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Fascism vs. NazismSat Oct 23 2004

To confuse fascism and Nazism is perhaps understandable -- both were

dictatorial, antidemocratic movements. But there are important differencesbetween them as well.

First, let us unravel the terminology .

Revolutionary groups and whipping canes

Fascism originated in Italy, under the leadership of Benito Mussolini .Its name -- not its ideology -- is in part derived from certainrevolutionary workers group s in Italy at the end of the 19th century ,fasci revoluzionari (= revolutionary groups). When Mussolini startedhis movement in 1919, he called his first fascist groups fasci di

combattimento (= combat groups).

As it happens, the similar-sounding Latin word fasces (signifying abunch of whipping canes, bound around an execution axe) was anestablished Roman symbol of power . In early Rome , the entirecontraption used to be displayed ritually before the powerful Romanconsul s, who before 300 BC had the sole power to pass judgement aswell as to mete out punishment ( whipping by cane or beheading byaxe ). After 300 BC this combined judiciary and executive power cameto an end, when Roman justice was reformed. But this didn't botherMussolini, who used pictures of fasces as his own symbols ofdictatorial power .

Hence the word fascism has two "separate but equal" root s: the Italianword fasci and the Roman (Latin) fasces .

National socialism

Nazism is a contraction of the German word Nationalsozialismus (derived from the official German name of Hitler's party,Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei , NSDAP ). It stands forthe totalitarian and racist pseudo-ideology under which the AdolfHitler's German Third Reich was ruthlessly governed.

During the 1930's, political analysts in the democratic West werehorrified by both of these antidemocratic creed s, Italian fascism aswell as German Nazism. But they took care to keep them concept uallyapart.

However, this was not the case in Stalin 's Soviet Union , because thefull name of the Soviet Union has one word element in common withNazism ( National sozialismus ), the word socialism -- USSR is readout as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics . Stalin, who saw

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himself as communist and socialist (and who in other respects was just as murderous and totalitarian as Hitler), was opposed to thecompeting ideology of Nazism (= Nationalsocialismus ). But he didn'twant to use the word in his anti-Nazi propaganda , because itcontained a "good" element -- "socialism".

Hitler is a damned Nazi! -- Hell no, Hitler is a damned fascist!

So from the 1930's onwards a curious situation arose: when th e Westlashed out against fascists, they meant Mussolini's Italians, but whenthe Soviets expressed anger against the fascists, they meant Hitler'sGermans. Communists in other countries f ollowed the Soviet-established political vocabulary, using the word "fascist" when theyactually meant "Nazi".

This difference in political terminology remained in place even aft erthe war. The West celebrated its victory over Nazism, while paradeswere held in Moscow in honour of the glorious Red Army that hadvanquished fascism. Both just meant the same thing -- that they werehappy to be rid of Hitler.

An ideological litmus paper

When discussing historical WWII events during the post-war years ,you could easily tell if the speaker or writer was inspired bycommunism . If he or she talked about Nazis as "fascists", then theargument or point of view had in all probability originated incommunist circles.

Unraveling the fuzz

Both fascism and Nazism are founded on fuzzy idea s, but this doesnot justify confusing them or tre ating them as identical.

Mussolini's fascism had a shade closer resemblance to some kind ofcrackpot political ideology than Hitler's Nazism, which was not basedon much else than blind racial hatred , efficient militarism, and ruthlessapplication of totalitarian power in the interest of the Master Race .

Corporatism -- medieval guilds warmed over

The Italian fascists regarded both parliamentary democracy andsocialist class struggle as elements that were bound to causedivisiveness in a nation. Hence they introduced the idea ofcorporatism , a kind of modernised version of the medieval guildsystem. Here representatives of all trade s and industries , employer sas well as employee s, could settle matters based on mutualunderstanding. Of course, in reality this was mostly ideologicalwindow-dressing . Mussolini was Il Duce (= The Leader) and had thelast word.

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In general, fascism was an appreciably lighter version of a dictatorialanti-democratic system than the merciless ly brutal Nazism. FascistItaly never became completely totalitarian, nor did it commit massmurder on the scale of the Nazis'. The monarchy was intact and thebureaucracy , the military and the church remained as complementarypower centres. Originally there was no racism in Italian fascism. Due

to Hitler's influence this unfortunately changed toward the end ofMussolini's regime .

An inappropriate euphemism

The ideas of Italian fascism popped up among freakish movements inseveral European countries during the 20's and 30's, often vanishingafter the war. They were applied during Franco 's and Salazar'sdictatorships on the Iberian Peninsula , where they managed to surviveWWII by three decades, curiously enough. But Hitler' s Nazis were fartoo cocky for ever terming themselves fascist. To the Nazis the Italianfascists were soft and ineffectual sissies, whom Hitler constantly hadto save from various troubles that they always managed to getthemselves into.

Is there any point in differentiating between these two historical evils?I strongly think that there is. Whatever Stalin and the communists mayhave said in the past, it is in my opinion hardly fair to the victims ofNazism to smooth over their horror s by euphemistically renaming theirvicious Nazi murderer s, making them look like mere fascists.

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