Fasces, a bundle of wooden rods containing an axe, symbolized authority in ancient Rome. Fasces were carried on the shoulders of court officers accompanying magistrates. Lowering the fasces served as a salute to a higher-up; removing the ax blade from the bundle while the magistrates were in the city of Rome recognized the sovereignty of its citizens.

Fasces also became an established symbol of solidarity. Late 19th-century agrarian trade unions in Sicily were known as fasci siciliani, and groups looking after the interest of combat veterans following World War I were dubbed fasci. When Benito Mussolini gathered together disgruntled socialists, anarchists, restless revolutionaries, and unemployed veterans in 1919, he called his group Fasci di Combattimento and adopted as its emblem the ancient Roman insignia. By the time the Fascismo consolidated power in Italy in 1922, the political philosophy of fascism was well-established: exaltation of the nation, devaluation of the individual, a centralized autocratic government headed by a charismatic leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and ruthless suppression of opposition.

The word fascism took hold around the world. It appeared in English in 1921 and its meaning expanded steadily over the decades. These days, the term is used for an anti-democratic, authoritarian, nationalistic and sometimes racist movement in politics and government. It is often loosely applied to right-wing views or to tactics and characteristics such as ruthlessness, cruelty, and racial and religious hatred considered typical of a fascist movement. But the term has also come to be used without regard to actual political persuasions and sometimes even in contradiction to traditional political labels. Deploring the use of fascism and fascist as generalized terms of opprobrium, E. B. White once noted in an editorial in the New Yorker that the meaning of fascist had degenerated to the point that "a Fascist is a man who votes the other way."