>>18054124
It emerged out of a cultural revolt against the Enlightenment heritage of the 18th century by dissident (non-Marxist) socialists who sought to turn back "cultural decadence" and associated ideas like pacifism, universalism, and rationalism by mobilizing people through myths and "heroic" violence. Initially they thought a proletarian revolution would do this but decided that proletarians were easily corrupted by labor parties and liberal parliaments, so they left the class stuff behind and looked to the nation-state as being the only power that could mobilize the "spirit" of their rebellion and convert it into a form of rule. This was hyper-charged by World War I considering the massive mobilization powers of the state in terms of the military and propaganda and industry and so forth. Mussolini took those idea while also making it less "rebellious" and more instrumental to the reactionary movement against communism, although he also saw fascism as having potential to drive modernization in a weak and fragmented Italy through nationalism and imperialism.