Britannica.com has a pretty good article on Fascism, from which I've excerpted a paragraph below. Fascism isn't so much about the size of government as it is about the subordination of individual will and the coordination of corporate and government functions in the interests of power.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article...35&tocid=66529
Fascism rejected the main philosophical trends of the 18th and 19th centuries, the “spirit” of the American and French revolutions with their emphasis on individual liberty and on the equality of men and races. The message of the Enlightenment had served to enhance the dignity of the individual and had emphasized openness in a secularized society. In contrast, fascism extolled the supreme sovereignty of the nation as an absolute. It demanded the revival of the spirit of the ancient polis (city-state), above all of Sparta with its discipline and total devotion to duty, and of the complete coordination of all intellectual and political thought and activities against modern individualism and scientific skepticism. The Italian slogan “to believe, to obey, to combat” was fascism's antithesis to “liberty, equality, fraternity,” and to the prophetic and Christian messages of peace. The combination of an unquestioning faith and of a virile combativeness was to transform the nation into a permanently mobilized armed force to conquer, maintain, and expand power.