Antifascism

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Opposition to authoritarian nationalist movements that centralize power and suppress dissent through political resistance and organized action
2. Active resistance against totalitarian ideologies promoting extreme nationalism, militarism, and state control over society through advocacy and countermeasures
3. The practice of resisting and opposing the principles and actions associated with fascism, mainly through political, social, or activist methods

Etymology: Antifascism is a plain compound: the prefix "anti-", from Ancient Greek "anti" meaning "against", attached to "fascism." The prefix is the more ancient of the two parts, a Greek preposition that English has used for centuries to mark opposition, as in "antidote" and "antipathy." The base word is far younger. "Fascism" comes from Italian "fascio," meaning "bundle" or "league," which in turn descends from Latin "fascis," the bundle of rods carried before Roman magistrates as a symbol of authority. Italian political groups called fasci adopted the name in the late 1910s, and Benito Mussolini's movement took the label as its own. The compound is a direct formation in English from those two parts, so "antifascism" is simply "opposition to fascism," built on a political term only about a century old. Its use spread widely in the 1930s, when resistance to Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany gave the idea its urgency, and the word has been used in that sense ever since.

Synonyms: anti-fascist movement, opposition to fascism, anti-authoritarianism, liberalism, progressivism

Antonyms: fascism, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, oppression, dictatorship