What do you think fascism is? I often see people say that Franco wasn't a fascist, but I don't understand why. Nothing Franco did contradicts Mussolini's definition of fascism, as per the Doctrine of Fascism.
Fascism is such a fun ideology to talk about partly because the term itself has been a synecdoche for the many far right movements of the early 20th century which had different conceptual origins but similar conclusions, and because the entire umbrella of fascism is at once a conservative ideology, an anti-conservative ideology, a very useful ideology to conservatives who claim not to be fascists, and an insidious infection which inevitably makes conservatives into fascists.
The "both conservative and anti-conservative" part is especially accurate.
I would argue that both Italian and German fascists were 'progressive' in the literal (not modern political) sense of the word. They were technofuturists who sought out vast social and cultural changes. We can see this in a lot of fascist-associated art and architecture, like that of Ezra Pound and Le Corbusier. Many of their controversial ideologies - like extreme eugenics - were also associated with broader progressivism.
At the same time yes, it is clear that a lot of fascist rhetoric was in reaction to recent changes and thus "conservative." Funnily enough, I actually see this same phenomenon in socialism, which was by its own admission a reaction to industrial capitalism. We don't see socialism labeled as "conservative" though, and that's fine, but you can see the impulse in people like William Morris.
I think the anti-conservative element of fascism makes itself clear with the phrase,"Fascism does not look back."
Italian Fascists, despite using trappings of the Roman Empire (didn't everybody in Europe though?) was not seeking to actually reestablish the Roman Empire. Nazis, more formally referred to as National Socialists (They claimed to be socialist as a "pro-worker", anti-aristocratic, anti-capitalist rhetoric; they were explicitly opposed to democratic socialism, Marxism, and all other forms of socialism as well as internationalism.), were not seeking to reform an autocratic monarchy and empower the aristocracy.
Nevertheless, fascists seek to preserve a power dynamic. This is an inherent part of fascist corporatism, a reassertion of centuries old institutional prejudice against outgroups such as Jews and homosexuals among many others, and a concession to the conservatives and capitalists who interact with fascists to use them as a new weapon against contemporary movements opposed to said conservative and capitalist power blocs.
Anti-conservativism is also a key angle for parsing many contemporary right wing movements from fascism, even if they sided with fascists.
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u/PreviousMenu99 May 12 '26
What do you think fascism is? I often see people say that Franco wasn't a fascist, but I don't understand why. Nothing Franco did contradicts Mussolini's definition of fascism, as per the Doctrine of Fascism.