The word fascist is sometimes used to denigrate people, institutions, or groups that would not describe themselves as ideologically fascist, and that may not fall within the formal definition of the word. As a political epithet, the word fascist has been applied mainly to a broad range of people and groups on the extreme right, but also to groups on the far left and at points in between. It has also been applied to people of many religious faiths, particularly fundamentalist groups. The individual, institution, or group(s) called fascist often find the use of the term in this way to be highly offensive and inappropriate.

In this sense, the word fascist is intended to mean "oppressive", "intolerant", "chauvinist", "genocidal", "dictatorial", "racist", or "aggressive" ? all concepts that are at least loosely inspired by the ideology of actual fascism. One might accuse an inconveniently placed police roadblock as being a "fascist tactic" or an overly authoritarian teacher as being "a total fascist". Terms like Nazi and Hitlerite, are often used (correctly or incorrectly) in similar contexts.

The phrase social fascists was used by communists against social democrats before 1933, and is still used in some communist circles to refer to modern social democracy movements. As early as 1944, the term had already become so widely and loosely employed that British essayist and novelist George Orwell was moved to write:

During the late 1960s and 1970s, the term was often used to describe a wide range of individuals, governments, and public institutions. It was often paired with other insulting terms, the most common being pig, e.g., fascist pig. In this context, the term fascist generally referred to conservative positions which prioritized the maintenance of existing social relations over various personal rights upheld by protesters and dissidents. Essentially, it served as an emotive substitute for "authoritarian", though it also described specific analytical functions ? such as emphasizing the privileging of order over freedom in an opponent's discourse, the perceived racism of "imperialist" practices, or even specific Marxist theories of the origins of fascism.

In the 1980s, the term was used by leftist critics to describe the Reagan administration, and in the 2000s the George W. Bush administration. In her 1970 book Beyond Mere Obedience, radical activist and theologian Dorothee Sölle coined the term Christofascist to describe fundamentalist Christians.^[1][2][3]

By the 2000s, the term was just as frequently used in the opposite direction. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a number of commentators (most in the United States) began using the term Islamofascism to describe Islamism and militant Islam. On August 10, 2006, in the wake of an alleged terror plot foiled in London, President Bush described the war on terror as a war against "Islamic fascists".

In 2004, Samantha Power (lecturer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University) reflected Orwell's words from 60 years prior when she stated, "Fascism ? unlike communism, socialism, capitalism, or conservatism ? is a smear word more often used to brand one's foes than it is a descriptor used to shed light on them." ^[4]

The term is also used as an insult to imply that the ruling party is too heavy-handed in certain actions. For instance, it was used to describe Margaret Thatcher's use of police to quell public disruptions during the miners' strike.

National Review Online editor Jonah Goldberg argued that fascism is fostered from liberal ideals in his 2007 book Liberal Fascism.

Possible explanations for misuse

While attracting criticisms for imprecision and for downplaying the extremity of actual fascism, the use of fascist as an epithet for authoritarian and intolerant power-holders has a distinct analytical basis, suggesting that fascism is a continuum or a social relation rather than simply a political system, and that acts of repression are in some way homologous with fascist ideology.

Theories such as Felix Guattari's concept of microfascism and Wilhelm Reich's theory of fascism as repressive-desire provide an analytical basis for interpreting intolerance, chauvinism, and authoritarianism as "fascist". The idea of authoritarian personalities prone to fascist attachments may be one reason why fascism is used as an epithet for the same kind of people who might be called "anal-retentive". On An(Archy) and Schizoanalysis by Rolando Perez uses the word fascist in an analytically informed way that is similar to the usage of epithet, showing that such usage is not necessarily ill-informed or unsystematic. One basic point of these perspectives is that a libertarian or emancipatory outlook requires openness of social space, tolerance or celebration of difference, and opposition to arbitrary authority; an absence of such an outlook contributes to social closure and exclusion, thus producing social effects similar to a fascist regime (e.g., oppression of minorities and lack of basic liberties).

Several Marxist theories back up particular uses of fascism beyond its usual remit. For instance, Poulantzas's theory of state monopoly capitalism could be associated with the idea of a military-industrial complex to suggest that 1960s America had a fascist social structure; this kind of Maoist or Guevarist analysis often underpinned the rhetorical depiction of Cold War authoritarians as fascists.

Some Marxist groups ? such as the Indian section of the USFI and the Hekmatist groups in Iran and Iraq ? have provided analytical accounts as to why the term fascist should be applied to groups such as the Hindutva movement, the 1979 Islamic Iranian regime, or the Islamist sections of the Iraqi insurgency. Other scholars contend that the traditional meaning of the term fascism does not apply to Hindutva groups, and may hinder an analysis of their activities.^[5][6][7][8]

References

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