Before starting our course, I want to say a few words about the term "adversaries" to avoid a false interpretation which could lead to political errors. When we speak of adversaries, we are not talking about the masses of workers that are registered with the fascist, social-democratic and Catholic organizations. Our adversaries are the fascist, social-democratic and Catholic organizations themselves. The masses that adhere to these organizations are not our adversaries, they are the masses of workers that we must make every effort to conquer.
Let's move on to our theme of fascism. What is fascism? What is the most complete definition that has been given of it? The most complete definition of fascism was given by the XIII plenum of the Communist International and is as follows: "Fascism is an open, terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic, and most imperial elements of capital".
Fascism has not always been given this same definition. In different stages, at different times, we are given different definitions of fascism which are often wrong. It would be interesting to study the different definitions of fascism that were given at its various stages.
At the fourth congress, for example, Clara Zetkin gave a speech on fascism which was almost entirely dedicated to revealing the petty-bourgeois character of fascism. Bordiga, on the on the hand, insisted that there was no difference between a bourgeois democracy and a fascist dictatorship, describing these two as being in constant rotation.
In these discourses, there is no effort to connect these elements, the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and the movement of the petty-bourgeois masses. From a theoretical point of view, it is difficult to understand the link between these two elements. And yet we must understand it, this connection. If we stop at the first element we lose sight of the great line of the historical development of fascism and its class character. If we stop at the second element, we lose sight of the perspectives (?).
This is the the error which has been committed by social democracy which, until recently, denied our line on facism and considered it as a return to medieval forms, as the degeneration of bourgeois society. In these definitions, social democracy departed exclusively from the bourgeois character fascism has actually assumed.
However, the movement of the masses is not the same in all countries. Not even dictatorship is the same in all countries. This is why the author assumes it necessary to protect the reader from committing an easy error to commit. We must not bring our assumptions into other countries with fundamentally different characteristics. We must not believe that what is true in Italy is true everywhere else. Fascism in various countries can have different forms of organization. We must also remember the period of time in question. In the same country, fascism takes on different aspects at different periods of development, and this must be kept in mind.
