Fascism

The Fasces is a prominent symbol of Italian Fascism

Of the ideologies that emerged in the tumult following the First World War, the one that proved to have the greatest success in achieving and maintaining power in Europe was the ideology known as fascism. Borne out of the beliefs of disillusioned communists and authoritarian nationalists, fascism is often characterized as being "third positionist" due to its ideological inspiration from both the radical left and right. Although traces of Marxist doctrine can still be found buried in its worldview - it embraces a producer-parasite dialectic, but between nations instead of economic classes - its virulent nationalism puts it at odds with the internationalist mindset of socialism, and it inevitably led to violent conflict within Germany, Spain, and Italy in the interbellum decades. In all cases, the fascist parties eventually won out and forced their socialist rivals underground. Fascism's most defining qualities come from its slavish devotion to the state. The government, often under the control of a single strongman, serves as the final arbitrator and authority in the land. Religious institutions, trade unions, private businesses, and the like are permitted to exist in some limited form, though their subservience to the state's authority is made clear. The government also upholds a national mythos, spinning tales of a noble people with past glories that were unfairly stripped from them, and demands that the populace find strength in unity and reclaim what was lost. They sneer at liberal nations for decadent complacency and socialist nations for succumbing to degeneracy - yet paradoxically view those outsiders as a looming threat who are posed to destroy everything they hold dear.

Proponents and subideologies

Note: People marked with an asterisk are their countries' starting leaders.

Subideology	Description	Adherents
Default (None)	Of the ideologies that emerged in the tumult following the First World War, the one that proved to have the greatest success in achieving and maintaining power in Europe was the ideology known as fascism. Borne out of the beliefs of disillusioned communists and authoritarian nationalists, fascism is often characterized as being "third positionist" due to its ideological inspiration from both the radical left and right. Although traces of Marxist doctrine can still be found buried in its worldview - it embraces a producer-parasite dialectic, but between nations instead of economic classes - its virulent nationalism puts it at odds with the internationalist mindset of socialism, and it inevitably led to violent conflict within Germany, Spain, and Italy in the interbellum decades. In all cases, the fascist parties eventually won out and forced their socialist rivals underground. Fascism's most defining qualities come from its slavish devotion to the state. The government, often under the control of a single strongman, serves as the final arbitrator and authority in the land. Religious institutions, trade unions, private businesses, and the like are permitted to exist in some limited form, though their subservience to the state's authority is made clear. The government also upholds a national mythos, spinning tales of a noble people with past glories that were unfairly stripped from them, and demands that the populace find strength in unity and reclaim what was lost. They sneer at liberal nations for decadent complacency and socialist nations for succumbing to degeneracy - yet paradoxically view those outsiders as a looming threat who are posed to destroy everything they hold dear.	Johannes Steinhoff Josef Terboven* Gulbrand Lunde Shalva Loladze Galeazzo Ciano* Alessandro Pavolini Italo Balbo Pino Rauti Stanislao Lepri Leonida Suzzi Valli* Ezio Balducci Béla Imrédy* László Bárdossy Tefik Mborja* Georgios Themelis* Jean-Jacques Susini Alain de Sérigny Otto Förschner Ramfis Trujillo Gilberto Alzate Avendaño* Enrique Gómez Hurtado Higinio Morínigo*
Corporate Statism	Money can buy many things - towers of steel, cities of gold, the loyalties of craven men - but not a monopoly on violence. Or a country. At least, not yet. Although the role of corporate capital in this polity is monumental - entirely out of the scope of what would be expected anywhere else in the world - the state maintains its prerogatives. Though the corporations and their lieutenants are omnipresent, and their wishes cannot be ignored, their desires and machinations are ultimately subject to the whims and needs of a single primarch. Even if the economic and social life of this society is dominated by private enterprise, the political direction of the state remains firmly in the grip of a singular entity, bending the efforts of others to serve a purpose greater than mere profit. Here, labor and capital are both subsumed under the vision of their betters.	Suzuki Teiichi* Ibuka Masaru (persistence ending) Jean Schramme Nikolay Talberg Carlos Echeverri Cortés
Corporatism	Corporatism, from the Latin word for the human body, is one of the earliest economic models that presented itself as a "third position" to counter both capitalism and socialism. It is subject to a great many influences, from classical Greek philosophy to leftist syndicalism, but it was ultimately the proto-fascists who dominated the legacy of corporatism. It became deeply associated with Catholic and other religious traditionalism, integralism, and "clerical fascism" in the interwar years, and it served as a model to people such as Gabriele D'Annunzio, Engelbert Dollfuss, and Antonio Salazar. While corporatism is collectivist and believes economic classes are a fundamental unit of society it teaches that the greatest good can only be achieved through class collaboration rather than class struggle. Workers and employers alike are organized into some form of corporate body - be it guilds, syndicates, trade unions, or worker cooperatives - based on their industry, and it would be these corporate bodies that lobby the government on their behalf. The amount of representation the individual is afforded in the government is subject to variance, but usually often very little. Corporatism is also marked by a heavy preference towards a traditionalistic interpretation of the moral codes prevalent in the locality, especially with regards to marriage, sexuality, family structures, and popular media.	Kawashima Shōjirō Kishi Nobusuke Cornelis van Geelkerken Nikola II* Zhang Renli Magnus Malan Jaap Marais Pieter Willem Botha Kai-Uwe von Hassel Clifford Dupont Mikhail Matkovsky*
Sansepolcrismo	Taking its name from a discourse held by Benito Mussolini in Milan's Sansepolcro Square, Sansepolcrismo is the very first incarnation of the fascist ideology, back when the PNF didn't exist yet, and fascism still called itself "Fighting Fasces". At the time, the movement's name and iconography were a tribute to the Arditi, Italy's elite assault corps and the very first to wear the black shirt - which would become the uniform of the future MVSN, the feared Camicie Nere. The Sansepolcro Manifest advocated for a "Third Way" between capitalism and communism, taking the best from both sides while discarding what was deemed unnecessary. As such, early fascism conjugated private economic initiative with heavy state intervention in the economy, parity between sexes and worker uplifting programs with rabid nationalism and unbridled militarism, vote for women with single party state: a mèlange of political, social and economic beliefs, kept together by the messianic figure of the Duce, the voice of the people, who knew what was best for all - and had the strength to pursue it. Abandoned over the years in favor of less revolutionary policies that catered more to the middle classes, Sansepolcrismo has been brought back to the forefront of political discourse by Ettore Muti's meteoric rise to power. While unstable and somewhat erratic, it is undeniable that this ideology finds fertile ground among the lower classes and the military, making it a powerful tool to counter the advancement of socialism in society: only time will tell whether it will be successful, inaugurating a new age of nationalistic zeal and class cooperation, or it will once again be forgotten.	Ettore Muti
Fascist Mysticism	Founded by Niccolò Giani, the School of Fascist Mysticism has spent years crafting a comprehensive analysis of both modern and ancient philosophy, society and religion. Constantly striving to find the reasons behind the great events of History, the members of this school came to the conclusion that matters of state, economy, religion, ethics and race are tightly bound: as such, there must be something capable of holding everything together, espousing the supreme good and fighting the supreme evil - and that something is Fascism. In the eyes of Niccolò Giani, Fascism is more than a political ideology. Preaching eternal devotion to the State, unflinching faith in God, and utter loyalty to one's family, comrades and brothers-in-arms, it is a comprehensive code of values that can find application in every moment of a person's life, replacing all other social constructs, including religion: in fact, Fascism is the final and logical conclusion of Christianity, with the messianic figure of the Duce acting as paragon of virtue, and supreme authority in both political and religious matters - making the corrupt and decadent Clergy unnecessary. Previously confined to academic halls and theoretic debate, Niccolò Giani's meteoric rise to power in the Italian Empire has seen Fascist Mysticism experience a dramatic increase in both importance and adherents, as its teachings offer hope to desperate Italians: duty in place of uncertainty, and devotion in place of doubt. As the faithful grow in strength and numbers, the Duce smiles, for every new follower is not only a step closer to what Fascism was meant to be - it is a step closer to ascension, in both body and soul..	Niccolò Giani
National Syndicalism	Despite what some may think, National Syndicalism is not exactly fascism, but nor is it socialism either. As revolutionary as it is anticommunistic, rooted in the writings of both Georges Sorel and Ramiro Ledesma Ramos, it is a very idiosyncratic ideology, merging various influences to become something wholly new. Just as its name indicates, National Syndicalism could be described as a fiercely nationalist version of revolutionary syndicalism. Seeking to organize society around a system of syndicates, and promoting class cooperation instead of class struggle, it aims to constantly revolutionize itself, which means that it is, at least in theory, deeply progressive. National Syndicalism, while still fairly popular in Latin American countries and a lingering influence on Spanish intellectuals, is not as voguish as it once was. Indeed: times have changed since the 1920s, and what was once seen as a young, fiery ideology has now been eclipsed by other radical currents, such as national socialism or communism. Nevertheless, a resurgence, while certainly unexpected, still seems to be possible, for National Syndicalism's perpetual modernisation might turn out to be its greatest strength.	Sang Phathanothai Ruslan Abdulgani
Fascist Populism	Some leaders are fond of expressions such as "the world has need of our nation, and our nation has need of all its people." Yet behind these apparently neutral calls for national unity and joint effort is a system no less fascistic than that first envisioned by Benito Mussolini, the Master of the Mediterranean, all those years ago: that of Fascist Populism. Fascist Populism is fascism for the farmers and peasants of the countryside - it focuses on the interests and welfare of the idealized "Old Country", far away from the alleged "decadence" and "corruption" inherent in cities and towns. As a result it focuses on the welfare of rural areas to an extent even many agrarian leftists and centrists would find irrational. Fascist Populism also eagerly plays on the neuroses and concerns of the average farmer to strengthen its base. An abhorrence for the "other", most frequently manifested in xenophobia and anti-Semitism, figures prominently in their policy. Just as important to them is well-deployed welfare - to ensure that farmers "can receive from the Nation their just reward for their work" - and protectionism, to shield the rural industries (whether deservedly or not) from their "hostile" competitors outside.	Lauri Törni Elias Simojoki Thammanoon Thien-ngern Igor Shafarevich Flax Katoba Musopole Rafael Trujillo* Juan Natalicio González Manuel de Anchorena
Ordosocialism	In 1847, Karl Marx shook the world to its very core. He created an ideology that discarded the old order, and addressed the true struggle of the common man. Now, Marx's true successor has arrived. Ivan Serov, creator of Ordosocialism, did not understand why one's patriotic love for their country must be at odds with their nation's class struggle. Why must they demonize the Germans, when their ideology clearly has unique characteristics that could better serve the forces of revolution? Ordosocialism is the resolution to these conflicting questions and ideals. Ordosocialism is the synthesis of the class struggle and the national struggle. Ordosocialism is the synthesis of all that opposes both capitalism and cosmopolitanism. Ordosocialism concerns itself with the destruction of those who decided to follow the path of reaction, and those whose reactionary tendencies are of a more... hereditary nature. Some fools accuse Ordosocialism of being a reactionary, corporatist betrayal of all that Marx stood before. Some fools accuse Serov of being a madman, no better than Hitler himself. These individuals attempt to weaken the revolution with their slander, and defend hereditary reactionaries despite their inherent opposition to the revolution. Serov and his followers will not let these false claims distract them, however, for they have a new revolution to bring forth. A revolution free of the rot that plagued its predecessors.	Ivan Serov
Revolutionary Nationalism	Heralding a new era for the people now stood atop the shoulders of slain giants, a new wave of energy had emerged from the rotting carcasses of empires; a zealous 'Revolutionary Nationalism', materializing wherever the imperialist boot had once tread. Rejecting unequal treaties from London, resource-pillaging from Paris, and imperial diktats from Berlin, this newfound nationalism has roared in the shadows of Europe's empires to repel the horrors and brutality that had once emerged from the colonial office. Many of these post-colonial regimes govern underdeveloped and highly hierarchical economies as a result of their historical exploitation. However, authorities drive to modernize their countries, often unifying their people around a powerful figure or institution alongside patriotic, and sometimes revanchist, rhetoric. The newly-founded nation remains at the center of all political life; workers are instructed to toil for the strength of the country just as soldiers are told to fight to defend the homeland's recent freedom. Social views on morality and personal autonomy vary, but almost all agree upon a single, unified cultural identity in the face of a new modernity. As Europe lies fractured and limp under the grey jackboot, the liberated peoples cheer to celebrate independence from the masters who could no longer bear the whip.	Nils Flyg Roman Shukhevych Ngô Đình Diệm Plaek Phibunsongkhram* Chalard Hiransiri Moustapha Ould Mohamed Saleck* Hissène Habré* Ahmadou Ahidjo Grégoire Kayibanda Jean-Baptiste Bagaza Idi Amin Baymirza Hayit Roberto Viaux
Falangism	Born in the chaos of the Spanish Second Republic, Falangism seeks to marry the revolutionary economic ideology of National Syndicalism with conservative catholic Christian teachings. While conserving the anti-capitalist, anti-communist, inflammatory, and dynamic rhetoric of National Syndicalism, it is way more moderate in practice. Falangists will still call for the creation of vertical syndicates, but they are not as radical as their predecessor and Falangists will often find themselves working under a state capitalist system. In line with their policy of class collaboration, the worker-manager relations in these syndicates will be managed by the state through the state-owned syndicates. However, this extensive state control of the syndicates and the economy as a whole can often cause Falangist states to fall under the system of Corporatism. The aspect where National Syndicalism and Falangism clash the most, however, is their social outlook. While the former advocates for a "Constant Revolution", the latter is ultra-conservative. Falangism also rejects the separation of church and state, and it often advocates for Christianity as a state religion. Its also a very nationalistic ideology, especially when applied in hispanic countries, where it seeks to unite the Spanish-speaking world in something called "Hispanidad". For this reason, South America is where Falangism enjoys the most popularity outside of Spain. It also endorses a form of Christian-based nationalism, which can cause problems in nations where Christianity is not the dominant religion. Looking at it from the surface, Falangism seems very similar to National Syndicalism, but as you delve deeper, the social and cultural differences become evident between the two ideologies.	Jaime Milans del Bosch Alfonso Armada Pierre Gemayel Carlos Valverde Barbery
Reform Bureaucracy	Like most great powers, Japan found itself deeply divided during the interwar period of the early 20th century. At the close of the Great War, it had been a mere 60 years since the nation had begun its transformation from an isolated, feudal society to a modern and industrialized nation-state. No such change would be without teething problems, particularly in the field of economics - after all, the free-market status quo had originally developed naturally, over a lengthy period of time, and the arrival of revolutionary socialism only complicated matters further. From a combination of that era's uncertainties, ideological experimentation, and the new experience of colonialism emerged a uniquely Japanese phenomenon: 'kakushin kanryō', or 'Reform Bureaucracy'. For such an unassuming name, Reform Bureaucracy carries quite the legacy of cruelty and exploitation. Best realized in the ruthlessly exploited puppet state of Manchukuo, it is unapologetically dehumanizing, corporatist, and even fascistic. To these bureaucrats, economics is a matter of nothing but numbers and well-trained cogs, a series of gears dedicated to expanding the nation's preparedness for war and mobilisation. Drawing upon the 'total war' economy of the late German Empire, the economic rationalization of the Weimar Republic, and the planned economy espoused by many hardline socialists, Reform Bureaucracy's ultimate goal is simple: the complete subordination of the economy to the needs of the state, generally with the military and a politicized bureaucracy as the main benefactors.	Sakomizu Hisatsune Komai Kenichirō Shiina Etsusaburō
Integralism	There exist many variants of Integralism, often affected by the circumstances in which its exponents find themselves. Yet the core principles are very much the same, and have the same basis: that of stridently fundamentalist, traditionalist Catholicism. Integralism rejects the values brought about by the Enlightenment - those of secularism, democracy, and liberalism - and denounces the widespread societal consequences brought about by the Industrial Revolution as being a disaster for humanity. Instead of embracing 'progress' and change, an integralist will insist that the only way for people to lead moral, dignified lives is through a return to agrarian medievalism, in a society predicated upon hardline Catholicism. Based on a corporative concept of the society working as a human body, integralism is not built on a concept of a glorious future to be built off of an ancient ideal, but instead on a ruthless, hardline attempt to bring that glorious - and often imagined - past back, by any means necessary.	Plínio Salgado
Ecclesiastical Nationalism	With enough faithful, no barricade can hold, no walls can stand. There has never been a force such as faith in history, capable of galvanizing the masses and pervading every thought. It is capable of changing behaviors, outlooks, and personalities. As omnipresent as it is, it is evident that religion will eventually fuse with the nation, forming a chimera of an ideology known as Ecclesiastic Nationalism. While not as extreme as its overtly racist counterpart, Clerical Fascism, Ecclesiastical Nationalism is still an authoritarian ideology. This ideology asserts that a nation is inherently interrelated with religion. The separation of faith and state is then completely erased, and policy takes a distinctly religious aspect. However, it still isn't a theocracy. Members of the clergy are not in positions of power, but the leader will be seen with high-ranking heads of religion. What organized religious movements exist will be subordinated to the state. On the subject of the history of the nation, Ecclesiastic Nationalists will emphasize the deep-rooted links between the nation and religion, often glorifying religious and pious figures, like Saint Sava of Serbia or Jeanne D'Arc of France. These figures will not only be looked up to for their faith but their role in history. They will become political figures as much as religious figures as the state itself. Religion will become politics, and politics will become a religion. When one looks at Ecclesiastic Nationalism, one can't help but wonder if this is the true purpose of faith or simply a transformation of religion into an insidious political tool.	Borivoje Jonić Branimir Jelić*
Neosocialism	The 1930s were a period ripe with unparalleled political polarisation emerging from the economic catastrophe that struck the Earth as a whole in the wake of the Great Depression. And it is from this state of misery and disillusionment with the traditional paradigms of political thought that the seeds of the Neosocialist ideological phenomena would first be cultivated within the rightist ideologues of the French Section of the Workers' International and the Belgian Socialist Party. Seeking to bring unity and tranquillity to societies stricken with dysfunction and chaos, the Neosocialists would reject the Marxist world-view and its theory of class struggle. Instead, the innovative architects of the newly-born Neosocialist Movement, such as Hendrik de Man and Marcel Déat, would nurture and advocate their own visionary theoretical conceptions of "Planisme" and the "Constructive Revolution" - a radical restructuring of society in a revolution from above carried out by a technocratic clique at the helm of the state through a mandate accorded to them by the masses. While it may not seem necessarily nationalist at first glance, the ideologues of Neosocialism with their autocratic bent and their flirtations with Fascist rhetoric and ideology would soon shift towards nationalistic attitudes as a way to bridge the discord that plagued their countries, thereby allowing them to make way for the technocratic, planiste, corporativist and socialist society that would follow the rigorous transformations arising from their revolution. With the fall of the arbiter of International Socialism in the Soviet Union, it appears that the time of the Neosocialists is perhaps now, as both former Socialists whose world-views were shattered by the crumbling of Bolshevism and former Fascists disenchanted by the stagnation and despair enveloping the once-victorious Axis powers rush to its promises and the cures it proposes for their afflictions of cynicism.
Social Credit	C.H. Douglas, in his description of a model of economics in which debt-free purchasing power is supplied to all citizens, viewed it as a method by which the machinations of "the inner circles of High Finance" cauld be overcome. Fascists who believe in social credit make the implicit identity of said inner circles explicit. They brand financial institutions, both domestic and international, as Jewish plots for dominance, and seek to overturn this conspiracy with the deployment of social credit. For the social credit fascists, the influence of Jewish bankers begets the destruction of national traditions. Through their market manipulation, virtue is made worthless and vice made profitable; the people are thus drawn to abandoning God and Country in favour of aimless decadence. To these fascists, it is but another problem of artificial scarcity resolved by the distribution of purchasing power. By subsidising the righteous and making virtue profitable through social credit, these fascists believe that they can restore national values from the moral wasteland of modernity. Their critics are many, and their points are plentiful, but social credit is still a young ideology on the world stage, its fascist child even younger. Time will tell whether their dreams can be realised, or if their delusional voyage will be shattered against the rocks of reality.	Gerard Wallop
British Fascism	The First World War scarred Britain like no conflict since the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the blood-soaked trenches of France and Flanders etching themselves in the traumatised psyche of an entire generation. As Europe staggered forth into an uncertain new world, it found something truly monstrous. And Britain was no exception to this dark discovery. Unlike its brethren on the continent, Fascism in Britain developed along two distinct lines. The more orthodox, revolutionary branch championed by Oswald Mosley, and another, far more idiosyncratic form of Fascism that germinated among the minds of the aristocracy and upper class. This latter form preached a distinctly British Fascism, one that would shield the Britain of old from the financiers, the Jews and the communists, and save the Empire from destruction at their hands. When German boots marched through London and sent out the call for collaborators to lead the new Britain, it was the adherents of this British Fascism who answered, and thus cemented their doctrine as dominant, for a time. Now however, British Fascism finds itself once more at a crossroads. After a decade of unopposed rule, the Uprising of 1956 rent open the divide once more as Mosley's acolytes returned to prominence, along with believers in a new, even more revolutionary form of Fascism. The Old Guard of the BPP however, do not intend to sit idly by as their resurgent rivals launch a counter-attack, and have rallied around their old leaders once again. The coming decade will see if British Fascism stands firm as a bastion of oligarchic traditionalism, cementing its place as the undisputed sovereign once more, or if it is toppled by youthful fire and vigour, its final followers its first, left to wither away and die forgotten. Revolutionary The aged have passed, Domvile lies dead, and buried and with him has passed the last of the Old Guard of British Fascism. Now Andrew Fountaine stands victorious ready to mould the shape of British Fascism in the image the party so desires. What that image is however is something that nobody can decide upon. British Fascism has abandoned the anti-Semitic and Anglo-Saxon supremacism that once so defined it, but what to replace it with? That is a question that the party lies divided about. The Fascist Revolution has triumphed in Britannia but now it lies trapped in a quagmire of its own making. On one side stands Jeffery Hamm, and the men of Mosley's vision men calling for a Britain united around a leader, a singular man with a determination to claw out Britain's destined place side by side with Germany. On the other is John Bean and his dream of a Britain united around the nation itself, of a Fascism that lives up to it's revolutionary roots for the people of Britannia. Unity once the greatest symbol of Fascism has been tossed to the wayside as the BPP lies tearing at each other's throats. This cannot last, and the triumph of the will for once side is inevitable.	Barry Domvile* Ronald Nall-Cain Gerard Wallop Andrew Fountaine Jeffrey Hamm John Bean