Well? It is a name that I hear being used often, but for the life of me I can’t find a clear definition of what a Fascist is.
Now I can give a pretty good definition (if not perhaps overly simple) of what a Anarchy, Despotic, Monarchy, Theocracy, Republic, Communist, or Democratic government are, but not fascist.
the fascistas were Mussolini’s party coming from the latin word for a bundle of sticks that represented the fact that in unity the sticks couldn’t be broken but individually you could snap them to bits.
Bascially, fascism is an exaltation of the nation over the individual to the point of control of speech, media, religion, organizations, and theoretically thought.
Straight from my reply to your other thread:
Fascism is a political doctrine popular in the 1920s and 1930s as a reaction to the economic hardship and post-WWI social disorder of the time. Defining characteristics include promotion of state over individual, militarism with a supernatural edge (either in artifically revived nationalism or ideas of a superman leader) and the incorporation of business and labour into the state.
It’s often confused with authoritarianism these days, although the latter is more specifically a characteristic of government in which a group of autocratic leaders hold an excessive amount of authority/force at the expense of individual rights.
But what makes that different from Communism? What is it that would make you look at a government and say “Well that is obviously Fascist.”?
If it were a Democracy, I could tell because the citizens are directly voting on legislation.
If it were a Republic, I could tell because the citizens vote for people to vote on there legislation.
If it were a Despotism, I could tell because One person has unquestioned rule over everything.
If it were a Monarchy, I could tell because the Despots family will be given power should the despot pass.
If it were a Theocracy, I could tell because the laws of the government would be those set by some divine being and are enforced by the church.
If it were a Communist, I could tell because the government would own everything and control and regulate all means of production and the resulting wealth.
If it were a Feudalism, I could tell because you would have several layers of despots with the lower levels paying tribute to those above them.
If it were an Anarchy, I could tell because there would be no government whatsoever.
But what specific thing, not some general philosophy, would lead me to identify a government as Fascist?
You don’t mean to tell me that the fascists got there name from the word faggots?
lol
Taking a quick, unauthoritative crack and differentiating Communism from Fascism:
Communism, in theory, promotes helping one’s neighbors and getting rid of a central government to the greatest extent possible. Fascism promotes a strong government and, as said earlier, centers around a godlike leader… Communism isn’t supposed to have a leader.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Muad’Dib *
**
Clear as a bell.
Following the definition in the dictionary found by Linear Crack I think I can say that:
If it were Fascism, I could tell because the big corporations are still privately owned but regulated by the despot party and leader, that the party legislates in favor of prejudice and that militaristic ambitions are the priority of the nation.
Linear Crack - thanks, but it wasn’t me who wanted a definition.
I think there’s a risk here of oversimplifying. While it might be convenient to reduce a political philosophy to a single characteristic, it’s never that simple in the real world. Nazism and fascism are very close, but differ in the extent of their ambitions and the amount of violence involved. Fascism and communism (as we’ve already discussed in Muad’Dib’s other thread) differ in how they see the role of the state.
Sattua hit the nail on the head with regards to the theoretical differences. In practice the implementations have looked fairly similar: this is why I think you’re finding it hard to differentiate them.
I think it would be the enactment and enforcement of law based on the idea that the good of the state takes priority over the rights or privileges or benefit of individuals.
Note that it’s the state, not the workers as a whole, nor the will of the people, nor one man, but the idea of a nation as an ongoing organism.
It’s hard to take philosophy out of it, because systems of government are generally based on philosophical schools of thought.
Some people have looked at the way our U.S. contemporary society is turning out and accused it of sliding towards fascism (based mostly on historical parallels to pre-fascist Germany), but we aren’t even close by this test.
THE TWO COW THEORY OF ECONOMICS
Socialism – You have two cows and you give one to your neighbor.
Communism – They take both your cows and give you milk.
Fascism – They take both your cows and sell the milk to you.
Nazi-ism – They take both your cows and shoot you.
Capitalism – You sell one cow and buy a bull.
Corporate – You sell one cow, force the other to produce the milk of four, and act real surprised when it drops dead.
“You don’t mean to tell me that the fascists got there name from the word faggots?”
Not quite, unless they come from the same root.
[Roman hijack]
The “fasces” was the bundle of rods or sticks that was the symbol or badge of office for an official of the Roman Republic who had imperium. (Imperium is a tad vague but basically means that the office had power in its own right, not delegated by some higher office.) The main officials with imperium were the two consuls, who had the executive power and could raise armies, and the praetors, who were almost exclusively judges. The fasces were carried by the official’s “lictors,” public servants who attended to officials with imperium and physically carried out their orders. When the official was exercising judicial authority, think of lictors as court bailiffs or marshals. Otherwise, think of them as bodyguards.
The fasces were just the sticks when the official was within Rome and had the power by himself only to “chastise” citizens (usually, confiscate their property or have them whipped with one of the rods from the fasces). But outside Rome, where the official had the power of life & death in certain circumstances, the fasces had an ax sticking out of the middle. :eek: The fasces with the ax is what one usually sees in both movies set in Roman times and in photos of Italian Fascist rallies.
[end Roman hijack]