Three Nasties: Fascism, Nazism and Communism
The first fascist to obtain widespread power was Benito Mussolini when he became Italian head of state in 1922. In his autobiography, Mussolini stated that the person who most influenced him was Georges Sorel, a rabid French Socialist. Mussolini was a national socialist, as was Adolph Hitler. Stalin was an international socialist. Socialists, whether nationalist in focus or international in focus, are collectivists. (An excellent view of Sorel can be obtained in the book, The Liar’s Tale, by Jeremy Campbell.)
Collectivists believe in public ownership of capital goods. They wrongly believe that individualists are selfish(see Chapter 4, The Open Society in Bye-Bye Sweet Liberty .).
By definition, Individuals are not collectivists. In general, conservatives believe in individuals, not collections of individuals. I would dare say Allegations of conservative support for any form of fascism, don’t hold up under even mild scrutiny. Many “liberals” have collectivist tendencies, and therefore, a “liberal” is more closely aligned to fascism. I suggest to anyone wishing to learn more on this topic that they read, “The Birth of Fascist Ideology,” by Zeev Sternhell (Princeton University Press, 1994).
After assuming power, Mussolini realized he need not destroy capital goods or corporations, as had Lenin, et.al. All he had to do was to was force leaders of the corporations to obey. Then he could employ structures already in use to enhance his power. He established what became known as corporatism. He coined the word fascism to describe his new political structure, of which he was the head. He employed an ancient roman symbol, the fasces, a bundle of sticks bound together around a battle ax, all tied together in a bundle, with the ax head protruding, as the symbol of his fascist party. The symbol has elements of collectivism and violence ---- the bundled sticks representing the collective as being stronger than a lone stick or ax handle.
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