Throughout history, countless ideologies have been created and utilized by human beings to varying effectiveness. Among these various ideologies, few impacted recent history as much as fascism. Created in the early twentieth century, fascism swept through Europe, and specifically Italy like a fever. “Fascism is an extreme right-wing ideology that celebrates the race or the nation as an organic community transcending all other loyalties (Lyons, Matthew)”. Many saw fascism as a way to rebuild after the first world war, and several countries began adopting this ideology. Unfortunately, fascism is a repressive system of government with a history of violence and racism, with both being encouraged in traditional fascism. “Often, but not always, it promotes racial superiority doctrines, ethnic persecution, imperialist expansion, and genocide (Lyons, Matthew)”. Because of the complicated nature of fascist ideology, many people ask the question of “When and where did fascism start, and what does fascism entail?”.
To understand fascism, one must first attempt to understand it’s founder. Benito Mussolini, former Prime Minister of Italy is one of the most well-known fascist leaders in history. Mussolini is a controversial figure in modern history, and his fascist reign over Italy was filled with violence and terror. Born in 1883 in Italy, Benito Mussolini would come from humble
beginnings and rise to power through his oratory ability and gravitas. Mussolini was exposed to various political and social ideals, and “over the course of his lifetime went from Socialism, to
the leadership of a new political movement called “fascism” (Halsall, Paul)”. After being wounded as a solider in the First World War, Mussolini’s views and ideals began to shift, as he started “advocating the emergence of a dictator, who in his words would be “a man who is ruthless and energetic enough to make a clean sweep” (Hibbert, Christopher)”. Renewed with purpose after almost dying in the Great War, Benito envisioned himself as this dictator, and his desire for power and authority grew. He gathered those who had similar ideals, and began speaking at rallies. “Mussolini called this force the fasci di combattimento (“fighting bands”) groups of fighters bound together by ties as close as those that secured the fasces of lictors – the symbol of ancient Roman authority” (Hibbert, Christopher). This led to the birth of the political movement fascism, with Mussolini as it’s leader.
In 1932, Mussolini penned the official definition of fascism for the Italian encyclopedia. In this definition, he outlined all of what he believed to be the core tenants of fascism in his ideal of a purest form. He begins this definition with the statement “Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from the political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace (Halsall, Paul).” This core tenant of fascism, the rejection of peace as impossible, will be shown to an extreme degree throughout Mussolini’s tenure. For fascists, war is inevitable, and the superiority of one’s nation drives the violent engine of war forward against the inferiority of other nations and ideologies.
Another core tenant outlined in Mussolini’s definition of fascism is the ideal of life being a struggle. Mussolini writes “The fascist accepts life and loves it, knowing nothing of and despising suicide, he rather conceives of life as duty and a struggle (Halsall, Paul)”. This tenant shows the militaristic background and ideals of fascism, describing life as duty and a struggle. Violence is a tenant of fascism, and this tenant puts the fascist in a “us against them mentality” the struggle and duty to destroy and conquer all inferior ideologies. Mussolini himself wrote that “Both as a movement and a regime, fascism uses organized violence to suppress opposition, although the scale of violence varies widely” (Lyons, Matthew). Additionally, the spread of fascist ideals and the conquering and imperialist expansion of the fascist empire is a necessary tenant of fascism as a whole. To the fascist, imperialism is a show of vitality, and is in no way a show of decadence.
An additional struggle highlighted in this definition, is the opposition of fascism to socialism, a political ideology Mussolini himself once subscribed to. To fascists, socialists or anyone they perceive as such is the mortal enemy of fascism. In his definition, Mussolini writes “Fascism is the complete opposite of Marxian Socialism, the materialist conception of human history of human civilization can be explained simply through the conflicts of interest among the various social groups (Halsall, Paul)”. Despite similarities between these two ideologies, as well as Mussolini’s former belief in the socialist system, they maintain mortal enemies ideologically. On this divide, Mussolini wrote “Fascism now and always, believes in holiness and in heroism, that is to say, in actions influenced by no economic motive, direct or indirect (Halsall, Paul)”. Fascism also directly opposes democracy, both the core ideals and the application of democracy
Fascism is a notably complex ideology with many tenants that often seem to contradict each other. Interestingly enough, fascism seeks to balance an unusual dichotomy between ideals focused on populism and inclusion, and undertones of elitism and the rise and control of one as a supreme leader.