to pin down definitively. Fascism was never a tidy political doctrine with a single founding manifesto. Instead, it functions as a rather flexible “political style,” a way of doing politics that adapts to local conditions while maintaining core characteristics.
Historian Robert Paxton describes fascism less as a checklist and more as a process that unfolds in stages: movements gain traction by mobilizing mass resentment during times of crisis, form tactical alliances with conservative politicians who think they can control them, seize power by exploiting democratic weaknesses, and ultimately build regimes centered on perpetual conflict and violent exclusion.
This process-oriented understanding explains why some regimes like Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy are considered archetypal fascist states, while others like Franco’s Spain or Salazar’s Portugal spark debate among historians. The line between fascism and other forms of authoritarianism can be blurry, but the underlying dynamics—and dangers—remain recognizable.
How Fascism Differs from Other Authoritarianisms
Understanding fascism requires distinguishing it from other forms of authoritarian rule:
Military Juntas: These regimes (like 1970s Argentina or Chile) are typically led by generals who seize power to “restore order.” While authoritarian and often brutal, they usually lack fascism’s ideological fervor and mass mobilization. They want to rule, not transform society.
Communist Dictatorships: Under leaders like Stalin or Mao, communist regimes centralized power and crushed opposition, but their ideology was internationalist and class-based rather than nationalist and racial. Where fascism glorifies the nation and blood, communism (at least in theory) emphasized global worker solidarity.
Traditional Monarchies or Personal Dictatorships: Some regimes concentrate power in hereditary rulers or strongmen who govern for personal benefit. While repressive, they often lack fascism’s populist appeal, revolutionary energy, and totalitarian ambitions to remake society entirely.
Theocracies: Religious fundamentalist regimes like Iran’s Islamic Republic or the Taliban combine authoritarian control with ideological zeal, but their ultimate authority derives from divine rather than national sources.
The key distinction is this: fascism represents authoritarianism fused with modern mass politics and revolutionary nationalism. It’s not content to rule quietly from above. Instead, it seeks to mobilize ordinary citizens, inflame their passions, glorify perpetual struggle, and fundamentally redefine society around the mythical will of the nation and its leader.
Contemporary Relevance
Studying fascism isn’t merely an academic exercise about the past. While we may not see exact replicas of 1930s movements today, fascism’s building blocks remain disturbingly familiar: economic anxiety exploited by demagogues, conspiracy theories about “globalist” plots, contempt for democratic pluralism, disdain for perceived weakness, and the worship of strongman leaders who promise simple solutions to complex problems.
These elements don’t automatically lead to full fascist regimes, but they create conditions where democratic norms can erode rapidly. Modern technology amplifies these dangers—social media can spread propaganda and coordinate violence more effectively than any 20th-century fascist could have imagined.
The warning signs matter because, as historian Timothy Snyder observes in On Tyranny, democratic institutions don’t defend themselves. They require active citizen participation and vigilance. Recognizing fascistic patterns early, before they fully consolidate, remains essential for protecting democratic societies.
Why This Matters
Fascism’s historical horrors speak for themselves: world war, genocide, the collapse of civilization itself. But beyond the specific atrocities, fascism represents something deeper—the complete subordination of individual dignity and human rights to the supposed needs of the collective, as interpreted by an authoritarian leader.
This makes fascism fundamentally incompatible with the liberal democratic values that underpin modern free societies: individual rights, constitutional limits on power, peaceful transitions of authority, tolerance for dissent, and respect for minority voices. When fascism takes root, these foundations don’t just weaken, they disappear entirely.
Conclusion
So what is fascism? It’s less a fixed ideology than a political style and process—a way of seizing and holding power by appealing to nationalism, authoritarianism, violence, and exclusion. It thrives in moments of crisis when democratic institutions seem weak or unresponsive, offering the false promise that a strong leader and national unity can solve all problems through force.
Definitions may vary among scholars, but history offers an unambiguous lesson: when fascist movements succeed in capturing power, freedom dies. Our task is not just to remember this history, but to remain vigilant against its return in new forms. Democracy survives only when citizens actively defend it.