The only people who used the word “fascist” were commies. It was their default word for anyone who wasn’t them.
My Father’s outfit was one of the early ones to enter Berlin after the Russians captured it.
Daddy said every time they would meet with a Russian soldier, they would say in English, “Death to Fascists”.
The American soldiers were for the most part not all that knowledgeable about those political issues. The Americans would sort of stare at them, like what are you saying?
He said after a couple of weeks they quit saying it.
I think the word “Fascist” has become a particular code word to the hard left.
That's very true. The Nazi party was officially the National Socialist German Workers Party. The reds would never say "nazi" because "nazi" would remind everyone how close the nazi ideology really was to the communist ideology.