Many countries include ‘Democratic’ or ‘People’s’ in their names, even though they are not democratic and do not serve their people. Examples: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Lao People’s Democratic Republic People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria Democratic Republic of the Congo And German Democratic Republic (East Side) in 1949–1990. None of these states are democratic, power and wealth are concentrated in the hands of a small ruling elite. Who are they fooling with these names?
and fascists took advantage of the resulting power vacuum.
Not fascists. Fascists need expansionist military conquest for the regime to survive. When authoritarian communism goes bad, it’s able to survive by The Revolution. The Revolution justifies any act, no matter how brutal and misguided.
Fascism justifies itself through conquest and extermination of “lesser peoples”, like the Slavs or the Palestinians.