Fascist (insult)

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Since the emergence of fascism in Europe in the first half of the 20th century, the term "fascist" has frequently been used as a pejorative epithet against a wide range of individuals, political movements, governments, public and private institutions, including those that would not usually be classified as fascist in mainstream political science. It usually serves as an emotionally loaded substitute for authoritarian.

As early as 1944, British writer George Orwell commented that following its widespread use in the European press, "the word 'Fascism' is almost entirely meaningless" due to its non-specific use detached from its original political associations.^[1]

Soviet Union

The Bolshevik movement and later the Soviet Union made frequent use of the "fascist" epithet coming from its conflict with the early German and Italian fascist movements. It was widely used in press and political language to describe either its ideological opponents (such as the White movement) or even internal fractions of the socialist movement (for example, social democracy which was called social fascism). Also the Nazi movement in Germany was described as "fascist" until 1939, when the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed, after which Nazi–Soviet relations started to be presented positively in Soviet propaganda.

After the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, "fascist" was used in the Soviet Union to describe virtually any anti-Soviet activity or opinion. According to Marxism–Leninism, fascism was the "final phase of crisis of bourgeoisie", which "in fascism sought refuge" from "inherent contradictions of capitalism". As a result of this approach, it was almost every Western capitalist country that was "fascist", with the Third Reich being just the "most reactionary" one.^[2][3] After 1941, "fascist" was used in Soviet Union to describe virtually any anti-Soviet activity: for example, the international investigation on Katyn massacre was described as "fascist libel"^[4] and the Warsaw Uprising as "illegal and organised by fascists".^[5] Communist Służba Bezpieczeństwa described Trotskyism, Titoism and imperialism as "variants of fascism".^[6]

Western politics

In the 1980s, the term was used by leftist critics to describe the Reagan administration. The term was later used in the 2000s to describe the administration of George W. Bush by its critics and in the late 2010s to describe the candidacy and administration of Donald Trump. In her 1970 book Beyond Mere Obedience, radical activist and theologian Dorothee Sölle coined the term "Christofascist" to describe fundamentalist Christians.^[7][8][9]

In 2004, Samantha Power (lecturer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University) reflected Orwell's words from 60 years prior when she stated: "Fascism – unlike communism, socialism, capitalism, or conservatism – is a smear word more often used to brand one's foes than it is a descriptor used to shed light on them".^[10]

In 2006, the European Court of Human Rights found contrary to the Article 10 (freedom of expression) of ECHR fining a journalist for calling a right-wing journalist "local neo-fascist", regarding the statement as a value-judgment acceptable in the circumstances.^[11]

In 2014, with the outbreak of the war in Donbass the Russian nationalists and media returned to the "fascist" rhetoric, frequently describing the Ukrainian government after Euromaidan as "fascist", "Nazi" etc.,^[12][13] at the same time accusing them of "Jewish influence" or spreading "gay propaganda".^[14]

In response to multiple authors^{[15][16][17][18][19]} claiming that the then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump was a "fascist", a 2016 article for Vox cited five historians who study fascism—including Roger Griffin, author of The Nature of Fascism—who stated that Trump does not hold (and is even opposed to) several political viewpoints that are integral to fascism, including viewing violence as an inherent good and an inherent rejection or opposition to a democratic system.^[20]

Possible explanations for casual uses

They employ massive overkill strategy, there are 30, 20 to 30 marshals daily inside the courtroom, it has the atmosphere of an arms camp, the law against us is rigged … and our claims that this law violates our constitutional rights and it’s the same way that we claim that Mayor Daley didn’t have the right to deny us a permit to march or to assemble in the park…. I think it points a direction in the future which is that the government embarked on a course of fascism.

— Abbie Hoffman, Viking Youth Power Hour interview, November, 1969^[21]

Several Marxist theories back up particular uses of fascism beyond its usual remit. For instance, Poulantzas's theory of state monopoly capitalism could be associated with the idea of a military-industrial complex to suggest that 1960s America had a fascist social structure, though this kind of Maoist or Guevarist analysis often underpinned the rhetorical depiction of Cold War authoritarians as fascists.

Some Marxist groups – such as the Indian section of the Fourth International and the Hekmatist groups in Iran and Iraq – have provided analytical accounts as to why the term "fascist" should be applied to groups such as the Hindutva movement, the 1979 Islamic Iranian regime or the Islamist sections of the Iraqi insurgency. Other scholars contend that the traditional meaning of the term fascism does not apply to Hindutva groups and may hinder an analysis of their activities.^{[22][23][24][25]}

See also

• Anti-democratic thought
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire
• Definitions of fascism
• Godwin's law
• Reductio ad Hitlerum

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Fascism

• Iivi Masso 2009-02-19: Fašism kui propaganda tööriist (Fascism as a tool of propaganda), printed in Eesti Päevaleht