What is it exactly that makes a fascist a fascist? It was always my understanding that it’s a leadership style that goes one step beyond “My way, or the highway” and asserts instead, “My way, or die so I don’t have to think too much about what you might get up to without me to keep my boot on your neck.” This leadership stylt strikes me as a highly effective one if you’re talking about maintaining power and exercising your economic philosophy. But every definition I’m able to find for “fascist” indicates that there is an element of exclusion–race, ethnicity, hair color–which taints an otherwise sensible (I never said fair) dictatorial philosophy.
Assume for a moment that there is such a person who’s otherwise a pretty nice, unprejudiced guy, just ruthless about making sure his power is unchallenged (Pericles of Athens?). So, what is the technical definition for a no-holds-barred dictator who suffers absoloutely no dissent, but who really doesn’t care about exclusion as long as everyone gets in step with his social plan?
We discussed what makes a fascist a fascist a while ago in this old GQ thread.
As to a not-a-fascist, just ruthless S.O.B. of a dictator…well, “dictator” works pretty well. Or “tyrant”–the original Greek tyrants were sometimes quite competant rulers, and even could be fairly just; the word tyrant originally just meant something like “upstart who seizes power but isn’t a legitimate monarch”, although it acquired its more modern connotations pretty quickly. The word “authoritarian” tends to be bandied about a lot, especially when dealing with people who are sort of dictator-like but they were elected in kind of fair elections–“Putin’s critics point to his increasingly authoritarian leadership style”, that sort of thing.
A fascist is someone who, as a matter of political philosophy, believes that the putative rights of the individual are properly subjugated to the needs of the state, which founds its authority on its self-assumed legitimacy as a state coupled with the support of the larger corporations that constitute the bedrock of the national economy.
The name comes from the fasces, the axe with staves bound to it, that was a symbol of authority and legitimacy in ancient Rome, and was adopted by Mussolini to symbolize the strength and authority of Fascist Italy. The Falangist movement in Spain which supported Franco was closely related philosophically and politically. Nazi Germany came to subscribe to a lot of the Fascist principles, though it was in origin much further left than Fascism.
There’s a bit more to or variables than that. The early Fascists tended toward a form of Anarchism, or perhaps a primal, street-oriented form of Communism (which was in large part composed of hoods and gangs then). Some of them were violently opposed to captalism and anything like it. Both Mussolini and Hitler came to power because they were able to deal with the larger society, including its economic interests. In France and especially England, the Fascists never made that transformation.
Now, another example of a (yes, it’s debated) Fascist government came from Japan. Here the Fascist group took over a relatively quiescent people, the Japanese. Although Japan had a fairly vibrant democracy at one point, JO-level army men, including many who acted as assassins of people they opposed, crushed democracy because of a painful clause in its Constitution. Simply put, they had to have a General and an Admiral on their cabinets, or the government fell. This gave the Army veto power over the nation, and everyone knew it. Although the Army canidates never won direct power, they used this veto to assume an importance in government far larger than their numerical, economic, or political importance.
However, most if not all Fascist governments have followed Polycarp’s methods. In their eyes, once the Fascist government takes over, there was no need to eliminate the economic foundations. They were able, to a greater or lesser degree, to revitalize economies and get sluggish sectors moving again, coming out of the Depression. Since the old managers and companies bowed the wishes of the governments, they became instruments, not enemies.
The fasces is also used as a symbol of government in the US, although its use predates fascism and is a reference to the classical Roman culture that the Founding Fathers so appreciated. In fact, the Roman salute was the American civilian salute (at least according to Wikipedia; I couldn’t find another reference with a quick search) until it was adopted by Fascists in the 30s.
I doubt Nazi Germany had the equivalents of the FTC, the FDA, the SEC, or the Better Business Bureau.
Besides, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mussolini was speaking to a business audience when he said that. The real aim of Fascism is to produce a self-sustaining ruling elite with no chance of a change of government or leadership.
