Once and for all: Fascism is not right-wing

American Thinker ^ | 8 Oct, 2025 | Roberta Cole

[MtnClimber]

Even if all the spiffy new AI search tools insist otherwise.

There is a constant harangue from left-wing politicians and complicit media that Trump and his administration are fascists and that MAGA, ICE, and anyone else they don’t like are Nazis.

When you ask Gemini A.I., Duck A.I., and Wikipedia, “Is fascism right-wing?”, the answer is yes; fascism is considered right-wing. Co-pilot says yes, it is right-wing, and then says it has left-wing aspects as well, and then concludes that it is right-wing. What?

A Wikipedia Overview via A.I. comes up with this: “Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology ...”

Dinesh D’Souza said on a PragerU video that the Nazi regime was redefined after WWII from left-wing to right-wing. His reasoning, summarized, is that political and academic leaders wanted to ensure that their collectivist (socialist) beliefs were separated from the horrors of Hitler’s regime. It appears the redefining was successful.

Emmanuel Rincón wrote “There’s No Denying the Socialist Roots of Fascism” in 2021. This article looks at fascism not as a list of words, but through the actions of the fathers of fascism: Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Gentile. Together they wrote the “doctrine of fascism.” Gentile said, “Fascism is a form of socialism; in fact, it is its most viable form.” The Fascist Party broke with the Italian Socialist Party, but mainly in rhetoric. They moved steadily toward the collective. The fascist Italian government first nationalized the arms industry. Private property in practice was eliminated. They did not own the means of production or fully control the economy, but they dominated it. Businesses were run by individuals, but to keep that business, the business had to serve the state.

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

And love is not fornication.

[ek_hornbeck]

The point being that only someone completely ignorant of history and political ideology would label Francisco Franco "left wing."

You seem to agree with me that Franco and his allies in Spain were right wing and allied with traditional conservative factions in Spain. That being the case, why would Mussolini and Hitler back Franco if (according to you and the author of this article) Hitler and Mussolinu were allegedly "left wing"?

Similarly, in 1933 the Nazis had a plurality but not a majority in the Reichstag. The only way Hitler could become chancellor was to make a coalition. The coalition he made was with conservatives, not with communists or Democratic-socialists. Similarly, conservatives like Hindenburg (along with industrialists and bankers, at least those who weren't Jewish) much preferred the Nazis to Democratic socialists. Again, that would make no sense if Nazis were "left wing". The same thing applies to the alliances and coalitions that Italian Fascists made early on.

[ek_hornbeck]

You seem very confused about history. The terms "left wing" and "right wing" originated at the time of the French Revolution, when supporters of the monarchy sat on the right side of the French National Assembly (parliament) while the Anti-Monarchist Revolutionaries sat on the Left. Anyone who says that the Monarchists were "left wing" is so confused about history and political ideology as to not be worth bothering with.

By definition, the Right defended traditional institutions (Monarchy, aristocracy, and Church) while the Left undermined them. That's basically the dictionary definition of Left and Right. Your definition of "Left Wing" seems to be "anything I don't like" and Right wing as "anything I like".

Similarly, anyone who thinks that Francisco Franco was a Leftist is terribly confused. Both his supporters (including most US conservatives at the time) and his enemies (leftists) correctly recognized him as the defender of traditional institutions and private property rights in Spain against various left wing factions.

[yuleeyahoo]

“Fascism is the stage reached after communism has proved an illusion”

- Friedrich August Hayek

[NorthMountain]

You seem to have difficulty reading. Fascism is a collectivist ideology, therefor BY DEFINITION "left wing". Franco being anticommunist does not make him "right wing". "Left wing" ideologues frequently fought not over ideology but over power.

In 1920s and 1930s Europe, Fascists were nationalists (as opposed to internationalists); this made them seem the lesser of two evils to those you label as "conservatives". Monarchists and industrialists thought (wrongly) that they had a chance of controlling the likes of Mussolini and Hitler.

You seem to have fallen for the communist propaganda canard that fascism is the diametrical opposite of communism. It is not. It is barely distinguishable from communism. LIBERTY is the diametrical opposite of communism.