Fascism

The Roman Salute is commonly associated with Nazis and other Fascists.

Fascism (from Italian - bundle), capitalism in decay, is the most reactionary political current that emerged in capitalist countries during the general crisis of capitalism and expresses the interests of the most aggressive circles of the imperialist bourgeoisie. The Third International described fascism as the "open, terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic, and most imperialist elements of finance capital.", a profoundly outdated slogan, given the nature of fascism today.

Characteristic of Fascism is the destruction or desire to destroy all democratic freedoms, extreme chauvinism, the preparation and unleashing of wars of aggression and conquest, the justification and glorification of class society through class collaboration, racism, sexism, and ableism. Fascist ideologues tend to promote conspiracy theories, irrational myths and manipulative distortions of truth to gather support of their popular base.

Throughout history, the fascists promoted policies that caused even more exploitation of the working class than capitalism was previously able to, allowing monopolies to take over every aspect of society. So much so that The Economist magazine introduced the term privatization in 1936, unseen in political discourse at the time, to describe Nazi Germany's economic policies. The most well-known historical examples of fascism are Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, but there have been various historical examples of fascism, such as Shōwa Japan, Francoist Spain and Salazarist Portugal. Today, well-known examples are Turkey, Iran and Russia.

History

Origins

The term "fascism" comes from the Italian National Fascist Party, a party founded by Benito Mussolini in 1921; whose practices and ideology would later define this reactionary movement as a whole. Mussolini inspired his fascism on the cult of Roman civilisation who, although they had no concept of fascism and did not care to predict the future two thousand years after their height, provided him with a perfect excuse to call back to the Roman Empire, which stretched far and wide and started in modern-day Italy. Thus the name fascism was based on the fasces, an axe that is surrounded and bound to a bundle of sticks and was carried by officials (lictors) in political and military demonstrations. This was a symbol of power and authority that Mussolini repurposed for fascism.

The origins of fascism as a counter-revolutionary movement, however, can be traced as far as the French far-right French Action, which was an openly anti-Marxist political organization established in 1899 proposing an "integral nation" for French society through class collaboration.

In Discourse on colonialism, Aimé Césaire exposed the old colonialist mindsets that would later influence fascism and survive after it. This prompted him to write in that same essay that fascism is colonialism applied to the coloniser. A similar observation was made by Frantz Fanon, who wrote: "what is fascism if not colonialism when rooted in a traditionally colonialist country?"

World War I of 1914-18 weakened world capitalism. The general crisis of capitalism manifested itself in the undermining of the political and economic foundations of the bourgeoisie rule, in the growth of the revolutionary struggle of the workers, in the strengthening of the national liberation movement of the oppressed peoples, in the formation of the world's first workers' state, the Soviet state, as a result of a breakthrough of the imperialist front. With the deepening of the general crisis of capitalism, especially in those countries where as a result of the revolutionary uprisings of the proletariat a direct threat to the rule of monopoly capital was created, the ruling classes took the path of winding down or completely destroying parliamentarianism and bourgeois democracy.

As a radical manifestation of complete rejection on the part of monopolistic bourgeoisie of all democracy stood Fascism. In the conditions of revolutionary upsurge that swept European states after the First World War in 1914-18, the monopolistic bourgeoisie of Italy and some other countries passed to the most reactionary methods of management, to fascist dictatorship. This transition was intended to ensure the protection and preservation of capitalism by all possible means and was accompanied by social demagogy and false fascist teachings designed to distract the masses from the struggle against capitalism and to turn them into an obedient tool of imperialist policy. The growth of fascist tendencies occurred unevenly in different capitalist countries and was closely related to the specific balance of power between the camp of democracy and the camp of reaction in each of the capitalist countries. The temporary victory of Fascism in some countries was the result of a political and organizational split of the labor movement as a result of a policy of class collaboration carried out by reformist elements and the refusal of social-democratic leaders to unite with the Communists in the struggle against Fascism. The position of right-wing socialist leaders who repeatedly rejected unity of action proposals of the Communist Party made it easier to establish a fascist dictatorship. At the same time, the communist parties that selflessly opposed Fascism were not free from some mistakes in their struggle to create a broad anti-fascist front.

The fascist movement became especially widespread in Italy and later in Germany, where agents of financial capital managed to use the disappointment of petty bourgeois masses with the outcome of World War I in the interests of reaction. In 1919, during the sharp rise of the revolutionary movement in Italy, the fighting groups (Fasci di Combattimento) of former front-line soldiers and declassified elements were created to fight against the revolutionary workers; they became the core of the Fascist Party financed by the Italian bourgeois top brass. Italian Fascists subjugated to their influence a considerable part of the middle classes dissatisfied with the results of World War I and a part of the workers who could not find a proper revolutionary way out of the postwar political and economic crisis that embraced Italy with particular force. In October 1922 the Fascists seized power and established their dictatorship headed by B. Mussolini (see Italy, Historical Sketch) with the King's consent and at the request of major capitalists seeking to suppress the revolutionary movement. Fascist organizations in Germany were formed in the 1920s. In 1919, the National Socialist German Workers' Party was founded and financed by German monopolies. From the very beginning the German Workers' Party made a skillful use of the hatred of the broad masses of the German people for the grave Versailles Peace of Peace imposed on Germany by the victorious powers in 1919 in the interests of reaction. German Fascism intensively propagandized the most aggressive chauvinism, the racial theory inciting hatred to other peoples, especially to the Slavs and the Jews. The purpose of this propaganda was to blur the class contradictions within the country and to "ideologically" prepare revenge for the defeat of German imperialism in the war of 1914-18. At the same time, the program developed by Nazis headed by Hitler demagogically demanded to fight usurers and speculators, participation of workers and employees in profits, etc. The Nazis, like fascists in other countries, covered up the real goals of their policy with "anti-capitalist" slogans designed to disorient faltering elements and to keep workers from revolutionary actions. Fascism, especially the Italian, used his "anti-capitalist" statements to propagate the ideas of the corporate state (see) and the struggle against the doctrine of the class struggle. The attempt to make a fascist conversion in Germany undertaken by the Nazis in 1923 failed. During the economic crisis between 1929 and 1933, despite the significant growth of the Communist Party of Germany's influence, the Hitlers succeeded in drawing away a significant part of the petty bourgeoisie and backward workers. In January 1933, in accordance with the interests of the German magnates of finance capital Hitlerites seized power in Germany. The German state apparatus was quickly fascinated; bourgeois and democratic freedoms were liquidated. A regime of political terror was established. The Hitlerites brutally suppressed the labor movement, prohibited the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and disbanded all other labor organizations, including trade unions. The Fascists dissolved the petty bourgeoisie and a significant part of the workers with the racist ideology. In order to maintain the domination of financial capital they created a system of various punitive bodies - Gestapo, storm troopers, SS, etc.

Fascist dictatorship took different forms in different countries, depending on historical, social and economic conditions, on the national characteristics and the international situation of a given country. Some specific features were inherent in military-fascist dictatorship that existed in Spain headed by Primo de Rivera in 1923-30, fascist dictatorship in Poland in 1926-39, military-fascist regime in Japan during the World War II, fascist regimes in some other countries. The most reactionary elements of finance capital supported fascist groups in France, England, USA and other countries. Everywhere, regardless of this or that specificity, Fascism was an expression of the worst reaction.

The establishment of the fascist order was accompanied by rampant terror, propaganda of misanthropy, persecution not only of adherents of Marxism, but also of supporters of progressive bourgeois social currents and groups. Representing the interests of the most aggressive elements of financial capital, the fascists, contrary to their false promises, pursued a policy of strengthening the omnipotence of large monopolies. At the same time, Fascism tried to instill in the masses the idea that the establishment of fascist orders leads to the replacement of the system of exploitation by "unity of the nation", "national cooperation". Fascism considered the entire process of human development from the perspective of the struggle of nations and races. By propagandizing the cult of power, Fascism propagated the false idea that the natural condition of the mankind that supposedly consists of the strongest, highest, and the weakest, lowest races, is war. To justify his policies, Fascism widely used geopolitics to justify the fascist invaders' claims to conquer foreign lands under the guise of fighting for "vital space".

Nietzsche

Historian and Marxist-Leninist philosopher Domenico Losurdo pointed in his work Nietzsche, the aristocratic rebel that Nietzsche, who was an aristocrat, can be associated with a reactionary trend against the rise of the Paris commune in 1871. Nietzsche's views were consistently anti-liberal, anti-socialist, antidemocratic and even promoted racial hygiene, a tendency which would later inspire fascist movements.

Sorel

Georges Sorel (1847–1922) was a French syndicalist that contributed and inspired the rise of National Syndicalism in Italy and Spain. His most famous works centred around the idea of myth; which he highlights as "forming the centre of man’s cosmology and world view in all ages". In 1909, Sorel began to adopt the idea of Integral Nationalism, publishing an article praising the far-right group French Action in Divenire sociale—the leading journal for Italian Syndicalists at the time. It received immense praise by French Action; being reprinted under the name "Antiparliamentary Socialists”, and in 1910 he joined the group. During this time, he developed further reactionary ideals, leading him to support Catholic Patriotism and further embedding himself in fascist ideology. Mussolini looked up highly to Sorel and claimed he was his "foremost teacher".

Italian fascism

The Italian fascist government of 1922 was the first known historical example of large-scale privatizations of state-owned enterprises.

German fascism

German fascism was most known for its genocidal, expansionist, imperialist and colonialist rule under the Nazi Party from 1933 to 1945, culminating in the deaths of at least 30 million people, including 26.6 million Soviet lives. While the word "Nazi" is short for "National socialist", they were capitalists, their name being nothing more than a ploy to gain working-class support. Not only did the German fascists allow the virulent exploitation of the working people and concentration of capital, they adopted a settler-colonial model coupled with exploitation colonialism and mass terror applied to the European continent. The ideological justification for colonization of European peoples by Nazis was promoted as Lebensraum, and was directly influenced by Statesian genocide of Native peoples through Manifest Destiny.

The Nazi Party was beaten into dissolution by the Soviet Union after the Battle of Berlin in May 1945.

Japanese fascism

Japanese fascism, also known as Shōwa Statism, was based on a number of imperialist and ultranationalist political ideas from various Japanese thinkers. Japanese fascism manifested itself in extreme militarism, monarchism, and expansionism in Asia.

Portuguese fascism

From 1933 to 1974, Portugal was ruled by the Estado Novo ("New State"), headed by António de Oliveira Salazar. Under Salazar's dictatorship, the Portuguese working class was subjugated to reactionary christian doctrine, as well as a "Corporatist" economy. The Salazarist regime was also militantly imperialist, repressing calls for independence and self-determination in Angola and Mozambique. The Estado Novo would finally fall in 1974, after a military coup. By the end of the 1970s, Portugal had returned to being a bourgeois democracy.

Portugal, at the time a Fascist dictatorship, was one of the founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Spanish fascism

Following the victory of the United Front in 1936, a fascist revolt led by General Franco and assisted by invading Germany and Italy, tacitly backed by the rest of the allies, broke out. A civil war lasting three years followed, culminating in the crushing of Republican forces. The regime went on to last three more decades, and it is said that the current "reformed" Spanish state is a continuation of the same regime. Notably, Franco reintroduced the king of Spain in 1956 (whose parent was deposed in 1931), and to this day Spain remains a monarchy

Historical Opposition

From the very first steps, Fascism came up against the opposition of all forces of democracy and above all the working class and its vanguard - the communist parties. As early as the First Congress of the Communist International (1919) said in its manifesto "To the proletarians of the whole world" that the financial oligarchy crushed parliamentary democracy. The 4th Congress of the Communist International (1922) recognized one of the most important tasks of the communist parties to organize resistance to Fascism on the basis of using the tactics of a united front. Where the Communists succeeded in establishing a united front, Fascism was defeated. For example, it happened in France where the fascist coup attempt in February 1934 failed as the result of the repulse of the working class supported by the broad masses. Taking into account the experience of the international working movement, the VII Congress of the Communist International (1935) raised the issue of establishing a broad anti-fascist popular front against Fascism and war on the basis of a single working front. It stressed the need to closely link the struggle against the danger of war with the struggle against Fascism Noting that the bourgeoisie, unable to find a solution to the international situation on the basis of a peaceful foreign policy, resorted to Fascism in order to prepare for war. The most important task of the Fascism foreign policy was to prepare and wage a war to redivide the world, to subjugate and enslave other nations, and to destroy the USSR. The bloc of major fascist countries - Germany, Italy and Japan - was formed on the basis of that policy. Fascism acted as a striking force of the international counterrevolution, initiator and inspirer of the "crusade" against the USSR. With the help of the United Kingdom and British monopolies, fascist states created powerful armed forces and pursued an aggressive foreign policy. In foreign policy, Fascism showed unparalleled treachery and violation of international law. An anti-fascist movement was developed in the 1930s against Fascism and the threat of World War II, in defense of democracy, national sovereignty, and world peace.

The Communist parties emerged as the inspirational and organizing force. A broad anti-fascist popular front was formed in Spain, France, in China the Communist Party led the national front against the Japanese imperialists, a popular front was formed in Poland and a number of other countries. However, using the connivance of the ruling circles of Britain, France and the United States, the fascist Italy in 1935-36 invaded Ethiopia. As a result of the Italian-German armed intervention begun in 1936, the Francoist regime in Spain was established in 1939; in 1931 imperial Japan seized North-East China (Manchuria). China (Manchuria) and in 1937 began a war of enslavement against China; in 1938 Hitler's Germany conquered Austria, in 1938-39 - Czechoslovakia; in 1939 fascist Italy conquered Albania. In September 1939 Hitler Germany invaded Poland, which started World War II 1939-45. The aim of the fascist states was to gain world domination, to enslave all the peoples of the world, to destroy freedom and democracy all over the world, to establish the fascist regime everywhere, to exterminate some peoples physically and to enslave other peoples. On June 22, 1941 Germany treacherously attacked the Soviet Union.

Violating international rules of warfare, the fascists resorted to unheard of atrocities, which were particularly rampant in the occupied territories of Poland, Yugoslavia and the USSR. The fascists tried to establish in Europe and Asia a so-called "new order" the essence of which in the political field was the total elimination of democratic rights of peoples and the establishment of a bloody regime of fascist terror and arbitrariness; in the economic field the "new order" consisted in robbery and ruin of the occupied countries; in the national field the "new order" represented the cruelest enslavement and oppression of peoples in Europe and Asia and turning them into vassals of the fascist powers. The fascists exported prisoners of war and peaceful populations of the conquered countries for forced labor. Fascism was a great disaster not only for the peoples of the countries occupied by fascist powers, but also for the peoples of those countries where there was a fascist dictatorship, the people of these countries were opposed to all the freedom-loving people and suffered huge losses at the expense of their fascist rulers.

The freedom-loving peoples of all countries rose up to fight against the Fascism At the forefront of the war of liberation of the freedom-loving peoples against the Fascism The Soviet people, who, in response to the attack of Hitler's Germany on the USSR began the Great Patriotic War. The USSR undertook the main burden of fighting against fascist aggressors and their allies and satellites and changed the whole course of the World War II. In the countries occupied by the Nazis, as well as those under the power of their allies and satellites, a strong resistance movement was developed. In 1945 the fascist coalition was defeated by the anti-fascist coalition forces headed by the USSR, Great Britain and the USA. The defeat of FR in the World War II created the necessary preconditions for the rebirth of democracy in the countries previously enslaved by fascists and led to the establishment of the people's democracy system in a number of countries. In August 1945 the International Military Tribunal was set up and at the trial in Nuremberg (November 20, 1945 - October 1, 1946) it condemned the Nazi crimes and sentenced the main German war criminals to death. The Nuremberg Trials and the trials of major war criminals in Romania, Finland, Hungary, Japan and other countries contributed to the struggle to eradicate Fascism In the countries of Eastern, Central and South-Eastern Europe that embraced the socialist path of development, fascist organizations were completely destroyed and the social and economic conditions that could give rise to Fascism

Neo-fascist movements

See main article: Neo-fascism

2019 coup in Bolivia

President Evo Morales of Bolivia was reelected to this office in October 2019 with 47,08% of total votes. Soon after, opposing fascists called the results into question, helped by fraudulent reports from the Organisation of American States (OAS), which led to their paramilitary wing causing violence in the streets. After three weeks, Morales agreed to step down and left the country.

Later, accusations of electoral fraud were completely debunked by the same journals that initially reported on them, trusting the OAS.

The new government, led by Jeanine Añez, established a military junta in the country so as to dismantle popular support for MAS (Morales' party). They pushed elections back three times, eventually having them take place in November 2020, a full year after the coup. Their efforts failed, as MAS won the presidential election in 2020 with 55% of all votes (under candidate Luis Arce).

Since his election, Arce's government has announced that they would effectively purge the military's leadership, as their treason was pivotal in letting the coup succeed.

The Present State of Fascism

As a result of World War II, Fascism was defeated, but the struggle against Fascism and the fascist menace is far from over. The most reactionary elements in the capitalist countries continue to strive for the dismantling of democratic institutions and the establishment of fascist orders and are focused on a new world war. Fascist tendencies are visible and must be detected early in political life: the banning of communists and other bourgeois-democratic groups, sometimes in favor of a controlled opposition, the propaganda of war, racism, the general struggle against progressive and advanced currents. Fascism today is willing to make many compromises to establish a dictatorship, so the slogan of open terrorist dictatorship has lost its relevance. In a number of capitalist countries, neo-fascist organizations have resumed their open activity. However, with a mass movement of supporters of peace, a widespread strengthening of democracy, and a growing unity of the working class, forces seeking to establish a fascist order will meet growing opposition from all freedom-loving and progressive humanity.

Erroneous Analyses of Fascism

The Left Theory of Fascism

The left wing analysis of fascism largely evolved from the known work of Jack London, The Iron Heel. Tough this was a book written before the world was introduced to fascism proper, it outlines much the perceived likeness of fascism. The analysis sees fascism as a tool and a trick by the bourgeoisie. Proponents of this analysis would see fascism as an intrinsic part of bourgeois society and thereby capitalist hegemony.

This analysis is archaic in modern Marxist perceptions of fascism, as it is not critical and cannot meaningfully differentiate between reactionary liberal capitalism and fascism. Examples may include the Amadeo Bordiga's statement at the fifth congress of the communist international in 1924, in which he said:

Fascism, fundamentally, merely repeats the old game of the bourgeoise left parties, i.e. it appeals to the proletariat for civil peace. It attempts to achieve this aim by forming trade unions of industrial and agricultural workers, which it then leads into practical collaboration with the employers' organisations.

The Right Theory of Fascism

Whilst the left theory of fascism sees it as an elite movement, a hammer with which the bourgeois retaliates upon the organised working class. The right theory instead proposes fascism as a mass movement, and not indeed a force propagated or controlled by the ruling class. It sees fascism as separate from capitalist institutions, and as a revolutionary movement hostile to them.

However this, aswell, undermines and misunderstands the nature of fascism. How come the capitalist class intergrated and accepted fascism? Why did they not fight fascism with tooth and nail if it was indeed hostile towards their surpremacy?

Fascism of the Petty Bourgeoisie

Concocted by one Leon Trotsky, combines both as to explain the phenomenon, according to the dialectical theory, fascism is both apart of capitalist society, a tool to the ruling class. But also a mass movement.

As capitalism declines and falls into crisis reactionary movements find ground at the same time as the workers organise through desperation as revolutionary conditions set place.

The class of which was most contributing to the membership of fascist parties was the petit-bourgeoisie, a class which suffered hardship as well during economic crisis, however did not accurately place their anger systemically but was characterized by its rabid racism, and anti-working class. It was indeed a mass movement, a movement of the petit-bourgeoise. But it was not anti capitalist. How can this be? The analysis goes that fascism inherently is contradictory, it is yet a mass movement cultivated by capitalisms decline, but it is not anti capitalist. For the petit bourgeoise do not want to destroy the ruling class, they want to become the ruling class. It is a reactionary movement, of which inevitably only benefits the current ruling class, made from a movement of non bourgeois people. This means that there is a contradiction between fascism as an ideology and the movement which supports it. To stave off this contradiction fascism must always divert and distract itself from its own contradictions. Then using minorities, ethnicities, racism, anything really. To fill the gaps of its own ideological void. However it cannot continue, as it is an antagonistic contradiction, it will always break itself apart. Which is what we have seen historically.

This theory exaggerates the role of the petty bourgeoisie in fascism, completely neglects the function of financial capital, and downplays the struggle of the working people against fascism, which may well establish world hegemony if it is not resisted on all fronts.

See also

• Neoliberalism
• Greater German Reich
• Far-right politics
• Genocide

References