Fascism; Left or right?

[Phoenix Rising]

When it comes to the left-right spectrum, there is some disagreement as to where fascism would fit. Fascism is an ideology that was developed by Benito Mussolini in the early 20th century, it was later adopted by other individuals, most notably Adolf Hitler and Francisco Franco. Fascism is far-left when it comes to economics and governmental structure, however many of it's social policies were heavily influenced by religion, which is now commonly referred to as social conservationism.

Benito Mussolini was a high-ranking socialist in the Italian Socialist Party during the 1900s and 1910s. In the beginning of World War I, many Italian socialists were supportive of the war, however as the war progressed, there was a crackdown on civil liberties and anti-war protestors by the government, leading to a divide in the Italian Socialist Party. One side consisted of pro-war socialists, such as Mussolini, and the other side consisted of anti-war socialists. Eventually the anti-war socialists won out and Mussolini was kicked out of the Italian Socialist Party, leading him and other pro-war socialists to create a new political, in which they pursued their own version of socialism. In the years following Mussolini's removal from the Italian Socialist Party, Mussolini's version of socialism evolved into a rather different version of socialism than that of his former party (the Italian Socialist Party).

Some modern socialists are trying to distance themselves from fascism, and claim that fascism was a right-wing ideology, due to religion being a major influence on social issues. However fascism really has nothing to do with neither modern conservatism or early 20th century European conservatism. Early 20th century conservatism was focused primarily around the ideas of capitalism, monarchism, the junkers (aristocracy), and federalism. Fascists were opposed to all of these, following a collectivist and anti-capitalist economic policy, which went against capitalism and the junkers. Fascists were also opposed to monarchism, especially in Italy where Mussolini viewed the monarchy as a threat; and fascists were strong advocates of a centralized unitary state, Hitler himself saw federalism as a threat and made destroying federalism one of his first priorities after passing the Enabling Act.

Fascism has it's roots deeply rooted in socialism, having originally been (and arguably still is) a version of socialism. Fascism advocates for a strong centralized state that follows the socialist policy of collectivization. However, unlike in socialism, most of the money that goes into a fascist state is not redistributed among the working class. Today most fascists consider themselves neither right, nor left-wing, they insist that they represent a "third position" that is opposed to both conservatism/capitalism and socialism/communism. Libertarianism, generally considered a right-wing ideology, and it is the opposite of fascism (economically right-wing and socially left-wing), so following this precedent, fascism would be classified as a left-wing ideology (being economically left-wing and socially right-wing). What would you consider fascism to be; right, left, or something entirely unique?

[Sasquatch]

Fascism is somewhat difficult to place on a political spectrum, for two reasons. The first, of course, being that Fascism is a government type, involving both economic and social policies, similar to Communism. Socialism might play a part in it, but as socialism is solely a collection of fiscal policies and not social, it cannot stand as its own government type (just as liberalism, conservatism, free-market, etc. are not government types, but can be involved with certain government types). The second reason is that it is both extreme left and extreme right, not so much at both ends of a ruler but in the middle of the other side of the circle.

In reality, Fascism and Communism are very similar. Both incorporate Socialism and complete government control, however Communism revolves around state ownership or property and labor, but Fascism centers on state control of it -- really, not much difference. Fascism also usually includes nationalism and often xenophobia. This is where the idea comes from that Fascism is an extreme right-wing ideology. Not to mention the fact that most Fascist governments stress a devotion to a deity, whereas most Communist governments stress that the government itself, or its leaders, are supreme beings.