COMMUNISM AND FASCISM ARE DIFFERENT –

FACT OR MYTH?

Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2
History, Origins, Legacy ................................................................................................................................. 3
Communism .............................................................................................................................................. 3
Fascism ...................................................................................................................................................... 4
Philosophy ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
 Communism .............................................................................................................................................. 5
Fascism ...................................................................................................................................................... 5
Differences and Similarities .......................................................................................................................... 6
Differences ................................................................................................................................................ 6
Similarities................................................................................................................................................. 6
Real stories and thoughts on the topic ......................................................................................................... 7
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 10

Introduction
This essay is an attempt to explain the main similarities and differences between the two

concepts of communism and fascism and conclude whether today’s statement that they are very

different is actually a fact or a myth. Ideologically, the two experiments are very different, but in
terms of practice, they are both considered “the devils in history” 1– two of the most ruthless,

violent regimes that led to catastrophic consequences and many human sacrifices. As Hannah

Arendt states in her book, the conscience of the people during the reign of those totalitarian

movements totally broke down. She further explains that “the insanity of such systems lies not

only in their first premise but in the very logicality with which they are constructed 2.” These

ideas about the building of the world did not come from scholars, scientific research, or even

charlatans. They came from politicians and only they knew what the real interests that will be

fulfilled through the power of these regimes are, and the problem was that those people with

“superhuman” power were “not-to-be-questioned”. It was all for the good of the society and for a

better world. And what were the main legacies left after the experiments? – terror, disgust,

unbearable tragedy, and tens of millions of dead people.

History, Origins, Legacy

Communism
The term communism is believed to have first appeared in the late 1840s and it’s often associated

with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels under the influence of their book called The Communist

Manifesto. Even though the ideology was established as early as the 19th century, communism

was not tried out until the Russian revolution in the beginning of the 20th century, more precisely

the early 1910s. This happened during the leadership of Vladimir Lenin who was inspired by the

philosophy of the German Marxists. Later on, his follower, Joseph Stalin used the established

1
Tismaneanu, Vladimir. The Devil in History : Communism, Fascism, and Some Lessons of the Twentieth Century.
University of California Press, 2012. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xww&AN=477549&site=ehost-live.

2
Arendt, Hannah. “The Origins of Totalitarianism.” Full Text of "Passing", London : F. Warne ; New York : Scribner,
Welford, and Armstrong,
archive.org/stream/HannahArendtTheOriginsOfTotalitarianismHarcourtBraceJovanovich1973/Hannah Arendt-The
Origins of Totalitarianism-Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich (1973)_djvu.txt.
communism in order to ensure the success of his dictatorship and he did this through brutal

force. The problem here was that this version of communism was not the initial philosophy of

the term. In the first place, Karl Marx knew that Russia had not yet reached the level of

industrialization required to implement a regime like the communist one. That’s why Lenin made

his own interpretation of the philosophy in order to implement it, while Stalin took the idea to a

whole new level - according to him, this was ‘Marxism in the era of imperialism and the

proletarian revolution’3. His transformation of the original communism was rather dangerous and

led to the establishment of totalitarianism. Communism spread through Europe, Asia, and some

parts of South America, Central America, and Africa. Many of these, however, didn’t remain

communist nations. The many variations of interpretations of the communist philosophy, the

economic depression in China for more than fifty years, and the collapse of the Soviet Union

eventually led to the collapse of communism, mainly because it was abandoned as a working

political theory4. Nowadays, communism still exists as a regime in more than 210 countries in

the world, even though the number of the successful countries under this regime is very low.

Fascism
Fascism is more of a multinational movement and it’s really hard to define exactly because it

spread out over a large area. The origins of this movement can be found in all of the nationalistic

movements and ideas during the 19th century. In fact, some of the features of fascism existed

long before the establishment of the term (for example, Sparta). However, the term comes from

the Italian word fascio which literally translated means grouping. These groupings were formed

by Benito Mussolini during WWI, precisely in 1919. Mussolini also used the term in order to

3
Thompson, W. (2011). Ideologies in the Age of Extremes : Liberalism, Conservatism, Communism, Fascism 1914-
1991. London: Pluto Press.
4
“Communism vs Fascism.” Mountain Bike vs Road Bike - Difference and Comparison | Diffen,
www.diffen.com/difference/Communism_vs_Fascism#History_of_Fascism_and_Communism_in_Practice.
describe his type of government. Fascism spread everywhere in Europe and even beyond that but

its formation and interpretation was varying in the different countries (Italy, Germany, France,

Spain, and partially Portugal). It evolved from Mussolini’s ideas about the total rejection of

socialism and liberalism as a response to the many inequalities in the society, including political,

social, and economic inequalities. Even though the fascistic ideologies existed in Spain as late as

the 1970s, fascism collapsed as a regime during WWII. Nowadays, there are no countries that

operate under the regime of fascism, however, some of the ideas still exist in many countries and

their followers are the so called neo-fascists (neo-Nazis).

Philosophy

Communism
The main idea behind Marx’s proposal for a communistic society was to eliminate the

differences between the wealthy people (bourgeoisie) and the proletariat (the workers). I think

that the main problem was that he didn’t explain how exactly this idea can be fulfilled which left

too much place for creative thought. This led to the personal interpretations of the philosophy by

Lenin and Stalin and later on ended in enforcement by violent means. Of course, there were

many variations of communism back then and nowadays.

Fascism
The main idea behind fascism relies on a combination of different processes of development

which were believed to be the key elements needed for the good and happiness of a wealthy

nation. Even though there are different implementations throughout the nations of the fascist

regime, there are several elements that are in common: it’s a nationalistic idea, based on race,

destructive and aggressive policy, totalitarian, imperialistic and militaristic, anti-democratic, etc.
Differences and Similarities

Differences
The main differences between communism and fascism are connected with the theory behind

them but practice they happen to be very similar in matter of consequences, of course, not the

same. First of all, communism is originally a left-wing ideology while fascism is a right-wing

ideology. Communism aims for social equality and rejects the class system on a global level,

rejecting the idea of a world with states and classes. Fascism is based on totalitarian nationalism,

its policies are xenophobic, and it has a militaristic ideology which is very aggressive in terms of

acts and thoughts5. Another difference between them is that communism is governed by the

people, it’s stateless and classless, while fascism is governed by one authorized leader.

Communism abolishes personal property, everything is shared with everyone, while under

fascism property is generally permitted but it’s still owned by the state. Religion under

communism is also abolished, while fascism allows religion as long as it’s nationalistic and

praises the state.

Similarities
Even though fascism generally accepts religion, the fact that it accepts it only when it’s fully

nationalistic doesn’t support the idea of freedom of religion. From this fact we can conclude that

both communism and fascism reject religion, or the true meaning of the word. Both of the

ideologies are collectivistic, which means that they do not benefit the individual, they favor the

society, and to some extent they are even anti-individualistic, anti-human in practice. In both of

the policies democracy and liberalism are rejected6. In both of the practices we can see that the

power is focused against the elite, the bourgeoisie. On theory they may be very different but they
5
“Communism and Fascism Are Different - Fact or Myth?” Fact / Myth, 20 Aug. 2016,
factmyth.com/factoids/communism-and-fascism-are-different/.
6
“Communism vs Fascism.” Mountain Bike vs Road Bike - Difference and Comparison | Diffen,
www.diffen.com/difference/Communism_vs_Fascism#History_of_Fascism_and_Communism_in_Practice.
come from the same roots, and both of them were a response to the abovementioned inequalities

– social, economic, and politic. Also, the main similarities come when we compare their

ideologies and how they were actually implemented. In practice, they both end up being cruel,

tyrannical, aiming for equality without realizing that there are no people left alive in order for

them to be equal: killing people in order to achieve something that’s practically impossible? Is

this how we should experiment? Is this really the cost we should pay in order to be “happy”?

Was this really the only solution?

Real stories and thoughts on the topic

To provide other points of view on the topic, I’ve asked my parents to give their opinions about

the two regimes.

“To contemplate on a question as widely discussed and as controversial as this one might seem a

difficult task but before anything else I would like to focus on a common misconception that

many suffer from – calling National Socialism fascism and generally referring to a political

phenomenon with a wrong term. Fascism is a system which in my view has only local

significance (strictly limited to Mussolini’s Italy), so I’d rather discuss the question from the

National Socialist perspective.

Since the end of WWII society has been dwelling on a theory which is obviously quite

comfortable for the majority in the neoliberal world who want to demonise National Socialism as

the root of all evil, i.e. that National Socialism and communism are the two sides of the same

coin. In my opinion, however, nothing could be as far from the truth as this, and if one makes an

effort to review the course of history in an unbiased way, all similarities will start to crumble.
National Socialism is an ideology which emerged as a way for a humiliated nation to rise from

the ashes of a world war which left it devastated and torn to pieces, suffocated by an economic

crisis and dependent on the banking system controlled by Jewish capital. This same ideology

managed to block the influence of Rothschild and the like and turned Germany into an economic

wonder within less than 10 years, giving hope to millions of people. National Socialism was

focused on creating benefits for the people and the state was committed to providing its people

with everything – from bread to living space. Communism (or bolshevism) is just the opposite –

all communist states exploit their own people, turning the fatherland into a prison with no

prospects for the future – a “heaven on Earth that everyone wants to escape from”. Communism

was created by Jews (Marx and Engels), then brought to reality by Jews (Lenin and 98% of the

Soviet elite) in an attempt to invade and control Europe from the East, an ideology that had no

respect for human life which is responsible for more deaths than any other system, no matter

how diligently the truth has been twisted for the last 80 years. Communist states are

internationalist in the first place, nation and blood have no meaning, people are forced to exist

for the sake of the party and anyone who opposes is silenced either literally or metaphorically.”

“For me, communism and its ideas remain good philosophies but also an unobtainable wish. Its

ideals are very attractive on their own – a bright future for the nations, promised by its

propagandists, the superabundance of material goods, which allows the distribution „for anyone

depending on their needs” and expectations „from anyone depending on their abilities”, almost

remind me of „a child’s naivety”. In reality, the propagandized equality between people is

impossible to achieve.

Socialism (explained as a transition from capitalism to communism) leaves a clear mark in the

developmental process of the nations and has its own positive and negative sides. More and more
in my mind, but also in other people’s minds, people who have lived during this formation,

appears the nostalgic feeling when it comes to the free healthcare, education, the patient and

smiling people, who had their jobs and had the opportunity to work, and it was enough for them

to want it. The times when people weren’t afraid of what tomorrow may bring are far away now.

The uncertainty and the lack of peace today brought us to one sick (morally and physically)

society. The insufficiency in which most of the Bulgarian people live today, led us to

unprecedented domestic crime and ruthlessness. On the other hand, from the position of time,

more and more it’s becoming crystal clear which was the cruelest trauma, that was caused by the

“uneventful Socialism” – the modeling of the “lazy people” in our society, because back then it

was guaranteed that you’ll have bread on your table, no matter how hard you try or whether you

try at all, no matter if your effort was put into education and if it was worthy of quality. It needs

time, for the people’s attitude to change: right now, we expect to receive, without giving back in

exchange.

When it comes to fascism – with this word I associate one and only one figure- Adolf Hitler, the

person guilty for some of the cruelest crimes in the history of humanity. Guilty for the deaths of

more than 5,5 million Jews, responsible for the deaths of millions of other victims, which were

considered inferior races and non-worthy, because they had a different ethnicity, because of their

different political beliefs, because of physical or mental handicaps, and also because of

“unacceptable” sexual orientation...I realize that if I lived during the times of Hitler’s regime,

one of my kids today wouldn’t have had the right to live, because it had the “imprudence” to be

born with a genetic defect. While in reality, today’s medical treatments allow my little daughter

to live a healthy life – to study, to sing, to dance, and to laugh like all of the healthy children

around the world.”

Conclusion
As seen above, the two stories I collected from members of my family represent very different

opinions on the topic of communism and fascism. I generally agree with both of the points, they

represent different views on the topic. While making this research, at times it was really hard to

imagine how people even had the thought of sitting on a table and deciding who should live and

who should die. Because, after all, it’s important what are the consequences after these regimes,

what are their legacies, what do they leave after them for the next generation, what do they

promise for the future. In my opinion, some of these ideas were good but when it comes to their

fulfillment, when it comes to practice the whole purpose for me is lost. Terror, killing, sacrifice

of millions of lives is not the choice, it’s an excuse. In conclusion, I’d like to say that

communism and fascism on theory are not the same but in terms of practice and consequences

they are similar. “Humanity should be our race. Love should be our religion”.