Wagnerism has a number of meanings:
the philosophical ideals put forward by Richard Wagner which indicate the traits of a "true" German, among other aesthetic ideas.
an attachment, sometimes fanatical, to the music of Wagner.
a form of adversarial labour union legislation, the Wagner Act in the United States, and similarly adopted in Canada, among other countries.
The first two of these aspects were promoted, often in distorted form, by the Nazi regime in Germany. Adolf Hitler argued that "Germany would be impossible without Wagner and all he represents."
