Chris Doss Racism is NOT essential in fascist ideology. It is essential in NAZI ideology, which is either a species of fascism or a different thing altogether, depending on your definition.
Note that 80% of Italian Jews survived the Holocaust, as opposed to 20% of French Jews, largely because implementation of the Nazis' demands was being blocked at all levels by Italian officials, that is, members of the Fascist Party. The Fascist Party also had many Jews as members -- Mussolini, if memory serves, specifically exempted them and their relatives from the Nazi demands when he eventually caved in to Hitler.
IIRC the Italians did enact anti-miscegination laws following the war in Abyssinia and colonization part of North Africa in order to prevent children of mixed settler/Ethiopian etc. stock, but that was not a major plank in their ideology.
^^^^^
CB: What the fasces it your symbol ,but no imperialist conquest as an "essential" part of your ideology ? Caesar would laugh at you, Mussolini. Better declare and Empire quick. Lets knock off Ethiopia.
Is anti-Semitism the only form of racism ? What of the Italian Fascists' racist invasion of Ethiopia ?
Wikipedia: The invasion of Ethiopia was accomplished rapidly (the proclamation of Empire took place in May of 1936) and involved several atrocities such as the use of chemical weapons (mustard gas and phosgene) and the indiscriminate slaughter of much of the local population to prevent opposition.
The armed forces disposed of a vast arsenal of grenades and bombs loaded with mustard gas which were dropped from airplanes. This substance was also sprayed directly from above like an "insecticide" on to enemy combatants and villages. It was Mussolini himself who authorized the use of the weapons: "Rome, 27 October '35. A.S.E. Graziani. The use of gas as an ultima ratio to overwhelm enemy resistence and in case of counterattack is authorized. Mussolini." "Rome, 28 December '35. A.S.E. Badoglio. Given the enemy system I have authorized V.E. the use even on a vast scale of any gas and flamethrowers. Mussolini." Mussolini and his generals sought to cloak the operations of chemical warfare in the utmost secrecy, but the crimes of the fascist army were revealed to the world through the denunciations of the International Red Cross and of many foreign observers. The Italian reaction to these revelations consisted in the "erroneous" bombardment (at least 19 times) of Red Cross tents posted in the areas of military encampment of the Ethiopian resistance. The orders imparted by Mussolini, with respect to the Ethiopian population, were very clear: "Rome, 5 June 1936. A.S.E. Graziani. All rebels taken prisoner must be killed. Mussolini." "Rome, 8 July 1936. A.S.E. Graziani. I have authorized once again V.E. to begin and systematically conduct a politics of terror and extremination of the rebels and the complicit population. Without the legge taglionis one cannot cure the infection in time. Await confirmation. Mussolini." [14] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#endnote_Candeloro> The predominant part of the work of repression was carried out by Italians who, besides the bombs laced with mustard gas, instituted lagers, installed public gallows, killed hostages, and mutilated the corpses of their enemies. Graziani ordered the elimination of captured guerrilas by way of throwing them out of airplanes in mid-flight. Many Italian troops had themselves photographed next to cadavers hanging from the gallows or hanging around chests full of detached heads. One episode in the Italian occupation of Ethopia was the slaughter of Addis Ababa of February, 1937 which followed upon an attempt to assassinate Graziani. In the course of an offical ceremony a bomb exploded next to the general. The response was immediate and cruel. The thirty or so Ethiopians present at the ceremony were impaled, and immediately after, the black shirts of the fascist Militias poured out into the streets of Addis Ababa where they tortured and killed all of the men, women and children that they encountered on their path. They also set fire to homes in order to prevent the inhabitants from leaving and organized the mass executions of groups of 50-100 people. [15] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#endnote_Del>