Fascism: Its cause and mission
Everyone's a fascist! "It will be seen that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else." Used carelessly, as George Orwell complained above, fascism risks being stripped of all meaning and reduced to a mere term of abuse. We've witnessed the rise and proliferation of figures and parties, such as Donald Trump in the US , UKIP in the UK, Front National in France and Austria's Freedom Party. All have made free use of racial caricatures, anti-immigration and nationalist rhetoric. All of these are accused of being fascist but which, if any, actually compare with the classic form of...