

Fascist symbolism

Fascist symbolism is the use of certain images and symbols which are designed to represent aspects of Fascism. These include national symbols of historical importance, goals, and political policies.[1]

Common symbolism of fascist movements

Organized fascist movements have militarist-appearing uniforms for their members; use national symbols, historical symbols of a nation as symbols of their movement; and use orchestrated rallies for propaganda purposes. Fascist movements are led by a "Leader" (i.e. Duce, Führer, Caudillo and so on) who is publicly idolized in propaganda as the nation's saviour. A number of fascist movements use a straight-armed salute.

The use of symbols, graphics, and other artifacts created by fascist, authoritarian and totalitarian governments has been noted as a key aspect of their propaganda.[2] Most Fascist movements adopted symbols of Ancient Roman or Greek origin, for example the German use of Roman standards during rallies, the Italian adoption of the fasces symbol, the Spanish "Falange" from the Spanish word for the Latin "Phalanx".

Militarist uniforms with nationalist insignia

Benito Mussolini in uniform.

Organized fascist movements typically use military-like uniforms with the symbol of their movement on them.

Adolf Hitler in uniform.

In Italy, the Italian Fascist movement in 1919 wore black military-like uniforms, and were nicknamed Blackshirts. In power, uniforms during the Fascist era extended to both the party and the military which typically bore fasces or an eagle clutching a fasces on their caps or on the left arm section of the uniform.



Fascist use of heraldry

Fascist governments often saw the need to change the heraldry of their nations; in Germany, the arms of Coburg, featuring the head of Saint Maurice, was looked down upon for it's religious and un-Aryan nature. It was replaced in 1934 with a coat of arms featuring a sword and swastika. Thuringia also saw the need to support the Nazi regime by adding a swastika to the paws of the lion on it's coat of arms.[3] In Italy, the chief of a coat of arms is often used to indicate political allegiance. Under the government of Mussolini, many families and locales adopted a red chief charged with a fasces to indicate allegiance to the National Fascist Party; this chief was called the capo del littorio.[4] Francisco Franco, dictator of Francoist Spain, used a personal coat of arms featuring the Royal Band of Castile, a heraldic symbol used by the Crown of Castile.[5][6]


Flag of the National Fascist Party, bearing the fasces, which was the primary symbol of Italian Fascism.


Italian Fascism utilized the color black as a symbol of their movement, black being the color of the uniforms of their paramilitaries, known as Blackshirts. The blackshirt derived from Italy's daredevil elite shock troops known as the Arditi, soldiers who were specifically trained for a life of violence and wore unique blackshirt uniforms.[7] The colour black as used by the Arditi, symbolized death.[8]



Flag of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), bearing the swastika, the premier symbol of Nazism which remains strongly associated with it in the Western world.
NSDAP Parteiadler eagle
NSDAP Parteiadler eagle variant

The nature of German fascism, as encapsulated in Nazism was similar to Italian Fascism ideologically and borrowed symbolism from the Italian Fascists such as the use of mass rallies, the straight-armed Roman salute, and the use of pageantry. Nazism was different from Italian Fascism in that it was officially racist. Its symbol was the swastika, at the time a commonly seen symbol in the world that had experienced a revival in use in the western world in the early 20th century. German völkisch Nationalists claimed the swastika was a symbol of the Aryan race, who they claimed were the foundation of Germanic civilization and were superior to all other races.


The black-white-red tricolor of the German Empire was utilized as the color scheme of the Nazi flag. The color brown was the identifying color of Nazism (and fascism in general), due to it being the color of the SA paramilitaries (also known as Brownshirts).





The fascist Falange in Spain utilized the yoke and arrows as their symbol. It historically served as the symbol of the shield of the monarchy of Ferdinand and Isabella and subsequent Catholic monarchs, representing a united Spain and the "symbol of the heroic virtues of the race".[10] The original uniform of the Falangistas was the blue shirt – derived from the blue overalls of industrial workers – which was later combined with the red beret of the Carlists to represent their merger by Franco.


Several Polish far-right and nationalist organizations have used the Mieczyk Chrobrego ([Boleslaus] the Brave's Sword), which resembles the Szczerbiec, or the coronation sword of Polish kings. The same organisations have used the falanga sword, a symbol associated with the extreme right in the country after Mieczyk Chrobrego was banned; most notably it is used by the ONR as its main identifying symbol. Among other symbols Toporzeł is also used, a symbol with strong anti-Semitic connotations.

Other regions

Symbol of the Croatian Ustaše.

Many other fascist movements did not win power or were relatively minor regimes in comparison and their symbolism is not well-remembered today in many parts of the world, although the BUF's Flash and Circle was later used by the non-fascist People's Action Party of Singapore.

Contemporary usage

Celtic cross on a neo-Nazi flag


Pejorative symbolism


Non-fascist usage


Some of these symbols are also used by a variety of non-fascist movements and organizations. The swastika has been a notable symbol in Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, as well as in modern pagan religions and Native American Shamanism, such as in Germanic neopaganism. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) states:


Fasces are used in the national emblem of France, the coat of arms and wordmark of the Swedish Police and the Swedish Security Service, the coat of arms of the Swiss Canton of St. Gallen, and the coat of arms of the Spanish Civil Guard. Fasces are also used in the coat of arms of Ecuador.

See also


  1. ^ "Hate Symbols Database | ADL".
  3. ^ Slater, Stephen (2003-01-01). The Complete Book of Heraldry: An International History Of Heraldry And Its Contemporary Uses. London, United Kingdom: Anness Publishing. p. 212. ISBN 0754810623.
  5. ^ Standard of the Head of State 1940-1975 (Spain), CRW Flags
  6. ^, Arms image
  9. ^ []
  11. ^ [1] Preparing for War With Ukraine’s Fascist Defenders of Freedom
  12. ^ [2]"Azov Battalion fighters parading with the Wolfsangel banner favoured by neo-Nazis"
  13. ^ USA nie będą szkolić batalionu Azow
  14. ^ One year on: where are the far-right forces of Ukraine? The group proudly displays the Wolfsangel symbols - a motif used by several SS groups in Nazi Germany
  15. ^ Gespenstischer Neonazi- Aufmarsch in der Ukraine
  16. ^ [3]
  17. ^ [4]
  18. ^ [5]
  19. ^ Ukraine crisis: the neo-Nazi brigade fighting pro-Russian separatists The Telegraph Tom Parfitt 11 August 2014
  20. ^ General Hate Symbols: Thor's Hammer, Anti-Defamation League
  21. ^, accessed 19 December 2007

External links