


The Italian fascists brought back the fasces as a symbol of their brand of nationalism, which became known as fascism. This was used as a symbol of a government official’s power. In ancient Rome, fasces consisted of a bundle of rods with an axe blade sticking out. Fascism and the Italian fascio ultimately derive from the Latin fascis, meaning “bundle” (the plural form is fasces). It comes from the Italian fascismo, from fascio, meaning “political group.” Mussolini formed these small political groups into a political party, Partito Nazionale Fascista-the National Fascist Party. The first records of the word fascism in English come from around the 1920s. Interest in the history of fascism and the word itself has increased in the 21st century, along with a global rise of nationalism and movements associated with fascism. That history includes the rise of fascism in the 1920s and ’30s, the Holocaust perpetrated by Hitler and the Nazis, and other atrocities and oppression committed under fascist regimes. Fascist can also be used as an adjective describing something involving or promoting fascism.Īpart from their literal (and often capitalized) use to refer to the regime of Mussolini, the words fascism and fascist are typically used negatively as a criticism of such practices and ideologies-fascists typically avoid calling themselves fascists due to the negative history associated with the terms. The term fascist can be a noun referring generally to someone who has such views, or, more specifically, to a member of such a government or movement. More broadly, fascism is used to refer to any ideology or movement seen as authoritarian, nationalistic, and extremely right wing, especially when fundamentally opposed to democracy and liberalism. The word is sometimes capitalized, especially when it specifically refers to the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini in Italy from 1922 to 1943, or authoritarian systems similar to his, including those of Adolf Hitler in Germany and Francisco Franco in Spain.įascism can also refer to an ideology based on this form of rule, or to the use of its methods. Fascism is a system of government led by a dictator who typically rules by forcefully and often violently suppressing opposition and criticism, controlling all industry and commerce, and promoting nationalism and often racism.
