The fascists were Leftists. They were quite openly and declared themselves to be socialists.
The primary differentiator between the National Socialists and the State Socialists (ie Commies) is the National Socialists were smart enough to leave the existing business owners/managers in place so long as they did the government’s bidding.....ie made what the government wanted them to make. The Communists stupidly killed off the owners/managers and instead dropped in Communist party flunkies who had no idea what they hell they were doing to run the businesses.
Make no mistake though, under the fascists, the government dictated what you would produce and very strictly limited the profit you could make. Woe betide you if you tried to actually run the business for yourself or not do what the government told you to do.
““To put it quite clearly: we have an economic program. Point 13 in that program demands the nationalization of all public companies, in other words socialization, or what is known here as socialism. … the good of the community takes priority over that of the individual. But the State should retain control; every owner should feel himself to be an agent of the State; it is his duty not to misuse his possessions to the detriment of the State or the interests of his fellow countrymen. That is the overriding point. The Third Reich will always retain the right to control property owners.” - Adolf Hitler
“We are socialists, we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are determined to destroy this system under all conditions.” - Adolf Hitler
“Socialism as the final concept of duty, the ethical duty of work, not just for oneself but also for one’s fellow man’s sake, and above all the principle: Common good before own good, a struggle against all parasitism and especially against easy and unearned income. And we were aware that in this fight we can rely on no one but our own people.” - Adolf Hitler
“Germany’s economic policy is conducted exclusively in accordance with the interests of the German people. In this respect I am a fanatical socialist, one who has ever in mind the interests of all his people.” - Adolf Hitler
Read the above. This is anything but a Conservative...or a liberal in the classical sense. Hitler was a collectivist who believed in the state and viewed individuals as nothing more than cogs in the machine. This is Leftism by any definition. Here is what Ludwig Von Mises said about the subject:
Von Mises in his Human Action (p. 171) said:
“There are two patterns for the realization of socialism. The first pattern (we may call it the Lenin or Russian pattern) . . . . the second pattern (we may call it the Hindenburg or German Pattern) nominally and seemingly preserves private ownership of the means of production and keeps the appearance of ordinary markets, prices, wages, and interest rates. There are, however, no longer entrepreneurs, but only shop managers … bound to obey unconditionally the orders issued by government.”
No, the national SOCIALISTS were definitely not “Right wing”.
Fascism was a reaction to Communism. There would have been no Mussolini, Hitler or Franco without Lenin. Europeans, unlike Americans, were aware of the massive crimes committed by the Communists. Fascists were more supportive of traditional values. They were pro-family where the Soviets wanted to abolish the family. They were more tolerant of the church. Anti-Fascism is the religion of the progressives. Hitler comes in a poor third in the mass murder competition, yet he is the only one used as an example of inhumanity. He is accused of wanting to conquer the world but did not cross a 22 mile channel.
“The primary differentiator between the National Socialists and the State Socialists (ie Commies) is the National Socialists were smart enough to leave the existing business owners/managers in place so long as they did the government’s bidding.”
Bullseye. Hitler stated this in his speeches.
I have come to realize that Nazi fascism began with government control, but what I now see as American fascism started with Corporate control.
Laws were made to promote certain regional corporate interests, and the more corporations learned that they could profit from controlling the government, the more intent they were on spreading propaganda to help them gain and maintain control of the government.
The Wealthy Northeastern manufacturers became very wealthy due to Federal laws giving them protection from foreign manufacturers. They naturally steered American government policy to ensure future earnings for themselves and any allies that would help them control the government.
Today we are seeing this exact type of corruption playing out in modern America with corporate control of the News/Propaganda systems, and various types of international corruption such as bribery, influence trading and tailor made laws and policies to help the "connected" people enrich public officials like corrupt Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.
And this stuff is the real reason for the Civil War.
That's why Gentile called fascism "the most viable form of socialism."