Fascism being on the opposite end of socialism is ahistorical considering Fascism (according to its godfathers) was specifically built to be anti-individual and pro-collectivist.. which virtually every socialist would agree they are and individualists/classical liberalism.

1. Appealing to the fact that fascists have killed other socialists is a nonpoint, as basically every socialist environment ended up in the death of other socialists. They have almost always fought each other and it happened during the Russian revolution.

2. Marxists does not have monopoly on "socialism" nor does Socialism = statelessness. State socialism dates back just as far back as non-state socialism (I'd argue that's oxymoronic). Louis Blanc for example pre-dates Marx and he was a State-socialists.

Even the "anarchist" socialists were at odds as with each other as Dejacque and Proudhon were critical of each other and Benjamin Tucker. Hell, Marx wrote an entire book critical of Proudhon. Benjamin Tucker flatout called Marx and Authoritarian and the father of State-Socialism.

3. Mussolini roots were in Marxism. As in, he was actually a Marxist. He later rejected Marxism but never rejected the socialism. As documented in he and Gentile's own Doctrine of Fascism, Fascism represented the collective and was anti-individualism.

4. Both Mussolini and Hitler were national socialists. This myth of "privatization" is just that: a myth. Nothing was outside the State and all of their doctrines read like socialist manifestos. The State decided what you can sell, for how much and under what rules.

Such as with Nazi Germany if you were not bringing in enough money, you were abolished. Hitting a certain capitalization mark was banned. The Reich Economic Chamber effectively nationalized entire industries. The Nazi Slogan was literally "the common before self."

This regulation and nationalization was right along the lines of what Louis Blanc and Ferdinand Lassalle. It was just deadly and they attached race to it. It was not privatization in even the classical liberal sense. These historic anecdotes are not my opinions. They are facts.

What IS my opinion is that Academics have attempted to place fascism on the opposite side of socialism because they don't want to be associated with having to see their anti-individualist efforts be conflated with mass human suffering. So they attempt to rewrite history.

But it won't change the fact that there is no "individualist" equivalent to the democide facilitated by followers of socialism. USSR, Nazi Germany, China (mainly Mao), Pol Pot's Cambodia, North Korea, etc. Nearly ALL of these were admitted Socialist/Communists/Marxists