For decades, we’ve been taught a simplistic political spectrum: communism on the far left, fascism on the far right, and democracy somewhere safely in the middle. It’s a framework repeated in academia, echoed in the media, and baked into textbooks. But this narrative is not only historically inaccurate — it’s dangerously misleading.
Fascism and communism are not opposites. They are rivals within the same ideological family — branches of the collectivist tree rooted in Marxist soil. While they differ in rhetoric and style, both lead to the same destination: totalitarian control, the abolition of individual rights, and the glorification of the all-powerful state. To call fascism “far-right” is to misunderstand both history and political philosophy.
The Socialist Roots of Fascism
Fascism did not arise as a reactionary, right-wing movement. It emerged from the Left— explicitly from Marxist and socialist intellectual circles. Benito Mussolini was not only a card-carrying socialist, but the editor of Avanti!, the official newspaper of the Italian Socialist Party. He broke with orthodox Marxists not because he rejected socialism, but because he believed class struggle was less effective than nationalist unity in achieving socialist ends. His innovation was to blend nationalism with socialism — not to abandon socialism.
Likewise, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) advanced a racialized form of socialism. Their platform included government control of industry, wealth redistribution, state-run education, and heavy censorship. Hitler was openly hostile to free markets, individualism, and traditional religion — hallmarks of the true political right.
And behind these movements was Giovanni Gentile, the so-called “philosopher of fascism.” A devout Marxist, Gentile reinterpreted Hegel and Marx to create a vision of the state as the ultimate expression of human will. In his view, the individual had meaning only through the state — a view entirely at odds with the limited government principles of the American right.
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Communism and Fascism: Two Heads of the Same Beast
Despite their rivalries, fascism and communism are fraternal twins. Both reject the idea of natural rights. Both demand total state control over life — economically, socially, and culturally. Both imprison or execute dissenters. Both destroy civil society, suppress religion, and crush individual liberty. The only real difference lies in who they target and what symbols they use to rally support.
Communists use class warfare to stir revolution; fascists use national identity. Communists claim to represent the proletariat; fascists claim to represent the nation or race. But the end result is indistinguishable: a tyrannical regime with unchecked power.
That’s why fascist regimes and communist regimes have always looked strikingly similar in practice — secret police, gulags, censorship, propaganda, militarism, and mass murder. Stalin and Hitler may have despised each other, but they ruled with the same iron fist and the same disregard for human life.
What Lies on the True Far Right?
This leads to the more fundamental point: what does the true political right actually represent? The American right is defined by its defense of individual liberty, constitutional limits on government, private property, free markets, and the rule of law. If you take those principles to their logical extreme — not pervert them — you don’t get totalitarianism. You get minimal government, and eventually anarchy— not tyranny.
And while anarchy is dangerous and unsustainable, it is the opposite of fascism. Tyranny cannot grow in a vacuum of power — it grows in a vacuum of accountability. Tyranny is the product of concentrated state power, not its absence. So to say that fascism is “far right” because the right values law and order, or tradition, is a gross misrepresentation. The fascists did not conserve liberty — they obliterated it. They weren’t preserving tradition — they replaced it with a cult of the state.
In truth, the far right and far left converge — not because they share conservative values — but because they both abandon liberty. That convergence happens not on the fringes of conservatism or classical liberalism, but on the extremes of collectivism.
Why the Lie Persists
Why, then, do so many academics, journalists, and cultural elites continue to parrot the “fascism is far right” trope? Because it serves a political agenda. By redefining fascism as right-wing, the Left creates a convenient bogeyman to demonize anyone who supports the Constitution, traditional values, or limited government. Labeling conservatives as “fascist-adjacent” is easier than debating ideas. It’s guilt by association — history be damned.
But truth matters. And the truth is that the totalitarian horrors of the 20th century — both red and brown — came from the Left. It was collectivism, not liberty, that built the gulags and gas chambers. It was state worship, not individual rights, that silenced millions.
Conclusion: Let’s Reclaim the Narrative
It’s time to reject the broken spectrum and reframe the debate. The real axis is not Left vs. Right — it’s freedom vs. tyranny. On one end lies the American ideal: a constitutional republic that safeguards individual liberty, limits government, and recognizes that our rights come not from the state, but from God. On the other end lie the ideologies that seek to erase that truth — whether they call themselves communist, fascist, or “progressive.”
The danger today is not that the far right will suddenly impose fascism. The danger is that the radical Left, hiding behind a false narrative, is steadily dismantling liberty while falsely waving the banner of “democracy.” History teaches us that tyranny wears many masks. It’s up to us to see through them — and to defend freedom before it's too late.
George Landrith is the President of the Frontiers of Freedom Institute and the author of “Let Freedom Ring… Again - Can Self-Evident Truths Save America from Further Decline?”
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