Editing Fascism (section)

==Etymology==
[[File:Fasces FR2.svg|thumb|200x200px|The [[fasces]], a symbol of [[Ancient Rome]], was employed in the modern era by various political movements to denote strength through unity.{{sfnp|Paxton|2004|pp=4–5}}]]
The Italian term {{lang|it|fascismo}} is derived from {{lang|it|fascio}}, meaning 'bundle of sticks', ultimately from the [[Latin language|Latin]] word {{lang|la|[[fasces]]}}.<ref name="m-w"/> This was the name given to political organizations in Italy known as [[fasci]], groups similar to [[guild]]s or [[syndicate]]s. According to Italian fascist dictator [[Benito Mussolini]]'s own account, the [[Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria|Fasces of Revolutionary Action]] were founded in Italy in 1915.{{sfnp|Mussolini|2006|p=227}} In 1919, Mussolini founded the [[Fasci Italiani di Combattimento|Italian Fasces of Combat]] in Milan, which became the [[National Fascist Party]] two years later. The fascists came to associate the term with the ancient Roman fasces or {{lang|it|[[fascio littorio]]}},{{sfnp|Falasca-Zamponi|2000|p=95}} a bundle of rods tied around an axe,<ref>{{cite web |last=Johnston |first=Peter |date=12 April 2013 |title=The Rule of Law: Symbols of Power |url=http://www.okwu.edu/keating-center/2013/04/the-rule-of-law-symbols-of-power/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330232643/http://www.okwu.edu/keating-center/2013/04/the-rule-of-law-symbols-of-power/ |archive-date=30 March 2017 |access-date=28 April 2013 |publisher=The Keating Center, [[Oklahoma Wesleyan University]] |language=en-US}}</ref> an [[ancient Roman]] symbol of the authority of the civic [[Roman Magistrates|magistrate]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://intraweb.stockton.edu/eyos/page.cfm?siteID=78&pageID=35 |title=Policing Rome: Maintaining Order in Fact and Fiction |last=Watkins |first=Tom |work=Fictional Rome |publisher=[[Stockton University]] |location=Stockton, New Jersey |year=2013 |access-date=28 April 2013 |archive-date=16 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316011914/http://intraweb.stockton.edu/eyos/page.cfm?siteID=78&pageID=35 |url-status=dead}}</ref> carried by his [[lictor]]s.<ref>{{harvp|Encyclopedia Britannica ''Fasces''}}: "When carried inside Rome, the ax was removed (unless the magistrate was a dictator or general celebrating a triumph) as recognition of the right of a Roman citizen to appeal a magistrate's ruling."</ref> The symbolism of the fasces suggested strength through unity: a single rod is easily broken, while the bundle is difficult to break.{{sfnp|Brennan|2022|pp=2, 12}}

Prior to 1914, the fasces symbol was widely employed by various political movements, often of a left-wing or liberal persuasion. For instance, according to Robert Paxton, "[[Marianne]], symbol of the French Republic, was often portrayed in the nineteenth century carrying the fasces to represent the force of Republican solidarity against her aristocratic and clerical enemies."{{sfnp|Paxton|2004|pp=4–5}} The symbol often appeared as an architectural motif, for instance on the [[Sheldonian Theatre|Sheldonian Theater]] at Oxford University and on the [[Lincoln Memorial]] in Washington, D.C.{{sfnp|Paxton|2004|pp=4–5}}