Yet great difculties arise as soon as one sets out to dene fascism.

1 Its
boundaries are ambiguous in both space and time
Five major difculties stand in the way of any effort to dene fascism;
1. First, a problem of timing. It took time to realise that it was an
authentic mass populist notion

2. second difculty in dening fascism is created by mimicry

difficult to identify which is the original because many smaller powers tried to
adopt elements of fascism so that they could get an aura of force, vitality,
and mass mobilization. They were influenced by fascism.
one can not identify a
fascist regime by its appearance. Focusing on external symbols, which are
subject to supercial
imitation, adds to confusion about what may legitimately be considered fascist

3. third problem with defining fascism, posed by the dauntingly

wide disparity among individual cases in space and in time
in space because each national variant of fascism draws its legitimacy from its own community identity.
in time because of the transformations and accommodations demanded of those movements that seek power.
fascist movements resemble each other mainly in their functions. Differ in symbols etc, and political tactics
4. fourth is the ambiguous
relationship between doctrine and action in fascism.
we classify all the great political movementsall the
ismsby doctrine.
challenge that convention and analogy with other universal historical isms
fascism
does not rest on formal philosophical positions with claims to universal validity
There was no Fascist Manifesto, no founding fascist thinker.although there are implicit Social Darwinist
assumptions
They
claim legitimacy by no universal standard except a Darwinian triumph of the
strongest community.
Assuming there were fascist intellectuals or philosophical texts, they did not correspond with the policies and
actions of fascist regimes. E.g Mussolini and Nazi policies and political moves

REBUTTAL: every political movement deforms its ideology.

Fascists just arent bothered with making sure there is coherence between their actions and
ideologies/philosophical texts
They are driven more by passion, they are propelled by feelings. mobilizing passions; is the term used.
(the following points are not very important)
1. The primacy of the group, toward which one has duties superior to every
right, whether universal or individual.
2. The belief that ones group is a victim, a sentiment which justifies any
action against the groups enemies, internal as well as external.
3. Dread of the groups decadence under the corrosive effect of individualistic
and cosmopolitan liberalism.
4. Closer integration of the community within a brotherhood (fascio) whose
unity and purity are forged by common conviction, if possible, or by exclusionary
violence if necessary.
5. An enhanced sense of identity and belonging, in which the grandeur of
the group reinforces individual self-esteem.
6. Authority of natural leaders (always male) throughout society, culminating
in a national chieftain who alone is capable of incarnating the groups
destiny
7. The beauty of violence and of will, when they are devoted to the groups
success in a Darwinian struggle.

5.

fifth and final difficulty with defining fascism is caused by overuse

Everyone is someones
fascist. Overuse of the term. Even with no historical basis.
Other problems:
1.
2.

Some look at generic fascism through a static lense#

Second: they look at it in isolation. without sufficient sustained reference to the
political, social, and cultural spaces in which they navigate.

These can be overcome by doing three things:

1.One is to study fascism in motion, paying more attention
to processes than to essences
2.Another is to study it contextually, spending
at least as much time on the surrounding society and on fascisms allies and
accomplices as on the fascist movements themselves

3. third is to put the adaptability of fascism to good use, by understanding fascism through comparision