ABSTRACT
The routes to power in Italy, Germany, and Spain differ in important ways. However, in all three cases, the support of important sections of the ruling capitalist class became crucial, both in terms of political credibility and financial support. The emphasis on national regeneration and suppression of working-class political organization promised greater economic and political rewards to sections of the dominant class, faced with economic crisis and a strong and politically conscious working class, than did bourgeois parliamentarianism. It is in this sense that fascism, once in power, is to be understood as a form of class rule.
