Ask a liberal which is worse, fascism or socialism and you might be surprised how many would say socialism is worse, if they were being honest. Not that they like fascism. Not at all, they hate it. They just hate socialism more. To them, fascism is the lesser of the two evils. And I'm not just making this up, a prominent liberal economist of the 20th century said it explicitly:
As you will understand, it is possible for a dictator to govern in a liberal way. And it is also possible for a democracy to govern with a total lack of liberalism. Personally I prefer a liberal dictator to democratic government lacking liberalism.
- Friedrich Hayek