Fascist symbolism

As there have been many different manifestations of fascism, especially during the interwar years, there were also many different symbols of fascist movements. Fascist symbolism typically involved nationalist imagery.

Organized fascist movements have militarist-appearing uniforms for their members; use national symbols, historical symbols of a nation as symbols of their movement; and use orchestrated rallies for propaganda purposes. Fascist movements are led by a "Leader" (i.e. Duce, Führer, Caudillo...) who is publicly idolized in propaganda as the nation's saviour. A number of fascist movements use a straight-armed salute.

The use of symbols, graphics, and other artifacts created by fascist, authoritarian and totalitarian governments has been noted as a key aspect of their propaganda. Most Fascist movements adopted symbols of Ancient Roman or Greek origin, for example the German use of Roman standards during rallies, the Italian adoption of the fasces symbol, the Spanish "Falange" from the Spanish word for "Phalanx".

The original symbol of fascism, in Italy under Benito Mussolini, was the fasces. This is an ancient Imperial Roman symbol of power carried by lictors in front of magistrates; a bundle of sticks featuring an axe, indicating the power over life and death. Before the Italian Fascists adopted the fasces, the symbol had been used by Italian political organizations of various political ideologies (ranging from socialist to nationalist), called Fascio ("leagues") as a symbol of strength through unity.

Italian Fascism utilized the color black as a symbol of their movement, black being the color of the uniforms of their paramilitaries, known as Blackshirts. The blackshirt derived from Italy's daredevil elite shock troops known as the Arditi, soldiers who were specifically trained for a life of violence and wore unique blackshirt uniforms. The colour black as used by the Arditi, symbolized death.

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