By James Tweedie for the Saker Blog
What is fascism? With the Russian ‘de-Nazification operation’ in the Ukraine entering its fourth week and “Black Lives Matter” replaced with “I Stand With Ukraine” as the virtue-signal de jour, now seems like a good time to define it.
While I’m a big fan of the Iranian journalist Ramin Mazaheri, I have to disagree with his latest article on The Vineyard of the Saker. Mazaheri says Russia misinterprets Nazism as simply Russophobia. I fear he underestimates the intellect of the nation which did three-quarters of the fighting and dying to defeat fascism 77 years ago.
Rather than trying to suck the meaning of the word ‘fascism’ out of our thumbs, let us instead compare two well-known definitions by Georgi Dimitrov and Umberto Eco, a Marxist and a Liberal.
Eco, the Italian author of the historical whodunnit The Name Of the Rose, listed 14 different features in his 1995 essay Eternal Fascism. The problem is, none of them individually are proof that we’re living in a fascist state.
Eco admits at the start: “These features cannot be organized into a system; many of them contradict each other, and are also typical of other kinds of despotism or fanaticism.”
But he claims: “it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it.”
The first item on Eco’s list, ‘the cult of tradition’, is common to most ‘small-c’ social conservatives. The syncretism that Eco speaks of here is found in his own eclectic list.
Points three to five, ‘action for action’s sake’, ‘disagreement is treason’ and ‘fear of difference’ are true of the dozens of Trotskyite and anarchist sects jumping on the Ukraine bandwagon.
Points six to eight, ‘appeal to a frustrated middle class’, an ‘obsession with a plot’ and the belief that their ‘enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak’ describe the US ‘Never Trumpers’ and British liberals still desperate to rejoin the European Union (EU).
Nine and 11, ‘ life is lived for struggle’ and ‘everybody is educated to become a hero’ apply to the ‘woke’ millennials obsessed with their own perceived victimhood.
Dimitrov, the Bulgarian general secretary of the Communist (Third) International, characterised fascism in a speech to the 7th Comintern congress in 1935 as: “the open, terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic, and most imperialist elements of finance capital.”
“Fascism is not a power standing above class, nor government of the petty bourgeoisie or the lumpen-proletariat over finance capital,” he elaborated.
“Fascism is the power of finance capital itself. It is the organization of terrorist vengeance against the working class and the revolutionary section of the peasantry and intelligentsia.”
Thus, fascism is the form of government which the capitalist class resorts to when revolt by the toiling classes means it can no longer rule by consent under democracy, as it prefers to.
“The development of fascism, and the fascist dictatorship itself, assume different forms in different countries,” Dimitrov stressed. His clear implication is that fascism could take a new form without the open racism, sexism, anti-Semitism and homophobia of the German Nazi regime. Fascism could come waving the rainbow flag and preaching “human rights”. I think it already has.
And Dimitrov highlights the fascists’ imperative for violent and oppressive anti-communism, something which Eco, who grew up in Mussolini’s Italy, fails to mention at all in his glib listicle.
My mother was born a year before the Second World War. Her parents were communists. At a very young age she was aware that a Nazi invasion would mean she and her family would be murdered, just as communists in the fascist-ruled and occupied countries had already been.
Eco has no excuse for ignoring or forgetting this, just as Western pseudo-leftists have no excuse for overlooking how the regime that took over in Kiev after the 2014 Maidan Square coup banned the Communist Party of Ukraine and others, or how its thugs burnt down the Odessa Trade Union House while the police looked on, murdering some 50 working people.
Modern Russia is not the USSR, but it never ceased to be the target of imperialism despite embracing the so-called ‘free market’. Ordinary Russians know that, and their leaders have in the past few weeks denounced the “Empire of Lies” with a clarity that Lenin — who literally wrote the book on it — would applaud.
To answer those who equate fascism with nationalism: If Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo had been nationalists, their armies would never have set foot outside their countries’ borders and 50 million lives would not have been needlessly lost. Fascism is imperialist, and imperialism is the antithesis of nationalism.
It’s easy to see why some prefer Eco’s definition to Dimitrov’s. Dimitrov avoids the easy path of condemning historical fascism for its bigotry and para-militarism, but instead marks out the common ground between Nazis and liberals: anti-communism. Eco explicitly panders to those who think the holocaust was what happens when we stray from the modern liberal path.
But if one believes, as a majority of British voters did in 2016, that the EU is an undemocratic, corporatist supra-national state which rules the continent on behalf of finance capital, It follows that the burnished liberal utopia is fascism here and now.
The stated goal of the US antifa rioters in 2020 was to bring down President Donald Trump and ensure victory for Joe Biden, who helped bring the genuine fascist government to power in Kiev in 2014. Biden has now prodded the Ukraine into a disastrous showdown with Russia that threatens to escalate to nuclear Armageddon.
There was no revolution in the US in 2020, just as there was none in Ukraine in 2014. The Never-Trumpers posed no alternative but business as usual under the Democratic Party, which came bundled with a neo-McCarthyite witch-hunt. That has torn down the façade of liberal democracy and left only the naked tyranny of big business, pushing the world inexorably towards war. Nice work, anarchists.
Russia is taking a stand against fascism, and imperialism. What are you going to do about it?
@saker,
You’ve been complaining that not enough info comes through, so here is a link to the Telegram channel, https://t.me/s/RussiaYouTubeNews. In Russian, it is Горы Новостей Z. You can also get the streaming channel on YouTube. They change it everyday. Today, it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u21OzeGUZkQ
Please don’t talk about Ecco. This so-called intellectuel really is desgusting. He was faschist when fascists ruled Italia, he become democrat and pro american when GI’s arrived in 1943, but he became communist after, when communism was the main politic force in Italia. And each time, he follower thé wind of power.
And as author, please read ” Le Pendule de Foucault”, a ridiculous pretentious book .
This courtesan, far from being a human conscience has absolutly none authority to speak about human desorders. Especially fascisme.
I agree Foceault’s Pendulum (to me) was kind of pretentious, but The Name of the Rose is a classic :)
I read both. Name of the Rose is good. Foucault’s Pendulum seeks to kind of dispel conspiracy theorists and people who cling to certain beliefs?
Yes, there seems to be an almost genetic pattern in his life.
“And as author, please read ” Le Pendule de Foucault”, a ridiculous pretentious book .”
Yes, read this book, please! The book explains perfectly, how conspiracy theories work and how to make idiots to believe in them.
Who opposes “Le Pendule de Foucault” – he exposes in the same moment, on which mindset he is stuck.
Epic dullness…
(which means, absolutely, no criticism on Dimitrov, who was a brilliant mind, no discussion)
If Ecco was pro-fascist until 1943, when he was 10 or 11 years old, how old was he when he became a fascist?
A little over a year ago I wrote that the Biden regime closely resembled a nazi dictatorship. I saw the patterns and it started to dawn on me that everything I’ve ever been taught about almost any historical or political subject was a lie. To be honest, I had something of an existential crisis over the whole affair, and I disappeared into a mental institution for two months (there were other factors that contributed to this).
Now here we are in March 2022 in an escalating hybrid war with the “asiatic hordes” of Russia. The whole thing is madness and I can’t help but feel like we are in 1939 Nazi Germany, and I’m not exaggerating. What did the nazis do that we haven’t done ourselves already? The only thing I can think of is literal death camps. We seem to have checked off every box on the list, including genocides. The people of Donbass have been dying under American shells and bullets for eight years. Not Ukrainian bullets, American bullets. The Ukrainian nazi regime was an American idea, and continues to be an American idea.
I plan on moving back to Russia next month and seek permanent residency there, but for now I’m staying with friends in North Carolina. Unlike my own house I just sold, this one has television, and I hate it. The Biden regime’s propaganda has truly jumped the shark and everything coming out of the corporate media right now is pure, delusional nonsense. It’s actually disturbing.
Now how about Zelensky speech that conveniently coincided with the Mariupol false flag bombing (read my story here)? Well, it turns out that Zelensky’s speech was most likely written by Daniel Vajdich, a lobbyist based out of Washington DC (See Politico story here for a few quotes from him).
read the rest here:
https://readingjunkie.com/2022/03/19/america-is-on-the-brink-of-state-fascism/
The 14 Characteristics of Fascism by Lawrence Britt is the most precise description of fascism.
Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
Supremacy of the Military
Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
Rampant Sexism
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.
Controlled Mass Media
Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
Obsession with National Security
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
Religion and Government are Intertwined
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.
Corporate Power is Protected
The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
Labor Power is Suppressed
Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed .
Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.
Obsession with Crime and Punishment
Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
Fraudulent Elections
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
“The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.”
The other thirteen points accurately describe the U$. The one in quotes, however does not.
Some state abortion laws (TX) are demonic and the US Supreme Court is edging closer to overturning Roe v Wade.
Female representation in government is for show only, VP Que Mala is a token woman of color. Men outnumber women in the senate by 4 to 1, in the house by 3:1. There is a wide gender gap in pay scales.
Once the GOP regains control in November watch for all the woke bulls#!t to disappear. Nothing else however will change.
There’s no reason a fascist dictatorship couldn’t have women, Jews, or gays in the leadership.
“The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.”
So, Evola was right: fascism is simply the normal mentality of an educated person prior to the French Revolution.
What you have described are characteristics of a repressive, corrupt, terroristic dictatorship. That could describe some states in the pre-imperialist era where the capitalist class was the ruling class or the feudal nobility. Fascism could not exist in 1800. It is a creature of finance capital.
Yeah it seens to resemble bonapartism mixed with finance capital.
I like Dimitrov’s definition better. When corrupt forces usurp democratic rule, they often do so by infiltrating a highly moral movement with broad appeal as a vehicle and bending it to their will, all the while maintaining the illusion that the movement is pursuing its original objectives. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. I think the US Democratic Party is a good example. These people are likely to take advantage of definitions like Britt’s to conceal what they are doing, such as by waving rainbow flags while calling for destruction of one particular ethnicity.
Ponerology 101, if it existed, would explain as the first rule of ponerology that today’s ponerological findings will be tomorrow’s paramoralisms and justifications for tyranny.
It’s ironic how the “most precise description of fascism” almost utterly fails to adhere to the actual situation in Italy pre-WW2, where and when fascism was born. The reason of this is because the majority of the so-called “intellectuals” have built their own metaphysical definitions of “universal fascism” just for their own political purposes.
Even the author of this article, here, is uncorrectly using the terms “nazism” and “fascism” interchangeably, which is a clear signal of theoretical incompetence and historical inaccuracy.
Let’s do a quick run about the only real fascism ever existed: the italian one.
– Powerful and Continuing Nationalism: TRUE;
– Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights: FALSE. Human rights didn’t exist at that time, they’ve been invented afterwards for political reasons and they are theoretically ridiculous. They have been ignored both by dictatorships and democracies multiple times.
– Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause: partually TRUE, but it is also true for basically every other form of government.
– Supremacy of the Military: only partially TRUE, considered that non-fascist countries have rushed to go to war way more and way sooner than Italy.
– Rampant Sexism: completely FALSE. Male-dominated roles of power, in Italy, have not been caused by fascism at all.
– Controlled Mass Media: TRUE, but it’s also true for every form of government ever existed since the modern era.
– Obsession with National Security: TRUE, but this had nothing to do with the form of government, rather with contingent geopolitical strategies.
– Religion and Government are Intertwined: TRUE, but again, also true for every non-fascist Italian government up to the one now in charge.
– Corporate Power is Protected: FALSE, the aim at the time was basically a spoil system, where you force a management change getting rid of economic/industrial obstacles. Every revolution does this, thus this point is insignificant.
– Labor Power is Suppressed: FALSE. Fascism was born as a socialist movement, so they never wanted to suppress labor power, just to manage it in a different way. The problem arose mainly with politically-driven (anti-fascist) organisations.
– Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts: absolutely and completely FALSE. As a matter of fact, the exact opposite was true for fascism.
– Obsession with Crime and Punishment: FALSE, even though this point becomes crucial in times of war, that’s true for every government dealing with internal turmoils.
– Rampant Cronyism and Corruption: FALSE, we had (and stille have) corruption before and after. No difference, if not for the worse.
– Fraudulent Elections: TRUE.
Maybe if Mr. Lawrence Britt just wrote “characteristics of the goverments I don’t like” he could have a point. But from a historical point of view his list is ridiculous.
Space Conference Erases Name of Yuri Gagarin From Event Claiming to ‘Celebrate Human Achievements’
https://sputniknews.com/20220319/space-conference-erases-name-of-yuri-gagarin-from-event-claiming-to-celebrate-human-achievements-1093999358.html
This is fascism in operation. The result of a mental defect that prevents the things maturing beyond adolescence, or even younger states. In the usa this mental disease dominates, especially in the east, south east and midwest, where “coincidentally” obesity and total societal conformity is the dominant body and mental state, as well.
James, good read, I appreciate the pushback against the “woke-rainbow-liberal” who gleefully employs fascist techniques with the ease that would be the envy of any Nazi guard who ever swaggered his way through Bełżec.
That said, you have to wonder how today’s full-blooded Nazis of western Ukraine feel about dying to sate the whims of their masters, the “woke-rainbow-liberal”? It is quiet a thing to behold but, knowing the Nazis through my fathers eyes, they’re sending others to make the ultimate sacrifice for DC’s champagne & caviar set..while they quietly exit left…er..ah..west.
Thanks,
As I argued, I don’t think modern fascism needs to have all the trappings typical of the first wave from 1918/19 to 1945. Obviously it’s wise not to expose one’s self by displaying the swastika and other such symbols in public. Subtler forms of fascism will appropriate politically-correct causes.
But of course the Ukrainian Nazis love all that symbolism and open talk of exterminating the Russian people, being the defenders off western civilisation from the eastern barbarians and so forth. And that’s because they have a direct and unreconstructed ideological, organisational and blood lineage back to the historical Nazis and their collaborators.
Their sheer bloodthirstiness justifies the violence needed to defeat them.
At least the Ukronazis are honest.
The Nazis in Europe and the five eyes hide behind psuedo rights, pseudo legalese, psuedo science, psuedo theology etc. etc.
From my father, now long departed;
“and they shall know peace, be it of the living or…of the dead”.
“the only thing some men truly understand is…a well placed shot”.
I wish peace and prosperity across the globe but..I fully embrace my father’s dictums. I want to see the American Empire continue throughout time but, it “leaders” in DC seem resolutely determined to bring the temple down upon them.
2 definitions of Nazis.
1. use of Nazi insignia (admittedly a rather meaningless definition, but does justify use of hte word).
2. The willingness to murder for nationalistic goals.
I prefer this – it includes loads of people (like ISIS) who aren’t strictly fascist, but they are certainly the kind of scum that the world is best rid of.
Mussolini’s definition is still the most terse and precise: Merger of state and corporate power. As simple as that.
I’d imagine Mussolini knew a thing or two about Fascism.
The most important characteristic of Fascism was discovered by Gaetano Salvemini: “Profit is private and individual. Loss is public and social.” IOW: Socialism for the rich.
I think that needs to be further clarified because the way you said it sounds like a good thing. The distinction needs to be made: merger of state and corporate power with the state by will of the people controlling that corporate power, that is good. The merger where corporate power is the one in the ‘driver’s seat’ controlling the state, then that is truly bad only in the sense that corporate power serves not the people of the state, but profit which by its very nature is global (globalistic) and thus attuned to multi national interests of other sovereigns to the detriment of the citizens.
It’s often said that is the difference between Chinese and American “capitalism” is that in China, the corporations serve the state, in America the state serves the corporations.
The rightwing capitalist, zionist controlled western oligarchy in a nutshell.
Dimitrov was spot on. Btw. at the time, Stefan Zweig, who was no communist, noticed the brand new uniforms the Nazi goons were wearing, indicating finance sponsorship and no popular movement.
Politics is very much a matter of class interests. Today we have the interests of finance capital concentrated in extremely few hands against the interests of the huge majority.
Dimitrov’s definition
is essentially correct. The MSM, the private media corporations in particular, are an excellent case in point specializing in lies, demagoguery, chauvinism, warmongering, and vulgarity. If we add the funding and arming of violent reaction worldwide, it’s evident that the Collective West is the root cause of the fascist scourge. More specifically: If Russia and China ended the West immediately, the Ukronazis, Takfiris, Zionist Jewry and other assorted garbage would stop pestering the planet pretty damn quickly; it’s like turning off their common oxygen supply.
Looking at Russia’s ongoing fight against fascism, Putin and his government are to be congratulated not just because of their outstanding performance. Compared to the situation facing Stalin’s USSR, Putin’s Russia has a very weak, totally unconvincing band of discredited traitors. The Trotskyites 80 years ago were backed by fascist foreign powers that were ruled by fairly competent criminals who had set out to enrich their countries at the expense of ’lesser peoples’. Today, the Collective West simply has no competent people whatsoever at its disposal. And the West’s ”Elites” don’t care about the wellbeing of their own societies anymore.
You are right.
That’s why Kolomoisky, Akhmetov and others financed Azov and nazi groups.
And that’s why all communists in western countries have to stand with Russia.
https://vz.ru/politics/2022/3/18/1149085.html
Referring to the ‘Doctrine of Fascism’ written by Mussolini himself is helpful for understanding the phenomenon of (historical) fascism. It’s worth pointing out that Mussolini had been a socialist who preached that the power of capitalism can only be overthrown by a violent revolution. He gradually changed his stance in the years leading to WWI and definitively broke with socialism after the socialists’ parties in Germany and France backed their own govts rather than organizing the workers to overthrow the state and end the war.
It led Mussolini to the conclusion that the workers themselves will always choose the nation first, and not see themselves as an international class brotherhood as classical Marxist theory stipulates. He came up with Fascism as ‘third way’ and an alternative to both liberal capitalism and Marxism. If you find the program of the Italian Fascist Party when they came to power, you will note that it’s socialist in tone and essence. However, Italian fascists were prone to factionalism and since the early days, the party had its powerful reactionary wing and was backed by the traditional landowner caste (and later the Church) who had sided with Mussolini to eliminate the threat of a Bolshevik-style revolution, which was very real in Italy in the immediate aftermath of WWI (1918 – 22).
In his last days, Mussolini had openly returned to his socialist roots, having been betrayed by the King and the capitalists.
That being said, fascism implies the deification of the state, which they held as the highest and ultimate form of human organization. Where fascism deified the state, Nazism deified race, Marxism class, and liberalism the market.
We should be careful when comparing Mussolini’s fascism with the more modern incarnations of Fascism. A Latin American fascist regime (such as Pinochet) had more in common with Franco’s than Mussolini’s dictatorship.
But – sorry: the Mussolini Fascists aligned immediatedly with the catholic Papists.
And they sent willingly Thousands of “Volunteers” to fight those “orthodox subhumans”.
Mussolinis Fascist have always been together with Catholicism, always been against Orthodoxy, always ready to serve the “masterrace”.
Mussolini himself was fiercely anti-clerical and anti-theist, but he eventually modified his views because it was politically expedient to do so. Signing the Concordat with the Vatican was a major victory of the Fascist party because it solved the long-standing issue of the Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican not recognizing each other. The Kingdom of Italy was openly anti-papacy with a strong influence of masonry (which favored republicanism).
Again, there is a world of difference between Franco and Mussolini, the clericalist element is much less prominent with the latter.
I mean, Mussolini did give pretty conciliatory statements towards Yugoslavia, for example, and Italian army helped save quite a few Serbs and Jews from the Ustashe in Dalmatia and other areas occupied by the Italians. But it’s a rather complex topic.
Mussolini’s Fascism was a failed experiment. Later adaptations were more successful since the super-capitalist elements completely took over.
The term Fascism is used to people all across the political spectrum, to mean either “good” or “evil” depending on their perspective. For me, as an American with roots in the founding generation of what was once an inspired experiment in limited Republican self-government (which the very people it was intended to keep free didn’t understand, and discarded within one human lifetime after its establishment), I group Fascism, Nazism and Communism together, seeing little real difference between them outside of style. All are forms of totalitarian collectivism, which turns human beings into social insects, for the benefit of a small ruling clique.
“Fascism”, of course, is derived from the fasces, the symbol of authority in the Roman Republic: a bundle of sticks with an axe blade protruding, symbolizing the power of collective conformity and action – enforced by the leather straps binding them together. Of course, people working together can accomplish great things, but all too often the togetherness is promoted by demagogues for their own purposes, and results in mass suffering both for their intended targets and for their own slavish followers.
I still remember 60 years ago watching Leni Riefenstahl’s masterpiece “Triumph of the Will”. I could feel the power, but it was like watching porn; I knew it was not something I wanted to go with. This is not what human birth is for.
Many very good insights into the nature of fascism here. In my view the best of these understandings merit being integrated into a radical understanding of the unconscious psychological driver that is common to all of these features. I have had to go to the work of the psychologist Carl Jung to find for myself a satisfying and definitively radical definition of fascism. It is a definition that embraces and includes from within all of the essential features outlined above.
Essentially, according to Carl Jung, fascism is a reactionary response to evolution on the part of the fractured and neurotic Western mental ego. It is a fear of facing the Inner Self’s attempt to restore integral wholeness to a fractured, one sided and ego bound patriarchal psyche. Jung argues that essentially Western civilization is dangerously neurotic. And fascism is a self defense mechanism on the part of that neurosis.
Fascism had its origins in Ancient Rome. (Fasci = divide and bind and conquer) The Romans super charged the rise of the patriarchal ego and in so doing split the ego mind off from many dimensions of natural wholeness. Divide and conquer has a religious and spiritual definition as well as the more obvious features. According to Hegel, Roman patriarchal egoism fractured the human psyche, thereby giving rise to a totalitarianism of a hyper masculine mental egoism. War and empire and class rule became the driving force. Patriarchal and ego in a nutshell. This became a mental substitute for the natural divinity of human wholeness. The feminine and nature were pushed into the unconscious, along with the proletariat. Humanity’s innate divinity was lost and the tyranny of the mental ego found its formula for domination through recourse to false and distorted religion. Look to where Fascism goes to find its religious support.
Fascism is a uniquely 20th century phenomenon. Carl Jung writes that the 20th century presented a hitherto unprecedented challenge to civilization. That being the evolutionary process for the restoration of wholeness to the fractured Western psyche. Fascism is, according to Jung’s psychological researches, the fear driven ego minds’ resistance to the restoration of that wholeness. It is a deep seated reactionary fear drive on the part of the established patriarchal ego which is terrified of giving away its mania for control to the rising movement for wholeness on the part of the unconscious. Carl Jung makes this quite clear in his interpretation of his patients dreams. “Completely smash the political left” is code for smash the capacity of the unconscious to restore a healing wholeness to the ego bound psyche. Whereas, argues Jung, the Political Left is representative of the unconscious’s attempts to restore wholeness to the psyche. This means fascism has an unconscious inner driver. That is why it is almost impossible to kill it off purely on the political level. Accordingly successful resistance to fascism must include a vital spiritual dimension. So hats off to Ramin Mazaheri for introducing us to to Persian “spiritual” socialism.
This means fascism is a mass problem on the level of depth psychology. So the 20th century – and now – is marked by the evolutionary struggle of the human spirit to heal itself by restoring wholeness and redeem humanity in the face of a reactive and desperate rear guard resistance on the part of Western patriarchy. This, according to Carl Jung offers a radical understanding of 20th century political conflicts.
Jung made note of the fact that the Cold War is a spiritual struggle between Western patriarchy and the feminine principle rising from within the unconscious. West verses East if you like. Jung called it a war within the family. Male verses female A further clue being that socialism is so intimately allied with authentic feminism.
Essentially fascism is totalitarian egoism. Lenin wrote that imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism. A depth psychologist would add to that by saying that capitalism is the highest stage of patriarchal egoism. The two understandings fit together like a hand and glove.
The clarifying principle, according to Jung, is that the psychological contents historically suppressed into the unconscious by patriarchy are the visible carrying agencies for that restoration of this vital healing wholeness. Which makes them the natural target for fascists. The healing agencies become demonized.
They are, according to this radical psychological perspective, the feminine erotic principle, and the human bodies integral connection to the living earth and natural functions. Women and the proletariat if you like. So these are found as defining psychological values on the political Left. Socialism is a feminine energy and the first socialist revolution came from “Mother Russia’s” bottomless capacity for heart centered human feeling. Russia, according to Carl Jung, embodies the life giving well springs of the unconscious. It is an ocean of heart based redemptive feelings. So Fascism itself proves the point by trumpeting its greatest hatred – Communism. The fascist horror of communism and its ongoing determination to eliminate Russia is a political code for the ego’s terror at the hands of a feminine, earth centric movement for the displacement of one sided patriarchy by a restored planetary wholeness. Further evidence of the accuracy of this thesis is to be found in the rise of Red China, a civilization that more than any other knows how to adhere to the values of integral wholeness.
Fascism is in a nutshell the totalitarian neurosis of Western patriarchy in its desperate need to rule over the and displace the rise of human wholeness and universality. To put it in real Christian terms it is a holy war against Christ.
Therefore I believe that the many valuable insights into the nature of fascism represented above can find their final organizing wholeness and most satisfying definition in this radical approach to human interiority pioneered by Carl Jung. As I see it Carl Jung fills in the essential theoretical gaps in Western consciousness left over from the incomplete understanding of Hegel and Marx
So then perhaps we can understand why anti communists and Russia haters so consistently appear to be insane.
Thanks for that. Very interesting, even though, at the moment, it’s very hard to give a **** about the West. Seems like a lost cause.
I think there’s little aspect overlooked about nationalists “…if Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo had been nationalists, their armies would never have set foot outside their countries’ borders ” does ignore one aspect:
What if the nationalists think, they have to regain lost national soil, or feel in need of “Lebensraum”? Why shouldn’t nationalist not be greedy for outside resources, they don’t have themselves?
Nationalists who were sufficient with their country borders and wouldn’t grave for occupation – we would call them Isolationists.
By September 1939, all the major populations of German-speaking people apart from the Swiss were under the dominion of the Third Reich. What followed was a campaign of colonisation accompanied by genocide of the Slavic peoples.
There may be some in Poland who long to regain the lost ‘Polish Commonwealth’, but that was just another empire whose economy was based on imposing the harshest form of serfdom on the people of what is now Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltics.
Read Gottfried, Griffin and Paxton. In that order. Those are the best western scholars of the long-gone mid-century phenomenon known as “fascism.”
The term is notoriously hard to define. If you disagree, try defining it in fifty words or less without recycling someone else’s work.
Mussolini’s definition applies only to his own notion of it in 20s Italy, and then only in the barest theoretical sense. Britt’s is marginally better, but he seems to be describing a generic illiberal state, of which a fascist state would be only one variant, no longer extant.
Fascism has not existed in any meaningful sense in almost 80 years. More people practice Wicca than fascism. Yet the western surveillance states are increasingly designed to combat this phantom. And now Russia declares its war to be a jihad against… a few thousand men wearing taboo patches. It’s a joke. Fascism has no dog in that fight. Honest observers understand this.
Irony of ironies: it is Hitler who has become the eternal Goldstein, to be trotted out by anyone (anti-white Zionist, democratic capitalist, neoliberal globalist, American cuckservative or Russian propagandist), at any time, for any reason, usually having to do with avoiding unpleasant realities about the nature of their own position and aims.
I love ‘virtue-signal de jour’. As someone has put it on social media: ‘I support……the current thing’.
“But if one believes, as a majority of British voters did in 2016, that the EU is an undemocratic, corporatist supra-national state which rules the continent on behalf of finance capital, It follows that the burnished liberal utopia is fascism here and now.”
Correct to a point. Missing is the clear statement that the financial capital of the world is the City of London.
See Shaxson’s brilliant analyses and video’s. WallStreet is the US arm of the City of London.
That is why Brexit changed actually nothing for the UK subjects – the NATO war drive and the crazy green policies of the EU and D.C. are identical to British policies.
Finance resorts to fascism as Dimitrov well identifies, when it perceives its collapse. And right now a collapse is underway since at least the 2008 crash. Finance’s reaction, liquidity pumping, has made collapse inevitable.
In France the word Synarchism is much better – first identified by US military intelligence during WWII.
So here we are again facing a financial collapse. Note the financial attacks on Russia with insane sanctions, and Glazyev’s counter measures.
With Synarchism correctly identified, the solution must first of all be a reorganization of finance – obvious, no?
That means putting back in place the FDR 1934 Banking Act known as Glass-Steagall – bank separation. Clinton repealed that in 1999, and just look what happened – crash after crash, and now the rise of fascism again.
It is simple, if not extremely dangerous – fix a financial problem with financial re-organization, this time with Russia, and China (who have already Glass-Steagall bank separation!)_.
”Mazaheri says Russia misinterprets Nazism as simply Russophobia.”
According to RM:
The Russians are 100% right about the Ukronazis being die-hard Russophobes first and foremost. On this basis, denazifying Ukraine makes perfect sense regardless of what passes for true Nazism in zone A where Nazism originated and also belongs. And I don’t believe the Russians are in any need of haughty corrections from zone A. It was the Soviet Red Army after all that opened up the camps on its way to Berlin.
Thank you for this piece! I am ashamed I know so little about Georgi Dimitrov.
Btw, this post isn’t by me, longterm poster Dimitar, here at saker’s vineyard… usually at Cafe.
“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.”.
(Benito Mussolini ) nowadays “they ” use tactics from Marxism, Fascism, Maoism, Stalinism…anarchy and nihilism…all combined but most especially “they” use the Malignant Projection and fear…because “they” rely on the less educated, and on haters .
As long as “they” recruited worshipers of many nationalities, as long as “they” want to destroy the Western culture, they HATE those who “resist” … we are dealing with an evil ideology carried by malefic entities…As Plato said : “Ignorance is the root and step of all evil.” This is why they HATE knowledge…
Fascism and democracy appear to me to be methods of governing, not systems. As we have seen, the so-called liberal, woke masses can be quite fascist, but even dictatorships can be democratic. For what is democracy? Carrying out of the popular will-what most people want, or would like to see. So whether that popular will is carried out by elected individuals, an oligarchy, or a self-appointed or hereditary ruler, we have, in essence, a democracy.
Of course, democracy can be highjacked by the ruling class to brainwash and manipulate the masses into wanting something that serves the elites interests, and actually harms the public in the long-term. This has been the case in the US for a very long time.
Fascism is not only against communism, it is against any form of purely democratic manifestation. Canadian truck convoys are not communists but Trudeau is a fascist; the French yellow vests are not communist, but Macron is a fascist; no vax demonstrations are not communist, but all those who repressed them are fascists.
look up “Zeev Sternhell – on Fascism”
Fascism is provoked by a regression and dissatisfaction of the middle and lower classes, which in turn is shaped by the upper class in capitalism into a national idology of for example Nazi fascims “Übermensch” etc. resolving into a aggression pointing outwards.. therefor Mao Zedong or Stalin wear simply dictators…
Fascists always give themselves away by a over-orientation towards people or national identities, and are not per se friends of the “separation of powers.
Fascists are everywhere.. Trump was playing with fascist idologies but all in all the USA is far far away from Fascism.. the USA is simply imperailistic
The most fascist Countrys and people u will meet definetly in Germany.. Turkey.. Italy.. Austria..and Poland and all strict muslim orthodox countrys aka “allah u akbar” = “heil hitler” …did i mentioned Japan..
When fascism ruling class meets fascist citizens, then u have nazi fascism or italian fascism..
I prefer the term totalitarianism over fascism, totalitarianism can be fascist but it just as easily can be bolshewist, national socialist or liberal. We are dealing with a hydra with many heads, trying to find one specific form of the hydra will never work. The hydra can switch content/ideology whenever it sees fit it, it can wear every skin, sing every song, all it requires of its host is that it’s self-righteous, wuick to anger, full of pride and full of hate…
Fascism is econnomically defined by the fact that the corporation are controlled by the State, through friendly oligarch or even directly…
In fact Gaullism is Fascim’s light version that is applied nowadays in Russia where the state controls the leading companies of Strategic Sectors of the economy and leaves the rest to the private sector.
Basically Energy, Public Services and Defense are part or totally State controlled!
The fact that Hitler had pan Germanic dreams or Mussolini had a complex because Italy had no colonies, does not prove that Fascism is Imperialist by nature at all!
But Italy wasn’t particularly fan of conquering territory inside Europe…
It wasn’t imperialist at all with Franco in Spain nor with Pinochet in Chile! It was purely nationalistic without expansion in sight!!!
The fact that the diverse commie regimes were perverted from their ideal that resulted in the companies being controlled by appartchiks instead of “the people” or “the workers” is just that a perversion.
On the social side:
both communism and fascism are socialist in nature! After the 1929 crash, Hitler nationalized or controlled germany’s leading industries and launched multiple public ginormous projects meanwhile promoting social programms. And it worked way better than communism might i add.
On the Values side they are way different:
The fascist contrary to the communist is nationalist by nature! Anchored in Traditional values!
The slogan of French collaborationist went from Liberty Egality Fraternity to Work Family Patria.
It’s obvious if you are a freedom lover fascism is not your cup of tea.
That Putin wants to eradicate Naziism in Ukraine i can get it, because what set the Nazis appart is the BS ranking of the races of Hitler where Slavs were between Jews and many others…
That said the current model in Russia is certainly largely inspired from what De Gaulle did, and on the economic and value side it’s not that far, with more individual freedom but no less social programms.
And whetever you can say it’s sort of Fascism-Lite.
“And it worked way better than communism might i add.”
Really ? Who’s flag was on top of the bombed out Reichstag ?
Going back to the fasces, fascism is not the “strength in unity” bundle of sticks. We all need to work together from time to time for the common good. Fascism is that piece of string tying them together, the compulsion to march in step.
Georgi Dimitrov, who was undoubtedly a very brave and honourable man as shown by his facing down his Nazi accusers (one of whom was Hermann Göring) at the Leipzig trial in 1933, also writes the following about fascism in the opening chapter (“The Fascist Offensive”) of the “The United Front – The Struggle Against Fascism and War” (International Publishers, New York):
“Fascism is a most ferocious attack by capital on the mass of the working people;
Fascism is unbridled chauvinism and annexationist war;
Fascism is rabid reaction and counter-revolution;
Fascism is the most vicious enemy of the working class and all working people!”
Dimitrov gives a class definition of fascism, which can be compared to the cultural definitions given by others. Two other notable works on fascism, from a Marxist viewpoint, are: (1) “Fascism and Social Revolution” by R. Palme Dutt and (2) “Radical Perspectives on the Rise of Fascism in Germany, 1919-1945” (Monthly Review Press, New York).
Today, liberalism and fascism are on the same side. It is a great historical tragedy that the responsibility of combatting fascism once again falls on the shoulders of Mother Russia, who at a tremendous cost and sacrifice to herself, had vanquished its first incarnation. The shock troops of its second incarnation can be seen in the following disturbing video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoqZ8gPKKis&ab_channel=CRUX
”It is a great historical tragedy that the responsibility of combatting fascism once again falls on the shoulders of Mother Russia, who at a tremendous cost and sacrifice to herself, had vanquished its first incarnation.”
Zone A at its finest. But Putin has made it abundantly clear that this time around Russia will not be ravaged by these sewer animals. And China which was also a target of all-out genocidalists is way beyond any masturbatory fantasies in zone A going down the toilet. What we hear today are some ”funny noises” as the toilet is being flushed. Mostly US neocons and Green Eurorabble saying goodbye. Good riddance.
Обыкновенный фашизм (Full HD, документальный, реж. Михаил Ромм, 1965 г.) https://youtu.be/vIAFJ7QIU7k через @YouTube
… with English sub-titles.
https://archive.org/details/ordinary-fascism
if anyone wants to understand what fascism was and/or wasn’t, i’d suggest a primary source by the name of julius evola. there was a reason mussolini wanted him involved in the social policies of the nascent italian fascist project and also reasons he became persona non grata and stalked by the SS.
in general, “fascist” is just modernist shorthand for “OMG STFU your not my dad!”. probably because italian fascism brought nothing new to the table; all its negative aspects existed for centuries before someone saw a bundle of twigs and got all creative and social engineery.
I read that on at least one occasion Mussolini defined fascism, simply:
“When you run government as a business.”
Simplicity speaks to me. I understand that business and government (and charity) are each different constructs.
A big clap, I agree “in toto”
Saluti
Roberto
For consideration:
Организационно-политическая суть фашизма как такового вне зависимости от того, как его называть, какими идеями он прикрывается и какими способами он осуществляет власть в обществе, — в активной поддержке толпой «маленьких людей» — по идейной убеждѐнности их самих или безыдейности на основе животно-инстинктивного поведения — системы злоупотреблений властью «элитарной» олигархией, которая:
A. представляет неправедность как якобы истинную “праведность”, и на этой основе, извращая миропонимание людей, всею подвластной ей мощью культивирует неправедность в обществе, препятствуя каждому члену общества состояться в качестве человека
B. под разными предлогами всею подвластной ей мощью подавляет всех и каждого, кто сомневается в праведности её самой и осуществляемой ею политики, а также подавляет и тех, кого она в этом заподозрит
Machine translated:
The organizational and political essence of fascism as such, regardless of what it is called, what ideas it hides behind and in what ways it exercises power in society – in the active support of the crowd of “little people”- on the basis of their ideological conviction or lack of ideas on the basis of animal- instinctive behavior – of a system of abuse of power by the “elitist” oligarchy, which:
A. represents unrighteousness ( wickedness, depravity, vileness, degeneracy, sinfulness) as allegedly true “righteousness”, and on this basis, distorting the worldview of people, cultivates unrighteousness in society with all its power, preventing each member of society from becoming a true human being
B. under various pretexts, with all the power under her control, suppresses everyone and everybody who doubts the righteousness of the system and its policies, and also suppresses those whom she suspects of this
While the historical fascism of the 20th century is an interesting study it is modern techno-fascism and “friendly fascism” that we should be more concerned with.
Every digital device is tracking/tracing and can be used to manipulate us by far more subtle, yet pervasive means than were used the mid-20th century. Digital passports (trial run just completed) and traceable/trackable digital currencies are next.
Good piece. I think there is a lot confusion about fascism, not surprisingly promoted by US corporate media. As many Saker readers are aware, fascism comes to the fore when capitalism breaks down, as is happening in the US and much of the EU, and employed by the ruling elite as an ideological rationale to harness state power to protect their wealth/power and maintain class structure. Historically, fascism has drawn support from: large financial interests, the enforcers- military/police, corporate media owned by the ruling elite and organized religion such as the Catholic Church. Thus, the highest Court in the US is now dominated by an institution-Catholic Church that supported Fascism in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Germany and has institutionalized child sexual abuse- the most recent report revealing that Catholic Priests in France abused 200K-300K children. During WWII, Western Ukraine allied with Nazi Germany while Eastern Ukraine allied with the Soviet Union. Thus, following the US-sponsored 2014 Maidan Coup (aka ‘Revolution of Dignity’) the US/NATO pumped in $ billions of military aid to the most virulently anti-Russian forces in Ukraine- the Right Sector and affiliated Nazi groups. This has been accelerated under the Biden Administration, who appears to be preparing for a military confrontation with the Russia-China-Iran axis.
Notes
1. Mainstream historical analysis typically downplays the close relationship between fascism and large financial interests. This is covered extensively in- Fascism and Big Business by Daniel Guérin 1938 (Book)
2. Franco’s Stooges Still Dominate the Spanish Economy By Eoghan Gilmartin Jacobin Magazine June 28, 2020; Link: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/06/francisco-franco-spain-monuments-fascism
3. Spain: Revelations of obscene wealth inherited by former dictator Franco’s family by
Vicky Short Oct 2, 2007; Link: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2007/10/fran-o02.html
Blah blah blah. “Fascism” was the name of a political movement in Italy. Full stop. It’s use after 1945 is simply as the ultimate insult. Asking if Putin or Biden are “fascists” is like asking if they support the Guelph or Ghibelline party.
Since the Left is a bunch of hysterics who have no arguments, they use “fascist” as a way to “win” arguments by exiling their opponents beyond the debate. A “fascist” is simply anyone who thinks an old, fat, ugly Jew in a cheap wig (“Rachel Levine”) should be in a mental hospital, not an undersecretary of Health; or that a practitioner of “puppy fetishism” makes a poor Nuclear Arms Inspector (real members of Team Biden).
Putin and every sane person on Earth is a “fascist” and if a Certain Tribe hadn’t made the term toxic, they would proudly wear the label.
No. You don’t get to move the Overton Window by changing the meaning of words just because liberals in the West do, albeit for different reasons.
Fascism is the final stage of Capitalism, where the State and Finance Capital are as one, sharing the same bloodstream. It resorts to war/militarism/imperialism because there is no other way to even temporarily solve Capitalism’s problems without dictatorship and bloodshed.
People have trouble seeing this because they confuse what the bastards tell people they are, with the demonstrable reality of what they are
Finance Capital needs thugs to kick people’s heads in so they forget all about trying to change the system, and at least pretend to like it.
Dimitrov was on the money, but thus early form of fascism was the result of the gleaning of imperial powers that was WWI. An overt military response by the excluded financial powers (rightest). The Ultra-imperial successor, the Anglo-alliance doned a liberal pose, after all they had won the power and the right to flex punitve actions at will across the world. Now we have moved past Dimtrov’s frame, while supporting his main point fascism is the political expression of finance capital– gloablaiast corprotism. Thwe differernce is that the particular origin no longer describes our version of it.
The left-rightpolitical spectrum needs to put aside, fascism was always left-right opportunist, it is Eichmann in a dress. The question is whether we side with corpotrate power or the power and interersts of ordinary peoples. The rise of professional management, the courtiers of coprorate capital are political camleons; post-truthers if they can fool you they win, they dont lie because before is made up for some passing prupsoe. They slip from one to the other left right; nationsist cosmopolitian; conservative liberal radical reactionary— it is all there same to them, a factional momenet. The ultimate idealist without imaghination they jump from one band wagon to the next.
Fascism makes iutself into whatever it needs to be moment to moment in a struggle within management they climb the greasy pole piushibng the others down. Managerment is always at war with itself. Fascism is the rule of coprorates, Mussolini knew what he was, its fibnal form is professional management that like ther turtles supporting the world— it is turtles all the way down– that stand in and for illogic the struggle for the unfittest being to walk the earth the dominance of the overseerer in charge of whips and carrorts.
Fascism is not a political belief system, it is not a manifesto, or any particular policy… It is the ideology of corporate rule — the expression of management in charge — ther overseer as the CEO right down to the local office decideing who will get medical help and who will not. The Eichmann complex, forget Hedrych and Himmler, think about the man who made sure of the train schedules, who personally killed no-one but killed millions think of the mode of expression the final solution, special diet, special treatments, labour process designed to kill its victims. Think of the office manager who knows nothing but must control everything— the decision maker that takes no responsiblty for any decision, the committees named that verbally endorse policies that are never written down but always acted upon— that is fasicsm that is the western world as we live it.
That is why I say- Russia (We) needs to denazify Europe and five eyes too.
My definition of Fascism- The East India Company model of global economic organisation taken to its logical conclusion.
In this sense the British (Americans) did not fight Nazism in WW2. They merely fought Hitler for the Nazi leadership. Hitler was too honest. His logic was “If we are going to kill them, just kill them”. Whereas the British would cloak the same actions in layers of law/principles/theories/science/theology etc. While Hitler might shoot you the British would give you a “fair trial” before shooting you. Hitler would put you in a concentration camp while the British would put you in a reservation. Hitler would organise vigilantes to hunt people down while the British would post rewards for “scalps” or declare whole groups of peoples “outlaws” so that any crimes against them would not be punishable by law, as was done in India.
This is why Nazism survived and thrived in the five eyes and Ukraine. It was nurtured.
“This is why Nazism survived and thrived in the five eyes and Ukraine. It was nurtured.”
I was surpised to read the West was supporting Banderas gang fighting in Western Ukraine well into the 50’s. Bandera himself hosted in West-Germany. Think hostilities didn’t end before KGB liquidated him in Germany in ’56. That tells you a bit about how thorough the de-nazification in post WW2 wester europe was.
Dear Western.
“Fascism” is a unhuman ideology of the creature which puts a rope on our head and destroys us.
That’s a core Russian belief. “Fascism” is an extreme egoism. This is what Russians earned in “Great Patriotic War”. Russian in the sense of “Rossia” – multinational country.
Fascism is an extreme of ability to be happy by making others unhappy. It is a way of human behavior which is abstracted from German Nazi.
Fascism is like a disease which must be thrown out from the body without compassion.
At the moment, who cares about academical definitions, is it “an imperialism” tool or “cultural phenomenon” and where in ancient Rome did it exist? The definition lives and coins now in these who are fighting at line of contact and in country which supports them. Perhaps when documentary of the struggle unfolds, we will have an updated word.
Unfortunately for Ukie Nazis, they adopted Nazi symbolic and addiction to German Nazism placing themselves in the same Russian memory spot as German Nazis. But even if they looked like angels, this would change nothing. Nazi.
I left Russia 25+ years ago. Don’t think that She is different for this matter.
Konstantin Kirillov
USA
PS: While channels are yet open, you can make feeling from
“Ordinary fascism” linked in few recent articles of this blog, or
“Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973)”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZhgXs_iFRs
, or many more movies captured the idea. Even this visibly non-related epoch movie still made in spirit of what Russian perceive as “justice”:
“White sun of desert” 1969, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Auj_u7wEyw8
PS2: I must use correct term: Ukrainian Nazi. Not the one I did use. I am sorry. Language must be respectful and not derogatory, even to people under moral attack. Especially if I am only a laptop warrior.
It is important that Dimitrov is speaking of the FINANCE capitalist class, and not the mere capitalist class. That is the ruling class of the system of Imperialism. The mere capitalist class is a subordinate class and can be won to a broad coalition of other classes in an anti-fascist front. In this situation, Trotskyites and anarchists are a serious problem, as they accuse the communists of “selling out” and will split the front, claiming they are more “revolutionary”. Hence during the struggle against fascism of the 1930s and 1940s, they tried to split the popular front. It was necessary to take harsh measures against these elements.
Fascism is centralized authoritarian control by either right or left by elites usually being puppets of external forces who refuse to comply with the will of the masses and center of politics to enforce their agenda on everyone.
It arises from economic problems – depressions and stagnation which are usually artificially created by bankers.
In reality it is in reality the globalists (bankers) who are the fascists.
And because Russia and others are not dancing to their tune they are being vilified.
James: The embedded link (in the article) to Dimitrov appears to be mangled and delivers a NOT FOUND. The following works okay:
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/dimitrov/works/1935/08_02.htm
Defining fascism – why ignore one of the most serious sources of our time (besides Putin himself)..
“What Fascism Is in Reality” – englisch Q&A with VP
https://fktdeutsch.wordpress.com/2022/03/02/essence-of-fascism/
“How Fascism is created ´democratically´” – Analytical note (German is maschine translated into English pretty easily und readable):
https://fktdeutsch.wordpress.com/2020/12/09/wie-faschismus-demokratisch-geschaffen-wird/
“Mazaheri says Russia misinterprets Nazism simply as Russophobia”. This is a blatant misrepresentation of what Mazaheri is arguing. All fascisms need an alien people who are simultaneously presented as a threat and disgusting. Jews served the purpose for fascist Nazi Germany. But there is nothing inherently anti-semitic about fascism. It is the psychological and political need, on the part of fascism, to identify a disgusting threat that is primary. The specific people identified as the disgusting threat are certainly secondary and in some ways irrelevant. I can imagine a fascism in the USA that targets mid-western white conservatives as the disgusting threat. So Mazaheri is right in my view to bemoan the use of the term “denazification”, since Nazism was historically and geographically the fascism specific to the Germany of the 1920s to 1940s, whereas current Ukrainian fascism clearly and unambiguously identifies Russians as the disgusting threat.
People seem to over think this topic in my opinion.
Fascism and socialism are bastard brothers of the same ism.
The State is sovereign, and “you” are not.
The main distinction being private property. Economic fascism holds out the pretense of private property, but the State/bureaucracy controls everything, where as socialism says the State owns the means of production. But since the ultimate “means of production” is the individual, John Lennon said it best in his song “Working class hero” “You’re still an effing peasant as far as I can see”
The Nationalist part is easy to replicate at almost any soccer match around the world, most easily shown by what just happened in Mexico.
This is emptying words of meaning. Like saying good = bad an vice versa.
Sosialism is not marxism, and have private ownership. A more appropriate comparison of polar opposites would be communism vs fascism, where the former in it’s extreme only have common property vs the latter only have private property i.e. everything and everyones owned. There is no public space.
It’s like the EU legislating that Nazism = Soviet Communism, both totalitarian regimes. It’s outrageous.
If you want to see how a modern society without a soverign state looks like, take a trip to somalia. It’s the dream future of the supra national elite/corporations.
Fascism is a totalitarian form of political organisation – plain & simple. No one seems to be able to provide a simple & straightforward definition. Fascism is not a classical dictatorship because a fascist political order does not base itself on a cult of personality even if a cult of personality (i.e. a Hitler, a Mussolini, a Franco) is established. Fascism is a totalitarian political organisation rooted in an ideal, the ideal can be literally anything, it does not have to be based in nationhood, hence the common fallacy of equating fascism with nationalism, as if it were one & the same. The liberal left are keen to repeat this fallacy, the equivalence of fascism & nationalism. The ideal around which a fascist political order can be based can be arbitrary, it could be veganism, for example, it could be a sectarian cult, the point is that the stated ideal serves to justify total rule, those that rule in the name of the ideal have all power at their disposal as long as the ideal is being served. So it could be communism, hence why political theorists have long claimed that the extreme right & extreme left are one & the same, there is no essential difference. When I was at school the kids would often refer to the headmaster as a “fascist” because he was perceived as using his position to inflict a tyranny within the school – in Britain at that time (the 1980s) that was quite common in schools, it even came across in some of the literature of the era – if I remember rightly, you could read this sentiment in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole. So that is fascism. I am not sure I have ever read a satisfactory definition, that is because the discourse on political theory is so over intellectualised that we get a lot of philosophical abstraction & very little practical explanation – how things are in the real world in which we live. I agree with the author also, about Ramin Mazaheri’s latest article, he gets it badly badly wrong, Russia has not made any mistake in its use of the term “Nazi” & denazification in Ukraine, for the forces Russia fights against are definitive Nazis, they are not mere Russophobes, they are ideological National Socialists & fascists in the battalions Azov & Aidar, in the party Svoboda & Pravii Sektor. The followers of Stepan Bandera are defined not just by Russophobia, but by their fascist political outlook, that is their belief in a totalitarian political order based in the notion of Nordic-Germanic supremacy in the world. This war in Ukraine is ultimately about that, Russia is fighting Nazism, fascism.
Thanks, well written and comprehensible.
The example of Veganism might sound trivial, but how tings have developed the last decade … I’ve dropped mentioning that I’m a Vegetarian. I can now buy a vegan burger even at the petrol station … great, still how it came about, and how fast … is creepy.
I remember I originally reacted to the judgemental style of the proud vegans, condeming the sinful meat eaters. Considered it to be cult like, but fascist is more to the point. It all aligns with the other recent fenomenas like the environmental movement, the wokes, ‘critical’ race theory etc. Even the so-called Anti-fa seems fascist these days.
Yes exactly very creepy. And there is one obvious reason. That is Corporate Food got involved and started making “vegan ” processed food out of all the wonderful GM products and other assorted chemical non-foods.
My daughter is vegan and I began to warn her early in the piece not to buy any processed vegan food that isn’t also certified organic.
Wherever you have GMO soy (or other CMO crops) you have a hidden helping of Glyphosate.
MY experience is that mostly social media vegans (probably fake) have that militant aggressive attitude, for ordinary vegans there is far more anger directed towards them than they project. But of course vegans can get quite militant about protecting animals. And good luck to anyone who messes with a meat eater’s breakfast lunch and dinner. :)
Not to mention that the vegan war is now over since all everyone has adopted the far less inflammatory “Plant Based Diet” How much anger can anyone muster up against a carrot or a bean?
You are very confused. Nazism was a short-lived manifestation of fascism in a specific historical time and geographical place – Germany in the first half of the 20th Century. For many reasons, contemporary Ukrainian fascism is not Nazism. For example they are not particularly anti-semitic. But like the Nazis they do loathe the Russians. As Ramin Mazaheri seems to suggest, people need to move on from obsessing about Nazism and focus on the fascism du jour and realise that whatever mask capitalism wants the fascists to wear today will be specific to what capitalism wants today. In this case it is Russia’s vast natural and primary economic resources. Fascism gets wheeled out whenever capitalism can’t get what it wants at the ballot box, including via colour revolutions. Capitalism is fascism.
You don’t seem well informed about the hardcore Nazi elements within Ukraine. I would describe them as oldskool Nazis. You have statements about their mission being one of saving the white european (germanic) race from their destruction by their semite leaders. In reality they consider themselves germanic, and wan’t to kill all slavs, jews, roma, gays and other sub-humans. In reality they would like to kill the majority of ukrainians, poles, belarussians, slovaks, bulgarians, serbs etc.
There is a much bigger battle than Ukraine comming, all of Europe will be in flames if things go south.
Great little essay.
Two things:
First:
“Fascism is imperialist, and imperialism is the antithesis of nationalism.”
Well another way of saying it is that imperialiam subsumes nationalism. Or that it requires a kind of super-nationalism, or even a deformed or perferted nationalism. It’s hard to say Hitler wasnt a nationalist. Or that Mussolini wasnt a nationalist.
Second:
“fascism is the form of government which the capitalist class resorts to when revolt by the toiling classes means it can no longer rule by consent under democracy, as it prefers to.”
It’s interesting to ask the question here, was Bernie Sanders/occupy movement the working class “revolt” that was crushed, paving the way for a proto-fascist Trump…or was Trump himself a manifestation of the “revolt by the toiling classes.” Trump is an interesting figure. Trump 1.0 is almost certainly NOT a fascist–an erstwhile blue dog democrat and ed koch acolyte who actually pushed the GOP slightly LEFTWARD on a host of working class issues (except on core donor issues of Israel, fossil fuels and tax cuts for rich.) But then, he is a staunch corporatist, anti-union, anti-communist/socialist, hyper nationalist (rhetorically)…..who ends his term ridiculing the institutions of “democracy” in his ludicrous stop the steal fabrication. So what is he? I think Trump 2.0 will be the real thing: real fascism that abandons any “america first” isolationist policy and becomes the administration that tries to confront China over Taiwan with force. Possible?
“Modern Russia is not the USSR, but it never ceased to be the target of imperialism despite embracing the so-called ‘free market’. Ordinary Russians know that, and their leaders have in the past few weeks denounced the “Empire of Lies” with a clarity that Lenin — who literally wrote the book on it — would applaud.
To answer those who equate fascism with nationalism: If Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo had been nationalists, their armies would never have set foot outside their countries’ borders and 50 million lives would not have been needlessly lost. Fascism is imperialist, and imperialism is the antithesis of nationalism.”
Brilliant.
I like the Spanish Civil War definition of fascism. Simple and concise: “C+M=F or Capitalism plus murder equals Fascism.”
Sure sounds like fascism to me:
“Zelensky Bans Political Opposition, Nationalizes Media to Create ‘Unified’ Information”
https://news.antiwar.com/2022/03/20/zelensky-bans-political-opposition-nationalizes-media-to-create-unified-information/