By Brian T. Lynch, MSW
Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote about fascism:
"The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power."
In preparation for my last article
, "It Has a Name: FASCISM", I read different views on the nature of
fascism. As I read I was struck by two facts;
1) There is a lack of scholarly consensus on the nature of fascism, and
2) Despite this shortcoming, the picture that emerges provides insight
into the ultra-conservative political transformation, we have experienced in the
last few decades.
I recognized that
while it takes root on the fringe of right-wing politics, elements of it have
been integrated throughout our politics. Manifestations of fascism have surfaced in many of our institutions over time both in government and in some social institutions. To see this more clearly, a coherent description of fascism would
help, one that accounts for its less obvious developmental stages over time.
I wanted to find the common denominators in the various descriptions
using Wikipedia's,
Definitions of
fascism page. It includes
contributions from political philosophers such as Umberto Eco, Georgi Dimitrov,
Emilio Gentile, Stanley G. Payne, and many
others. I found the fascism entry from
the
Encyclopedia of Marxism particularly useful and a good format off which to
work. What follows is my own compilation
of the words and ideas from these original authors. Some of what follows are verbatim,
some paraphrases and some reworked to combine similar ideas by different
authors. It isn't strictly my original
work, so please don't credit me or
accuse me of plagiarism because it isn't properly attributed. All references to original statements can be
found by comparing the texts to the Wikileak's
Definitions of fascism site.
To quote myself from my last article, "Fascism may take
different forms as it metastasizes, but it is always built on three legs: A
ruthless authoritarian leader, an extremely nationalistic base and a loyal
cadre of uber-wealthy crony capitalists. The goal of fascism is always the
same, to optimize power and prosperity for the fittest members of society, as
defined by those aligned with their leader.
I hope readers here find the following "meta-description"
of fascism helpful.
Mass Movement:
Fascism derives public support by creating a mass movement with multi-class
membership in which prevail, among its leaders and the militants, middle
sector members who are mostly new to political activism. The movement organizes as a militant political body or
political party whose identity is not based on existing social hierarchy or
class origin, but on a sense of fellowship with other members of the movement. Movement
identity is often cultivated through a campaign to raise fear of differences
between the dominant social group and minority groups within the society. Fascism
seeks to exploit and exacerbate social division, often in the form of racism or
an appeal against foreigners and immigrants. Members believe themselves to be invested with a mission of national
regeneration, consider themselves in a state of war against political
adversaries aimed at conquering a monopoly of political power by use of all
available means. In this way, fascist movements are able to gain power and political
control, even by electoral means, without broad public consensus. Ultimately, a
mature fascist state usurps democratic rule and the rule of law.
Authoritarian
Leadership: Fascist states come
into power through an authoritarian, charismatic leader whose thematic speeches
and theatrical rhetorical style evoke the
strongest possible emotions among their loyal followers. All fascist states have authoritarian
leaders, but not all states with authoritarian leaders are fascist states. What
most distinguishes fascist authoritarian leaders from other authoritarians are
their methods and means to gain and hold on to power, political power for
personal gain and self-aggrandizement being their primary interests. Fascist leaders are obsessed with their
adversaries, real or imagined, often resulting in the hyping-up of enemy
threats. There is an ethic in fascist administrations that action for action's sake is a sign of strength while deliberation and consultation are signs of
weakness. Once in power, fascist
administrations move to make structural changes in both social and government
hierarchies to consolidate power and strengthen their control. Fascist authoritarian leaders see themselves
as dominant and superior people, qualities that entitle them to lead others by
autocratic rule. They often exhibit narcissistic traits and usually inflate
their own talents, accomplishments and moral authority. Fascist leaders fundamentally distrust democratic institutions and principles. They hold themselves out as the
ultimate interpreter of the popular will.
Loyalty:
Fascism demands extreme loyalty to the national leader and his loyal followers.
"Disagreement Is Treason" – Fascist movements devalues intellectual
discourse and critical reasoning as barriers to action and threats to
leadership. Fascists, therefore, delegitimize democratic institutions and accuse
them of "no longer representing the Voice of the People." Public
discourse takes on a militancy. Bullying, harassment or aggression is often
directed at people or groups perceived as disloyal.
Nationalism: Fascism places a very
strong emphasis on patriotism and nationalism. It is a xenophobic form of Nationalism that is fearful of
disloyalty and sabotage from marginalized groups living within the country and especially
distrustful of foreigners and immigrants.
Criticism of the nation's main ideals, especially in matters of war and
the military, is lambasted as unpatriotic at best, and treason at worst. Fascist
propaganda messaging broadcasts threats of attack, while justifying preemptive
war. It invariably seeks to instill in its people the warrior mentality: To
always be vigilant, wary of strangers and suspicious of foreigners.
Right Wing: Fascists are fervently
against Marxism, Socialism, Anarchism, Communism, Environmentalism; etc. – in
essence, they are against the progressive left in total, including moderate
lefts (social democrats, etc). Fascism is an extreme right-wing ideology,
though it can be opportunistic. It often embraces social conservatism and
traditional values while rejecting or exploiting libertarian or core
conservative principles when it is to their benefit.
Hierarchy:
A fully developed fascist society is ruled by a righteous leader, who is
supported by an elite secret vanguard of wealthy capitalists. Democratic
institutions are restrained and mass media falls under state control and all
forms of dissent is suppressed. Hierarchy is prevalent throughout all aspects
of society – every street, every workplace, every school, will have its local demagogue
monitoring and pressuring for loyalty to and conformity with the fascist
regime. The absolute power of the social hierarchy prevails over everything,
and thus a totalitarian society is formed. Representative government is
acceptable only to the extent that it can be controlled and regulated. Any who
oppose the social hierarchy of fascism can be imprisoned or executed.
Anti-equality:
Fascism loathes the principles of economic equality and disdains equality
between immigrant and citizen. Some forms of fascism extend the fight against
equality into other areas: gender, sexual, minority or religious rights, for
example.
Religious:
Fascism contains a strong amount of reactionary religious beliefs, harking back
to times when religion was strict, potent, and pure. Nearly all Fascist
societies are Christian, and may be supported by Catholic and Protestant
churches. In more recent times, fascist ideology is often supported by the
fundamentalist Christian right.
Capitalist: Fascism does not require revolution to
exist in capitalist society: Fascists can be elected into office (though their
disdain for elections usually means manipulation of the electoral system). They
view parliamentary and congressional systems of government to be inefficient
and weak, and will do their best to minimize its power over their policy
agenda. Fascism exhibits the worst kind of capitalism where corporate power is
absolute, and all vestiges of workers' rights are eliminated. Fascist states develop a corporative
organization of the economy that suppresses trade union liberty, broadens the
sphere of state intervention, and seeks to achieve, by principles of
technocracy and solidarity, the collaboration of the 'productive sectors' under
control of the regime, to achieve its goals of power, yet preserving private
property and class divisions,
War:
Fascism is capitalism at the stage of impotent imperialism. War can create
markets that would not otherwise exist by wreaking massive devastation on a
society, which then requires reconstruction! Fascism can thus
"liberate" the survivors, provide huge loans to that society so
fascist corporations can begin the process of rebuilding.
Voluntarist Ideology: Fascism adopts a
certain kind of “voluntarism; They believe that an act of will, if
sufficiently powerful, can make something true. Thus all sorts of ideas about
racial inferiority, historical destiny, even physical science, are supported by
means of intimidation or violence, in the belief that they can be made true. It
is this sense that Fascism is subjectivist. Fascism also employs and promotes
an impoverished vocabulary - "newspeak" - in order to limit critical
reasoning.
Anti-Modern:
Fascism loathes all kinds of modernism, especially creativity in the arts,
whether acting as a mirror for life (where it does not conform to the Fascist
ideal) or expressing deviant or innovative points of view. Fascism invariably
burns books and victimizes artists; Artists who do not promote the fascists'
ideals are seen as “decadent.” Fascism is hostile to broad learning and
interest in other cultures since such pursuits threaten the dominance of fascist
myths. The peddling of conspiracy theories is usually substituted for the
objective study of history.
