ABSTRACT
Perhaps the most dramatic single development in the society of the Western world in its most recent phase has been the emergence of the great political movements usually referred to as "Fascist". Fascism is not "old conservatism" of the sort especially familiar before 1914, although elements which were once conservative in that sense have often been drawn into the Fascist movements. It is definitely of the "right" in that it is specifically oriented in opposition to the political movements of the "left", notably of course communism. The mass movements, which are in an important sense revolutionary movements, are above all what distinguishes fascism from ordinary conservatism. They are movements which, though their primary orientation is political, have many features in common with great religious movements in history, a fact which may serve as a guide to the sociological analysis of their origins and character.
