Fascist regimes in Italy, Germany, Spain and Japan were superficially varied, drawing on differed histories and traditions. But they had some of the following in common:

1. A political philosophy which was a compound of radical ideas and mysticism, of left-wing sounding slogans and conservative policies.

2. A strong state with a powerful executive which did not require democratic consultation before acting, combined with a hatred of bourgeois democracy.

3. Hatred of Communism and Socialism as political movements based on the idea of class differences and class antagonisms. Against this idea, Fascism aimed to substitute a corporative state that denied a divergence of class interests between capital and labor.

4. The formation of a mass party on paramilitary lines which drew its recruits in part from the discontented and disenfranchised working class.

5. Admiration of power and the deed which found expression in the cult of violence. Training for war and violence gave free rein to sadistic and pathological characteristics.

6. Authoritarian program which emphasized conformity, discipline and submission. Society was militarized and directed by a Messianic leader.

7. The cultivation of irrationality - the impulse was more important than logical thought. Irrationality led to a cult of death - witness the Spanish Fascist slogan: Arriba la Muerte! - Long live Death!

8. Nostalgia for the legendary past. For instance, in Italy's case, the Roman Empire. In Germany, an appeal to primitive myths of Niblungen. The initials SS were written in Runic letters from Viking times. Japan resurrected the medieval code of the samurai.

9. Aversion to intellectuals whom Fascism accused of undermining the old certainties and traditional values.

10. Fascism claimed to honor the dignity of labor and the role of the peasantry as providers of the staples of life. With this went an idealized picture of rural life - the healthy countryside versus the decadent city.

11. Machismo. Women were relegated to traditional female roles as housewives, servants, nurses and as breeders of "racially pure" warriors for the state war machine.

12. Fascism was frequently subsidized by big industrialists and landowners.

13. Fascism's electoral support came overwhelmingly from the middle class - in particular the lower middle class affected by economic crisis.

14. Fascism needed scapegoat enemies - "the Other" on whom to focus society's aggressions and hates.

(from Introducing Fascism and Nazism, Stuart Hood and Litza Jansz, Icon Books UK, Totem Books USA, 1993, pp 88-89)

For a more scholarly introduction to the rise of Fascism in America, visit Cursor's excellent article, Rush, Newspeak and Fascism: An exegesis.