What is fascism, and how does it compare to other ideas of government?

[Answer Man, (Sorta)]

Without getting too much into history, I'd like to know the difference between these two governmental ideas. I know Fascism was believed to be started in Italy in the 1920's, but what are the ideas? I've heard Fascism is pretty much Anti-liberalism. So what does that mean?

One last question. By some views, fascism, communism, socialism, and nationalism are closely related, (though with some major differences). Please briefly explain the differences between each.

[dondegroovily]

Classical liberalism (which has nothing to do with modern liberalism) is the idea that the state should serve the people. Fascism is, for the most part, the opposite, believing that the people should serve the state.

Fascism is as described.

Communism believes that the state should serve the common people instead of the elite. However, as a response to pro-business corruption in democracies in the 1800s, it doesn't trust democracy to accomplish this. Thus, in practice, Communism winds up being similar to Fascism, and serves the elites in the government (such as Kim Jong-Il's palaces). There are some Communism true-believers, such as Fidel Castro, who pretty much lives and dresses just as he did as a revolutionary in 1958.

Socialism is a purely economic philosophy. Communism is a from of socialism, but so are the democratic governments of Norway and Sweden. It is the view that government should transfer wealth from the rich to the poor.

Nationalism in pride in your country. It is frequently exploited by those trying to seize dictatorial powers. The rhetoric is along the lines of "If you don't support me, you don't support your country". Nationalism was a huge part of Hitler's speeches and a primary reasons for the wars and deaths he caused. As a result, Europeans to this day are suspicious of any public nationalism.

[ocularnervosa]

Fascism was a government controlled by a dictator and his minions. There were no votes except for the party in control and anyone who spoke out against the government was tossed in jail or shot on site.

Communism is a government run by a party and an elected leader from that party. It is similar to Fascism because people are not allowed to speak out against the government but they can vote for their leader, as long as they are a member of the ruling party.

Socialism is a government that is controlled by the people similar to a Democracy. People get to elect their leader and have a say in the goings on. The only difference is the government also controls businesses and divides the profits between the business owners and the government.

Nationalism is a government based on the idea of "us and them". Napoleon basically created the concept claiming everything he did was for the best of the French people and to protect them from the rest of Europe. Generally Nationalism governments are also controlled by dictators but people still have basic freedoms.

[The dark side]

Fascism, properly defined, means authoritarian government. The name comes from the ancient Roman symbol of the fasces, a symbol of authority. Basically it comes to government by "I'm right and I don't care what you think" and so is completely anti-democratic.

Communism in its pure form is Marxism as defined in "The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The idea is rebellion against the capitalist rich, so that the workers get a say in how things are. Ideally it means complete common ownership of everything, and if that happens there is no need for money as everybody shares what they have. It's a wonderful idea and really can work in small communities where everyone knows each other - kibbutzes being one example - and if you know the bible, the community in Acts 2 where everyone "shared everything in common" - but it has never worked properly on a large scale. It can only work if everyone shares the ideal of being communal and not having any personal property, but as Frank Zappa said, "Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff". Imposed in a large country, the facts of human nature mean that it always turns into a brutal dictatorship.

Socialism falls somewhere between that and capitalism, and comes in many varieties, but essentially results in government ownership of major industries (for the good of the people) within a basically capitalist economy. Being British and middle-aged I remember what that was like - gas, electricity, telephones, the national airline, the steel industry, the shipbuilding industry, our biggest car manufacturer and many more were all owned by the government over 20 years ago. One thing we still retain as a result of those times is the health care system, which is basically free and paid for out of taxes. It means nobody here needs health insurance and the rich subsidise the poor - a nicely mildly socialist idea and feels right to me as part of a civilised society.

Nationalism just means national pride, probably at the expense of foreigners.

[classical liberal]

This can best summarize what you were asking:

"Fascism has taken up an attitude of complete opposition to the doctrines of Liberalism, both in the political field and in the field of economics". --Benito Mussolini

This was called classical liberalism (often labeled conservative or Libertarian in America). Mao, Stalin, Lenin, Mussolini, Hitler were all against classical liberalism. It was just which collectivist system would be used instead, hence the bitter rivalry.

What is economic liberalism- It is the economic component of classical liberalism. It is an economic philosophy that supports and promotes laissez-faire economics. Proponents of economic liberalism believe political freedom and social freedom are inseparable with economic freedom, and use philosophical arguments promoting liberty to justify economic liberalism and the free market.

What is political liberalism- is essentially the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of coercion or aggression. Freedom is commonly known as a state of being free from government oppression. Individual rights.

“The Fascist conception of life,” Mussolini wrote.. "It is opposed to classical liberalism [which] denied the State in the name of the individual; Fascism reasserts the rights of the State...”

Many people will try to claim fascism, national socialism and communism,socialism are opposites but they are both collectivist/totalitarian philosophies so the truth is while they have some differences (in academia), they also overlap everywhere in being anti-individualist (no individual rights, only collective rights) to the extreme. They are rather like two baseball teams fighting for power over the same people and property. Hence, like two competing teams of any game, there was a bitter rivalry back in the early 20th century.

It is a matter of record that in the German election of 1933, the Communist Party was ordered by its leaders to vote for the Nazis—with the explanation that they could later fight the Nazis for power, but first they had to help destroy their common enemy: free market capitalism and its parliamentary form of government.

Socialism is an economic system of government ownership of the means of production and distribution so I will compare the economics of fascism and socialism.

As an economic system, fascism is socialism with a capitalist veneer. In its day (the 1920s and 1930s), fascism was seen as the happy medium between liberal (free market) capitalism and revolutionary Marxism, with its violent and socially divisive persecution of the bourgeoisie. Fascism substituted the particularity of nationalism and racialism—“blood and soil”—for the internationalism of both classical liberalism and Marxism.

Where socialism sought totalitarian control of a society’s economic processes through direct state operation of the means of production, fascism sought that control indirectly, through domination of nominally private owners. Where socialism nationalized property explicitly, fascism did so implicitly, by requiring owners to use their property in the “national interest”—that is, as the autocratic authority conceived it. (Nevertheless, a few industries were operated by the state.) Where socialism abolished all market relations outright, fascism left the appearance of market relations while planning all economic activities. Where socialism abolished money and prices, fascism controlled the monetary system and set all prices and wages politically. In doing all this, fascism denatured the marketplace. Entrepreneurship was abolished. State ministries, rather than consumers, determined what was produced and under what conditions.

Read more on the economics of fascism:
http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Fascism.html
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/...c-fascism/

Communism, Socialism, Fascism — they are all forms of political collectivism based on the Marxist credo: from each according to his ability – to each according to his need. There is another term for it: altruism (“other” ism), which was coined by Auguste Comte. The meaning of altruism is that self-sacrifice is considered the supreme good, and self interest is regarded as the supreme evil.

Communism and socialism are more honest about what they claim to be: they admit that no one has a private life any longer, and that all goods, services, and human beings are the property of the state. One may argue, as I do, that this is evil, but it is also honest.

Fascism, however, is both dishonest and evil. The fascists claim that there is such a thing as private property, with all the responsibilities of ownership, and the facade of ownership — yet, the state controls the “owner’s” every decision on penalty of fine or imprisonment (or both).

All systems hold human beings as right-less. Individuals cannot act freely provided that they respect the rights of others; they can only act with permission from the state.

Socialism-economic system
Communism- has ruler as Politicial system that uses socialism as economic system.

Fascism/National socialism- nationalist oriented, a variation of socialism as economic policy, ruler as political system.