The document discusses the historical evolution of fascism, highlighting its emergence in early 20th-century Europe under leaders like Mussolini and Hitler, characterized by totalitarianism, aggressive nationalism, and repression of opposing ideologies. It further explores the contemporary rise of far-right parties amid economic crises, drawing parallels between past and present political movements in Europe, the United States, and Brazil. The author argues for a broad democratic front to combat the resurgence of fascism and modern totalitarianism driven by globalization and neoliberalism.

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FASCISM AND ITS EVOLUTION THROUGH HISTORY
Fernando Alcoforado*
Ancient fascism is a political movement that emerged in Italy after the First World War
in the 1920s under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. In addition to the Mussolini
regime in Italy, Adolf Hitler's Germany and Francisco Franco's Spain, among others,
established themselves between the 1st and 2nd World War in the 1930s. Fascism was a
reaction of the conservative forces of Europe against the rise of workers to power in
several countries after the victory of socialism in the Soviet Union in 1917 and was
based on strongly nationalist conceptions and the totalitarian exercise of power,
therefore against the democratic and liberal system, and repressive before the social-
democratic, socialist and communist ideas.
The old fascism implanted during the 1920s and 1930s of the twentieth century was
based on a strong, totalitarian state that claimed to embody the spirit of the people in the
exercise of power by a single party whose authority was imposed through violence,
repression and political propaganda. The Fascist leader is a figure who is above ordinary
men. Mussolini was denominated like Il Duce, that derives from the Latin Dux
(General) and Hitler from Fuehrer (Conductor, Guide, Leader, Boss). Both were
messianic and authoritarian leaderships, with a power that was exercised unilaterally
without consultation to anyone. In Germany, the old fascism received the denomination
of Nazism. This movement also had a strong racial component, which promulgated the
superiority of the Aryan race and sought to exterminate Jews, Gypsies and Blacks.
Old fascism was also characterized by aggressive nationalism, militarism and
imperialism in the service of the ruling classes, by the cult of the chief, by anti-
communism and by dictatorship. In order to put into practice its principles, the
individual rights of citizens were ignored, Parliament was transformed into a simple
advisory body and the political police were created, which crushed all opposition to the
regime. Fascism served as a model for several other dictatorships that were implanted in
Europe in the period between the two World Wars, among them the dictatorships of
Franco in Spain and Salazar in Portugal, which is why fascism also came under the
dictatorship regime totalitarian right-wing extremist.
In the contemporary era, the economic crisis of the world capitalist system that broke
out in 2008 in the United States led the European Union to economic stagnation with
serious political and social consequences. This crisis has given rise to the strengthening
of far-right political parties in several countries. The rise of far-right parties happens in
much of European countries. With Nazi-fascist or nationalist tendencies, most of these
parties advocate the end of the European Union, the end of the Euro, strengthening the
unity and identity of countries, more radical policies against immigrants, criticizing the
financial rescue of countries in crisis, are against homosexuals, abortion, liberalism and
globalization, and combating what they call Islamization [CUNHA, Carolina. Extrema
direita: Eleições no Parlamento Europeu refletem avanço do conservadorismo (Right-
wing: Elections in the European Parliament reflect the advance of conservatism).
Published on the website <http://vestibular.uol.com.br/resumo-das-
disciplinas/atualidades/extrema-direita-na-europa-resultado-das-eleicoes-no-
parlamento-europeu-reflete-avanco-do-conservadorismo.htm>, 2014].
The main reasons for the rise of extreme right-wing parties would be the decline of the
welfare state, which constituted a sort of common European identity after World War II,

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the current financial crisis, the existence of more than 18.2 million unemployed in the
continent, the resentment and disbelief of the population in the politicians allied with
the will to change. What draws attention is the growing participation of young
Europeans in nationalist movements, especially through the internet. Young people are
increasingly critical of their rulers and the European Union, concerned about the future
(employment and education), cultural identity and Islamic influence in Europe.
Paul Krugman, a professor at Princeton University in the United States, says that
unemployment in both the United States and Europe remains disastrously high, national
leaders and institutions are increasingly discredited, and democratic values are under
siege [KRUGMAN, Paul. É hora de começar a chamar a atual situação de crises como
ela é: uma depressão (It's time to start calling the current crisis situation as it is: a
depression). Posted on the website <http://noticias.uol.com.br/blogs-colunas/colunas-
do-new-york-times/paul-krugman/2011/12/13/e-hora-de-comecar-a-chamar-a-atual-
situacao-de-crises-como-ela-e-uma-depressao.jhtm>, 2011]. Krugman adds that worse
things are already happening as the rise of the far right in Austria, Finland, Hungary and
the poor countries of Central and Eastern Europe where democratic institutions are
being undermined. All this means in practice the possibility of the rise of fascism and
dictatorships in Europe to contain the social revolts that multiply in the same way that
happened after the Great Depression of 1929 that created the conditions for the advent
of Nazism and regimes of exception in various parts of the world.
In 2017 presidential elections took place for key European Union countries, such as
France, Germany and the Netherlands. In these three countries, far-right parties were
defeated, but they had sharp growth compared to previous years. Marine Le Pen, the
French presidential candidate, came in second. She is part of an anti-European Union
movement. In Germany, the Alternate Party for Germany became the third largest
political force in the German parliament. And in Holland, the Party for Freedom came
second in the lawsuit. In addition to the key countries, similar phenomena are also
observed in other European Union countries. Poland and Hungary, for example, are
countries whose governments are considered ultra-right; and in Greece, the Aurora
Dourada party is rated by experts as neo-Nazi.
In the United States, the Tea Party, a faction of the Republican Party, operates with an
"anti-Semitic, racist and reactionary" platform. The real banner of the Tea Party is
related to nationalism and race. The Tea Party is already moving a multimillion-dollar
network of large corporations, non-partisan organizations and political committees. In
September 2009, Viomundo published a post by Sara Robinson, in which she warned of
the rise of fascism in the United States. Robinson identified, based on the work of
historian Robert Paxton (The Anatomy of Fascism, New York: Vintage Books, 2005), at
which stage American fascism met, and came to the disturbing conclusion that once
consolidated the alliance between a capitalist elite and an extreme right-wing "troop of
shock", could no more stop a fascist rise and its coming to power [PEGINO, Paulo
Ferraresi. Tea Party - ascensão do fascismo nos EUA (e o Brasil?) (Tea Party - the rise
of fascism in the US (and Brazil?)). Published on website
<http://www.advivo.com.br/blog/paulo-ferraresi-pegino/tea-party-ascensao-do-
fascismo-nos-eua-e-o-brasil>, 2010].
All messages from presidential candidate Donald Trump pointed to the fact that, elected
president of the United States, fascism could be reborn in the United States. According
to Paxton, fascism emerges in search of some kind of nationalist renewal. This is the

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case of the United States in the face of an insurmountable economic crisis such as the
current one, the commitment of the American way of life and the loss of its world
hegemony to China. According to Paxton, fascism only grows in the revolting soil of a
mature democracy in crisis as is the case in the United States. This view has been
embraced completely by the Republican Party that now defines itself along these lines.
At this stage, it is openly racist, sexist, repressive, excluding, and permanently addicted
to the politics of fear and hatred, as happened during the George W. Bush
administration and being deepened in the Donald Trump government. The revival of
fascism under Donald Trump in the United States resulted primarily from its economic
decline and the loss of its hegemony on the world stage in a very short timeframe.
In Brazil, the conflict between right-wing and left-wing political forces is already taking
place that can lead Brazil to an unprecedented social conflagration in its history that can
result in the establishment of a fascist right-wing extreme dictatorship if Jair Bolsonaro
wins second round of presidential elections. The fascist dictatorship that is explicit in
Bolsonaro's discourse is based on the cult of order, on state violence, on authoritarian
government practices, on social disregard for vulnerable and fragile groups, and on anti-
communism. The Bolsonaro danger lies in oppression, man supremacy, homophobia,
racism, hatred of the poor. History tells us that once it reaches power, the fascists can
destroy the last vestiges of a democratic government in Brazil. In contemporary Brazil,
Jair Bolsonaro defends economic neoliberalism differently from the statism of
Mussolini and Hitler, fact that does not stop to qualify it like fascist because there is not
a unique formula for the fascism as some imagine. Not necessarily fascism is nationalist
and statist as occurred in Italy with Mussolini and in Germany with Hitler. What
characterize all fascism in all its variants are fundamentally dictatorship, racism, anti-
communism, persecution of minorities, and the placing of fascist government at the
service of economic and financial elites. Authoritarianism and totalitarianism are
components of every fascist dictatorship.
Another type of fascism resulting from the process of economic and financial
globalization is modern totalitarianism that is subliminal and is exercised globally with
the globalization of capital. The alienation of people is the main weapon used by the
holders of the means of global production and the world political power to exercise the
economic and political domination of the human being. The global production system
colonizes all walks of life. At no time, the human being escapes from the influence of
the system that is part of every moment of his life. The human being became a full-time
slave. The human being is already accustomed to always obey. He obeys without
knowing for what reason, simply because he knows he must obey. There is nothing that
is more frightening than disobedience, since if he disobeyed, ventured, changed, it
would be very risky. The human being bows his head before the owners of the world,
accepting this life of humiliation and misery due to fear.
Every act of rebellion or resistance is in fact assimilated into a subversive or terrorist
activity. Freedom exists only for those who defend the imperatives of capitalism. The
human being is convinced that there is no alternative to the organization that prevails in
the world today. He resigned himself to this life because he thinks that there can be no
other model of organization of society. And that's where the force of present domination
lies: to create the illusion that this system that colonized the whole face of the Earth
represents the best that humanity has ever built in terms of social organization. In the
dominant system, the forces of repression are preceded by deterrence, which since

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childhood, carries out its work of alienation of the human being. Holders of economic
and political power deceive human beings by selling the idea that they can dream of a
better future made of money, glory and adventure.
Children are the first victims of this domination, because it is about stifling freedom
from the cradle. It is necessary to make them stupid and to take away all their capacity
for reflection and criticism. Humans still see themselves as citizens believing that they
actually vote and decide freely by choosing who will defend their interests. In
parliamentary democracy, human beings have the illusion that they can choose their
representatives in the expectation that they will defend their interests. In practice, there
is no opposition to the "status quo", as the dominant political parties agree on the
essentials of conservation of the current mercantile society. There are no political
parties that can come to power that challenge the dogma of the market. The
representative and parliamentary form that usurps the name of democracy limits the
power of the citizens by the simple right to vote, that is, to nothing. The seats of
Parliament are occupied by the vast majority of the dominant, right-wing economic
class.
The duty that the system imposes on human beings is servile work. The main right that
the human being must recognize is the right to private property. The only god he should
worship is money. The omnipresence of neoliberal ideology, the cult of money, the one
party disguised as parliamentary pluralism, the absence of visible opposition, and the
repression in all its forms against the will to transform man and the world. This is the
true face of modern fascism, which we call "liberal democracy," which, however, must
be called by its true name: the totalitarian mercantile system. Man, society and the
whole of our planet are at the service of this ideology. The totalitarian mercantile
system has accomplished what no totalitarianism has been able to do before: to unify
the world in its image. Today there is no longer any possible exile.
There is only one way to combat fascism in each country, which is the formation of a
broad democratic front that, unifying left-wing political forces and democratic liberals,
prevents the rise of the fascists to power because it is practically impossible to
overthrow a fascist dictatorship when fascists are already in power. On the other hand, it
is a difficult task to combat fascism resulting from the process of economic and
financial globalization that led to modern totalitarianism, since it operates globally and
is rooted in all quarters of the Earth. Only with an antisystem international political
action in defense of humanity and against globalization and neoliberalism will it be
possible to combat and defeat modern fascism.
* Fernando Alcoforado, 78, holder of the CONFEA / CREA System Medal of Merit, member of the Bahia
Academy of Education, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development by the
University of Barcelona, university professor and consultant in the areas of strategic planning, business
planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is the author of 14 books addressing issues
such as Globalization and Development, Brazilian Economy, Global Warming and Climate Change, The
Factors that Condition Economic and Social Development, Energy in the world and The Great Scientific,
Economic, and Social Revolutions that Changed the World.