What is Fascism?
Sjoerd de Groot
Abstract
This article interrogates the class nature and historical evolution of fascism through a Marxist-Leninist framework, building on Georgi Dimitrov’s 1935 definition of fascism as “the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary elements of finance capital.” Rejecting liberal and idealist interpretations that treat fascism as an ideology or aberration, the paper argues that fascism is a political instrument wielded by finance capital to preserve its dominance during crises. It traces the development of fascism from its interwar European origins to its postwar manifestations in colonial and neocolonial contexts, demonstrating how fascism adapts to shifting geopolitical conditions while maintaining its economic essence as the violent defense of imperialist interests. The article emphasizes that fascism and liberalism are two modes of the same capitalist rule — liberalism serving capital in stability, fascism serving it in crisis — and concludes that contemporary fascism operates globally through U.S. imperialism, NATO, and Zionism. The paper situates modern antifascist struggle as inseparable from the struggle against imperialism, arguing that true antifascism requires dismantling Western finance capital’s global apparatus and supporting the emerging anti-imperialist alliances represented by initiatives such as Venezuela’s Antifascist International and the World Anti-Imperialist Platform. By reestablishing the economic and imperial roots of fascism, the article challenges prevailing academic and liberal mischaracterizations and restores antifascism to its revolutionary and internationalist foundations.
Keywords
fascism, finance capital, imperialism, NATO, Zionism, Georgi Dimitrov, Marxism–Leninism
