Fascism

"Fascism, although in the early stages making a show of vague and patently disingenuous anti-capitalist propaganda to attract mass-support, is from the outset fostered, nourished, maintained and subsidized by the big bourgeoisie, by the big landlords, financiers and industrialists." —R. P. Dutt, Fascism and Social Revolution

A Nazi official performing a Roman salute, a common fascist gesture.

Fascism is a reactionary political movement which seeks the openly terroristic dictatorship of capital against working class and socialist movements and the abolition of the liberal system of bourgeois democracy and its nominal freedoms while still preserving the capitalist system. The common characteristics of fascism include corporatism, ultra-nationalism, anti-communism, militarism, racism, reactionism, and chauvinism. The most well-known forms of fascism in the 20th century include Nazism, Italian fascism, Shōwa statism, Francoism, and Salazarism.

After the defeat of fascist states in the Second World War largely by working class and anti-imperialist forces, the original fascist movements, along with other ultra-nationalist tendencies, developed into modern neo-fascism.

Ideology

Theory

Fascism is primarily a movement lead by the bourgeoisie for the purposes of facilitating the maintenance and defense of the capitalist system against working class movements, and therefore lacks true ideological content or theory, instead being purely practice. Any and all nominally ideological aspects of fascism are vacillating and constantly changing to meet the needs of the bourgeoisie:

"The reality of Fascism is the violent attempt of decaying capitalism to defeat the proletarian revolution and forcibly arrest the growing contradictions of its whole development. All the rest is decoration and stage-play, whether conscious or unconscious, to cover and make presentable or attractive this basic reactionary aim, which cannot be openly stated without defeating its purpose." —R. Palme Dutt, Fascism and Social Revolution

Despite this, there are common aspects and beliefs within fascist movements which can be elaborated.

Class collaboration

Fascists denies and attempts to obscure the presence and inherent nature of class struggle and exploitation between exploited and exploiting strata and introduces sentiments of class collaboration with the bourgeoisie. For instance, fascists have claimed that their state is "above" classes:

"[...] Fascism, is totalitarian, and the Fascist State — a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values — interprets, develops, and potentates the whole life of a people. No individuals or groups (political parties, cultural associations, economic unions, social classes) outside the State. Fascism is therefore opposed to Socialism to which unity within the State (which amalgamates classes into a single economic and ethical reality) is unknown, and which sees in history nothing but the class struggle." —Benito Mussolini

In reality, this is to hide the position of the fascist state as a totalitarian dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and an extreme expression of the monopoly capitalism.

Economics

See also: Third position

Deception towards the working class

Fascism presents its views in ambiguous, vague ways, often changing based on the circumstances. This aspect is inherent to fascism, because of its deceptive, anti-intellectual character and position as defenders of the ruling class.

See also

• Imperialism
• Anti-fascism
• Social-fascism

Further reading

• Fascism and Social Revolution, by R. Palme Dutt