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Once and for all: Fascism is not right-wing
American Thinker ^ | 8 Oct, 2025 | Roberta Cole

Posted on 10/08/2025 1:04:56 PM PDT by MtnClimber

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To: NorthMountain

Prior to WWI Mussolini was senior editor of the major socialist pub Avanti!, founded a socialist newspaper Il Popolo d’Italia and was a member of the Italian Socialist party’s National Directorate.


41 posted on 10/08/2025 2:10:47 PM PDT by Reily
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To: central_va
Capitalism + globalism = Marxism

No,

Rather, Socialism + Globalism = Marxism

Likewise, Socialism + Nationalism = Fascism

And finally, Capitalism + Nationalism = Trumpian Populism

42 posted on 10/08/2025 2:11:22 PM PDT by Pres Raygun (Repent America!)
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To: MtnClimber
What is Left? What is Right?

What Is Left? What Is Right? It is extremely unfortunate that the writers on political philosophy today have undertaken to measure various issues in terms of political parties instead of political power. No doubt the American Founding Fathers would have considered this modern measuring stick most objectionable, even meaningless.

Today, as we mentioned, it is popular in the classroom as well as the press to refer to "Communism on the left," and "Fascism on the right." People and parties are often called "Leftist," or "Rightist." The public do not really understand what they are talking about.

These terms actually refer to the manner in which the various parties are seated in the parliaments of Europe. The radical revolutionaries (usually the Communists) occupy the far left and the military dictatorships (such as the Fascists) are on the far right. Other parties are located in between.

Measuring people and issues in terms of political parties has turned out to be philosophically fallacious if not totally misleading. This is because the platforms or positions of political parties are often superficial and structured on shifting sand. The platform of a political party of one generation can hardly be recognized by the next. Furthermore, Communism and Fascism turned out to be different names for approximately the same thing ~ the police state. They are not opposite extremes but, for all practical purposes, are virtually identical.

The American Founding Fathers Used a More Accurate Yardstick

Government is defined in the dictionary as "a system of ruling or controlling," and therefore the American Founders measured political systems in terms of the amount of coercive power or systematic control which a particular system of government exercises over its people. In other words, the yardstick is not political parties, but political power.

Using this type of yardstick, the American Founders considered the two extremes to be anarchy on the one hand, and tyranny on the other. At the one extreme of anarchy there is no government, no law, no systematic control and no governmental power, while at the other extreme there is too much control, too much political oppression, too much government. Or, as the Founders called it, "tyranny."

The object of the Founders was to discover the "balanced center" between these two extremes. They recognized that under the chaotic confusion of anarchy there is "no law," whereas at the other extreme the law is totally dominated by the ruling power and is therefore "Ruler's Law." What they wanted to establish was a system of "People's Law," where the government is kept under the control of the people and political power is maintained at the balanced center with enough government to maintain security, justice, and good order, but not enough government to abuse the people.
The 5,000 Year Leap - W. Cleon Skousen


43 posted on 10/08/2025 2:14:14 PM PDT by Heartlander (Charlie Kirk was a civil rights leader, and they killed him.)
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To: MtnClimber
If you look at the Spanish Civil War, the whole "Fascism is left wing" makes no sense.

The Nationalists - i.e. Spanish Falange Fascists, as well as quasi-Fascists like Franco, had the support of conservative monarchists, the Church, and industrialists. They also had the support of Hitler and Mussolini - who provided arms and troops (especially fighter pilots).

The Republicans - Liberals, Socialists, Communists, Anarchists - had the support of labor unions and radical student groups, and had the backing of the Soviet Union.

So if Fascism is "Left Wing", what does that make the Spanish Civil War? A fight between different Leftist factions? And if so, why did groups that everyone acknowledges as Right Wing (monarchists, traditional Catholics) align with the Falange?

44 posted on 10/08/2025 2:15:31 PM PDT by ek_hornbeck
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To: central_va
Fasces

In the US House of Representatives. Make of it what you will.

45 posted on 10/08/2025 2:16:28 PM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: MtnClimber

Seems fascism is another word for patriotism. Democrats are not fascists, they are Bolshevists. Fascists love their folk, Bolsheviks hate their folk. White Americans are the new White Russians and Democrats are the new Soviets.


46 posted on 10/08/2025 2:19:30 PM PDT by IDFbunny (Crimea was never Ukraine.)
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To: Pres Raygun

Wrong, global capitalism destroys the middle class which is the goal of Marxism.

What we want is capitalism combined with strong nationalism and VERY LIMITED LEGAL IMMIGRATION which builds a large strong middle class . That is why every founding father was a strong protectionist.

I think you could be a free trade globalist. The worst possible thing there is.


47 posted on 10/08/2025 2:20:13 PM PDT by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: ek_hornbeck
Different leftist factions do not hate and fight each other over government ideology and policy. They hate and fight each other over who will be in charge of that government ... and who will be dead.

"conservative monarchists, the Church, and industrialists" supported one side or the other in the hope of exercising some control over it after it won. In general, that hope was often in vain ... although Franco was generally good for Spain. That's why communists in American media (Chevy Chase, I'm lookin' at YOU) mocked his death.

48 posted on 10/08/2025 2:21:57 PM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: NorthMountain

Roman art and architectural influences are all over DC. The fasces bundle is not political in that context.


49 posted on 10/08/2025 2:25:23 PM PDT by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: MtnClimber

Another spin on this.
They are all totalitarian regimes.

I spend sometime in Spain after the collapse of Franco regime. I was surprised how the fascist rules were so similar to the communist rules.
Some friend told me:
“They are both Socialists. Fascists are NATIONAL SOCIALIST!”
Communists are International socialists!

In Europe the Nationalists vs internationalist defines right vs left.
So fascists are (maybe) right wing in the European definition, but Never in American definition of right vs. left.
But the media and education establishment intentionally misunderstand this difference of definitions!


50 posted on 10/08/2025 2:26:28 PM PDT by AZJeep (sane )
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To: NorthMountain

A one dimensional chart isn’t adequate to describe the relationship of different forms of government.

Look at the two dimensional Nolan Chart to make better sense of the relationships.

The one dimensional chart is a deliberate misdirection to limit your choices.


51 posted on 10/08/2025 2:27:12 PM PDT by sjmjax
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To: central_va
The fasces bundle is not political in that context.

The Lincoln Memorial was designed in the early 19-teens (before WWI), and dedicated in 1922 ... right about the same time Benito Mussolini was founding the Italian Fascist Party. I agree that it wasn't intended to be a socialist political statement. All the "classic" buildings in DC mimic Greek and Roman religious and civic architecture. THAT is a political statement, trying to link the American Republic with the republic and democracy of ancient Greece and Rome.

52 posted on 10/08/2025 2:32:51 PM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: sjmjax

Any chart that makes fascism or national socialism a polar opposite of international communism is dead wrong. The only meaningful dispute among those ideologies revolves around who gets to seize control and kill the others.


53 posted on 10/08/2025 2:35:17 PM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: central_va

Capitalism can’t exist with leftism. The market for a leftist is their hatred for capitalism.


54 posted on 10/08/2025 2:37:22 PM PDT by mikelets456
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To: mikelets456

Marker not market


55 posted on 10/08/2025 2:37:59 PM PDT by mikelets456
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To: T.B. Yoits

Add to the chart: “used violent militant gays to cause social disruption”


56 posted on 10/08/2025 2:40:05 PM PDT by TheThirdRuffian (Orange is the new brown)
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To: mikelets456

The Marxist know that globalism combined with capitalism will reduce wages to rock bottom world wide and make Marxism possible. That is why Marxist are all globalists. Free Traders play right into their hands.


57 posted on 10/08/2025 2:41:27 PM PDT by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: MtnClimber

Fascism’s Karl Marx was named Giovanni Gentile.

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


58 posted on 10/08/2025 2:42:12 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("Stare too long into the dachshund and the dachshund stares back.")
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To: MtnClimber
There are 2 main differences between Fascism and Socialism:

1. Who owns the means of production.

2. Fascism lost World War II, and Socialism did not. As a result, Socialism gets better press coverage.

There is another difference - many people could escape the Nazi influence in the 1930's. Many of them ended up in America, including an influential Jewish population who were prominent in Hollywood right after they got here. They were very grateful that America existed, and were a large part of the reason Hollywood was so patriotic during WW II.

Fewer people were able to escape the Socialist regime in the Soviet Union. So the Nazis were the bad guys (understandably) and the USSR Socialists were supposedly our allies. The folks who did make it here as refugees and helped influence American opinion have long since passed on, and there really has not been such a large pro-American force in American entertainment since. That explains the current Hollywood attitude about this country.

59 posted on 10/08/2025 2:50:14 PM PDT by Bernard ("Nothing is as expensive as that which the government provides for free." - Ronald Reagan)
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To: ek_hornbeck
So if Fascism is "Left Wing", what does that make the Spanish Civil War? A fight between different Leftist factions?

Yes, that's exactly what it was. Likewise Hitler and Stalin were allies at the beginning of WWII, each knowing they would eventually have to fight the other for control of Europe after France and England were defeated. Hitler stabbed Stalin in the back probably because he was convinced Stalin was about to stab him in the back. WWII was a war started by two socialist totalitarians, who had competing visions of a socialist world after they had defeated the Capitalists.

And if so, why did groups that everyone acknowledges as Right Wing (monarchists, traditional Catholics) align with the Falange?

Monarchists right wing? No, only when forced to be by the people. In fact the various French revolutions were short lived, because the monarchists were always undermining the newly formed French republics.

Catholics right wing? Not in the early 20th century. Catholic parishioners in the early 20th century politically did whatever their priest told them to do. The Catholic hierarchy propped up whatever government that served the church's interest, typically some German monarch. Traditional Catholics only moved to the right politically in the 1980s, when they realized that the Left despised Catholic morality.

60 posted on 10/08/2025 2:51:01 PM PDT by Pres Raygun (Repent America!)
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