During the Communist days of the 50's and 60's, fascist was a word most commonly used by Communists. It was a dog whistle for "This evil person can be killed". You could almost identify Communists by the use of the word. Now it has been resurrected.
We had lots of textile mills around my hometown. The Communists came in to "organize the workers". So you had people with a Masters in Sociology working on the plant floor. My wife worked in one of those plants. The problem was that the plant where my wife worked already had a union and they didn't appreciate the help. The union and the Communists finally came to blows. Textile unions have a low threshold for "too much thinking". The CWP eventually moved a large warehouse complex, struck for Living wages and now it is an empty complex. But the signs used by the CWP almost always mentioned "fascists", a word you rarely encountered otherwise.