| | '''Fascism''' is a [[big government]], [[totalitarian]], [[economic]], and [[political]] [[ideology]] that arose in early twentieth century [[Europe]] and came to dominate the social and political systems of [[Italy]] under [[Benito Mussolini]] and [[Germany]] under [[Adolf Hitler]]. Fascism was primarily [[statist]] in nature, relying on big [[government]] solutions and "[[crony capitalism]]", and openly hostile towards conventional [[religion]]. Fascism was influential in [[Portugal]] as well, and had followers in most European countries and in [[Argentina]]. The last regime that had some fascist elements, that of [[Francisco Franco]] in [[Spain]], came to an end in 1975. Fascism was falsely considered "[[Right-wing|Far-Right]]" in politics, mostly due to [[Joseph Stalin]] denouncing Hitler and the [[National Socialist]]s as "right-wing" after World War II, but it in reality was considered closer to the far-Left.<ref>http://www.regnery.com/books/the-big-lie/</ref> Indeed, in 1941, Mussolini had stated that "When [World War II] is over, in the world's social revolution that will be followed by a more equitable distribution of the earth's riches, due account must be kept of the sacrifices and of the discipline maintained by the Italian workers. The Fascist revolution will make another decisive step to shorten social distances.", which made very clear that even by that point, fascism was far closer to socialism than to true conservativism. | | '''Fascism''' is a [[big government]], [[totalitarian]], [[economic]], and [[political]] [[ideology]] that arose in early twentieth century [[Europe]] and came to dominate the social and political systems of [[Italy]] under [[Benito Mussolini]] and [[Germany]] under [[Adolf Hitler]]. Fascism was primarily [[statist]] in nature, relying on big [[government]] solutions and "[[crony capitalism]]", and openly hostile towards conventional [[religion]]. Fascism was influential in [[Portugal]] as well, and had followers in most European countries and in [[Argentina]]. The last regime that had some fascist elements, that of [[Francisco Franco]] in [[Spain]], came to an end in 1975. Fascism was falsely considered "[[Right-wing|Far-Right]]" in politics, mostly due to [[Joseph Stalin]] denouncing Hitler and the [[National Socialist]]s as "right-wing" after World War II, but it in reality was considered closer to the far-Left.<ref>http://www.regnery.com/books/the-big-lie/</ref> Indeed, in 1941, Mussolini had stated that "When [World War II] is over, in the world's social revolution that will be followed by a more equitable distribution of the earth's riches, due account must be kept of the sacrifices and of the discipline maintained by the Italian workers. The Fascist revolution will make another decisive step to shorten social distances.", which made very clear that even by that point, fascism was far closer to socialism than to true conservativism. |
| | + | Largely because of the ill-defining of Fascism as being on the right instead of truly being on the left, several leftists often offer a false dichotomy between what they called freedom and fascism, with their definition of freedom generally coming closer to socialism or communism, or anarchism. A notable example of this is George Lucas with his Star Wars films, who makes clear he tries to paint it as people giving up freedom for fascism. |
| | The name "fascism" derives from an ancient [[Roman]] symbol, the ''[[fasces]],'' a group of birch rods bundled together with an axe. It symbolizes [[strength]] in [[unity]]; the rods are weak by themselves but strong when bundled together. Historian [[Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.]] has stated, | | The name "fascism" derives from an ancient [[Roman]] symbol, the ''[[fasces]],'' a group of birch rods bundled together with an axe. It symbolizes [[strength]] in [[unity]]; the rods are weak by themselves but strong when bundled together. Historian [[Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.]] has stated, |