It is a word that is much used today–but what exactly does it mean? Here is my definition, which does not come from a dictionary:
The pursuit of reactionary nationalist ends through extraconstitutional means.
By way of elaboration:
- Not all reactionaries are fascists; in fact, in this country and Europe, most of them have been willing to live by the rules of liberal democracy in the recent past. All fascists are reactionaries, however. They all look back to an idealized previous version of the state in question and seek to recreate it through any means necessary.
- Nationalism and reactionary politics have not always been intertwined. In the early 19th century, nationalism was primarily a progressive strain of thought. Today, however, nationalism is typically set up as an antidote to a liberal “globalist” order controlled by multi-national corporations and self-seeking, patronizing intellectual elites. As a result, it is usually associated with small business owners and blue collar workers desperately struggling to maintain their small social, legal, and economic privileges within their society.
- The “extraconstitutional means” primarily involve violence, of course, but the principal point here is that a proper fascist doesn’t accept any limits on his power, or any institutional barriers between himself and the nation he supposedly embodies. There are no such things as checks and balances in a fascist state, concepts of universal human rights do not exist, and the law serves only to implement the will of the leader, as it may change from time to time.
- A cult of personality is usually part of a fascist state. A properly organized system can get by without one, however. No one ever said Franco was a charismatic figure.