Political and Economic Ideologies: Fascism, Communism, Socialism, and Feminism

Vocabulary flashcards defining key political ideologies, historical systems, legal acts, and foundational thinkers from the reading.

Fascism

A radical, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology that rejects liberal democracy, free elections, and individual rights in favor of total state power, order, hierarchy, and unquestioned obedience to a single leader.

Benito Mussolini

The founder of the Fascist Party in Italy who ruled as "Il Duce" from 1922 to 1943, establishing a one-party dictatorship based on the primacy of the state over the individual.

Corporatism

An economic system under Fascist Italy in which the state coordinated business and labor to serve national and military goals, replacing free markets and independent trade unions.

OVRA

The secret police force in Fascist Italy used to monitor and silence political dissent.

Blackshirts

Paramilitary squads in Fascist Italy that used violence and intimidation against political rivals.

Opera Nazionale Balilla

A state-run youth group in Fascist Italy designed to train children and young people in loyalty to the fascist state from an early age.

Giovanni Gentile

An Italian philosopher known as the "philosopher of Fascism" who co-authored The Doctrine of Fascism with Benito Mussolini in 1932.

Julius Evola

An Italian esotericist and social thinker whose writings on tradition, hierarchy, and anti-egalitarianism influenced fascist and radical-right thought.

Communism

A political and economic ideology developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels aimed at replacing private property and class divisions with collective or state ownership, ultimately seeking a classless, stateless society.

Bourgeoisie

In Marxist theory, the capitalist class that owns the means of production, including land, factories, and capital.

Proletariat

In Marxist theory, the working class that does not own the means of production and must sell its labor to survive.

Dictatorship of the Proletariat

A transitional state envisioned by Karl Marx in which the working class manages the economy and society on behalf of workers after overthrowing capitalism.

Kolkhozes

Large state-run collective farms in the Soviet Union created by merging individual private farms during forced collectivization.

Five-Year Plans

A system of centralized economic planning used in the Soviet Union to direct state-owned industry and production instead of market competition.

Karl Marx

German philosopher and economist who authored The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, establishing the foundational theories of class struggle and historical materialism.

Friedrich Engels

Karl Marx's close collaborator and co-author of The Communist Manifesto who edited and published the remaining volumes of Das Kapital after Marx's death.

Vladimir Lenin

Russian revolutionary who led the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, became the first head of the Soviet state, and developed Leninism.

Leninism

An adaptation of Marxist theory arguing that a disciplined vanguard party of professional revolutionaries is required to lead the working class to power.

Socialism

An economic system and political outlook based on the idea that a nation's wealth and essential public services should be shared fairly and owned or heavily regulated by the public.

Nordic Model

A social and economic arrangement in democratic socialist nations like Sweden and Norway that pairs a free-market economy with high, progressive taxation to fund universal public welfare programs.

Robert Owen

A Welsh industrialist and early utopian socialist who transformed his textile mill in New Lanark, Scotland, into a model community offering fair wages, housing, and education.

Eduard Bernstein

A German socialist theorist who founded "revisionism," arguing that socialism should be achieved gradually through democratic reform rather than violent revolution.

Rosa Luxemburg

A Polish-German revolutionary and theorist who advocated for workers' rights while insisting that genuine socialism must maintain democratic freedoms.

Feminism

A political and social ideology aimed at establishing equality between the sexes politically, economically, socially, and personally, and dismantling patriarchy.

Patriarchy

A social system in which men hold disproportionate power over political, economic, and social life.

First-Wave Feminism

A period of feminist activity from the late 1800s to the early 1900s focused primarily on legal equality, such as women's suffrage and property rights.

Second-Wave Feminism

A period of feminist activity from the 1960s to the 1980s focusing on workplace equality, reproductive rights, and challenging traditional cultural roles.

Intersectionality

A concept in third- and fourth-wave feminism stating that gender inequality overlaps and interacts with other social identities and inequalities, such as race, class, and sexuality.

Magna Carta of Women (Republic Act No. 9710)

A 2009 Philippine law translating feminist principles into policy by prohibiting employment discrimination and requiring government agencies to allocate funds for gender and development programs.

Mary Wollstonecraft

An English writer referred to as the "mother of feminism" who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792, arguing that women's perceived inferiority was due to a lack of education.

Simone de Beauvoir

French philosopher and author of The Second Sex (1949), who argued that society constructs womanhood as "the Other" and wrote "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman."

bell hooks

American author and social critic (born Gloria Jean Watkins) who wrote Ain't I a Woman? and advanced intersectional feminist theory combining gender, race, and class analysis.