How was it decided that fascism is right-wing? Because of the definition of right-wing and left-wing. The more right you go, the more the system is made hierarchical. The more left you go, the more your ideals pursue equality. How were these ideals decided? They were conveyed through language, produced by the minds of several philosophers and placed into a spectrum for comparison. You would know this, of course, if you'd picked up any book written about politics in the last hundred years.
Fascism is nowhere close to socialism. Fascism is authoritarian ultranationalism. Socialism is the abolishment of the state, and the establishment of equality and the destruction of nationalism.
Good response.
Yes, I know sociologists often base a movement's place upon the political spectrum on its response to hierarchy.
In that case, you're correct in saying that fascism accepts and enforces hierarchy and therefore ends up on the right.
I don't think the question should be how those ideals were decided. Rather, how it was decided that these particular ideals would determine where a system lies on the political spectrum, when using other ideals might arrange the systems a bit differently.
For example, if you instead base a system's placement on governmental regulations on personal property, you get a different result. Conservatives generally place far more emphasis on the individual to manage their own affairs and they don't want the interference of government in doing so. Communism and fascism are alike in the fact that they both nationalized property. Communism did so overtly, obviously. Fascism required business owners to use their property solely in the national interests, which were actually the interests of the autocratic leader. That certainly isn't in line with right-wing ideals.
In fascism, we see an elimination of the individual, as all must be employees of the State, or collectivist tactics are enforced. The group identity is placed above the individual. Liberals today advocate for a system of identity politics which invariably places the group identity above the individual one. Yes, using the measuring stick of hierarchy, this is consistent with the left's ideals, as the ultimate goal of identity politics is to giver everyone an equal opportunity and equal representation. Still, the loss of personal identity found within fascism is closer to these ideals than the ideals of the right wing, which believes in individualism and working one's own way to the top without government hand-outs.
Also, an egalitarian ideal was somewhat present in fascist states as well- to a certain degree. All Germans were to be equal, but the Jews were less than human. All Italians were equal under the law, but all other countries were lesser.
Stalin was a communist, but he wanted to make the Soviet Union a world power. That's encouraging hierarchy. Was Stalin right wing, then?
Fascism doesn't fit perfectly on the right because, along with some right wing ideals, it also incorporates some left wing ideals. Now, if you want to use the same measuring stick to decide whether a system is right or left- fine. I'm just arguing that it's a bit muddy and not quite so clear-cut as you make it seem.
