ABSTRACT
Fascism is hostile to egalitarianism and loathes liberalism. It champions ‘might is right’, a Darwinian survival of the nastiest, and detests vulnerability: the sight of weakness brings out the jackboot in the fascist mind, which then blames the victim for encouraging the kick. Fascism not only promotes violence but relishes it, viscerally so. It cherishes audacity, bravado and superbia, promotes charismatic leaders, demagogues and ‘strong men’, and seeks to flood or control the media. Rooted in a form of revolutionary nationalism, the Italian fascist party was led by Mussolini, who governed from 1922 to 1943. It stood for the value of national superiority based on Roman-ness (Romanitas) defined in The Doctrine of Fascism. As an ideology, it demands the form of a totalitarian State where political power is exercised by one leader buttressed by State-controlled media and political repression, including the use of terror. Totalitarianism is different from authoritarianism in that it attempts to change human nature and the world.
