What is a Fascist? The first time I was called a Fascist to my face was in June 2023, I was speaking at a student free speech event outside Manchester University. It was a surreal experience. No one has shouted at me for over two decades. I use to work at Manchester airport and informing holidaymakers that their flight was cancelled would nearly always involve raised voices directed at the messenger. A small crowd consisting of wannabe Antifa sorts, Socialist Worker types, trade union reps, Muslim women, and blue-haired social justice warriors made their feelings known to the event speakers. When I stood on the makeshift stage to give my speech, I was met with a torrent of screams. The insult I remember most being thrown my way was the word Fascist. I am not an expert in 20th-century ideologies but I know enough to understand that I cannot be a Fascist for one very simple reason: I do not class myself as a socialist. Fascism is a subsect of socialism and sits alongside Nazism and Communism. I tried to educate the crowd over their screams but to no avail. Many people throw around this word as if it is a fashion accessory and you must be seen to use it. So much so, that it is now just a standard insult and has no real meaning, except that you are a little bit like Hitler. This does not make sense to me for the word is Italian, not German. If we are going to use a word, it is wise to know what it means. I include myself in this, hence this article to explore the word. In linguistic terms, the word comes from the Italian term fascismo, which is derived from fascio, meaning a bundle of sticks. It highlighted strength through unity: a single rod is easily broken, while a bundle is difficult to break. The term fasci was given to political organisations in Italy, similar to guilds or syndicates (a French word interchangeable with trade union). Some formed into professional associations, trade unions, cartels, and secret societies. Benito Mussolini is seen as the father of fascism and was the Prime Minister of Italy from 1922 to 1943. When I say Prime Minister, this may have been his official title, but he was a dictator. He was executed by Italian communists in April 1945 while trying to flee to Switzerland. Why would communists execute a fascist if they are all socialists? Where is the legendary socialist solidarity for comrades in arms? The answer is simple. When it comes to political power, everyone is the enemy. The real difference between fascists and communists is that one ideology wants utopia for the nation-state, and the other for the whole world. "I am and shall remain a socialist and my convictions will never change! They are bred into my very bones." - Mussolini Mussolini founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was a socialist politician and was seen to be so – this statement would not have been controversial during his lifetime. He was a journalist at the Avanti! newspaper - the official daily newspaper of Italy's socialist party. He was a member of the National Directorate of the Italian Socialist Party until he was expelled for advocating military intervention in World War I, in opposition to the party's policy on neutrality. His stance was that the war would overthrow the Hohenzollern and Habsburg monarchies in Germany and Austria-Hungary who he felt had consistently repressed socialism. He saw the war as a revolutionary war. Mussolini saw himself as a national socialist, he was not an internationalist, but a nationalist. It is clear to see that he was a socialist, just not a Marxist obsessed with class warfare. Socialism is not one thing, it has many interpretations and off-shoots. Cuba and North Korea are very different countries but both are socialist entities. "All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state." - Mussolini Fascism promoted a corporatist economic system that involved both employer and employee syndicates representing their members. They were linked together in corporative associations to collectively represent the nation's economic producers and work alongside the State to set national economic policy. It criminalised strikes by employees but also lockouts by employers, as both of these acts were harmful to the nation - the State came first. “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the marriage of government and corporate power.” - Mussolini A corporation is an organisation, usually a group of people or a company, authorised by the State to act as a single entity. The word derives from corpus, the Latin word for body, or a body of people. The Fascist Manifesto was published in 1919, aka The Manifesto of the Italian Fasces of Combat. The division into the following four sections shines a light on the thinking behind such a document and its ideology. Politically: - Universal suffrage with a lowered voting age to 18 years - Proportional representation on a regional basis - Votes for women - Representation of newly created national councils - The abolition of the Italian Senate (upper house of parliament) - The formation of a national council of experts for labour Labour: - Eight-hour workday & minimum wage - Participation of workers' representatives - Confidence in labour unions - Reorganisation of the railways and the transport sector - Revision of law on disability insurance - Reduction of retirement age to 55 Military: - Creation of a short-service national militia - Armaments factories to be nationalised - A peaceful but competitive foreign policy Finance: - A strong progressive tax on capital - Seizure of all possessions of religious congregations - Revision of military contracts and seizure of 85% of profits I challenge anyone to read the above and not come away thinking that these are mainly socialist policies. It is clear that the fascists were socialists, you would struggle to argue otherwise. These aims may have changed when in power for people are easily corrupted once their hands are on the levers of power – look at the actions of Stalin and Mao. Surprisingly, fascists are not seen as socialists by today's socialists. Only one strand of socialism is allowed to call itself by such a name. The civil war within socialism ended in 1945 when Berlin fell, only one strand was left standing – Marxist communism. Many people were against fascism and fought against it – my grandad for example. This does not automatically make him an Antifa (anti-fascist) member for this was a specific movement in the 1920s in Italy that fought for the soul of socialism. A little like the constant battles the Labour Party has to fight to keep splinter groups at bay - Momentum today, Militant in the 1980s. All groups experience internal conflict when it comes to figuring out which is the correct path to follow. We have seen such conflicts with Catholics/Protestants, Sunni/Shite, Mods/Rockers, Goths/Emos - as the Highlander once said: 'There can be only one!' Antifa was the reaction to a strand of socialism that did not see itself as global and dared to put nation above class. Fascism was rejected by communists and anarchists. They saw their dream of world socialism perverted and taken in a direction they did not approve of. This is why the Antifa flag depicts a black flag to represent anarchy and a red flag for communism – this flag is still used today, especially in America. My reason for writing this article was to find out what is a fascist. I now think I have my answer - a fascist is simply a different type of socialist. Just like an Uber is a different type of taxi and a Tesla is a different type of car. Yet again, it seems that socialism has a lot to answer for when you add up the atrocities committed by Italian fascists. For example, 80,000 people in Eastern Libya died in the Libyan campaign and 382,800 civilians died in the Ethiopian War. When we hand over power to the State we risk totalitarianism which always leads to atrocities. It does not matter that initial intentions are benevolent because the outcomes are always the same - disaster. So the next time you hear someone shout ‘Fascist’, what they actually mean is the other person is the wrong type of socialist. A little like a Manchester United football fan shouting abuse at a Liverpool football fan – it is just old-fashioned tribalism. The word is still an insult today and rightly so – but ironically, it is not used correctly by the people who use it so freely.