What is fascism? by Academy of Ideas published on 2018-02-14T19:19:32Z The term ‘fascism’ originated in Mussolini’s Partito Nazionale Fascista in Italy, though it is more notoriously associated with Hitler’s National Socialist Party in Germany. It has, however, come to be widely used as an abusive epithet, to refer to any political formation regarded with distaste. In recent months, the fascist label has been promiscuously applied to Donald Trump, to so-called ‘alt-right’ movements and to anti-immigrant parties in Eastern Europe. Some commentators seriously claim that fascism is making a comeback. Is this a real possibility – or should we be more circumspect in using this label? SPEAKERS JANE CAPLAN professor emeritus of modern European history, University of Oxford ROGER GRIFFIN professor in modern history, Oxford Brookes University; author, Fascism: an introduction to fascist studies KEVIN PASSMORE professor of history, Cardiff University; author, Fascism: a very short introduction BRUNO WATERFIELD Brussels correspondent, The Times; coauthor, No Means No Genre News & Politics