Fascism is something which can only be described as extremely misunderstood. With the rise of the usage of “fascist” as an insult, it begs the question “do the people who cry fascist know what fascism is outside of the descriptor being used on Hitler and Mussolini?”. It’s important to know what it is that you’re talking about or accusing someone of. Today I will be talking about what fascism is, the common misconceptions of it and why fascism is problematic in the eyes of a marxist. I will try to keep this brief and accessible to people who are not exactly the most politically aware. Let’s get started. (D)
Fascism as an idea was conceived by Giovanni Gentile, taking inspiration from the Futurists of yesteryear, like Filippo Marinetti, who signed the Doctrine of Fascism, which was written by Benito Mussolini, the first Fascist leader, il Duce. Inspired by Italy’s role in the first World War, Gentile wrote; (D)
“To enter the war, to throw the nation, willing or unwilling, into the conflict—not for Trento, Trieste or Dalmatia, and certainly not for specific political, military or economic advantages that those annexations might provide, nor for the colonial acquisitions that others anticipated. These particular ends, of course, were to be taken into account. But entry into the war was necessary in order to finally unite the nation through the shedding of blood. The nation had been formed more through good fortune than through the valor of its sons—more the result of favorable contingencies than through the strength of the intrinsic will of the Italian people— a will conscious of itself, its interest in unity and its right to unity.” (M)
This paragraph illustrates two of the most important aspects of fascism; the nation and war. War is seen as a unifying force within fascist thought, as it brings the nation to the maximum and acts as a tool to bring the nation to its knees for survival. For the fascist, peace is not necessarily a real thing. The nation is a constantly struggling force for survival. For peace to be active would be a nation not recognizing its own national spirit. War realizes and revives the potential of a nation. Nations are true nations when they survive the harshest conditions. In the eyes of Fascism, the nation is seen as the ultimate unity, the nation has the most in common with itself. I, a Canadian, have more in common with another born Canadian than I do with any other person. A common misconception with fascism is that it promotes intervention as a means to conquer and murder, which isn’t exactly true. Fascist theory is quite anti-interventionist, but this hasn’t stopped Fascist leaders from invading other countries to boost national prestige, an example being the second Italian invasion of Ethiopia during World War II. (D)
Idealism, the spiritual driving force of Fascism. A massive part of Idealism within Fascist philosophy is for one by themselves and as a nation as a whole to struggle toward an Ideal state of being which mostly replicates the healthiest existence of a nation, as well fascism’s influence within that nation. To achieve this ideal one must relinquish themselves to the wellbeing of their community and their nation, and for the nation itself it must culminate within the state and become its healthiest self, without influences of capital, liberalism, communism, etc. (D)
“Idealism is a faith in an ideal reality that must be sought. It is a conception of life that must not limit itself to present fact, but which must progress and transform itself incessantly in order to conform to a superior law that acts upon souls with the force of the soul’s own convictions.“ (M)
If idealism is the metaphysical drive of the Fascist nation, the State is the tool which allows for these metaphysical ideas to be realised. Mussolini writes; (D)
“Anti-individualistic, the Fascist conception of life stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only insofar as his interests coincide with those of the State, which stands for the conscience and the universal will of man as a historic entity. It is opposed to classical liberalism which arose as a reaction to absolutism and exhausted its historical function when the State became the expression of the conscience and will of the people. Liberalism denies the State in the name of the individual; Fascism reasserts the rights of the State as expressing the real essence of the individual. And if liberty is to he the attribute of living men and not of abstract dummies invented by individualistic liberalism, then Fascism stands for liberty, and for the only liberty worth having, the liberty of the State and of the individual within the State. The Fascist conception of the State is all embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, 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.” (M)
Here the division between the capitalist and individualist State we see in liberal democracy, the Marxist conception of the State and the Fascist State becomes more apparent. Fascism sees the State as a tool that unites the nation, class, and religion. It’s totalitarian in the sense that it is an all-encompassing force, not in the sense that it seeks to dominate the people. Honestly the paragraph explains the conception of the State very well so I believe that I don’t have to continue here… (D)
Lastly, it is important to talk of the economic and governmental structure of fascism. This is where the term “Corporatism” comes to shine. It is extremely important to differentiate capitalist corporatism from Fascist corporatism, capitalist corporatism being the dominance of capitalist companies and corporations in the government (which is what we see nowadays). Fascist corporatism takes the form of a nationalist syndicalism, in which the government is made up of various syndicates that watch over different industries within the country, including entertainment, the fishing industry, construction, etc. These syndicates include a collaboration between workers and employers, mediated by state workers to ensure that the nation’s needs are being met and that both sides of the syndicate maintain a fair deal. It is important to mention that different Fascists have different ideas on how corporatism would work in a fascist society but this is the basic and general consensus presented by Mussolini and the British Union of Fascists of Oswald Mosley fame. (D)
Those are the 4 most important aspects of Fascism. The Nation, Idealism, The State, and Corporatism. Now we must talk of the flaws within Fascism, through the eyes of a Marxist. (D)
The fascist view of Communism and Marxism is in a simple way to put it, they view it as an unhealthy alternative to capitalism. As Fascism considers itself opposed to capitalism, they wish to abolish it whilst maintaining the supremacy of the state over society and the health of the nation as well; Communism, in the fascist view, wants to destroy the state and cripple the nation through class war, making many classes against one another with the peasantry, proletariat, and bourgeois classes compete with one another for control over a government apparatus. Fascists’ disagreements with Marxist philosophy comes from its reduction of society’s activities to that of economic and class based ones rather than struggle between and of nations, they view this as a way to dismantle the importance of the nation and the state as a whole. How Joseph Stalin in the National Question describes a nation through the lens of a Marxist showed that the Marxist idea of a nation had become that of a culmination of a people who share a common history, culture, language or dialect, ethnicity, and generalized regional proximity. (Citation: The National Question by Stalin) Although, many argue that this had just been used as a justification of the expansion of the Soviet's borders into non-Russian nations, like Central Asia and Siberia. But even with this in mind there is an essential realization of the Marxists possessing a separate view of a nation compared to that of Fascism, with fascism preferring a more precise definition of a nation, defining it as a culmination of a people's values and putting it into a single identity. The Fascists prefer to use the term 'State' in their writings to refer to a nation's ethical values being forced into one governmental apparatus. But the main separation between the Marxist view of a Nation and the Fsecist view of a nation is that fascists viewed the state as a necessity to the maintenance of a nation while Marxists usually view it as either the unneeded or a hindrance to its development, even with Marx himself believing that some nationalist movements were necessary as an essential role to play in the liberation of many nations, as well as a way to seize certain state apparatus necessary for a transition toward socialism. But there are many problems with nationalism being present after socialism, explicitly the distraction it serves as from class conflict. (D)
Another problem with Fascism is the model of corporatism. Corporatism would require some form of leader, which leads to the opening of a series of problems including capitalistic corruption. If the leader is receiving a large amount of wealth due to the bourgeoisie within the country, what would stop the leader from giving the bourgeoisie more rights and power? Corporatism would also require a leader that seeks the equality of both classes, but that does not mean that the leader is inclined to side with the working class or the bourgeoisie on prominent issues, this can be seen with countries like the Italian Social Republic, where they began siding with the working class over the employer class, and with Francoist Spain where it began siding with the employer class over the working class. This would create a conflict of interests within the corporatist model and can lead to protests, rebellions, etc. In the end, siding with the bourgeoisie or the working class would end up dismantling the corporatist model and thus create another liberal democracy. (D)
That about sums up the core elements of fascism. Of course this is not all of fascism, but it is what you need to be able to understand a conversation about it, start a debate, or just to be able to see the warning signs of it. I will be making more videos in the future, but of course that’ll take time, so if you wish to see more of me you can check out my Twitter or you could add me on Discord, you can find both of them in the description. Until next time, so long.