[chipotle_coyote]

Well, I got "an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization" from the New Oxford American Dictionary.

We could also go with Wikipedia's "Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe" if you're down with crowd-sourced definitions.

If you're not, there's historian Kevin Passmore's more verbose one: "Fascism is a set of ideologies and practices that seeks to place the nation above all other sources of loyalty, and to create a mobilized national community. Fascist nationalism is reactionary in that it entails implacable hostility to socialism and feminism, for they are seen as prioritizing class or gender rather than nation. This is why fascism is a movement of the extreme right."

And, of course, we could go right to the source. Benito Mussolini wrote, "Granted that the 19th century was the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy, this does not mean that the 20th century must also be the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy. Political doctrines pass; nations remain. We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century tending to the 'right', a Fascist century."

If you really want to argue with the claim that fascism is a far-right, authoritarian movement, have at it, but that claim has a whole pile of evidence on its side.

[barbacoa]

Wrong.

The fascists were strong feminists, they supported women suffrage long before it was legal in the USA.

They also supported progressive tax system, minimum wages and strong labor laws.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascist_Manifesto

[AnimalMuppet]

They said they were. They also said they were peaceful and democratic. Read "The Manifesto in Practice" section of your link before you take what the manifesto said at face value.

[trianglem]

Strong “feminists” that demanded the purpose of women was to stay at home and raise children. Most of Asia had suffrage for women much before the Western world but I would not call them strong feminists.

[barbacoa]

Maybe not by modern standards but by 1920/30s standards fascist were radical feminists.

[trianglem]

Nazi Germany took women backwards. Nice revisionism there.

> The policies contrasted starkly with the evolution of women's rights and gender equality under the Weimar Republic

> Women in Nazi Germany were subject to doctrines of Nazism by the Nazi Party (NSDAP), which promoted exclusion of women from the political life of Germany as well as its executive body and executive committees.

> the Nazi regime only permitted and encouraged women to fill the roles of mother and wife; women were excluded from all positions of responsibility, notably in the political and academic spheres.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Nazi_Germany

[barbacoa]

The Nazis were a political party. Fascism is an socio-economic system. Not the same thing here.

That's the whole point.

If the USA is capitalist but loves bailing out banks doesn't mean bail outs are a attribute of capitalism.

[trianglem]

Got it, so Nazis are not fascists.