In Rome the fasces was a bundle of rods. Ultra-nationalists used it to represent strength through unity, giving their name: Fascists. A bundle of rods bound together cannot be broken, they said.
But to get a bundle of rods all the same size and shape, you have already broken things -- the tree, the wood, the original rod. It is unity in which the individual is broken and lashed to power.
Unity is powerful. Freely given it binds community. Taken it creates fascism.