enormous influence in Britain, Europe, and the United
States through social democratic, Labour Party, and
liberal Democratic Party politics from 1900 to the
present.
Further Readings
Crossman, R. H. S., ed., New Fabian Essays.New Y ork: Praeger,
1952.
Durbin, E. New Jerusalems.London: Routledge, 1985.
MacKenzie, N., and MacKenzie, J. The First Fabians.Weidenfeld
& Nicholson, 1977.
McBriar, A. M. Fabian Socialism and English Politics 1884–1914.
Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1966.
Pimlott, B., ed. Fabian Essays in Socialist Thought. London:
Heineman, 1984.
Pugh, P. Educate, Agitate, Organize: A Hundred Years of Fabian
Socialism.London: Methuen, 1984.
Shaw, G. B., ed. Fabian Essays.London: Allen & Unwin, 1889,
1962.
Webb, S., and Webb, B. A Constitution for the Socialist Common-
wealth of Great Britain.London: Longmans, Green & Co.,
1920.
———. Industrial Democracy,2 vols. London: Longmans, Green
& Co., 1897.
Wolfe, W. From Radicalism to Socialism: Men and Ideas in the
Formation of Fabian Socialist Doctrines 1881–1889.New
Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1975.
fascism/fascist
A political theory that emphasizes a unified powerful
state to which all individuals and groups submit. Fas-
cist governments existed in NAZIGermany, Italy, and
Spain in the 1920s–40s. World War II was largely a
war between the fascist countries (with Japan) and the
rest of the world. Fascist political parties existed in
most other nations (including Britain Ireland, France,
and the United States), but they did not take over the
government. Fascist governments were led by Adolf
HITLER(Germany), Benito MUSSOLINI(Italy), and Fran-
cisco Franco (Spain).
Derived from the philosophy of HEGEL, fascism con-
ceives of the nation as an organic unity that subsumes
all divisions (classes, individuals, groups) and conflict
in society and produces social harmony and peace.
The individual and private organizations are to find
their fulfillment in this unity of the STATE. Fascism,
often called NATIONAL SOCIALISM, r ejected both the LIB-
ERAL, CAPITALIST DEMOCRACIESof Britain and the United
States and the MARXIST COMMUNISMof the SOVIET UNION.
Both liberalism and communism are unjust in the fas-
cist view because they do not represent the interest of
the whole nation but rather are the rule of a particular
group or class. Historically, fascism was very national-
istic, militaristic, and internationally aggressive; in
Germany, it also was highly anti-Semitic and led to the
murder of 6 million Jews and 9 million others.
Giovanni GENTILE, the leading Italian fascist
philosopher, employed Hegel’s DIALECTICin justifying
fascist policy. For him, the human individual is made
up of two opposing identities: (1) the particular will
(personal desires, interests, goals); and (2) the univer-
sal will (the nation’s culture, heritage, race, and mis-
sion). To be fully “self-realized,” the individual must
“get in touch” with his universal will, which is the
state. Subordination to the fascist state’s laws and
leader become the way that individuals fulfill their
destiny. Fascism used a lot of quasi-religious imagery,
while twisting it to cause citizens to worship the state
as God. For example, instead of saying, in the Judeo-
Christian sense, that the faithful should seek God’s will
in their lives and find their true God-given identities
in serving him, fascism made the state a god that the
citizens should serve and, through it, find fulfillment.
Fascism, then, becomes a kind of idolatry or worship
of false gods. The fascist governments, following NIET-
ZSCHE’s idea of a “superman,” invariably had a strong,
charismatic leader (or Führer in Germany) who sup-
posedly embodied the universal will of the state and
stood as a kind of national “messiah.”
Fascist governments in Germany, Italy, and Spain
claimed to be supportive of religion and the church
but only if those religious institutions obeyed the state.
Any criticism of the fascist state by Christians led to
their prosecution (such as Dietrich BONHOEFFERand
The Confessing Church in Nazi Germany) and execu-
tion. Fascism favored religions that were nationalistic
and submissive and that encouraged citizens to obey
the state (CIVIL RELIGION). Similarly, fascist theory sup-
ported the traditional family, not because it was
divinely ordained, but because it taught loyalty, devo-
tion, and sacrifice outside the self to an “other” (which
trained young people to be patriotic and obedient to
the state). Fascist societies were TOTALITARIANin that
all private associations became tied to the official gov-
ernment (so the Boy Scouts became the Hitler Youth).
In international relations, the fascist dialectic pro-
vided a basis for fascist states invading their neighbor-
ing countries and dominating them. Gentile claims that
“opposition” and “conciliation” through military defeat
is “the eternal rhythm of human social life.” Foreign
peoples “offend” the fascist nation by hindering the
stronger nation’s development or rights. So, the fascist
nation “overcomes” this “opposition” by attacking102 fascism/fascist