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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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 Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 8:55 pm Post subject: What is Fascism? |
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It was asserted by Gopher that:
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Fascism sprouted in Southern and Central Europe during the interwar years and was put down by the Western democracies after a long and bloody conflict.
It died. We killed it. It is history. Finito. |
The fascism of Italy, Germany and Spain (and occupied France?) was simply the implementation of fascist ideology on a state level. It was neither the beginning nor end of fascism.
My definition of fascism is that it is a political ideology which is nationalist, elitist, and destructive of civil liberties (don't speak against the state, don't promote innapproriate beliefs (communism, socialism, anarchism) and unacceptable religions. It is state control of everything needed to be controlled to promote the agenda of the ruling elite. Most social scientists agree that fascism is inextricably linked to capitalism (not that capitalism= fascism, just that there are available elements of fascist thought available for deployment in capitalist states. Other forms of oppression and tyranny are available to other forms of states (communist, socialist, Muslim fundamentalist, etc.)
If we are going to toss around specific political terms, it would be good to use them correctly. All political systems have the seeds of their own forms of tyranny. Totalitarianism does not equal fascism.
Here is a good functional list of characteristics of fascism:
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1. Fascism is the unchecked rule of a class of the privileged, or relatively rich, in power--a full-scale assault on poor and working people. Parliamentary institutions are usually set aside, or so demeaned as to be meaningless. (The Holocaust was legal). Elites issue direct orders, frequently through a populist leader. Wages, any social safety net, working hour laws, labor laws; all come under legal (and extra-legal) attack. The stick replaces the carrot.
Even between capitalists of the same nation, struggle intensifies.
Fascism in its early stages has been popular among masses of people mystified by nationalism, racism, and sexism. These ideas are key to the construction of fascism. But, "war means work" for some, which may also explain its historical popularity.
Fascism requires and is built on the support of capitalist elites. Henry Ford, the Dulles family, the Catholic Church, and the German Krupps among many others, were early supporters of fascism in the U.S.
Fascism is an element of the modern era, which carries forward elements of feudalism. Fascism has taken the form of state capitalism in Japan, Germany, and in more sophisticated ways, the Soviet Union in the Stalin era. But fascism has also grown in less developed countries, Romania, Bulgaria, most of Eastern Europe, Cambodia, Argentina, Guatemala, Chile; and taken significantly different forms.
2. Fascism and capitalism are inseparable. There has never been a form of capital that was not built on a fascist base--from early British action against the Chartists to today's varieties of imperialism. All major capitalist nations have fascist ties.
Hence, while fascism may not be the dominant form of capitalist government, elements of fascist ideology (biological determinism, rabid nationalism, etc.) and fascist organizations (sectors of the police, KKK, skinheads, etc.) are always present. No capitalist government has ever required a revolution to institute fascism.
Fascism does emerge in capitalist crises, the moments when the struggle for production reaches a point when the workers can no longer purchase the products they produce, a crisis of over-production and declining profits and/or an intense battle for cheaper labor, raw materials, and new markets; that is, war.
However, neither war nor capitalist crisis is a pre-condition of fascism; consider Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. In addition, it is possible to live under fascism within a nation that is not itself entirely fascist, that is, to live as a jobless black youth in Sao Paulo, or Los Angeles.
3. Fascism deceptively calls for the national unity of social classes, class-collaboration, but actually promotes the division of people by race, sex, culture, nation, or religion. Fascism was, under Mussolini and, later, Hitler, conceived as the "corporate state", that is, all the resources of the society were directed toward the support of corporate profits in the name of national unity and economic development. In order to motivate warriors and bolster profits, fascism conceals the real and insoluble tensions between those who own and those who work.
4. Fascism frequently is employed as a strategic base for war. Fascist shifts in government and official ideology grow with war preparations.
5. Violence and terror, made tolerable by racism and sexism (ideas which view people as sub-human) become public policy.
6. Fascism relies on mysticism, organized irrationalism, a culture which turns to superstition, irrationality (extreme religious dogmatism, the fear of sexuality, celebrations of misogyny, death, and hopelessness--serving to explain apparent systematic despair), and retards science and social production in order to mask its own decay. Indeed, fascism is organized decay.
There is a jagged line which runs from conservative Christianity to anti-semitism to anti-communism which underpins much of fascist writing. But, there is no consistency to fascist ideology, other than to preserve capitalism. Fascism is irrationalism organized to sustain inequality and authoritarianism. Even so, the role of the ideology of irrationalism can become powerful, that is, Nazis sacrificed the productive work of many Jews in order to kill them.
7. Fascism is virulently anti-communist. Communists (and perhaps some anarchists), who have been the only consistent and effective anti-fascist fighters, are the fascist's first targets.
8. Fascism has only been defeated internally (primarily by the actions of indigenous national resistance), perhaps, twice: in Albania and, maybe, China. However, resistance movements have changed fascism and halted its birth.
9. There is evidence that combined theoretical and physical struggle causes fascism to retreat--in ideology and materially. In ideology, there is a growing body of research which indicates that vocal and written opposition to fascist ideas does cause a reevaluation and moderation of thinking in individuals. In pre-fascist Germany in the 1930's, areas which actively put people on the streets to fight the Nazis regularly caused Nazi withdrawals--and minimized fascist group membership. There is nothing inevitable about fascism. It is a political movement, reaching from production relations into the mass consciousness, and can be combatted physically and intellectually.
10. If these factors are true, then it seems effective resistance to fascism must be based on a class analysis of society, an internationalist perspective that attacks imperialist war, a multi-racial, anti-racist/sexist, organized approach (as opposed to ephemeral coalitions based on sex, race, religion), willingness to consider violence, and the grasp of the critical role of ideology in combatting fascist practice.
http://www.pipeline.com/~rgibson/fascism.html |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:13 pm Post subject: |
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Here is a definition provided by an Italian scholar of fascism. It leaves out mention of capitalism, which is sure to please at least a few around here. And it could be seen to include fundamentalist Muslim states- sure to please a few more. But look at the highlighted points:
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| The broad area of scholarly consensus which now exists, admittedly one with highly fuzzy boundaries, is that: fascism is best approached as a genuinely revolutionary, trans-class form of anti-liberal, and in the last analysis, anticonservative nationalism. As such it is an ideology deeply bound up with modernization and modernity, one which has assumed a considerable variety of external forms to adapt itself to the particular historical and national context in which it appears, and has drawn on a wide range of cultural and intellectual currents, both left and right, anti-modern and pro-modern, to articulate itself as a body of ideas, slogans, and doctrine. In the inter-war period it manifested itself primarily in the form of an elite-led ��armed party�� which attempted, mostly unsuccessfully, to generate a populist mass movement through a liturgical style of politics and a programme of radical policies which promised to overcome the threat posed by international socialism, to end the degeneration affecting the nation under liberalism, and to bring about a radical renewal of its social, political and cultural life as part of what was widely imagined to be the new era being inaugurated in Western civilization. The core mobilizing myth of fascism which conditions its ideology, propaganda, style of politics, and actions is the vision of the nation��s imminent rebirth from decadence. |
http://ah.brookes.ac.uk/history/staff/griffin/coreoffascism.pdf |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:53 pm Post subject: |
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I can think of an easier definition: a political definition which once described a particular form of government, but now in contemporary usage-due to overuse- has de facto become nothing more than a buzzword and as such has lost all relevant meaning.
Sorry, but I can't help feeling that way; When the word fascism comes out it almost always means that rational debate has ended and name-calling of one sort or another has begun. The word is just too emotionally loaded for it to be otherwise in most cases.... |
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numazawa
Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Location: The Concrete Barnyard
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| Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Observe that "Fascism" derives from "fasces" and it's a movement founded in fanaticism, from which the word "fan" evolved -- so, Fascism is what happens when the fasces hits the fan. |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Bulsajo wrote: |
I can think of an easier definition: a political definition which once described a particular form of government, but now in contemporary usage-due to overuse- has de facto become nothing more than a buzzword and as such has lost all relevant meaning.
Sorry, but I can't help feeling that way; When the word fascism comes out it almost always means that rational debate has ended and name-calling of one sort or another has begun. The word is just too emotionally loaded for it to be otherwise in most cases.... |
So, nail someone for incorrect usage. It is still a useful term, employed world over by social scientists. Should we likewise throw out "capitalism", colonialism", "nazism", "socialism", etc., because the terms are abused?
I thought it might be useful here to clarify the definition, come to some sort of consensus, and then use it appropriately.
By the way, I used to teach courses on political ideologies at university in the U.S., so I admit to more than a prosaic interest in the subject. This is not a claim to some priviledged knowledge- there is plenty of debate in academia about the definitions of the terms. I'm just trying to raise the level of discourse here. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:12 pm Post subject: |
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I. Misuse of the term "fascist" has inflamed situations where moderation might have changed things...
Telephone conversation between Salvador Allende and Vice-Admiral Patricio Carvajal Prado when the inchoate Chilean junta was attempting to negotiate the President out of la Moneda on 11 Sept. 1973:
Re: the women present in the palace, including Allende's daughter, Beatriz (married to the Cuban intelligence officer)
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Carvajal: I understand perfectly. We'll let them leave.
Allende: I want a vehicle with an officer to give them protection.
Carvajal: Fine. I will send a vehicle with an officer.
Allende: I want you to give me your word of honor that you are not going to shoot them.
Carvajal: How can they be shot?
Allende: There are some who might do it, some Fascists.
Carvajal: What Fascists are you talking about?
Allende: I am not referring to you personally, admiral, but there are some people who may shoot.[reported in Davis, Last Two Years, 258-259] |
II. Misuse of the term "fascist" to creat myths and color historical interpretations...
According to political scientist Paul E. Sigmund, who addresses "the mythmakers of left and right"...
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| Allende was neither an innocent social democrat overthrown by fascist thugs and the CIA, nor a Marxist revolutionary who manipulated Chile's democratic institutions to set the stage for a violent Communist seizure of power. |
I share Bulsajo's interpretation on the uselessness of this word and concept.
Last edited by Gopher on Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:24 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:15 pm Post subject: |
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| numazawa wrote: |
| Observe that "Fascism" derives from "fasces" and it's a movement founded in fanaticism, from which the word "fan" evolved -- so, Fascism is what happens when the fasces hits the fan. |
Nice!  |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:18 pm Post subject: |
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| desultude wrote: |
| Should we likewise throw out "capitalism", colonialism", "nazism", "socialism", etc., because the terms are abused... |
I know what you are trying to say.
But "fascism" and "naziism" are historically unique and very much abused, as is "genocide" and "Holocaust," for example.
For example, during the Elian Gonzalez debacle, the Miami Cubans railed about how Fidel Castro had unleashed a Holocaust on the Cuban people.
Surely, you can agree with me that they were (a) attempting to sway our emotions; and (b) this backfired because it exposed them as extremists and alienated those of us who were not so emotionally involved.
It is the same with "fascism," "naziism," "imperialism," "Communist," and quite a few others.
"Capitalism," however, is alive and well. But the last I checked, Wallerstein and Guner Frank were debating with others on related words like "dependency" and whether there ought to be a hypen in "world-system" -- as opposed to "world system."
As for me: I propose we limit "fascism" to refer to Mussolini, Hitler, and Franco.
It was a specific period of European history. This period has passed. We have now moved on to new and improved brutalities.
Again, I know what you are trying to say. Just use clear language and refer to whatever you are talking about in its own context.
And McCarthy was not a "fascist," he was a "McCarthyist."
Last edited by Gopher on Sun Jun 11, 2006 6:39 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 12:10 am Post subject: |
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As for me: I propose we limit "fascism" to refer to Mussolini, Hitler, and Franco.
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That's more-or-less the approach taken by the left-leaning historian Robert O. Paxton, in his recent book THE ANATOMY OF FASCISM. Paxton distinguishes between fascism and conservative authoritarianism, the former involving mass mobilization of the populace with revolutionary rhetoric.
However, Paxton labels Franco, along with Salazar, Vichy France, and the Japanese militarists, as conservative authoritarians. He points out that they actually suppressed genuine fascist parties within their own countries.
Paxton also argues that, whenever possible, capitalists preferred to align with conservative authoritarians, not fascists, mostly because they didn't like the more radical aspects of the fascist program. They only turned to the fascists when the traditional conservatives proved unable to mobilize public opinion.
Or so argues Paxton.
http://tinyurl.com/ou67v |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 12:30 am Post subject: |
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I very much disagree that Fascism is an outdated concept. It is a totalitarian political system where the 'aristocrats', business leaders and military unite to control the levers of power. Ultra-nationalism and militarism are used as 'religions' to motivate the public to support state policies.
It is the extreme, fanatical form of capitalism, just as communism is the extreme form of socialism. It is not as ideologically coherent as communism because it is so nationalist, but it is a real phenomenon.
I'm curious what term gopher and Bulsajo would suggest be used to replace it.
I'd like to recommend "Escape From Freedom" (Erich Fromm). Psychoanalytic analysis of the authoritarian personality. LOTS of keen insights. |
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Manner of Speaking
Joined: 09 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 12:34 am Post subject: |
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Personally I've always thought that some Marxist regimes are/have been capable of simultaneously exhibiting fascist/authoritarian and communist/socialist characteristics...but unlike desultude I don't have a graduate degree in Political Science, so my terminology may be imprecise.
And I agree that the concept is not an outmoded one. Arguably Belarus, Turkmenistan and Zimbabwe are countries with governments exhibiting fascist tendencies. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 12:47 am Post subject: |
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| capable of simultaneously exhibiting fascist/authoritarian and communist/socialist characteristics |
While the ideological underpinnings of Communism and Fascism are quite opposite, the psychological personality structures are the same. Apparantly. Check out Eric Hoffer's "The True Believers". His famous example were the Brown Shirts. (I think it's his example.) Hitler called them Beef Steaks. Brown on the outside, red on the inside--because so many of them were former communists.
I think it is highly dangerous to lose the ability to label dangerous right-wing ideas for what they are. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 1:03 am Post subject: |
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Check out Eric Hoffer's "The True Believers". His famous example were the Brown Shirts. (I think it's his example.) Hitler called them Beef Steaks. Brown on the outside, red on the inside--because so many of them were former communists.
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Not to keep plugging the same book, but Paxton argues that the whole point of fascism is to lure people AWAY from the Left, by appropriating some of the same radical ideas, albeit in a modified form. This accounts for the seeming convergence of fascist and socialist ideas, which contemporary right-wing propagandists like to harp on in order to claim that fasism is a left-wing ideology.
But the right-wing analysis conveniently igonres the fact that it was businessmen and conservative elites who were fascism's biggest backers. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 1:42 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
I very much disagree that Fascism is an outdated concept. It is a totalitarian political system where the 'aristocrats', business leaders and military unite to control the levers of power. Ultra-nationalism and militarism are used as 'religions' to motivate the public to support state policies.
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That's a very good definition. I also would point out that the use of the term outdated is unfortunate. I would say Fascism has been shown as illegitimate through its own internal contradictions, to use language from Fukuyama, but certainly, there could be small-scale resurgences of fascism here and there. I tend to dismiss the great threat of it coming back just as Gopher does, because it's ideology has been discredited so thoroughly. But I've been wrong before. |
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Manner of Speaking
Joined: 09 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 2:05 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
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| capable of simultaneously exhibiting fascist/authoritarian and communist/socialist characteristics |
While the ideological underpinnings of Communism and Fascism are quite opposite, the psychological personality structures are the same. Apparantly. |
That's a good point, perhaps you put it more clearly than I did. |
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