The 14 Defining Characteristics Of Fascism

by Vindicatus

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Note

1. Defined as a "political movement or regime tending toward or imitating Fascism"--Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.

References

Andrews, Kevin. Greece in the Dark. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1980.

Chabod, Frederico. A History of Italian Fascism. London: Weidenfeld, 1963.

Cooper, Marc. Pinochet and Me. New York: Verso, 2001.

Cornwell, John. Hitler as Pope. New York: Viking, 1999.

de Figuerio, Antonio. Portugal--Fifty Years of Dictatorship. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1976.

Eatwell, Roger. Fascism, A History. New York: Penguin, 1995.

Fest, Joachim C. The Face of the Third Reich. New York: Pantheon, 1970.

Gallo, Max. Mussolini's Italy. New York: MacMillan, 1973.

Kershaw, Ian. Hitler (two volumes). New York: Norton, 1999.

Laqueur, Walter. Fascism, Past, Present, and Future. New York: Oxford, 1996.

Papandreau, Andreas. Democracy at Gunpoint. New York: Penguin Books, 1971.

Phillips, Peter. Censored 2001: 25 Years of Censored News. New York: Seven Stories. 2001.

Sharp, M.E. Indonesia Beyond Suharto. Armonk, 1999.

Verdugo, Patricia. Chile, Pinochet, and the Caravan of Death. Coral Gables, Florida: North-South Center Press, 2001.

Yglesias, Jose. The Franco Years. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1977.

Below you will find my personal thoughts as they relate to the above 14 points.

By Vindicatus: 10-26-2004

I do see examples of these points in whole or part happening within our supersized government.

1. The unrelenting flag waving after 911. Catchy slogans...Hmmm...too many to count. Military pride (the most powerful and technologicly advanced military ever) , "An army of one". A general distrust of all things unamerican.
2. The patriot act. Are we ready to sacrafice even one freedom to protect us from Terrorists?
3. This is too obvious. The mass media sell us a new enemy every day. Activists (anyone who opposes) are made to appear foolish and illinformed, or they are ignored alltogether.
4. We have a huge deficit and yet we feel that our needs in the present outway our childrens needs a few years from now. They are spending my retirement money on bombs to drop on villagers to protect who from what.
5. We do have a conservtive (moraly) republican in office; who either doesn't grasp the concept of seperating church and state, or is deciding to blur the line to his parties benefit and ultimately the benefit of other intrests (who is pressuring the administration?).
6. See point three. We all know that only a few info giants make up what we see, and hear and read. Watch cross-fire and you will see a guy with an opposing veiw start to make a point then he is either interupted, belittled, or cut to commercial break never to be heard from again. (Did you see Jon Stewart tell CNN that they were hurting America and to stop?)
7. Again the patriot act. Look at the gross mistreatment of "detainees". Still no legal representation for most. Common sense tells me that no matter how much security we have we will never be successful in curbing violent acts of terrorism (has the CIA developed mind reading technology?) Who are they kidding? The entire world will suffer from terror as long as desperate men have a bad taste in their mouth. The patriot act is just a bad excuse to turn this nation into a police state.
8. See point 5. The american gov are militant defenders of Christianity (at least we have taken on this appearence in the eyes of other nations). The tie between the church and state is seemingly minute until you look at Bush's stance on gay marriage and abortion (stem cell research). Of course he isnt smart enough to argue or come to his own conclusions so someone is leading him by the nose. His father maybe?
9. Self evident. Small business is dying. Make way for Walmart and celeb-endorsed underwear. If we keep it up then the only freedom retained by the havenots will be the choice between poorly made product A or B.
10. We have no need for a caste system. What we have now is better. Crack coacain in the ghetto and a minimum wage that could starve a rat. The rift between rich and poor will only grow as the undereducated spend money at the dollar store for overpriced crap and consume too much.
11. I dont see much of this in american politics. do you?.
12. Just look at the "War on drugs." We could probably fund a health care system with the ridiculous amounts spent on preventing the "unpreventable".
13. We call them lobbiests. Special intrest groups kicking back to the politician to allow dumping on protected land or cutting down forests under the guise of preventing forest fires. Or increasing the taxes on smokes and then handing the money back to tobacco farmers.
14. Jeb and his cohorts STOLE an election.

This is great. I've been preeching these points for a while. Only now have they formed a complete picture of just how fucked we are.