Are Farage and Trump really fascists? | Kevin Passmore

“Yet whatever the similarities, we should think twice before interpreting the present as a re-enactment of the past.

For one thing, fascism is notoriously hard to define. Decades of
research have not enabled academics to agree on a definition. The
problem is that fascism – like socialism or any other political movement
– was diverse and meant different things to different people. Even if
we confine our attention to those Italians who described themselves as
Fascists between 1919 and 1945, we find an enormous range of views on
what fascism was. Some thought that the state should be supreme, others
that the party should rule. Some advocated government intervention in
the economy; others wanted capitalists to be left to get on with the
job. Fascists did not agree what fascism was, so it’s not surprising
that scholars don’t either.”