Although fascism is a notoriously difficult ideology to define, many 20th-century fascist movements shared several characteristics. First, these movements sourced their political strength from populations experiencing economic woes, real or imagined. Fascists tended to capitalize on these economic anxieties by shifting the blame away from government or market forces. Jews, immigrants, leftists, and other groups became useful scapegoats. Redirecting popular anger toward these people would, in theory, rid a country of its ailments.
To unify a country, fascist movements propagated extreme nationalism that often went hand in hand with militarism and racial purity. The prosperity of a nation depended on a unified polity that put the group’s welfare above the individual’s. A strong, vigilant military was considered necessary to defend these group interests. And for some fascists “the group” was defined not by territorial boundaries but by racial identity. Nazism constituted the most insidious form of racial-purist fascist nationalism.
Fascist movements of the 20th century also frequently lambasted liberalism for its alleged role in sowing political disunity and moral degeneracy. Although many fascist movements initially organized themselves around democratic institutions for political legitimacy, they resorted to totalitarianism in practice. A component of this process became the reorganization of society around a strict moral code that often sought to reverse the “decadence” of pre-fascist culture.