Reference.com

Definitions of fascism

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

What constitutes a definition of fascism and fascist governments is a highly disputed subject that has proved complicated and contentious. Historians, political scientists, and other scholars have engaged in long and furious debates concerning the exact nature of fascism and its core tenets.

Most scholars agree that a "fascist regime" is foremost an authoritarian form of government, although not all authoritarian regimes are fascist. Authoritarianism is thus a defining characteristic, but most scholars will say that more distinguishing traits are needed to make an authoritarian regime fascist.

Similarly, fascism as an ideology is also hard to define. Originally, "fascism" referred to a political movement that existed in a single country (Italy) for less than 30 years and ruled the country from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. Clearly, if the definition is restricted to the original Italian Fascism, then "fascism" has little significance outside of Italian politics. Most scholars prefer to use the word "fascism" in a more general sense, to refer to an ideology (or group of ideologies) that was influential in many countries at many different times. For this purpose, they have sought to identify a "fascist minimum" - that is, the minimum conditions that a certain political group must meet in order to be considered fascist. Several scholars have inspected the apocalyptic, millennial and millenarian aspects of fascism.

Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini, Il Duce, dictator of Italy before and during the Second World War, signed an entry for the Enciclopedia Italiana in 1932, entitled The Doctrine of Fascism. This text is often cited as the "original", or most accurate, definition of Italian Fascism (which, in turn, was the "original" fascism). However, the value of Mussolini's own claims about his political movement is disputed. Some authors have pointed out that Italian Fascist ideology constituted an incoherent and unintelligible justification for any actions that Benito Mussolini chose to undertake.

Some relevant excerpts from one of several English translations of the The Doctrine of Fascism are:

A more comprehensive discussion of the entire document can be found in the article Doctrine of Fascism. It is also possible to read the full text of The Doctrine of Fascism online, here

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt, president of the United States from 1933 to 1945, described fascism in his 1942 "Message from the President of the United States Transmitting Recommendations Relative to the Strengthening and Enforcement of Anti-trust Laws" as follows:

Stanley G. Payne

Stanley G. Payne's Fascism: Comparison and Definition (1980) uses a lengthy itemized list of characteristics to identify fascism, including the creation of an authoritarian state; a regulated, state-integrated economic sector; fascist symbolism; anti-liberalism; anti-communism, and anti-conservatism. As the common aim of all fascist movements he sees elimination of the autonomy or, in some cases, the existence of large-scale capitalism.

Roger Griffin

With Griffin the emphasis is placed upon the aspect of populist fascist rhetoric that argues for a "re-birth" of a conflated nation and ethnic people. According to Griffin:

Also according to Griffin, a broad area of scholarly consensus developed in the social sciences within the English-speaking world during the 1990s, centered around the following definition of fascism:

Finally, Griffin claims that the above definition can be condensed into one sentence:

The word "palingenetic" refers to notions of rebirth (in this case, national rebirth), and carries a similar meaning as the words "apocalyptic" and "millennarian", but without religious connotations.

Emilio Gentile

Emilio Gentile sees fascism as the "sacralization of politics" through totalitarian methods.

Robert Paxton

Robert O. Paxton, a professor emeritus at Columbia University, defines fascism in his book The Anatomy of Fascism as:

Umberto Eco

In a 1995 essay "Eternal Fascism" , the Italian writer and academic Umberto Eco attempts to list general properties of fascist ideology. He claims that it is not possible to organise these into a coherent system, but that "it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it". He uses the term "Ur-fascism" as a generic description of different historical forms of fascism.

The features of fascism he lists are as follows:

  • "The Cult of Tradition", combining cultural syncretism with a rejection of modernism (often disguised as a rejection of capitalism).
  • "The Cult of Action for Action's Sake", which dictates that action is of value in itself, and should be taken without intellectual reflection. This, says Eco, is connected with anti-intellectualism and irrationalism, and often manifests in attacks on modern culture and science.
  • "Disagreement is Treason" - fascism devalues intellectual discourse and critical reasoning as barriers to action.
  • "Fear of Difference", which fascism seeks to exploit and exacerbate, often in the form of racism or an appeal against foreigners and immigrants.
  • "Appeal to a Frustrated Middle Class", fearing economic pressure from the demands and aspirations of lower social groups.
  • "Obsession With a plot" and the hyping-up of an enemy threat. This often involves an appeal to xenophobia or the identification of an internal security threat. He cites Pat Robertson's book The New World Order as a prominent example of a plot obsession.
  • "Pacifism is Trafficking With the Enemy" because "Life is Permanent Warfare" - there must always be an enemy to fight.
  • "Contempt for the Weak" - although a fascist society is elitist, everybody in the society is educated to become a hero.
  • "Selective Populism" - the People have a common will, which is not delegated but interpreted by a leader. This may involve doubt being cast upon a democratic institution, because "it no longer represents the Voice of the People".
  • "Newspeak" - fascism employs and promotes an impoverished vocabulary in order to limit critical reasoning.

Kevin Passmore

Kevin Passmore, lecturer in History at Cardiff University, gives a definition of fascism in his book Fascism: A Very Short Introduction. The definition he gives is directly descended from the view put forth by Ernesto Laclau.

The definition he gives is as follows:

John Weiss

John Weiss, a professor of history at Wayne State University, sought to give a definition of fascism in his book, The Fascist Tradition: Radical Right-Wing Extremism in Modern Europe. He arrived at a list of ideas that he believed to be shared by the majority of the people commonly referred to as fascists:

Marxist definition

In 1935, as fascist political movements were making gains across Europe and often took violent action against communist organizations, it became important for Marxists to have an exact definition of "fascism" in order to determine precisely who they were fighting. Thus, the Communist Third International published the following definition:

The majority of Marxists, even those who were not members of the Communist International, agreed with this definition. Marxists argue that fascism represents the last attempt of a ruling class (specifically, the capitalist bourgeoisie) to preserve its grip on power in the face of an imminent proletarian revolution. Fascist movements are not necessarily created by the ruling class, but they can only gain political power with the help of that class and with funding from big business. And, once in power, fascists serve the interests of their benefactors (not necessarily the interests of capitalism in general, but the interests of those specific capitalists who put them in power). Leon Trotsky elaborated on this view in his collection of essays, "Fascism: What it is and how to fight it":

Many Marxists are strongly opposed to labelling of governments that were elected from traditional conservative parties without 'street movements' backing them up as fascists. The vast majority therefore reject the characterisation of the US government as fascist.

Amadeo Bordiga adopted a somewhat different stand on fascism. He regarded fascism as just another form of bourgeois rule, on the same level as bourgeois democracy or traditional monarchies. He did not believe that fascism was particularly reactionary or otherwise exceptional.

The Encyclopedia of Marxism defines fascism as "right-wing, fiercely nationalist, subjectivist in philosophy, and totalitarian in practice", and identifies it as "an extreme reactionary form of capitalist government."

Fascism as vague epithet

Some have argued that the term "fascism" has become hopelessly vague in the years following World War II, and that today it is little more than a pejorative epithet used by supporters of various political views to attempt to discredit their opponents. This view dates back to George Orwell, British writer and author of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, who famously remarked:

References



Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Monday March 10, 2008 at 12:21:28 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation