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What constitutes 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. It is common practice to define a fascist government as a "right-wing dictatorship", but this merely replaces one vague term with another, since there is no universal definition of "right-wing". 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. The present article strives to bring together various definitions 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 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. Kevin Passmore/Ernesto Laclau/Roger Eatwell Kevin Passmore, a 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 decended from the view put forth by Ernesto Laclau and is essentially identical with the definition given by Roger Eatwell. The definition he gives is as follows: 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 ideolgy. 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: 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 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"'': In 1938 the fascist countries declared the world war on communism in the Anti-Comintern Pact* *. 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 1984 and Animal Farm, who famously remarked: | ||||||||
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