I had forgotten that Italy had joined forces with Nazi Germany and The Japs during WW2. Just saw a brief blurp on TV and recalled this from high school history.
Plus Romania, Hungary & Finland and some ME nations?
USSR initially supported the German invasion and partition of Poland
So they plotted with the Nazis for their benefit too
Italy under team Mussolini is a good example to reference if you wanna to use the term "fascist" correctly
The word seems to get tossed around by certain - activist oriented / motivated ppl a lot lately - but the context ALWAYS seems to be a way of defining offensive social or racial opinions
There is a book called "The Origins of Conflict" (1948?) - that outlines the key characteristics, motivations and outcomes of all the major powers of WW2
The primary tenants of fascism were something like:
The individual exists ONLY to serve The State
The majority of people aren't capable of understanding moral distinctions- therefore an elite and enlightened tier of rulers are needed to decide for them
War is continually glorified
History is reinterpreted or revised to fit the needs of the State - I believe the Italians actually "discovered" that DaVinci and other historical figures were ALSO trying to express the importance of such political arrangements
Corporations are granted enforcement/unelected government type powers and functions
This is also a good example of "bad nationalism"
So - I THINK the Fascists MAY not be the ones who are being so loudly denigrated as Fascists
Funny how effective it is to accuse your enemy of that which you are guilty of
Whacky world, man