Fascism is a political theory based on dictatorship, violence, and extreme NATIONALISM. It usually has a strong racist component. The word comes from fasces, which was an ancient Roman symbol of power made of an axe in a bundle of sticks. It was used as the emblem of the Italian fascist party, which seized power in Italy in 1922, led by Benito Mussolini. In 1933 Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany, and his Nazi party stood for an extreme version of fascism. The Spanish Civil War began in 1936 when Spanish fascists rose against the Spanish government. In many ways, World War II was a war against fascism. People had turned to fascism in the 1920s and 1930s when other political parties and the parliamentary system seemed unable to deal with the problems of the period. Fascism's nationalism appealed to people's patriotic feelings. In Canada, fascism never achieved much of a following. Small fascist parties were organized in the 1930s, and there was some sympathy for fascist ideas, especially those against socialism and Jews. There was, however, much more support for anti-fascist ideas, as shown for example by the Canadian volunteers who fought against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War as the MACKENZIE-PAPINEAU BATTALION.