LogFAQs > #885475247

The Great Muta 22 posted...

If I post accredited scholars defining what actually defines fascism would you take time to read it, or would you simply say it's wrong and act as if you know more than them?

Sure, why wouldn't I

The Great Muta 22 posted...

Anyway fascism as a concept is inherently neither a "left" or "right" form of government, as it exists outside of the linear political spectrum. It's hard to give it a specific definition though, due to the differences between fascist governments, specifically the Nazi party and the National Fascist Party of Italy. When you look at the examples of fascist governments in history, specifically in early 20th century Europe which saw the rise of multiple ideologies rose that were linked to fascism, there's some commonalities between them. Generally all of them were developed with a sense of nationalistic pride, specifically as a response to the rise of class based ideologies of socialism and communism. But they also had issues with Liberalism and Conservatism of their times as well. And most of them also believed heavily in imperialism and developing a totalitarian state for their "empires". Likewise economically most of them also believed in a blend of capitalism and Marxism, placing it outside of the spectrum of those two ideologies

Saying fascism arose as a "response" to Marxism is dishonest when all of the original philosophers of fascism were Marxists. It's more honest to call fascism an offshoot of Marxism, much like Leninism was.

Further, any "blend" of capitalism in fascist countries like Nazi Germany or Italy involved heavy regulation on private sectors including but not limited to major government intervention on the means of production like price fixing and wage fixing. These are self-evidently not Capitalist ideals; they're much more closely related to Marxism than anything.

As for nationalism and imperialism, these things can be characteristic of the right, but they can also characterize the left. Marx predicted that the working class would rise up against the capitalists, but by the time Mussolini came around, it was a foregone conclusion that wouldn't happen. The biggest difference between Mussolini and Marx is the former believed that national pride was a better motivator than class pride to get the socialist revolution going.

And if you still disbelieve that Mussolini was a socialist, ask yourself why Mussolini-controlled Salo was self-described as the only true socialist society in the world"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Social_Republic

Anyway I don't have time to say more but it's completely intellectually dishonest to claim fascism as a concept is left or right and any serious amount of research into the subject tends to point in that direction

If Marxism is definitively leftists, I don't see why fascism isn't when they share most major policies and philosophies. It's like saying the Sunni's are definitely muslims, but Shi'ites occupy no single religion; completely incomprehensible.
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Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
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