What is Fascism?

Mussolini, the Fascist leader

   There are different kinds of government. When World War II began, Italy had the kind called "fascism." Mussolini was the Fascist leader.
   In ancient Rome the rulers had attendants who carried axes to which bundles of rods were tied. The bundles of rods were called fasces. The name "fascism" comes from fasces. The idea of the name is that strength comes from being joined together.
   Fascists believe that the government should be very powerful. They think that a person has no rights of his own. Under fascism people are not free to write and say what they think. The government tells them what property they may own, what work they must do, and what their wages are to be. Their country must come ahead of everything else. Fascism is very different from democracy.