Fascist symbolism

Part of the Politics series on Fascism

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As there were many different manifestations of fascism, especially during the interwar years, there were also many different symbols of Fascist movements.

Italian origins

The fasces was the premier symbol of Italian fascism

The symbol of fascism, in its original Italian incarnation under Benito Mussolini, and which gave fascism its name, was the fasces. This is an ancient Roman symbol of power carried by lictors in front of magistrates: a bundle of sticks, which included an axe indicating the power over life and death.

Until the adaptation of the fasces by the Italian fascists it had in modern times been a symbol used by Italian left-wing groups called Fascio as a symbol of strength through unity. However, the adoption of the fasces by the Italian fascists has not completely tainted the symbol by association and the symbol appears on, among other things, the seal of the United States Senate, the coat of arms of France and the wall of the debating chamber of the United States House of Representatives.

Nazi Germany

The swastika was the main symbol of Nazism and remains strongly associated with it in the Western world

The nature of German fascism, as encapsulated in Nazism, was also Roman influenced but more racist and Germanic pagan in nature. Its symbol was the swastika, at the time a popular and commonly seen symbol in Europe that had experienced a revival in the early 20th century. A symmetrically eye-catching symbol streamlined for stamp and military use, it was seen as the symbol of the purported Aryan civilization of which Germany was to be the highest incarnation.

As the Italians Fascists adapted elements of their ethnic heritage to fuel a sense of nationalism by use of symbolism, so did Nazi Germany. Turn of the century German mystic and author Guido von List was a big influence on Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, who introduced various ancient Germanic symbols (filtered through von List's writings) most thoroughly into the Schutzstaffel, including the stylized double Sig Rune (von List's then-contemporary Armenan rune version of the ancient sowilo rune) for the organization itself.

Other historical symbols that were already in use by the German Army to varying degrees prior to the Nazi Germany, such as the wolfsangel and totenkopf, were also used in a new, more industrialized manner on uniforms and insignia.

Although the swastika was a popular symbol in art prior to the regimental use by Nazi Germany and has a long heritage in many other cultures throughout history and although many of the symbols used by the Nazis were ancient or commonly used prior to the advent of Nazi Germany, because of association with Nazi use, the swastika is often considered synonymous with Nazism and some of the other symbols still carry a negative post-World War II stigma in some Western countries, to the point where some of the symbols are banned from display altogether.

Other regions

Many other fascist movements did not win power or were relatively minor regimes in comparison and their symbolism is not well-remembered today in many parts of the world.

• The chief symbol of Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists was the Flash and Circle adopted in 1936, which represented the "flash of action" within the "circle of unity" that symbolized the all-important British State (which is also used by the People's Action Party of Singapore). The BUF previously used the image of a gold fasces superimposed on a red circle, located centrally on a blue background. The emblem was also disparagingly referred to as "The Flash In The Pan", particularly by opponents of Mosley.
• The symbol of the Croatian Ustaše movement was capital letter U
• A prominent symbol of the Greek 4th of August Regime was the Labrys/Pelekys, the double-headed axe which Ioannis Metaxas thought to be the oldest symbol of all Hellenic civilizations.
• The symbol of Hungary's fascistic Nyilaskeresztes Párt (Arrow Cross Party) was, naturally, the Arrow Cross.
• The symbol of the Norwegian Nasjonal Samling was as golden/yellow sun cross on red background.
• The symbol of Salazar's Portuguese Estado Novo regime was a stylized version of the Armillary sphere and shield found on the national flag; its rivals in the Movimento Nacional-Sindicalista used the Order of Christ Cross.
• The symbol of the Romanian Iron Guard was a triple cross (a variant of the triple parted and fretted) - three parallel verticals intersected with three parallel horizontals, usually in black; it was meant to represent prison bars, as a badge of martyrdom. It was sometimes deemed the Archangel Michael Cross, after the patron saint of the movement.
• The symbol of the Spanish Falange was the yoke and the arrows, which were also the symbols of the Reyes Catolicos. Each Arrow represents one of the 5 early kingdoms of Spain.

Modern use

Neo-Nazi use

While some Neo-Nazi organizations continue to use the swastika, most have usually tried to shy away from such inflammatory symbols of early fascism, using substitutes that are nevertheless sometimes reminiscent of the swastika and other cultural or ancestral symbols that may evoke Nationalistic sentiment but are not necessarily racist in origin.

• crosses:
  • Celtic cross – David Duke's website;
  • cross crosslet – e.g., Lithuanian National Socialist Party
  • sun cross – e.g., Nordiska Rikspartiet (Nordic People's Party), Sweden
• cogwheel – Magyar Népjóléti Szövetség (Hungarian Welfare Association)
• runes:
  • the Algiz rune ᛉ – e.g., Allgermanische Heidnische Front (All-Germanic Heathens' Front)
  • the Odal rune ᛟ
  • the Sigel ("Sig") rune ᛋ, especially on the Schutzstaffel badge, sometimes confused or used interchangeably with Eihwaz.
  • the Tyr rune ᛏ was the badge of the SA Reichsführerschulen in Nazi Germany
  • Orkhon script letters - used by followers of Nihal Atsiz, e.g., Türkçü Toplumcu Budun Derneği
• swastika – e.g., American Nazi Party; São Paulo Skinheads, Brazil; Nationalsocialistisk Front (National Socialist Front), Sweden
  • "bladed swastika" – Российское Национальное Единство (National Unity of Russia)
• a triskelion-like symbol composed of three 7s – Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (Afrikaner Resistance Movement), Republic of South Africa
• the "Wolfsangel" symbol, used by the SS and Hitlerjugend, as well as various Neo-Nazi groups
• the "Meandros" symbol, also called "Greek swastika", is the emblem of the Greek neo-nazi party Hrisi Avgi
• the "Labrys" (or "Pelekys") symbol, the Minoic double-headed axe, is sometimes used by some fascist Greek nostalgics.

Relation to Neopaganism

In many cases, the alternatives are, like the swastika, symbols from the Indo-European tradition that are also used by a variety of non-fascist movements and organizations, such as Ásatrú and Cadw. Germanic neopagan groups expressing opposition to their ancestral symbolism being used for political purposes and being listed as fascist symbols is well documented, including a case against the Anti-Defamation League resulting in disclaimers on their website.

See also

• Blackshirts
• Nazi symbolism

External links

• Neonazi flags
• Neonazi flag symbolism

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