fas-cism (fash'iz'em) n. A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism.
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Fascism and Nazism as ideologies involve, to varying degrees, some of the
following hallmarks: [Source]
- Nationalism and super-patriotism with a sense of historic mission.
- Aggressive militarism even to the extent of glorifying war as good for
the national or individual spirit.
- Use of violence or threats of violence to impose views on others (fascism
and Nazism both employed street violence and state violence at different
moments in their development).
- Authoritarian reliance on a leader or elite not constitutionally responsible
to an electorate.
- Cult of personality around a charismatic leader.
- Reaction against the values of Modernism, usually with emotional attacks
against both liberalism and communism.
- Exhortations for the homogeneous masses of common folk (Volkish in German,
Populist in the U.S.) to join voluntarily in a heroic mission--often metaphysical
and romanticized in character.
- Dehumanization and scapegoating of the enemy--seeing the enemy as an inferior
or subhuman force, perhaps involved in a conspiracy that justifies eradicating
them.
- The self image of being a superior form of social organization beyond
socialism, capitalism and democracy.
- Elements of national socialist ideological roots, for example, ostensible
support for the industrial working class or farmers; but ultimately, the
forging of an alliance with an elite sector of society.
- Abandonment of any consistent ideology in a drive for state power.
"The great masses of people. . .will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one."
--Adolph Hitler