We Hear the Word “Fascism” More and More Today. What Is It?

by | Feb 10, 2026 | Opinions & Commentary

Image by Pandagolik, iStockphoto

We Hear the Word “Fascism” More and More Today. What Is It?

by | Feb 10, 2026 | Opinions & Commentary

Image by Pandagolik, iStockphoto

Fascism is the violent insistence on resurrecting a past that never really existed, the illusion of which is used by an economic elite to deflect any blame of economic suffering from capitalism onto a designated inferior “other."

Republished with permission Michael Gene Sullivan

What is Fascism?

Americans have a lot of definitions for fascism—most of them wrong.

Many think fascism is armed troops in helmets and high boots marching down the street. Every street.

Others think it’s the innocent imprisoned for who they are rather than for any actual crimes.

Some think it’s when people like them are condemned to a life of enforced drudgery—shuffling under watchful eyes from their drab homes to an even drabber workplace, to take up the chain of a job they hate for a heartless boss in a brutal system that doesn’t care if they live or die, afraid to ever say what they really think, while being forced under pain of execution to shout passionate devotion every time the face of The Great Leader appears.

These are not fascism. These are expressions of authoritarianism. Kings usta do all of that to people.

Oh, and there are those who think fascism is when someone corrects their grammar. These are people who just can’t accept that they have bad grammar.

Fascism is a much simpler philosophy:

Fascism is a violent, anti-democratic, nationalist political ideology used to manipulate an oppressed Working Class in a capitalist society, giving them a sense of historical superiority, and deflecting the cause of their economic suffering from capitalism to a designated and inferior “other.”

Of course there are also those who think fascism is when the absolutely batshit crazy clusterfuckery of racist/rapist billionaire conmen gone wild with their legions of fanboi stormtrooper backwoods cousinfucking cult minion neo-Nazi cosplaying Confederate wannabes come to power.

Yes… but fascism is so much more.

Central to fascism is a story told to a particular segment of the Working Class: that they are different somehow, special.

Superior.

Chosen by nature, blood, history, destiny, or God.

This segment of the working class are told they are the “real” whatevers, and that the ‘others” are jealous of their “specialness.” And that their economic suffering is not because of any failure of capitalism, but it is the fault of the “other” who is holding them down, taking the jobs and prosperity that is rightfully theirs. This “other” may be fellow citizens, may be immigrants long resident or recent, members of a certain or any other race, or may be a foreign country or culture. The “other” is any group easy to invalidate by culture, heritage, or belief as not genuinely part of the “nation.” This “other” is then used as a scapegoat for all of the failed promises of shared prosperity made by a capitalist elite.Because what other explanation could there be for a group of obviously superior “real” whatever to be struggling?

Satan? He’s already taken.

Fascism is accepted by a designated “nativist” segment of the Working Class as an explanation for their suffering, and as an activist philosophy to regain the prosperity promised them. Key to this activism is The Leader—A central charismatic figure who the workers are told embodies the national spirit, the “zeitgeist.” This Leader will tell the citizens that they are in a life or death struggle with the “other,” and that it is the Leader’s mission to help the nation reclaim the mantle of greatness earned by their ancestors..

Cuz fascism relies on nationalist or racial nostalgia—the belief in a past where the nation was unquestionably dominant in its relations with other nations , and its real citizens both collectively and individually were economically secure, happy, and empowered. In that simple time gender, race, and family roles followed a clear hierarchy which put the “real” citizens at the top, and recent history has been a degradation from that Golden Age.

The Leader tells the Nativist Working Class that they once were heroes,

That he alone can bring them forward to this glorious past,

And that he will make them and their land great again.

The Nativist Working Class, in a present whose difficulties cannot be explained without blaming , you know—capitalism, support the Leader in what has been presented to them as the only way to alleviate their suffering, and make them feel good about themselves.

For the Italians in the 1920’s Mussolini’s fascism was all about resurrecting the power and glory of the Roman Empire.

Lotsa pomp and circumstance. Big banners. And that salute…

For Hitler fascism was about returning to the imagined racial purity and glories of Frederick the Great, and a mythically dominant Prussian militarism.

Big banners—and again, that salute…

For Donald Trump fascism is about bringing back pre-1960s America—before the Civil Rights Act,

Before the Voting Rights Act,

Before the Free Speech Movement,

Before Feminism,

Before the NEA, the EPA, Medicare,

Before Black Power, Brown Power, or Gay Power,

Before the economic rise of Japan or China,

Before the military defeat in Vietnam.

But with that salute.

Donald Trump’s fascism is selling to a disempowered Nativist Working Class an idealized past when the American White Man was the unquestionable power in his home, on the street, in business, and abroad—and who, if needed, possessed the overwhelming violence to back it up. So fascism is the violent insistence on resurrecting a past that never really existed, the illusion of which is used by an economic elite to deflect any blame of economic suffering from capitalism onto a designated inferior “other,” and to convince the Nativist Working Class that their own innate superiority and national utopia can be recaptured if they give their allegiance to a powerful, anti-democratic Leader.

Fascism is also about a large chunk of the Working Class believing all that crap, and demanding restrictions be violently imposed upon those they’ve been told are their jealous inferiors, those holding them back.

And when it comes to oppressing those “others” in an attempt to regain their glorious past a great many of the Nativist Working Class will not have to be drafted into the ranks of the storm troopers in helmets and high boots marching down the street. Every street.

They will volunteer.

Because that’s also fascism.

 

Michael Gene Sullivan

Michael Gene Sullivan

Michael Gene Sullivan is an actor, director, playwright, Guggenheim Fellow, and a member of the never silent, always revolutionary San Francisco Mime Troupe. He describes himself as "Just a guy with a dream ... a dream that involves a whole lotta Capitalists being put in prison."

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