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Red fascism

Weird that Stalin isn't or Soviet Union until the death of Stalin isn't mentioned at all. Though this is often discussed and called either red fascism or similiar. So it would be a good thing to cover the other side of fascism as well, Googe books&scholar gets some nice references for the beginning , though I am not able to do that now, so I started a section here at the talk page. --Pudeo⺮ 13:15, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

scope of article

At some point, the article will have to use a definition of "fascism" which is not just "I don't like it" in nature about any perceived "bad political group." The current melange makes no objective sense. Should it be used to cover all examples of "oppressive, dictatorial control" as one dictionary definition has it? Or should it be restricted to authoritarian governments using strict central economic authority" Or to all governments having a strong nationalistic aim? Or to any government or movement which may be racist in nature? Right now, the answer is unclear -- with a lot of groups labelled "fascist" which have no relationship to any single definition of the word. Collect (talk) 13:32, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Agreed, many people try to put governments or individuals under the "fascist" label simply to discredit them. The problem in defining fascism is that it borrows a number of ideas from other ideologies. Political partisans from the left, right, and other political areas point out certain parts of fascism to make accusations against others such as to claim things like "ah, statist socialism is fascist because it involves major government control" or other claims like George W. Bush is fascist because of authoritarian aspects like wiretapping and detainment policies at Guantanamo Bay as well as his nationalistic manners in the lead up to the Iraq war. The problem in defining fascism is two fold: 1) People either want a a precise definition or 2) People want a broad definition. Both have consequences, too narrow of a definition is often accused of being politically correct, too broad of a definition is accused of having no focus. We must always keep in mind why various ideologies are referred to as "fascism", and that is because of their similarities to the original capital-"F" Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini in Italy which was a highly authoritarian nationalist-oriented government which sought the expansion of power of the Italian nation as well as the expansion of territory for the nation. The Italian Fascist regime was hostile to political ideologies and systems which it deemed as restraining the power of the nation, such as communism which opposes nationalism in its goal to establish an international proletariat society, Italian Fascism was hostile to democracy due to the history of political instability of democracy in Italy, Italian Fascism was hostile to liberalism due to its emphasis on individualism which fascism saw as detrimental to collectively unifying the Italians under their national identity. Many governments may utilize nationalism in affairs, but fascism is embodied in holistic nationalism which is the central policy plank of fascism. The Italian Fascist regime created a single-party state led by Mussolini as an effective dictator of Italy, the Fascist government of Italy demanded absolute obedience to Mussolini and the Fascist regime, any form of opposition to the government was seen as treason. These are key aspects to fascist regimes, some may see this as POV for me identifying the role of dictatorship and authoritarianism in fascism, but these are important aspects of fascist governments, but like I mentioned earlier not the only aspects.--R-41 (talk) 21:16, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

References

The purpose, as I understand it, of a "reference" or "citation" is to provide a source for a claim made in an article. There is no need to add editorial matter to the reference, not to have googlebooks links for the references. There is no need to have more than a few references made for any single claim. Piling Ossa on Pelion is not how WP works. See WP:CITE This article has far too many references, has too many with edito=orial comments (the WP guideline is for a "short quote" only used if the cite is likely to be challenged) and has googlebooks links, which are not suggested nor recommended by any WP guideline. Thus, I made a small first step in bringing this article in conformity with WP practices. Right now, the entire article is bloated with absurd lists of references, absurd lists of "maybe fascist-like, or maybe not organizations" and the like. Thanks! Collect (talk) 15:06, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

How would you like the article to be changed in order to make it less bloated in general?--R-41 (talk) 05:05, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

First off -- remove the excess baggage in the article. When a group does not fit a general definition of "fascist" saying "some people call it sort of fascist" is irrelevant. Second -- come up with a simple definition of "fascist" -- perhaps something like "an authoritarian mass movement centered on centralized state control of industry and the economy, frequently associated with nationalism. Originally the term was used by Mussoline and referred to the fasces, an ancient Roman symbol of authority, representing the strength of a unified bundle of sticks." Or thereabouts. The fasces relates to an ancient story about a man and his sons, pointing out that united they were stronger than any one of them as individuals. It was even used in the US as a national symbol. Together this should get the article down to a rational size and organization, I hope. Your suggestion? Collect (talk) 13:01, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

It should be directly mentioned that Fascism is an authoritarian or totalitarian nationalist ideology, nationalism is a constant and dominant focus of fascism that makes it unique compared to other ideologies. This is what I think the first part of the intro should say: "Fascism is an authoritarian or totalitarian nationalist ideology which is focused on solving perceived problems of national decline or decadence. Fascism seeks to solve these perceived problems by establishing a single-party state whose government is led by a dictator to direct a nation to achieve a millenarian national rebirth whereby individual self-interests and rights are subordinated to the collective interest of a nation or race as defined by the state." I also think that some things should be removed, such as in the alleged fascist movements section which claims that the Ku Klux Klan is a fascist movement. The Klan existed long before the rise of fascism and even though it definately adopted Nazi and neo-Nazi sympathies years later, that identifies it with Nazism rather than fascism as a whole, as generic fascism does not necessarily entail white supremacism and anti-Semitism.--R-41 (talk) 18:22, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

What about "Fascism is an authoritarian or totalitarian nationalist ideology which is focused on solving perceived _national_ problems of national decline or decadence. Fascism seeks to solve these perceived problems by establish_es_ing a single-party state whose government is led by a dictator _or party_ to direct a nation to achieve a millenarian national rebirth whereby individual self-interests and rights are subordinated to the collective interest of a nation or race as defined by the state."  ? "Authoritarian" and "totalitarian" are so interrelated as to make the use of both fairly redundant. Also the "problems" are not restricted to decline or decadence -- in fact the problems are generally economic in nature. And "millenarian" is a nice word, but not really required in the definition, is it? Thanks! Collect (talk) 20:18, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

While not all fascist states achieved becoming totalitarian, including capital "F" Fascism in Italy, Italian Fascism, Nazism and other fascist ideologies publicly supported the creation of totalitarian states whereby the government would have the ability to influence every aspect of society. However Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and other fascist states never exercised total control over the economy which retained private enterprise and did not exercise total control over religious institutions. Perhaps this would be a good definition "Fascism is a term used to describe both the Italian political movement of Fascismo and ideologies affiliated to or closely resembling it. Fascism is an authoritarian nationalist ideology focused on solving economic, political, and social problems which are perceived to be causing national decline or decadence as well as preparing a nation for armed conflict with other nations to defend itself and often to territorially expand to allow the growth of a nation. Fascism established a single-party state where the government is led by a dictator who directs a nation towards unity by rejecting individual self interests, rights, and liberties to the collective interests of the nation as defined by the state." This may be a little long, but I've tried to avoid as much POV as possible in writing it. Later on, information on totalitarian objectives of fascism should be mentioned as well as what fascist movements commonly oppose such as opposition to communism, democracy, individualism, internationalism, liberalism, and pacifism. I can provide sources for these things that fascism opposes. Some may say that this list excludes conservatism, but I don't know whether fascism is universally anti-conservative as some may say. Mussolini once declared fascism to be "reactionary", while Hitler claimed he was opposed to reactionaries, But fascism would definately oppose democratic and non-nationalist forms of conservatism.--R-41 (talk) 19:24, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Actually taking shape

My imagination, or is the article finally showing some sensible order? Collect (talk) 02:42, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

The article does appear to be getting into better shape, I have found a reference by the scholar Walter Laqueur, which explains the "fascist minimum" or minimum attributes required for generic fascism which is much like the attributes which are already generally agreed upon by many other scholars. But it also defines the anti-conservative element in a satisfactory manner saying that fascism opposed the aims of conservatism to restore previous establishments while fascism sought to form a new elite, this combined with other sources I believe can show that fascism showed opposition to conservatism alongside communism, liberalism, and other ideologies and political systems. Now that I have thought over the introduction though, I believe that totalitarian should be identified along with authoritarian, as fascists themselves identified forming a totalitarian state as one of their main objectives. Authoritarian should be identified as the primary prerequisite however because a number of fascist states failed to form totalitarian states. I think that this introduction will be acceptable for the time being: "Fascism is a term used to describe both the Italian political movement of Fascismo and ideologies affiliated to or closely resembling it. Fascism is an authoritarian or totalitarian nationalist ideology focused on solving economic, political, and social problems which are perceived to be causing national decline or decadence as well as preparing a nation for armed conflict with other nations to defend itself and often to territorially expand a state to allow the growth of a nation. Fascism established a single-party state where the government is led by a dictator who directs a nation towards a collective unity by rejecting individual self interests, rights, and liberties to the collective interests of the nation as defined by the state." I can provide the Laqueur reference for this as well as other references to support this definition. I think this definition described in this section is more precise than the one currently on the page as of me writing this.--R-41 (talk) 05:35, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

I think the "authoritarian" is sufficient for the lede paragraph -- we can have the "totalitarian" part (which is not an essential requirement of fascism) discussed in a later paragraph. "Economic, political and social" covers pretty mush the gamut of problems - they can be separately dealt with later. And the part about war is also not apparently a requirement - WWII was a long way from Mussolini's mind in the 20s. Amd the term "dictator" could be supplemented to include a small cabal or junta - I think most people understand that a single-party state is not very open to debates <g>. I agree that the collective nature of fascism is a key to its definition, for sure. I'd still like to see the article get down to around 100K in length, and there is a bit more left to prune. Collect (talk) 13:24, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

• Again, since totalitarianism is a sub-case of authoritarianism, there is no need to write “an authoritarian or totalitarian nationalist ideology”. (If totalitarianism were somehow contrary to authoritarianism, then there would be a good case.)
• One hardly imagines that fascism would see itself as irrelevant if it were to end decline and decadence; it envisions itself, rather, as an order of persistent desirability. Hence “focused on solving economic, political, and social problems which are perceived to be causing national decline or decadence” is at best questionable in the definition. It would almost certainly be better to instead (in the lede) generally identify what fascists saw as social problems, and especially what means they would use to cure and to prevent such problems. (A liberal might quite agree with a fascist that it would be bad for a particular sort of person to have children, but strongly disagree about forcible sterilization.)

—SlamDiego_←T 16:29, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

The whole issue of Eugenics and politics would make for a lengthy article indeed. As I understand it, "disunity" was what the fascists thought they were opposing, in the belief that a strongly unified national government could run things better than a government with many disparate voices. "Trains running on time" might seem trite, but a lot more accurate than some of what has now been removed <g>. Collect (talk) 16:34, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Alright the word "totalitarian" will be removed from the intro, but its role in fascism should remain discussed in the article.--R-41 (talk) 00:58, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

No problem. I just want to make sure the lede is a short summary of what the reader will find discussed, not a full list of everything in the article <g>. Collect (talk) 01:29, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

My points here are not that the article should discuss nuts-and-bolts in the lede, but

1. that the lede shouldn't hand-wave in reference to social problems, but should give some indication of what fascism regards as a problem;
2. that often the distinction between a fascist and a liberal is not in what each regards as a problem (though, indeed, there are differences at that level), but in what each regards as an acceptable response to the problem.

—SlamDiego_←T 04:54, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

A list of what fascism opposes is necessary, but it should be condensed

What fascism opposes is necessary to be identified in the article because a number of its negations are important parts of its ideology, especially its opposition to communism, democracy, individualism, and pacifism.--R-41 (talk) 01:37, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

The list comprises a rather full spectrum of just about everything else. One can describe a "tomato" in a grocery store without saying it is not a banana, an orange, an artichoke, an avocado etc. <g>. I would further state that since we already establish it is "one party" that people will figure out that it is not democratic. And since we say it prepares a nation for war, people can figure out that it is not pacifist. Collect (talk) 01:55, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

I like having a clear full list of the negations at the front of the article so that there is no confusion by the reader of what generic fascism is commonly opposed to, as I have encountered many editors who do not have a full understanding of what fascism is opposed to. I am concerned that leaving out some from a list of negations because they are mentioned briefly earlier in the article, may be seen as not including key ideas in the negations. I agree that list should be condensed as much as possible to essential negations.--R-41 (talk) 02:11, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Fascism opposes anything which is contrary to the perceived absolute unity of the nation, thus it opposes most "liberal," "conservative" or "democratic" movements, religious sectarianism, and totalitarian movements such as "communism." Somewhere near that? Collect (talk) 13:56, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes, absolute national unity along with the growth of the population and power of the nation is the goal of fascism. Internationalist ideologies and concepts not designed to the nation's interests are opposed by fascists. It's nationalist nature is why there is no clearly universal fascist ideology, but generic fascism does exist in that general structure of government, economic policy, and foreign policy are quite similar. On the issue of the position of religious sectarianism, Italian Fascism became pro-religious only after long-standing disputes between the government of Italy and the Vatican were solved by the Lateran Pact, then the nationwide religion of Roman Catholicism in Italy was deemed helpful to unify the nation. In Germany, religion was more carefully appealed to, due to the Protestant and Roman Catholic divide in Germany, in which Hitler only appealed to either Christianity as a whole in Germany or promoted his anti-Semitic "Positive Christianity" which claimed that Jesus was the son of God, but was not a Jew, so that served Hitler's anti-Semitic and nationalist purposes in that he hoped Germans could rally to Positive Christianity because of its anti-Semitism.--R-41 (talk) 00:40, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Classical liberalism

It's important to specify that fascism is against "classical liberalism," rather than just "liberalism." It's classical liberalism that the fascists rallied against. That's what they were referring to when they spoke of "liberalism." If you look at the economic program of modern liberalism, with it's rejection of laissez-faire in support of regulation of the means of production and a welfare state it's very similar to fascism, so it's misleading to say that it's simply against "liberalism." Many Heads (talk) 21:15, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

No it isn't.Spylab (talk) 23:15, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

Yes it is. "Liberalism" did not yet mean what it does today in America. In Europe, liberalism still has the classical meaning, as support for free markets. There is no doubt that the fascists were referring to classical liberalism when they spoke against liberalism. They certaily were not condemning the welfare state or mixed economy, which modern liberalism supports. Many Heads (talk) 03:00, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Here are the relevant references (bolding mine):

1. Laqueur, Walter. Fascism: Past, Present, Future. Oxford University Press, 1997. Pp. 90. "All fascisms were antiliberal and anti-Marxist, but they were also anticonservative, inasmuch as they did not want to submit to the old establishment, but to replace it with a new elite."
2. Roger Griffin, The palingenetic core of generic fascist ideology, Chapter published in Alessandro Campi (ed.), Che cos'è il fascismo? Interpretazioni e prospettive di ricerche, Ideazione editrice, Roma, 2003, pp. 97-122. " a genuinely revolutionary, trans-class form of anti-liberal, and in the last analysis, anti conservative nationalism."
3. Maier, Hans; Bruhn, Jodi. Totalitarianism and Political Religions. Routledge, 2004. Describes fascism as involving "anti-liberalism, anti-communism..." and "anti-internationalism".

Notice that none of those quotes specify that fascists only oppose classical liberalism, so please stop using spin to push your opinions.Spylab (talk) 05:01, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

"Liberalism" there is not referring to modern liberalism. It's referring to classical liberalism, which outside the US is simply called "liberalism." Since this is a worldwide encyclopedia with a large US readership, it needs to be made clear that we're not talking about modern liberalism, or what liberalism means today in the US, but classical or laissez-faire liberalism. Many Heads (talk) 06:46, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

The three references say liberalism, period, not classical liberalism, modern liberalism or any other specific type of liberalism. Stop trying to spin the references to fit your political agenda.Spylab (talk) 22:17, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

What's my political agenda? My agenda is just to get these terms straight. We can't be complete morons here; we have to use a little brain power and realize that when some sources refer to "liberalism" they're not referring to New Deal liberalism but traditional liberalism. There is no doubt that modern American liberalism is not supportive of free markets, but regulated markets. It's traditional liberalism that supports laissez-faire. I'm curious what you think my "agenda" is. Many Heads (talk) 01:02, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

The sources just say liberalism, you can interpet that to mean classical liberalism all you want but it's just OR. All forms of liberalism endorse individual liberty and that's what fascism opposes most about liberalism. Bobisbob2 (talk) 01:11, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

No, we have to look at context. Usually when a source refers to liberalism, they're referring to traditional liberalism, not modern American liberalism unless otherwise specified. Misplaced Pages is for a worldwide audience, so we need to speak in universally recognized terms. Fascists were opposed to laissez-faire. It's classical liberalism that upholds that, not ALL liberalism obviously. In addition, I gave a source for "classical liberalism" explicitly. There are many more that I can bring in. Many Heads (talk) 01:13, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

The sources could easily mean by "liberalism" meaning individual rights you don't know. I never said that all forms of liberalism favor laissez-faire but that they all favor individaul freedom and yes there is a difference. Individaul freedom is the most universal term for liberalism and that's what fascists oppose the most. The liberalism link leads to the article which says this

Liberalism is a broad class of political philosophies that considers individual liberty to be the most important political goal.

So we don't need to specify Bobisbob2 (talk) 01:35, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Well that's true they could be referring to individual rights, but that would be "political liberalism," and would be referred to as such. What fascists oppose is both political liberalism and economic liberalism, and that's what "liberalism" when it refers to classical liberalism entails. Many Heads (talk) 06:01, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

The references say fascists oppose liberalism, period. End of argument. Stop trying to spin them to fit your blatant libertarian laissez-faire capitalist agenda.Spylab (talk) 01:17, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

We mustn't be idiots. You have to look at context and be aware of how terms are being used. Many words have multiple meanings. Modern liberalism was obviously not around for them to be opposed to it. They were opposed to classical, or traditional, liberalism. Modern American liberals support something akin to social democracy. Just as this article points out, Fascism provided the model for social democracy. Obviously Fascists would support what modern liberals supports. Mussolini even expressed admiration for the New Deal, saying it resembled his economic system. So let's not be idiots. When sources are referring to liberalism, they're using the term in the classic sense. Given that, it's helpful to make it explicit to the reader that we're not referring to modern American liberalism. Many Heads (talk) 01:25, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Everyone please stop with the insults. First of all I agree that fascism was hostile to laissez-faire capitalism, fascists repeatedly declared their opposition to this. However it is inaccurate to say that fascism was only opposed to classical liberalism. Like Bobisbob2 said, all liberal ideologies promote democracy, individualism in the form of ensuring individual rights, as well as promoting checks and balances on government power. Fascists deem democracy and individualism both as decadent and flawed concepts. Fascism rejected the imposition of limits on government power and claimed that individual rights were too excessive. Mussolini may have said he admired the New Deal but that doesn't mean he supported social liberalism, Roosevelt's social liberalism still was democratic and supported many individual rights which fascists abhore. Also, John Maynard Keynes had developed interventionist economic policy ideas around World War I's end, prior to the existance of any fascist government, but he was only seriously taken into consideration by the time the Great Depression hit. Furthermore the claim that fascist corporatism was a model for social democratic and Keynesian economic systems is flawed because corporatism also predated fascism and the fascist verson of corporatism was condemned by the political left for being corrupt and for continously favouring business interests over labour interests. Lastly, fascism did not provide the model for social democracy. I don't just say this because I myself am a social democrat but that social democracy predates fascism and by its very name, its invocation of support for democracy makes it in fascists' view a decadent ideology. Here's a quotation by Japanese fascist Seigo Nakano, an avid supporter of both Hitler and Mussolini, defining Hitler's and his opposition to social democracy: "Hitler understands the absolute evil of social democracy, based as it is on a parliamentary system whereby everything is decided by the majority. The parliamentary mechanism is manipulated by a boss who does not need talented parliamentarians because it is more convenient for him to gather around him those who are weak, dependent, or untalented, and manipulate them through pressure, bribery, or by involving them in dishonourable machinations." (Fascism, editor: Roger Griffin, Oxford University Press, 1995, pp. 125.) By claiming "admiration" as evidence of support of something, one could make the argument that Hitler's expression of admiration in Mein Kampf for the symbolism, propaganda, and revolutionary nature of Marxism would make him pro-Marxist, when in reality the opposite was the case.--R-41 (talk) 21:01, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

The economic system social democrats favor is very close to what fascists favored. Control of the means of production for the public good, including some nationalizations, a welfare state, mandatory social security, government controlled wages, etc. Aside from economics, calls for national service (a la the social democrat Obama). It's too be expected. They're both collectivist ideologies. Many Heads (talk) 23:03, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Obama is not a member of the Social Democracy party, he is a member of the Democrat Party. Anyway, you make several claims. I ask: According to whom? Slrubenstein | Talk 23:12, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

You don't have to be a member of the Social Democracy party to support social democracy. It's first and foremost a philosophy, not a party. As this article points out "Politics professor Stephen Haseler credits fascism with providing a model of economic planning for social democracy." By the way the Obama administration wants that nation service to be mandatory. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtDSwyCPEsQ Tell me that's not collectivistic/ fascistic. Many Heads (talk) 23:30, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

The Liberalism which Fascism had to compete with most significantly was classic liberalism, not what yanks call Liberalism. Italian Liberal Party (historical) were the dominant force in Italy before Mussolini and the Fascists came to power and in todays context they are viewed as a conservative liberal party. Currently they are part of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia to give some perspective. Lazzaratron (talk) 23:55, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Liberalism supports democracy, fascists denounce democracy as decadent and a failure. Social democrats do not ideologically support the expansionist, imperialist, and militarist nationalism. Social democrats were supressed by Hitler. Mussolini, Hitler and other fascists opposed modern liberal views on social issues, they forbid homosexuality, considered abortion by the people of their own nation or race as a crime, they do not believe in that all people are born equal but that people have to prove their worth by supporting the collective interests of the nation, they do not support equality of opportunity - if you were not a member of the fascist movement or if you showed any opposition to the movement you could be imprisoned, killed, or at the very least not be able to gain employment; multiple fascists defined women's primary role in society as a mother and reduced the number of women in education. So fascism is opposed to more than just classical liberalism, but liberal social views, liberalism's inherent support of democracy, and liberalism's support of individual rights. With the exception of support of government interventionism, fascism negates almost every aspect of liberalism. As I quoted earlier, Japanese fascist Seigo Nakano described social democracy as an "absolute evil". Fascism is extremely authoritarian, it does not tolerate democracy or any opposition to the fascist movement, no genuine liberal or social democrat can be fascist with their support of democracy. Government interventionism does not equal an association with fascism, government interventionism has existed for years prior. Mercantilism long prior to the existance of fascism utilized government-owned companies. In my country of Canada our first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, a democratically elected conservative politician from the late 1800s used huge government interventionism in the economy to create railways across Canada, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in the 1900s also enacted strong government interventionism in the economy such as by creating greater regulation of the economy. I am sure no one would be willing to say that government regulation utilized to end child labour and pushing to create a minimum wage as Theodore Roosevelt's government did is somehow "fascist" in nature. So government interventionism by no means equals fascism, it's the combination of aggressive militarist and collectivist nationalism; the single-party state led by a dictator; support of political violence and repression of political opposition; along with government interventionism which equals fascism. Fascists demand absolute support of their government and movement, no political opposition is permitted. No liberal or social democrat supports anything close to this highly authoritarian and violence-supporting ideology, the closest ideology in terms of authoritarianism, support of utilizing violence, and support of government interventionism is the totalitarian Marxist-Leninism of the Soviet Union, but with Marxist-Leninism's absence of aggressive nationalism and due to fascist rejection of communism these movements are divergent.--R-41 (talk) 23:57, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I made a mistake in the last section. Using Theodore Roosevelt as an example for someone who utilized government interventionism while not being similar to fascism was a very poor choice. I did know that Roosevelt supported nationalism and imperialism to a degree but I have recently been reading the historical analysis book Manifest Destiny: American Expansion and the Empire of Right by Anders Stephenson for a university course I am taking which shows that Theodore Roosevelt was very militaristic and a racialist. So I retract my earlier statement above about Theodore Roosevelt, he is a very BAD example. Still he still believed in democracy, and the book also mentions that advocates of militarism,, nationalism, imperialism, and racialism in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, were not only those associated with those advocating bigger government but also people who advocated laissez-faire capitalism as a means to promote ingenuitive and strong nations and races while destroying incompetent and weak nations and races. Fascism is in the realm of such militarist and expansionist nationalism being promoted through an authoritarian single-party state which makes it unique, as expansionist and militarist nationalism alone has been promoted by democracies at various points in history.--R-41 (talk) 02:38, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Moral Decay post WWI - Pendulum movement...?

The ability of Nazism and Facism to develop were in part the result of the moral decay that ocurred in Europe especially Germany after WWI and the fall of the Monarchs and the class structure ?

In reference to Marlene Dietrich, documentaries have alluded to this, who was apart of the cultural decay scene of the times....

This is not currently part of this listing and should be included to improve the article.

Google books shows some information on the 'moral decay' post WWI

Seems this is not included.

--Caesar J.B. Squitti: Son of Maryann Rosso and Arthur Natale Squitti (talk) 22:37, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Which collective?

I thought it was nation or race, as the article previously said. Do the sources provided really say the "empire" is the "collective" in question? Slrubenstein | Talk 00:45, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Mussolini was fascinated by the "Roman Empire" and sought to re-establish it in Africa, Trieste (Ljubljana) and the Aegean Islands. He called Victor Emmanuel "First Marshal of the Empire" etc. Postage stamps featured the Fasces (ancient Roman symbol of authority), Roman ruins, and a Romulus and Remus statue. Lots of other stuff if you need it <g>. Hitler was similarly fascinated by Frederick the Great, issuing stamps in his honor, using old German imagery wherever possible (and possibly making him enjoy Wagner more). "Reich" means "empire" and he used the imperial imagery in his speeches as well. , etc. , and so on.

Cites added to article. Collect (talk) 12:48, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I do not question that Mussolini wanted an empire. I am asking where specifically he says that in Fascism the "collective" that the individual must submit to is the "empire" (rather than "nation"). Slrubenstein | Talk 15:10, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

The use of "empire" is not attributed to Mussolini there as a quote, thus no need to cite Mussolini saying that, the fact about Mussolini referring to "empire" is, moreover, in the corpus of the article. As is the reference to "reich" (empire) under the Nazis. The lede refers to fascismm, not just to Mussolini's words at all. As such, the lede fairly represents the material in the article, which is what is required of it. Collect (talk) 15:34, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

You still have not answered my question: Do the sources provided really say the "empire" is the "collective" in question? Slrubenstein | Talk 17:03, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

The sources say the groups were centered on the "empire" in each case. They do not need to use the word "collective" which is in the lede for a wikied reference to collective, and the meaning is quite clear -- the Italians promoted the Italian Empire per cites for lede and in body of article and the Germans promoted the Reich (empire) and Aryan race per cites in lede and cites in body of article as well. Would another word than "collective" make more sense to you? I viewed it as an adjective-used-as-noun indicating a group of people with a common "collective" interest. E.g. "of or characteristic of a group of individuals taken together: the collective wishes of the membership." Collect (talk) 17:18, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I'm fairly certain one can find dozens of sources on fascism that say that for Italian fascism it was the nation that is the collective in question. Collect seems to be pushing bizarre idiosyncrasies into the introduction. john k (talk) 19:58, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Collect, they do need to use the word "collective," or you are violating NOR. No one is disputing the Fascist's imperialist aims. But empire was only one facet of their project. Another was the construction of a collective identity. The point is not to use another word for "collective." The point is that you shouldn't change a sentence the subject of which is the "collective" and the object of which is which kind of collective. There are all sorts of ways different people imagine or construe collective identities - "collective" is not an aggregate, it is not just some group of individuals taken together; in this context it has a particular meaning. If you want to add a sentence about their imperialist aims, fine, but let's keep the sentence on the collective and the sentence on the empire separate. In Fascist thought the collective is not identified with "the empire" it is identified with the nation. Slrubenstein | Talk 21:17, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I have restored the sentence to the original and accurate form. Collect, I think the point you wish to make is already made in the second sentence. If you feel it needs elaboration, I certainly do not object but your point was related to the second, not third, sentence. That said, I think the second sentence is sufficient and think elaboration belongs in the body. Slrubenstein | Talk 21:25, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Clearly then it is "collective" which needs the removal. The cites for the fascists being interested in "empire" are solid. Thanks for pointing this out! Collect (talk) 21:30, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Are you just ignoring what I wrote, or do you really not understand? Slrubenstein | Talk 21:40, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I don't think anyone is disputing that fascists are interested in empire. The point is that fascists were also interested in subordinating the individual to the collective, and that for Italian fascists that collective was the nation. Whatever the Italian fascists may have thought about empire, it does not pertain to this issue. john k (talk) 00:10, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

The sources are RS. The claim was precise and accurate. Removing it because it does not fit some definition you prefewr is contrary to writing a genuine article. The fact is that in both Italy and Germany, the concept of empire was strong and part of the "collective." The nation of Italy was --- the Italian Empire. The nation for Germany was ... the German Reich. Simople. Cited. Censored from an exact sentence in the lede despite the fact they are in the body of the article. Thanks -- looks like you have your own playground here. Collect (talk) 01:47, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

You are contradicting yourself. You already said that the sources you are talking about do not use the word "collective." They are talking about something else. You are either violating WP:NOR by making your own synthesis between two distinct issues, or you do not understand the issues. Slrubenstein | Talk 02:23, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

um -- the deleted sentence with cites did not use the word "collective" anywhere in it. Thus making any requirement that the cites refer to "collective" odd. The cites specifically supported the sentence literally with no OR at all. The Italian Fascists backed the Italian Empire (vide Mussolini section as well) and the Germans backed the Aryan race and German Reich. Both precisely backed by the cites given, and "collective" does not appear in the cites nor in the sentence which refers to the cites. I agreed with you that "collective" was an odd term, and so did not make any claim at all about "collective" in the deleted material. I actually would have figured this would not be astounding to anyone. Thank you most kindly. Collect (talk) 02:45, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Don't be disingenuous. The deleted sentence did not have the word "collective" in it because you deleted the word "collective as you said you would when you wrote, "Clearly then it is "collective" which needs the removal". Please see WP:OWN You do not own this article. Misplaced Pages is a collaborative process. You thin when you change someone else's work that is always an improvement, and when someone improves your work it is "censorship?" Please calm down, hysterics are not going to help. As I have made clear, no one doubts that the Fascists and nazis had imperialist aims, this is covered by the second sentence, The third sentence is about the relationship between the individual and collective. Your edit claimed that the "collective" in this point is empire, and as you admitted, your own sources do not say that. That violates WP:NOR. Slrubenstein | Talk 14:14, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Eh? I made an entirely new sentence and did NOT remove "collective" so I fear you are a tad errant here. And calling people "disingenuous" when you make an errant claim is ... welll ... you know. Collect (talk) 14:23, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

As to the question if "collective" refers to state, nation, race or empire, it is usually understood by the most-recognized scholars that Italian fascism claimed submission to the state as its upmost priority (lots of Mussolini speeches goes this direction; as well as the coining itself of the word statolatry), while nazism rather claimed submission to the Aryan race. Both were of course "imperialists", and Italian fascism of course referred to Ancient Rome, whilst Hitler spoke of a "Thousands-Years Reich"; but this is secondary in respect to this questions. You will find references in any of the most acclaimed books about these movements. Lapaz (talk) 17:41, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Latter-day Fascism?

The term I came up with describes militarist regimes and far-right governments established after WWII, the likes of Juan Peron in Argentina ruled from 1943 to 1955 was described borderline "fascist" by the U.S. department of state at the beginning. Peron was an admirer to Hitler, Franco and Mussolini, and he dreamt of creating and ruling over a militarist nationalist regime when he takes power as he did in a 1943 army junta. But Peron was known to have socialist outlooks on the socioeconomic welfare of the Argentinan people and was a promoter of a new ideology "Justicialism" he called it as a moderate position between Socialism and Capitalism. Should we get an entry to the article about modern-day governments based on anti-Communism, Ethnic nationalism, military juntas and right-wing extremes thought to resemble Fascism of the Mussolini kind or Francoist influence? + —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.102.36.5 (talk) 15:54, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Problem is that once we open that door, every group which is "not nice" gets inserted. If we add a group, we should be quite sure is is genuinely "Fascist" in origins and philosophy. Collect (talk) 15:59, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

I agree that equating fascism with not nice is a slippery (and sloppy) slope, but I think that the important point here is that fascism was one form of corporatist regime, and there are other forms of corporatism (like the New Deal and Peronism) that are not fascist but that share corporatist features. Many states (including the USSR) experimented with corporatism in the 1930s and 1940s as a response to the Great Depression. This may be a point worth developing in the article, as it puts Fascism in a larger historical context - fascism as one possible response among many to certain challenges, especially the Great Depression, facing many other regimes. Slrubenstein | Talk 16:19, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Intersting thought. Not long ago this article had, indeed, been a catchall for all "not nice" organizations and movements. I would not like to see it degenerate back to that level. I would, moreover, say that Huey Long proffered a closer "fascist organization" than FDR's New Deal was initially set out. Perhaps a series of articles -- one on "Fascism and economics," dealing with the deliberate creation of cartels within fascist economies; one on "Fascism and religion" dealing with "religious cartels" (i.e. Putin's Russian alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church in seeking to marginalize other churches) etc., one of "Fascism and empire" dealing with establishment of "greater Slobbovia" (apologies to Al Capp), and so on? Collect (talk) 17:15, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

You are probably right about Huey Long - but my point wasn't really to say that FDR or Peron were close to Fascism, but rather to make a point out different forms of corporatism, Fascism being only one (and that does not mean that all corporatist regimes are "close" to Fascism) and how different forms of corporatism (including Fascism, but including other corporatist regimes that were decidedly not Fascist) were appealing in many different countries in the 1930s and 1940s. All of this of course should be developed in the corporatism article, not here - but I think more could be said here about the historical context for Fascism involved challenges that confronted many other countries at the time, and that many countries - and leaders - generally considered to be ideologically (and by many morally) antagonistic - e.g. FDR's USA, Mussolini's Italy, and Stalin's USSR - all experimented with different forms of corporatism for solutions. As to the series of articles you propose, my suggestion would be to forward them as sections of this article and as the article grows longer open a discussion on spinning off ceertain sections as independent articles, this has ben done elsewhere. Slrubenstein | Talk 19:14, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

If we place them here, there is a real risk of having people add everything they do not like as "fascist." By having relatively controllable other articles, such ought to be preventable. As for "corporatism" there is a legitimate claim that the current "bail outs" with concommittent strictures on those getting the money is actually "corporatism." Wanna have this get to be like the campaign articles? <g>. Even if the new articles are only 10K long each, that should work well. Collect (talk) 19:27, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Hmmm... Well, ultimately, it really does not matter what I do or don't want - anything that is a significant view relating to Fascism, that comes from a verifiable source, should go into the article (this would include views about Fascism and corporatism, but certainly couldn't include views about corporatism and the Brown or Obama governments. By the way, I do not quite get the point about "putting everything they do not like as 'fascist'" like you I am opposed to that, but the issue is what verifiable sources for significant views have to say about Fascism, including Fascism in the historical context of the 1930s, and Fascism compared to corporatism. Corporatism is not a dirty word, some people may like, it, some may not, but it has a definition generally agreed upon by political scientists and the question is, what regimes to mainstream political scientists consider corporatism, not whether anyone likes corporatism or not. There are always some people who wish to put their personal views into articles, and it doesn't matter what the article is on. The bottom line is not what any editor thinks is good or bad, but what are the significant views from verifiable sources, in this case, political scientists and historians who are experts on Fascism.) Slrubenstein | Talk 20:13, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Well the proposed "Fascism and empire" article is marginally covered already here -- so I think that would be an interesting sandbox project for me. Would you like a "Fascism and Corporatism" (or "Fascism and Economics"?) article dealing with similarities and differences between the two? Neither would really fit as a section in the curent article as structured, I think. Then we could do a one paragraph summary for this article, with link to the more inclusive material? Or would you prefer "fascism and religion" which I suspect will be a bear to get into shape? If you still feel the sandbox articles could fit entirely into the main article, then we could discuss that further when they have some shape, no? I do want to make sure that the material is pretty well formed before we get people gluing everything else into them <g>. Collect (talk) 20:20, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

I am not discouraging you, but I would like to see what other editors active on this article think - some people who have commented here know far more about 20th century European history than I do, some have PhDs in history, or Politics, i would like to see what they think. Slrubenstein | Talk 20:36, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Per egalitarianism as a WP tenet, I am unsure that it requires special expertise to find reliable sources for such limited articles, and that, in fact, using "expertise" is discouraged per WP:RS <g>. I would also like to use some of the books on my shelf and trace some of this back to 19th century concerns -- which is where anything about Italian concerns has to start. Irredentism is clearly part of the total issue of Mussolini and Fascism. Collect (talk) 21:04, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

'nous sommes toutes egals" was wrong -- it is 'nous sommes tous égaux" -- Sorry. Collect (talk) 21:20, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Article needs to be condensed, unsourced material needs to be sourced or should be removed

The article is much better than it has been, but it still is dragging out too long. For instance, the section explaining examples of fascist movements is taking up large amounts of space, I think that the section has to be condensed down to describe only essential matter such as why the particular political movement is deemed fascist and which scholars agree or disagree, the main articles on those political movements are where viewers should access in-depth information. Secondly the "fascist minimum" section is becoming too long and there are too many subsections. It should be split up into three parts: 1) social policy which includes only confirmed generic fascist elements such as nationalism, fascists' social interventionism, and mixed economy; common social views; 2) economic policy such as class collaboration, economic nationalism, and economic planning; 3)foreign policy such as nationalism (in the form of irredentism and expansionism), militarism and common foreign policy agendas such as anti-communism and anti-internationalism (i.e. opposing the legitimacy of the League of Nations). The section on religion is the worst section of the article, it contains various patches of information from a variety of sources about multiple individual fascist movements while not definatively explaining what or if there is any coherent generic fascist stances on religion. The section on religion talks about the Iranian Revolution twice, one reference to compare the current Iranian theocracy to a fascist movement that existed in Romania forty years earlier and other reference on the Iranian Revolution to claim that fascism moved to endorse religion. Whatever one's personal views are on the autocratic nature of the theocratic government of Iran it does not identify with the common trends of fascism - i.e. it is not a single-party state, the leader of the Iranian Revolution from 1979-80, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeni, from what I have read did not endorse nationalism as fascism does and said that nationalism was causing the Muslim world to be divided.--R-41 (talk) 22:23, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

What is the evidence that social democracy borrowed its economic ideas directly from fascism?

There is a claim that social democracy borrowed its economic ideas directly from fascism. Please provide sources. An author that something is related to fascism is very controversial, so the author's intentions and views on social democracy will have to be taken into perspective, i.e. an author with a personal distaste towards social democracy is very likely to be an unreliable source.--R-41 (talk) 22:35, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Don't need evidence. Misplaced Pages is not about truth, but about what's sourceable. It is sourced in the article. It doesn't state it as if it's true but that it's true that that author holds that opinion. It gives his name. Many Heads (talk) 06:14, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

One of the stranger precepts of WP. It does not mean, however, that we need to treat it as a common opinion. Collect (talk) 11:17, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

"Don't need evidence. Misplaced Pages is not about truth, but what's sourceable." That's not a valid argument, there are such things as BAD sources with no credibility, i.e. books claiming Holocaust denial when a gigantic volume of data shows otherwise, political propaganda, and just plain inaccurate material which can be easily disproved by other sources. One source for a claim is not good enough, a critique of the claim - if available - should be acknowledged. On this article we have had political partisans claiming "fascism is capitalism" and then an opposing group saying that "fascism is socialism", they cobble together weak arguments and fiercely deny anything to the contrary. The reason these partisans do this is because they refuse to accept that an ideology with a bad reputation can have anything to do with their own political views which they naively believe could never be associated with an ideology with such a bad reputation. As I am a social democrat, I admit that I will naturally be critical to claims that social democracy is linked to fascism, but I refuse to blindly put my political views into my arguments - that's why do not accept a common leftist argument fascism is a "far-right" ideology, evidence shows it had a number of leftist ideas. Fascists advocated social welfare, so as a social democrat, I acknowledge that that is a similarity, but that does not mean as a whole that the two ideologies are one and the same. Furthermore I accept that it is possible that social democracy borrowed its economic ideas from fascist governments, such as the corporatist economic model of Sweden under social democratic governments, but evidence is needed to prove whether it is related to fascist corporatism or non-fascist corporatism. I'm not asking for some kind of "absolute truth", all I am asking for is a wide range of sources for controversial claims.--R-41 (talk) 17:22, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

one possible way to reorganize this all

1. "What is Fascism? (and not trying to use definitions -- they do not sere to make this very comprehensible at all?

 a. etymology (history of fasces here) 'in unity there is strength" "dictator" as ancient concept
 b. Mussolini's view of fascism (he was the one who coined the term after all)  stress on unity of the community (in Italy's case, the empire and nation)  the recreation of a nation's greatness through such unity
 c. how people have extended the meaning (including use as epithet for anyone one does not like)

2. "Fascism" during WWII - the Axis powers (possibly including how each matched Mussolini's view)

 a. Italy, Empire and Italian Social Republic (il Duce's last stand)
 b. Germany and Hitler (racism in Germany not found in Mussolini's views), German Reich
    1. Austrian National Front
 c. Japan and its "Imperial Rule" with stress on empire and unity of purpose 

3. Fascism and Corporatism

 a. definition of corporatism
 b. Ireland
 c. Spain
 d. Portugal
    1. Brazil
 e. other "corporatism" movements

4. Fascism as it relates to other issues

 a. Religious unity (hence include anti-semitism in some cases)
 b. Governmant control of the economy (central planning)

eliminating all sorts of side issues, I hope ... such as "political spectrum" which basically has no conclusions, "core tenets" which is currently a catchall (gosh -- "eugenics" is specifically related to fascism as an issue? "gender roles"? Most of these issues appear, frankly, to be totally unrelated to whether a nation is "fascist" or not -- this is just a convenient place to stick them in?)

5. List of fascists (trimmed -- folks have been on this list because of "I don't like him"-itis.

first draft -- think it would work? Collect (talk) 11:40, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

I don't think we should do anything too drastic just yet like totally re-writing the article. We've already made major changes which have made the article, in my view much better. I think the introduction section is the best it has ever been in a long time, it is concise, to the point, identifies what fascism's orientation is, what its goal is, how it governs, what it negates, and from the edit history of this page, there is not too much outrage over the list of negations so I think we have found the essentials. The Fascist minimum section should be reorganized using the information there already, unless it is not backed up by reliable references.--R-41 (talk) 17:27, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

I do not know why Brazil is under Portugal ::.... I do not know why Brazil is under coporatist ... I do not know why corportist does not include the new Deal and Stalinism. Slrubenstein | Talk 17:46, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

In the 19th century, Portugal's capital was Rio <g>. The two nations are bound by not only language but history. I am unsure that "corporatism" needs extended mention in this article however. Collect (talk) 18:50, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

No. you are being imprecise and misleading. First, Brazil established independence from Portugal in 1822 - pretty early in the 19th century - and they are quite separate after that. You might as well put the US under the UK, because they were bound by language and history .... 200 years ago. Second, we are not talking about language, we are talking about politics, and corporatism is an entirely 20th century phenomenon. The Stado Novo may be considered corporatist, I am not completely sure. Perhaps Vargas's regime was also corporatist, I would also want to see sources for this. But certainly Vargas was not a puppet of Portugal and Brazilian politics during tis period were not dictated by or subordinate to Portuguese politics. Slrubenstein | Talk 19:01, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Misleading? Last I checked, 1822 was in the 19th century. The story of Pedro I (Pedro IV of Portugal) and the intertwining of the nations well after 1822 is fascinating reading, to be sure. How many countries have their king become king of the parent country after independence? His son was of course well known for his interest in the telephone on his visit to the US Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, while his sister was queen in Portugal. HArd to get much closer <g>. They also share a language, and political speeches were in that common tongue. Enough to link the two to be sure. Collect (talk) 19:22, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

How many countries keep the same monarch after independence? Well, let's start with the sixteen of the Commonwealth realms. ;-) Really, it's not all that remarkable. —SlamDiego_←T 13:41, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Amazingly enough, the British Commonwealth is considered to be a group of related nations. As are Brazil and Portugal, which was, if I recall correctly, the point at issue? Collect (talk) 15:32, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Some people are easily amazed; I suppose that it's a function of naivete. Before we proceed, let's note that the British Commonwealth and the Commonwealth realms are not the same thing. In any case, no one has denied that Brazil and Portugal are related; and no one has even denied that The United Kingdom and America (without a shared monarch) are related. The question is of just what is the nature of these relations. I don't plan to stake-out a position as to the answer, but I did and do note that your treatment of shared monarchy as peculiarly indicative just doesn't work. There's been a lot of it and there still is a fair amount of it. Let it go, and make a better case. —SlamDiego_←T 19:20, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

I am going to try and fix the core tenets section by organizing it like this: Economic policy (Class collaboration, third position, mixed economy), Foreign policy (Militarism), and social policy (authoritarianism, indoctrination, nationalism, positions on men's and women's rights and role in society, and their opposition to homosexuality)--R-41 (talk) 23:37, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Social policy appears quite orthogonal to fascism -- I am quite uncertain that gender and abortion issues have any more than an extremely incidental correlation to fascism, if any. "Nationalism" should be under the "militarism" (or vice versa) and "authoritarianism" is not so much a "belief" as "how it operates." Collect (talk) 11:54, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Fascists openly promoted themselves as authoritarian, so it is an important point to reference, in fact I recently found a quotation by Nazi Joseph Goebbels who was essentially describing the Nazis as being associated with fascist states, but the Nazis did not like to use the word fascist because that would ascribe them as being followers of an ideology of a foreign country, so Goebbels described the Nazis as being supportive of "authoritarian-nationalist State concepts" and condemned Bolshevism and democracies for "their joint hatred of of and attacks on authoritarian nationalist concepts of State and State systems." So Goebbels here illustrates that fascism recognizes itself as authoritarian and nationalist in nature. The quote demonstrates the important role of authoritarianism in fascism. I am also quite surprised that our definition of fascism on Misplaced Pages so perfectly correlated with what the Nazis described fascism as, as I had not seen this quote prior.--R-41 (talk) 02:35, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Authoritarian nationalist" and rebuilding glory = Putin and a lot of other "left wing fascists" to be sure/ Collect (talk) 14:42, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

References

Reorganise Political Spectrum section?

I think the Political Spectrum section would benefit from a bit of a reorgansiation along the following lines:

1. Rename as "Political classification" as political spectrum has a more specific meaning.
2. First explain that the long standing consensus among historians is that Fascism is an ideology of the far right but that this is disputed by Fascists themselves and by some others.
3. Then explain its self-identified position as a "third way" between Capitalism and Communism.
4. Finally explain the classification within two dimension political models (e.g. political compass, Political Spectrum, etc) which puts Fascism in the economic centre with its extremism manifesting itself on the authoritarianism axis instead.

I don't see any reason to include the specific claims that Fascism is an ideology of the left or far left. I am not aware of any reliable source that takes these claims seriously. I see them as little more than speculative suggestions recently being punted by far right groups and individuals in an attempt to distance themselves from association with historic fascist movements. Of course, if any reliable source does take this seriously then it should be mentioned.

I think this can be done mostly by juggling the existing paragraphs and simplifying a bit. Normally I would just dive in, but I know that this article is a minefield, so I thought I should check here first.

--DanielRigal (talk) 14:53, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

There have been no howls of outrage at the suggestion and recent edits have been in a similar direction so I am going to make a few changes along these lines. --DanielRigal (talk) 15:34, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Gosh it has only been a day! I am very suspicious of any use of "poltical spectrum" as it means different things in different countries at different times. If we have verifiable sources tht identify Fascism within the Italian political spectrum in the 1920s I am all for using that. In general, to avoid violating WP:NOR we should follow the sources: when they speak of a spectrum, use it, but make clear it is a particular and definable view. I know that scholars of comparative politics more often use classifications than spectrums and their views definitely must be included. This is not a matter of style, it is a matter of representing significant views. Slrubenstein | Talk 16:50, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Talk about premature! There is NO fully accepted position of "fascism" on the left-right spectrum, and I would suggest the current wording was quite correct. Thanks! Collect (talk) 16:52, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Well, that there is "no fully accepted position" is neither here nor there. Misplaced Pages's standard for inclusion is certainly not that a position be "fully accepted." Our standard for inclusion is all signficiant views from notable sources. If you have a historian or political scientist who is a notable expert on Italian Fascism and who wrote in a peer-reviewed journal article or book published by an academic press that Fascism is "far left," we include this view. If we have another expert saying that it is "far right," we add that too. We do not need for their positions to be "fully accepted;" NPOV encourages multiple points of view. Of course, we do have to distinguish between mainstream, majority, and minority views or make clear when there is a conflict among scholars. It is not premature to raise the issue if you have verifiable sources. Slrubenstein | Talk 17:17, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

IOW, the first sentence should state the gamut, leaving specific claims to later sentences in the section. And with a good reliable source stating that the gamut exists (as is the case), using that as the first sentence makes sense. Trying to fit each and every claim, and saying "usually" in order to give one position greater weight is less sensible indeed. Collect (talk) 17:26, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Agreed! Slrubenstein | Talk 18:39, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

I am concerned by the use of "left, right and centre" (although it wasn't me who changed it) because it gives equivalent billing to "left", which seems to me to be a fringe view, to that of "right", which is the most common classification to the point of orthodoxy in common usage, and "centre", which is more in keeping with the view of the fascists themselves. I don't have access to the reference. Does it really support such a wording giving all three views equivalence? The use of "usually" as a way to acknowledge that one view is more widely held but that other views exist seems to be perfectly clear, valid and honest use of the word. I know it is a word that has a lot of weasel potential but it isn't always evil.

I have reviewed the political spectrum article a bit more carefully and I now understand that it is a better term than the one I used in the opening paragraph as it encompasses all techniques for modelling political positions. I had previously misunderstood it as something more specific. I would still argue however that the section title should be either "Political classification" or maybe "Position within the political spectrum". It just seems to make more sense when you look at the TOC than "Political spectrum" on its own. --DanielRigal (talk) 19:54, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

It does not matter one bit what any of us think of "left" "right" or "center." All that matters is what significant views in notable sources say. If a notable political scientist uses the word "left," it goes into the article. If a notable historian says "right," it goes into the article. I say this with respect, but your concerns about the spectrum are not appropriate or relevant. The only concern is this (1) does the body of the article adequatey represent all significant views found in notable sources and (2) does the introduction to the article adequately introduce the body. If these are your real concerns, great, that is constructive. otherwise, they are not constructive. Slrubenstein | Talk 21:08, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Please note that it was not me who replaced "left, right and centre" in the first place. I am not trying to make contentious edits without discussion. I think that wp:undue should guide us here. We do not want to over represent (or under-represent) any views. I am also a little concerned by the use of "centre" as it seems that the fascist concept of the "third way" is not always meant to imply "centre". I am happy to admit to being a little out of my depth here. That is why I asked if the references on that paragraph supported the phrase "left, right and centre" being used with apparent equivalence. If the answer is "yes" then I am more than happy with that. Anyway, can we at least agree on something minor to improve the article? Are we happy with the section being renamed "Political classification" (without changing its content)? --DanielRigal (talk) 22:10, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Good points. it is always fair to ask for more information about, and context from, the sources, and the other editor has the burden to reply in an informative manner. if your concerns are just triggers to get more sources or more info about the sources we have, that is a good thing! I felt your comments were a bit vague though; do you feel there are no sources provided, inadequate or inappropriate sources, or sources provided without enough context? Slrubenstein | Talk 03:12, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

I looked up the sources and found the following:

The statement "it has been described as left, right and center" is given two sources:

1) Social Science and Political Theory states: "One of the most interesting analyses of this is an essay by Professor Lipset entitled 'Fascism -- Left, Right and Center'" (p.150).

2)The Fascist Reader reference is from a chapter by Lipset called "Fascism as 'extremism' of the middle class". (p.112). It appears that this article is the same as the one referred to in Social Science.

Finally the Misplaced Pages article states (later in the section) "Seymour Martin Lipset sees fascism as "extremism of the center" which is sourced to Russian Fascism That book merely says "Lipset sees fascism as extremism of the center". (p.14).

You can read Lipset's "Fascism -- Left, Right, and Center" which is chapter V of his book Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics on Questia. Lipset did not put fascism on the right because fascists did not intend to restore monarchial and aristocratic privilege. Its middle class origins put it in the center (along with social liberalism and libertarianism).

So the sources do not in fact support the statement "it has been described as left, right and center", just that Lipset thought it was part of the center. The Austrian view of fascism as socialism does not put it on the left either. Hayek called it a "union of the anti-capitalist forces of the right and the left in The Road to Serfdom(p.173). And conservatives have also been called socialists, e.g., Bismarck's "State Socialism" or Disraeli's "Tory Socialism".

I have not read any academic or even popular writing that puts it on the left.

The Four Deuces (talk) 00:41, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Bear in mind that there is NO agreement by scholars on where generic fascism stands on the political spectrum. Radical or far right, third position, and extreme centre are the most common claims. One of the biggest problems is that when most people speak of "far-right", they are speaking a common misnomer as they are meaning "reactionary" - that is a movement which is expressly anti-liberal, anti-socialist, often anti-libertarian, often anti-modernist, often anti-secular, often in favour of government's with strong authoity and is associated with traditional conservative values. Far-right is a bad use of terms because economically the fascists did not advocate far-right economics, which is described by most as laissez-faire and on the issue of reactionaries, not all of them are laissez-faire proponents either.--R-41 (talk) 04:32, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

On the term "reactionary" to describe fascism, Mussolini indeed once described the fascist movement as reactionary, but while Mussolini and the Fascists declared that they were reactionary towards existing traditional politics of that time in that they rejected them, BUT Mussolini declared that Italian Fascism was also revolutionary in that it was not solely interested in looking backward to restore pre-Enlightenment values as reactionaries promote, but that Fascism was interested in combining what elements it appreciated of society (including a number of ideas which reactionaries would agree with) combined a new forward-looking agenda of making one's nation or race powerful through the direction of the state, forging a new culture based upon a national and racial unity and sense of family, and lastly promoting social darwinist values of strength and militarist values of courage. Many of these latter revolutionary ideals cannot be accredited to reactionaries as Lenin's Bolshevik movement held similar views of progress for workers through state direction, forging a new society based on worker-based societies, and also promoting that working people be strong and courageous. Italian Fascism in my mind and in the minds of a number of scholars including I believe Stanley Payne, claim that Fascism was always a combination of reactionary and revolutionary ideas. I see this balancing act as part of fascism's inherent desire to create national unity by tackling the issue of finding a means to avoid class conflict and various sectarian conflict that may arise - this means that under a fascist state, the nation's working classes must be satisfied to avoid agitating workers while at the same time the nation's business people must be satisfied so that the nation's economic capacity is not hindered, fascists appealed to a number of traditional social values to avoid splitting society, such as by trying to bind national and religious values together. Some of these values were very favourable towards reactionaries but one must bear in mind that policies combining nationalism, social darwinism, class collaboration, traditional social values, and significant state intervention were considered "progressive" in for many years in the 19th century and early 20th century. Fascism by today's standards looks very regressive and reactionary due to the advent of the spread of egalitarianism in progressive politics during the 20th century to present. If one looks at fascism from an egalitarian progressive perspective, it's social darwinist views are very regressive and reactionary. But in the 1920s, Italian Fascists and Nazis in promoting social darwinism were crossing the line of alienating social conservatives - particularly religious communities, enough to the point that Italian Fascism turned to focus on spiritual evolution of nations and races rather than biological evolution to avoid sparring with the Roman Catholic Church over the issue of Creationism. Meanwhile the Nazis were less conciliatory towards religious conservatives as they constantly promoted biological racialism which caused them to be scorned by the Roman Catholic Church. To sum up above what I believe Fascism can be identified as having the following components in reviewing the political spectrum:

• (1) Reactionary to liberalism, individualism, egalitarianism, class conflict, communism. Reactionary in promotion of preserving traditional social values deemed beneficial for the nation or race and opposing certain modern values deemed to threaten those traditional social values deemed detrimental to the nation or race.
• (2) Progressive (for early to mid 20th century standards) or anti-reactionary in terms of social welfare, collectivism, social darwinism (i.e. Darwinism's inherent challenge to religious notions of Creationism, challenging reactionary's promotion of the value of nobility through social darwinism's views of evolution, competition, and conflict as a means to promote meritocracy - especially utilized by fascists to promote military service) and
• (3) Centrist in regards to class politics by promoting class collaboration, either centrist or centre-right in regards to property rights (i.e. protecting the right of property and promoting private enterprise as the most efficient form of business enterprise, while allowing the government the right to intervene and take over private property at its own discretion)

--R-41 (talk) 04:32, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Before arguing where fascism fits on the political spectrum it is important to understand how scholars, including Lipset and Hayek understood it. Right-centre-left meant aristocratic-middle class-working class. Fascists are generally understood as right-wing because they emphasized tradition and collaborated with European elites. Hayek however would agree with you that they combined left-working class (progressive) and right-aristocratic (reactionary). Finally Lipset states that they were middle class and therefore centrist. But Hayek and Lipset are in the minority. The statement "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum; it has been described as left, right and center" is misleading because it gives undue weight to Lipset's opinion and there is no evidence that anyone describes it as left. Hayek's opinion should not be given undue weight either because it is taken from a polemical work. A more accurate statement would be "While fascism is generally considered to be on the right of the political spectrum, there are alternative views."

Another political spectrum that might be used is the modern American left (liberal) vs right (conservative), but I do not know of any studies that try to place fascism in the modern American spectrum.

Lipset's article explains the political spectrum and Hayek provided a good description in "Why I am not a Conservative." http://www.fahayek.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=46

The Four Deuces (talk) 18:03, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

In short, you amply demonstrate that there is, in fact, disagreement about the very applicability of a "left-right" spectrum. "But Hayek and Lipset are in the minority" is OR at best. refers to "left wing fascism." speaks of "left wing Fascists." refers to "left-wing fascism." says "the popular definition of fascism as right wing is misleading." and a slew of others -- not just Hayek and Lipset, to be sure. Thus using the broadest statement at the start, and then having other opinions following, is the proper course in WP. Collect (talk) 21:56, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

I do not see that any of the texts are helpful. Horowitz borrowed his use of the term "left-wing" from Lenin and it does not mean he thinks of fascism as "left-wing". He uses Left-wing fascism to apply to groups like the Larouche movement, which are not usually considered to be fascist, and he is not referring to the fascism of Mussolini, Hitler, or Franco. His point is they use left-wing rhetoric to express fascist ideas. Wilkinson's book refers to left-wing people who had supported fascism but later opposed it because it was right-wing. Pound referred to a left-wing of the fascist party which is similar to Hayek's view. Farrell acknowledges that the "popular definition of fascism is right-wing", that Mussolini called it right-wing and that its "manifestations became" "right wing". He merely states that many fascists leaders had been left-wing and that it had left-wing influences. Eysenck states that fascism is "not consistently right-wing" (p.85). I think that "left-wing Fascism on page 86 is a reference to Stalin, who is normally not considered to be a fascist.

All this proves that "fascism is generally considered to be on the right of the political spectrum", it contains elements from both left and right, Lipset thinks it's centrist and no one places it on the left.

By the way, I do not know what you mean by "there is, in fact, disagreement about the very applicability of a "left-right" spectrum"

The Four Deuces (talk) 00:43, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

I think what user Collect is speaking of the claims of some fascists like the British Union of Fascists of saying that they were "neither left or right". Furthermore some scholars have claimed that fascists variated on the political spectrum. Fascist's focal axis point (no pun with Axis powers intended) was based on nationalism versus internationalism or anti-nationalism rather than left-wing versus right-wing. Fascists distained the ideology of communism for its anti-nationalist and class revolutionary views which fascists saw as destructive to the unity of a nation. Fascists distained liberalism for its focus on individualism rather than a national collective. What boggles the mind of some historians who want to pin-point where fascism is on the political spectrum is that they do not recognize that fascism was a coalition of nationalist political forces from across the spectrum - in Italian Fascism, some like Mussolini were ex-socialists, others were ex-anarchists, some were reactionary anti-liberals and anti-socialists. What combined them together was a militant form of nationalism. Goebbels in 1938, claimed that authoritarian nationalism was the ultimate replacement for liberalism and Marxism.--R-41 (talk) 01:45, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

A person reading the "Political spectrum" section sees "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum; it has been described as left, right and center." There is also disagreement over whether man evolved from apes, smoking causes cancer, blacks are equal to whites, HIV causes AIDS and lots of other subjects. We can all believe what we want. But it is totally misleading to give equal credence to the theory that fascism is on the right (accepted by most scholars), fascism is in the centre (accepted by one scholar), fascism is on the left (accepted by no scholars) or fascism is outside the spectrum (claimed by fascists). The fact that most scholars may be wrong is irrelevant - the article should tell the readers what the generally accepted opinion is. And use references properly - the reference given for this sentence is the lone writer who puts fascism in the centre!

By all means differing opinions should be given. But don't claim that they have equal acceptance without any evidence. These articles are supposed to inform people of generally accepted views not our personal opinions no matter how valid.

The Four Deuces (talk) 07:15, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Alas you are asserting that a vast number of authors are wrong because they apply "fascist" to groups you think are not "fascist" hence they are wrong about asserting that using a "political spectrum" does not work. I would point out that the sentence of "left right and center" does not represent my personal view, but is is my view, and that of a great many experts, that there is "disagreement" which is the claim made. Unless you can state that there is NO disagreement, it is clear that the sentence is precisely accurate and a valid lead to the rest of the paragraph which has the differing opinions stated succinctly. Thanks! Collect (talk) 11:58, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

WRT "straw man" you assert "NO scholars" say fascism can be on the left. Alas -- that is a false claim on your part. And using the parallels you claim which are discussable as "scientif fact" the fact is that "political spectrum: is not a "scientific fact" nor is ever likely to be "scientific fact." Collect (talk) 12:01, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

I did not say that no scholars say fascism can be on the left, but that no scholars say that fascism is on the left. It is not even clear that scholars who use the term "left-wing fascism" are implying that it is on the left, merely that it uses left-wing rhetoric. In any case there is nothing in this article about left-wing fascism. I am not saying that these writers are wrong, merely that their views are not generally accepted. One of your quotes above says, "the popular definition of fascism as right wing is misleading." Why do you not want the article to inform people what the popular view is? I suggest that you read the articles you are citing and understand their contents, before using them. The Four Deuces (talk) 17:26, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

I am about to say something long and complicated for which I am often criticized for, but I believe it will help you, The Four Deuces in recognizing that claims of fascism being staunchly right-wing are inaccurate. Bear in mind that I am a social democrat, so I have nothing to gain or promote by showing that fascism has strong leftist tendencies, but I do so out of an honest review of multiple sources and arguments. Mussolini, prominant Italian Fascist Roberto Farinacci, British Fascist Oswald Mosley, Nazi Ernst Rohm, and Joseph Goebbels, all had at one point socialist or leftist roots, connections, or beliefs. Some changed drastically, but all came to fervently believe in nationalism as an ideology to solve national problems. Italian Fascism was originally strongly left-wing and progressive as described in the Fascist manifesto (i.e. anti-monarchist and republican, anti-clerical, anti-business and pro-labour combined with nationalism, anti-communism, anti-internationalism, and anti-socialism) but it wasn't drawing in the anti-communist and anti-socialist support that Mussolini wanted, so he opportunistically started to try and draw in reactionary and indeed right-wing support by toning down his rhetoric, sacrificing anti-business rhetoric for a compromise class collaboration between business people and labourers through negotiating in a political system called corporatism, sacrificing anti-monarchist rhetoric for toleration of the monarchy, sacrificing anti-clericalism and becoming pro-religious, and lastly sacrificing calls for national egalitarianism for all Italian men and women for a compromise social darwinist and traditionalist patriarchial ideal that men and women had to prove their worth in society and that men and women had defined roles in society (i.e. woman as a mother and caretaker of a family and a man as a warrior, provider, and protector of the nation and families). These concessions were necessary for the Fascists to gain a wider populist support and it succeeded. In 1922, Mussolini rose to power not yet as a dictator of a single-party state but as the head of a fractious coalition of fascists, liberals, and nationalists to oppose the socialists and communists, as a pragmatic opportunist, Mussolini's first three years as Prime Minister were indeed economically right-leaning because he had to gain the support of classical liberals in parliament in order for them to support his government, so he appointed a non-fascist liberal, Alberto De Stefani as finance minister of Italy in 1922 who promoted laissez-faire economics and free trade. But after working to undermine political oppositon with the Acerbo law and the Matteoti crisis, Mussolini in 1925 declared Italy a single party state with him as dictator of the government on behalf of the King and promptly banned all opposition, kicked De Stefani out of his cabinet, and from that point on began to promote large state-planned economic initiatives and protectionism like the Battle for Grain to make Italy self-sufficient in grain and not dependent on foreign sources of grain from Canada and the United States, the Italian Fascists nationalized multiple private petroleum companies which were not being profitable in the private sector into a single government-run petroleum company called Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli, AGIP (General Company of Italian Petroleum), which still exists today. Italian Fascism promoted economic assistance to failing companies during the Great Depression through the Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale, economic "bailout" policies were sharply criticized then and are sharply criticized now by the economic right-wing laissez-faire proponents as being too far to the left in their view (but unlike neoconservative critics claim "ah, modern liberals look like they have fascist economics", I in addition note that social conservatives like George W. Bush have utilized massive state-interventionism in the economy and classical conservatives such as John A. MacDonald in my country of Canada utilized large state interventionism long before the advent of fascism and before communism was a serious political force in the world. Italian Fascists even tried to combine conservative and leftist views to claim that they promote traditional national and patriotic values while at the same time claiming that they are modernist i.e. promoting a "New Roman Empire", promoting traditional Roman-like and Christian art while also promoting modern art which promoted the movement as futurist while having symbols of ancient Roman idenity like the fasces, the Aquila (the Roman eagle), Capitoline Wolf, etc. The merging of nationalism with a combined leftist and reactionary critiques of liberalism and laissez-faire capitalism was pursued from the mid 1920s onward, blamed liberalism's protection of multiparty democracy as causing political instability, corruption, and lack of political progress; and blamed liberalism and laissez-faire capitalism for being uncaring to nations which the Italian Fascists claimed caused the rise of communism and class conflict which in their view were destroying nations. In the light of economic troubles, corruption, and perceived social stagnation or decline under classical liberal governments which had dominated Italy since the 1870s and the advent of the international economic crisis following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, so by 1929 Fascism's anti-liberal critiques from social, political, and economic standpoints were enormously popular and as hyped through propaganda were very convincing to Italians and gained attention elsewhere in the world. It should be noted that fascists, classical and religious conservatives, and leftists share a common rebuke of what they see as a problem of a literal liberalism of laissez-faire's promotion of unrestrained individual economic accumulation. They all see unrestrained self-indulgence as reckless or who were a strong political force in the 19th to mid-20th centuries and perhaps returning in the recent international economic crisis, believe that unrestrained self-indulgence and having unearned luxuries is selfish, uncaring to others, and morally wrong. All these groups claim that self-restraint, that people should not have excessive and unearned personal luxuries, and that people should have a sense of care for a community rather than self-interest. Some claim that fascism's appeal to class collaboration and its large base of middle-class supporters indicates absolutely that it is reactionary - this is a fallous argument, a significant number of working-class people did join the Italian Fascists and in the case of Germany, the Nazis, but they were not a clear majority due to fascism's class collaborationist appeals. I have found articles mentioning police reports of the Nazis which show that the Nazis were posing a serious threat to depleting democratic socialist and communist parties' base of working-class supporters. This demonstrates that the combination of appeal through nationalism to classical, religious, reactionary, and social conservatives along with leftism is politically possible and that neither totally exclude each other. And please don't just take my word for it, look through books about classical conservatism, religious conservatism, and now to mention it, national conservatism you will find these common grounds between conservatism and leftism which fascism appealed to.--R-41 (talk) 00:24, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

I am not saying that fascism is staunchly right wing, just that it is normally placed on the right. The most obvious reason for putting them on the right is that they aligned themselves with unequivocally right-wing groups opposed to Communists and Socialists, and once in power advanced the interests of the elites. The Socialist background of leading fascists is important as is their incorporation of socialist ideas and tactics. But most fascist leaders did not begin as leftists and as you point out non-leftists from Macdonald to Bush have tried socialist solutions. Similarly, successful conservatives from Disraeli to Thatcher have been able to appeal to the working class. And fascism has been most successful in countries with a strong authoritarian right-wing tradition.

No scholars place fascism on the left. If you have a source for any claim that fascism is left-wing then it should be added to the article.

One scholar however placed fascism in the center. I don't know how much weight this deserves, has anyone re-examined this theory since 1960?

But does any of what you are I have written support the statement: "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum; it has been described as left, right and center"? which implies that learned opinion is equally divided.

The Four Deuces (talk) 19:26, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

No scholars? What is Horiwitz? Chopped liver? Bale? I have provided cites which directly contradict your absolute assertions, thank you most kindly. Collect (talk) 19:45, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Horowitz and Bale quotes

I removed the following until someone can provide context and explain what he really means.

Irving Louis Horowitz writes of "the new left-wing Fascism" with anti-Semitism as the "essential motor." <ref>Winners and Losers: Social and Political Polarities in America - By Irving Louis Horowitz ,Duke University Press, 1984, ISBN 0822306026 ,328 pages, page 214</ref>

My hunch is that he is using the term fascism to describe left-wing critics of Israel, with the implication that they are motivated by a hatred of Jews, not concerns about human rights. Feel free to provide the relevant text if he is discussing actual fascism, and not merely using the term as a smear.Spylab (talk) 14:56, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Nope. And deletion of a RS by a person who actually has his own WP article is odd. Your "hunch" is wrong, which means that the cite gets returned. Thanks! Collect (talk) 17:56, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

And per discussion above -- "left, right and center" is directly supported by the cite given for it. Please try to get a consensus before making such wholesale changes. Especially since you appear to refuse to accept the disagreement as to the po,litical spectrum, deleting a solid cite for use of "left wong." Thanks! Collect (talk) 18:04, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

• So what's the context of the Horowitz quote? What does he actually say about this so-called "left-wing fascism". As it stands, the sentence doesn't explain anything.Spylab (talk) 18:07, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

I quoted the source. I quoted a sufficiency to prove the accuracy of the claim made for the source. I gave the page number. And you insist on a "hunch" that he did not mean what he wrote? He has an entire chapter on "Left-Wing Fascism" for gosh sakes <g>. 11 pages on the topic. Enough already. Collect (talk) 18:26, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

This is what you added to the article:

Irving Louis Horowitz writes of "the new left-wing Fascism" with anti-Semitism as the "essential motor."

Please add some context and explain what it actually means. What is this "new left-wing Fascism", and who are its supporters? The sentence on its own lacks substance and is wide open for misinterpretation. It's not very useful to say someone "writes of" something without clarifying what he writes about it.Spylab (talk) 18:38, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

The same applies to the other sentence you added:

Jeffrey Bale writes on "'National Groupuscules' and the Resurgence of 'Left-Wing' Fascism" in "Fascism: Critical Concepts in Political Science."

Please provide context and meaning.Spylab (talk) 18:43, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

MULTIPLE PAGE ARTICLES and you seem to think an entire chapter can be "out of context"?? I will gladly provide more examples of scholars refgerring to "left wing fascism" -- and when they devote LARGE amounts of paper to the term, one would suspect they used the term quite deliberately <g>. Unless, of course, you would like 3,000 word "quotes" here? Collect (talk) 19:07, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

• So what do they actually say? Please summarize their arguments, instead of listing even more quotes without context or meaning. It shouldn't be difficult to explain in a sentence or two, assuming you actually read and understood the articles. Lots of people "speak of" or "write of" things, but without knowing what they actually say, it doesn't do much good to mention it, expecially in an encyclopedic article that is supposed to teach people about a complex political topic.Spylab (talk) 19:22, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Collect: In reply to your comment in the previous section, neither Horowitz nor Bale said that fascism is left-wing. Their use of that adjective does not mean they think fascism is left-wing or even that "left-wing fascists" are on the left, any more than the name "South Dakota" identifies it as a southern state. On the contrary, Bale calls the "left-wing fascist" Nouvelle Resistance (NR), which is the subject of his article, a "rightist political organization" (p.282). The Four Deuces (talk) 22:21, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Each specifically devoted extensive commentary to "left wing fascism." Not just a single quote. Collect (talk) 23:32, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

And your point is? The Four Deuces (talk) 23:46, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

The point is that the two used terminology which is quite specific. The attempt at SYMN made is not only a misuse of the cites, it violates WP policies. Thanks! Collect (talk) 12:39, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

• I see. So what you're saying, Collect, is that you don't understand the context or meaning of the term left-wing fascism as used by those two authors. You just know that they both used the term, a lot. So what?Spylab (talk) 13:29, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Try reading the full chapters Spy before asserting what is not borne out by these cites. Thanks! Collect (talk) 17:17, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

The new left-wing fascists are modern fascists who use left-wing rhetoric to hide right-wing beliefs. An example is claiming to be anti-zionist when they are actually anti-semitic. The rightist Nouvelle Resistance is one such group. Would that be a fair assessment of what Horowiz and Bale are saying? The Four Deuces (talk) 20:32, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

• So you admit, Collect, that you have no clue about what Horowitz and Bale actually mean when they use the term left-wing fascism. Why do you insist that concepts you can't explain be included in this Misplaced Pages article?Spylab (talk) 00:39, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Ok, Collect, you added a few examples of so-called "left-wing fascists", but still no definition of so-called "left-wing fascism", and no real context. Let's take a look at the examples:

1. Massimiliano Fanchin - no Misplaced Pages article, arrested in connection with an unspecified bombing in Bologna. Who is he, and what did he stand for?
2. Franco Fredo - no Misplaced Pages article. Who is he and what did he stand for?
3. Frankfurt School, a Marxist school of thought. What is its supposed connection to fascism, other than analyzing, explaining and criticizing it?
4. Theodor W. Adorno, a Marxist from the Frankfurt School. What is his supposed connection to fascism, other than analyzing, explaining and criticizing it?
5. Christian Bouchet - a member of the Third Position neo-fascist movement. However, it's quite the leap in logic to use that fact to claim that fascism is somehow on the left of the political spectrum. If that's not what you're arguing, then why mention it in the section about fascism's place in the political spectrum?Spylab (talk) 14:23, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

You improperly added WP:OR and WP:SYN to the statements for which precise cites were given. You also made a claim that a cite referred to Fanchin when it does not do so. I am not claiming that all fascism is on the left, I AM saying that there is disagreement about where it is, and disagreement about whether all forms of fascism are at the smae point on the spectrum. I use WP:V which is the guideline for cites, and it does not say to add material to sentences which is NOT in the cite given. And the cites given for Bale and Horowitz fully meet WP:RS and WP:V. Thanks! Collect (talk) 01:30, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Left, right and center

Collect: the footnotes don't seem to support this statement: "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum; it has been described as left, right and center. " If you follow them they refer to an article by Lipset, called 'Fascism -- Left, Right and Center', where he argues that fascism is centrist. Is there any reason why you are citing this source? The Four Deuces (talk) 15:03, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

The article uses the precise term "left, right and center" as is claimed for the cite. Collect (talk) 17:17, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Although the title of Lipset's article uses the term "Left, Right and Center", his article does not say, "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum; it has been described as..." What are your sources for that part of the sentence? Why not instead write "Lipset wrote an article called "Fascism -- Left, Right and Center""? Would that have the same meaning? The Four Deuces (talk) 18:20, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

The quote of "left, right and center" accurately denotes the fact that there is disagreement on any single term for fascism on the political spectrum. Also re" Horowitz in "winners and Losers" page 210 "Like all movements, left-wing fascism has a somewhat chaotic ancestry. Foremost is what might be called the later Frankfurt school, which emphasized in an uneasy mix the early Marx and the late Hegel ..." et seq. "(The Persopnist movement) was a populism, if not a fasicsm, of left, right and center all at the same time." Currently Putin in Russia is not a "communist" but is decidely an "authoritarian nationalist" who wishes to restore the past glory of Russia -- what would you call him? Collect (talk) 20:58, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I think there are two things we need to be careful about here that will help resolve conflicts. First, we need to distinguish between self-identified fascists and people who are called fascists by others but who do not call themselves fascists. I make no other claims, just that these are different and the article must not mix them up. Second, we need to distinguish between "fascism" as a rhetorical device that can be applied to a range of phenomena, and specific historically (and often geographically) located fascisms. For example Horowitz clearly is not talking about Moussolini's Fascist party or regime. Moreover, Horowitz and Mussolini would agree Mussolini was a Fascist; this is uncontroversial. But Horkheimer and Adorno would vociferously insist they were opposed to Fascism, so the claim that they were Fascists in this case is controversial. These distinctions are essential if we are to distinguish between mainstream and fringe views. I am certain that the videw that Mussolini was a Fascist is a mainstream view. I am sure that the view that Adorno was a Fascist is not a mainstream view. Now I just want to know: is it a minority view or a fringe view? Slrubenstein | Talk 01:24, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

I think that Horowitz sees Horkheimer and Odorno as influences on left-wing fascism not as actual fascists. At the beginning of the article he identifies Larouche's groups as left-wing fascists. While Horowitz's article is mostly about influences, Bale's article gives details of a specific case, the NR. The Four Deuces (talk) 13:20, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

IOW, "left wing fascism" is a real phenomenon acording to both Bale and Horowitz, right? Collect (talk) 14:21, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Right. The Four Deuces (talk) 23:40, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

I wish that people had of paid attention to what I had said earlier. But I will repeat: fascists were composed of both reactionary and leftist nationalists, who mutually united in support of irredentist and expansionist nationalism. Please look up "Intransigent fascist" and you will find information about the left-wing faction of the Italian Fascist movement which was the original base of the Fascist movement which called for the overthrow of the Italian monarchy and the establishment of a republic, called for strengthening workers' rights, called for weakening the power of the Roman Catholic Church and power of aristocrats. The Intransigents opposed the reactionary faction of the fascists which promoted cooperation with the monarchy, the Church, and aristocrats. Mussolini played a balancing act between the two factions, he appeased reactionaries by respecting the monarchy, the Church, and aristocrats while he appeased the Intransigents by weakening the power of the monarchy by transferring the power to appoint cabinet ministers from the King to the Prime Minister (Mussolini) and creating the military position of "First Marshal of the Empire" given to both the King and Prime Minister which meant that the King lost his previous exclusive authority to authorize military action and now had to discuss such actions with Mussolini. After Mussolini was overthrown in 1943, Mussolini appealed to Intransigent fascists who remained loyal to him when he formed the Italian Social Republic and adopted Intransigent fascist left-wing policies, including large-scale nationalization of property, as well as persecution of northern landowners who Mussolini felt had betrayed him during his overthrow in 1943. A great source for information on Italian Fascism and especially the internal rivalry between the reactionary and the leftist Intransigent factions of the Italian Fascist movement is the Historical Dictionary of Fascist Italy, ISBN 0-313-21317-8 by Philip V. Cannistraro, 1982. This source discusses indepth on the fact that Italian Fascism was always divided between these two factions who competed with each other to influence Mussolini, who himself tried to balance the interests of both sides.--R-41 (talk) 23:16, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

R-41: I am paying attention. Perhaps you could assist with the wording of the introductory sentence to the "Political spectrum" section which states:

There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum; it has been described as left, right and center.

Do you think this is an accurate statement? Do you think that the footnotes support this statement? How would you phrase it? The Four Deuces (talk) 07:34, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Ideally the first sentence in a section should give a summary of what is in the section, much as the lede does for an article. Cites are given for each word used, and, in a serendipitous use, one cite is given for the actual phrase used. One remaining problem is that "fascuism" is not a single cohesive political philosophy as defined by any article, and we allow the term to get further muddied by adding sections on sex and the like which are clearly handled differently by different nations. Collect (talk) 11:54, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Collect. Thanks for adding the Linehan reference. He does not actually say that fascism "has been described as left, right and center", but that the "dispute amongst historians...overlaps with another contentious area of scholarship, the question of whether fascism was an ideology of the right, left or centre". This may seem similar, but he does not claim that any scholars consider fascism a left-wing ideology and provides no examples that they do. The statement fascism "has been described as left, right and center" is entirely inconsistent with what is found in the literature, which is probably why it took so long to find even this reference (from a book about British Fascism). The Four Deuces (talk) 17:21, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Again -- I sm not asserting that "fascism" is in any one position on the political spectrum, and that is the point. Various "fascisms" have occupoied quite different positions on the political spectrum, thus saying "fascism" isin oneposition is quite problematic. IMHO the concept of "authoritarian nationalism" exists apart from the "political spectrum" issue -- Putin is, again IMHO, an "authoritarian nationalist." Collect (talk) 18:00, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

The phrase "has been described as left, right and center" implies that it can only occupy "one position on the political spectrum". Why are you bringing Putin into this - he is not even mentioned in the article? The Four Deuces (talk) 18:46, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Nope. I interpret it to mean that any given example may be left, right, or center. Note that it does not say "left, right AND center for all fascisms" in any case. And examples follow in the paragraph after that sentence. As fr Putin, I consider him to precisely fit the definitions given in the article. Can you tell me where his actions and positions are contrary to the definitions given? Collect (talk)

In that case why does the sentence say "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum?" And why are you talking about Peron, Putin and Francin (as opposed to Hitler, Mussolini and Franco) in the Political spectrum section when they are mentioned nowhere else in the article? The Four Deuces (talk) 11:51, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

It says "disagreement" because there is disagreement. And since it does not say all fascism is at any one point on the spectrum (or if a spectrum is even relevant) then I do not see the problem. And the fact is that the talk page is for improving the article, and giving examples here makes it possible to improve the article. Clear? Thanks! Collect (talk) 11:57, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

What is the disagreement? The Four Deuces (talk) 12:09, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

Left-wing fascism article

Gee, look at Misplaced Pages's article on left-wing fascism. It doesn't say anything about fascism being a left-wing ideology, and it also contradicts Collect's supposed argument that that the Frankfurt School promotes left-wing fascism and that Horowitz claims that fascism is left-wing. I won't bother pasting sections here; just click on the link and read it there.Spylab (talk) 23:29, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Amazingly enough, WP articles are NOT RS for WP zarticles. And GUESS WHO has just edited there? WOW! Sorry, pointing to an article you just edited as proof of anything fails miserably. As does insertion of claims that the "left wing fascists" named by Horowitz and Bale were "right wing" as an example of WP:SYN and WP:OR -- and even WP:UNTRUTH when the cite does not even have "fanchin" mentioned in it at all! cited as a source on Fanchin does not even has his name in it once. Now can we just let it be that some people call something "leftwing fascism" without trying to falsify that fact? Thanks! (Example of edit just made there: The term has also been adopted by conservative American political commentators to describe extreme or intolerant forms of leftist ideology. The term is also in increasing use in contemporary thought to explore unusual hybrid alliances characterizing late 20th and early 21st century political movements. Collect (talk) 01:26, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

• I didn't claim that the Misplaced Pages left-wing fascism article on its own was a reference. However that article has its own references to back up its content. Also, if you actually look at the edits I made to the article, you will see I did not alter the meaning at all, just did general copy edits. I'll have to get back to you about the Fanchin reference. The link probably went to the wrong page than the one I meant.Spylab (talk) 01:34, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

READ WP:OR and WP:SYN before you try interpolating your own opinions into precsely written sentences. And calling a left wing fascist (so called by Bale or Horowitz) a "right wing fascist" does not help any editor or reader here. As I have said, I am fully willing to add cites. And using YOUR OWN EDITS to back your own edits <g> that is not going to work. Thanks! Collect (talk) 01:40, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

• I didn't insert my own opinions. I used the description far right because that is the term used in those people's own Misplaced Pages articles. If you dispute that term, then perhaps you should remove it from their articles. As for the Fanchin reference, I'm not sure what happened there; I can't find what I thought I found before.Spylab (talk) 01:49, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

WP articles are not valid cites for WP -- mainly because ANY editor can change them around. And if that SAME editor is using his own edits as a cite, how valid can it be? And citing something which ain't there is a teensy bit iffy. Collect (talk) 03:55, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Some readers might find it confusing that the political spectrum section now has a large discussion about the new left-wing fascism, but there is no reference to it anywhere else in the article. Nor is there any mention of neo-fascism. Even more confusing that most of the discussion of the new left-wing fascism is about their influences not their members. The Four Deuces (talk) 13:28, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Try reading the AfD on "Left wing fascism" -- that was where a decision to merge would have been possible. Collect (talk) 18:18, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

I am not suggesting a merger. However, one cannot fail to notice that the article describes various fascist groups, e.g., Nazis, Italian fascists, phalangists, all of which have their own articles, but totally omits any discussion of the new left-wing fascism, except under the "Political spectrum" section. The Four Deuces (talk) 08:23, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

OTOH, the other way is to remove the sections dealing with movements which may-or-may-not-be fascist. Each basically has their own current article (many in need of strong editing, by the way). And removing stuff here which is true of some groups and not of others -- making inclusion of a lot of it not necessarily accurate for all fascists. Collect (talk) 11:36, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

The problem with merging content from the left-wing fascism article here is that — as the referenced content in that article shows — there is disagreement/contradictions about what the term actually means. Some use the term to describe socialists who have characteristics similar to fascists (such as authoritarianism, violent methods and/or anti-semitism (or at least alleged anti-semitism) and/or team up with neo-fascists for certain goals; others use the term to describe far right nationalists who team up with pro-Palestinian, pro-Islamist and/or pro-Arab groups against Israel and Zionists (which doesn't necessarily mean they have leftist sympathies, just that they work with so-called non-white people to fight their perceived common enemy); and others use the term to describe Third Position-type neo-fascists because they have some leftist views. There don't seem to be any reliable references showing that left-wing fascism is an actual movement or ideology, or that anyone calls themselves a left-wing fascist.Spylab (talk) 21:39, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

Did I note the word "disagreement" above? As I have iterated, there is indeed disagreement about what is, and is not, fascism, and where, if anywhere, fascism is, or whether (as many note) different fascisms are all over the place. And one problem is the current tendency by some to use "fascist" as a pejorative epithet rather than as a descriptor of "authoritarian nationalism." Collect (talk) 21:45, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

At least there's agreement that fascism is an actual ideology and movement, and that there are some widely recognized basic characteristics. The same cannot be said about the term "left-wing fascism", which seems to be not much more than a sloppy, poorly defined label and pejorative epithet.Spylab (talk) 01:48, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

Nope. The sources do not use "left wing fascism" as a "pejorative epithet." It is used to state that authoritarian nationalist movements are found in the left wing, and is used by experts int he field. Unless of course you wish to assert your c.v. is better than that of those using the term in the RSs used? Collect (talk) 11:13, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

1. TELOS (journal)TELOS, Fall 2008 issue (no. 144)

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