Had a social-studies teacher in high-school who provided a unique (at the time, for me) view of fascism/communism/right/left.
He drew a circle on the board. Then small arrows around the edge that directed the flow up around the circle from the bottom to the top around the left and the right sides, where the arrows met from opposite directions at the top.
On the left side of the circle, he wrote “Left”, and on the right side, “Right”.
At the bottom, he wrote “Moderates”
At the top he wrote “Fascism/Communism”
That simple circular delineation of how totalitarians merged into a single group has always stuck with me.
I really think the whole “fascist/communist” split is a long term propaganda ploy to separate “bad communism” from “good communism” communism remains the dream that’s never fulfilled because it always becomes “fascist”.
When all implementations are the same. Centralized control of factories and goods.