Fascist | NAZI

History:

The term "Fascism" was first used in 1915 by members of Mussolini's movement, the Fasces of Revolutionary Action. Mussolini having just been expelled from the PSI { Italian Socialist Party } because he supported world war one, WW1.

In his 1916 book in Germany, Johann Plenge replaced the "ideas of 1789" [rights of man, democracy, individualism and liberalism] of the French Revolution, with the "ideas of 1914": duty, discipline, law and order, which he argued were the basis for "National Socialism".

The German Workers' Party, DAP, began in 1919 (5th Jan), less than 2 months after WW1 ended. In July 1919, Hitler, still in the German Army, was appointed intelligence agent in a reconnaissance commando unit of the German Army to influence other soldiers and to investigate the DAP. Hitler joined the DAP in late autumn 1919 as its 55th member. He quickly became the Party's most influential speaker bringing thousands to its ranks, and months after he joined, on 24 Feb 2020, the DAP renamed itself: the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP).

In the German case, it's fair to say the NSDAP (Nazi Party) was created to draw workers away from communism and into völkisch nationalism. For example: before it was renamed to "National Socialist German Workers' Party", Hitler had suggested the "Social Revolutionary Party" - entirely dropping "socialism"!

In the early 1930s NAZIs and German Communists (KPD - controlled by Russia) cooperated together against the largest socialist party in Germany: the SPD, who, back then, were the largest Marxist party outside Russia and consistently the most popular party in German federal elections from 1890 onward. Back then, the Soviet Russia rountinely termed every Labour or Social Democrat Party not under its control "social fascists". Likewise so did the Stalinist Communist Parties it controlled. The Nazi - KPD cooperation ended in 1932. Immediately afterward, the KPD created Anti-Fa.

Comment:

The difference between Fascism, and Communism was centred on their attitude to Nationalism. Nationalism is key to Fascism, but, in theory, is downplayed by Communism in favour of 'internationalism'. Yet in practice, communists in power have often discriminated against certain ethnicities or nationalisms; in favour of their favoured ones.

In the Italian and German cases Fascism began as a new kind of socialism, with explicit anti-Capitalist ideas. Therefore, calling any non-socialist, liberal or pro-Capitalist a "Fascist" is dishonest slander.