Recently, I’ve noticed that plenty of commentators in the press and in politics have found it fashionable to label political figures they do not like as fascists. One consequence is that the meaning of the word has morphed to the extent that many people have no real idea what fascism’s characteristics are. Most of us remember that fascism is bad. During the Second World War the United States fought against two nations with fascist governments, Adolf Hitler’s Germany and Benito Mussolini’s Italy. This is, of course, the attractiveness of labeling a political opponent a fascist. Perhaps it is time, then, to recall what the key ingredients of fascism are. This will help us sort through the false labeling and political propaganda and give the reader a mental checklist to employ whenever they encounter the word.

There is another good reason we need to understand fascism. Another of the attractions of labeling an opponent with this title is that most of us also recall that the German fascists murdered millions. These were mostly Jews and Russian prisoners of war but also included anyone else the German state deemed undesirable. They did so in the name of fascist ideology. Therefore, when people today throw around this label freely and easily, it cheapens our understanding of and empathy for the historical suffering of the real people massacred by Nazi Germany.

Fascism’s Characteristics Historically

Of all the fascist nations, Nazi Germany is surely the most infamous. We should remember, however, that in the first half of the twentieth century there were many varieties of fascism. Fascists existed in nearly every European nation. Mussolini’s Italian Brown Shirts are notorious as well, but it is easy to forget that fascists also controlled the governments of Romania, Hungary, and Spain for a time. In Spain’s case, for several decades following the Spanish Civil War. Great Britain (Oswald Mosely) and France (Antoine la Rocque) had fascist political parties with minor followings.

Even in the United States some individuals, including the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, sympathized with fascism and advocated fascism’s characteristics. Lindbergh’s admiration was well-known. Enough so that Dr. Seuss even lampooned him in a political cartoon. Lesser-known figures such as Montana congressman Jacob Thorkelson also garnered an invitation to Berlin for his antisemitism. This means that to understand fascism, we must understand that its characteristics appealed across national boundaries. It is not a philosophy that the people of Central Europe alone supported.

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This, then, is the first in a series of blog posts that will attempt to explain many aspects of fascism. It will not be a comprehensive history of the movement. Nor will it explain the theoretical underpinnings of every idea favored by fascists. Rather, I mean to explain enough about the ideology that interested readers will have a functional knowledge of it. In addition, these posts should enable the reader to sort through the static and determine in what ways, if any, present-day leaders in any nation behave in fascist ways.

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