The term 'Fascist' is banded about all the time, but do most people really know what it means?

 

Benito Mussolini

The term 'Fascism' is banded about a lot, but most people, don't really know what it means. The word is derived from the Latin 'fasces' which denotes a bundle of wooden rods surrounding an axe head, which was a symbol of the magistrates' authority in ancient Rome.

Benito Mussolini was the first Fascist dictator and Italy was the first Fascist regime, but Mussolini described Giovanni Gentile, as "the philosopher of Fascism." Mussolini had been a socialist. The Italian Fascist called their regime the 'Corporate State', and Mussolini, claimed that it was founded on the strengths of capitalism and socialism, which he called the "third way." Initially, Italian Fascism was not anti-Semitic and some Jews in Italy were members of The National Fascist Party (PNF). They probably joined the PNF for two reasons: a sense of patriotism or a way of getting on. Fascists don't care much for democracy, civil liberties, or a free press, and they're generally totalitarian regimes and dictatorships.

In both Germany and Italy, Fascism arose when the bourgeoisie (middle-classes), felt their interests were threatened by the working class or proletariat. The same thing happened in Spain in the 1930s. For Fascists, everything is subsumed into the state and everybody is seen as working for the best interests of the state - the motherland or fatherland. The 'leader', is seen to embody the very ideals of the state. Fascism is extremely nationalistic and militaristic, and in both Italy and Germany, trade unions and socialists and communist' parties were crushed. The Italian Fascists didn't murder Jews to begin with, but murdered socialists and communists.

Fascism has been described as a 'capitalist dictatorship' and it is certainly true, that industrialists, the wealthy, and the military, backed Franco, Hitler and Mussolini. Before the outbreak of WWII, the English bourgeoisie, knew that Hitler was on the side of the dividend drawer and hated Bolshevism. Before coming to power in 1933, the German Nazis often used anti-capitalist propaganda when it was politically expedient to do so. 

Franco sent a letter to the British Conservative Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, thanking him for his support during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Britain's official position, was one of neutrality when it came to Spain. Chamberlain's sister-in-law, Lady Chamberlain, was a great fan of Mussolini and an ardent Fascists. Winston Churchill called Mussolini a "Roman Genius" and when he visited Italy in 1927, he told the Italians that had been Italian, he would certainly have been a Fascist. He said that Mussolini and his Fascists had done the world a favour in getting rid of Bolshevism in Italy. In 1923, Benito Mussolini, was given the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, by King George V. This was only withdrawn when Italy declared war on Britain.