What is Fascism?

Couples Company ^

[John Lenin]

What is
Fascism?

This may surprise most educated people. One of the more common government strategies today, especially in developing regions is fascism. Fascism is commonly confused with Nazism.  Nazism is a political party platform that embraces a combination of a military dictatorship, socialism and fascism.  It is not a government structure. Fascism is a government structure.

More than a class system, fascism specifically targets, dehumanizes and aims to destroy those it deems undesirable.

The most notable characteristic of a fascist country is the separation and persecution or denial of equality to a specific segment of the population based upon superficial qualities or belief systems. 

Simply stated, a fascist government always has one class of citizens that is considered superior (good) to another (bad) based upon race, creed or origin.  It is possible to be both a republic and a fascist state. The preferred class lives in a republic while the oppressed class lives in a fascist state.  Until the Civil Rights act of 1964, many parts of the US were Republic for whites and Fascist for non-Caucasian residents. Fascism promotes legal segregation in housing, national resource allocation and employment. It provides legal justification for persecuting a specific segment of the population and operates behind a two tiered legal system. One segment of society is always considered less desirable, sub-human or second class.

(Note: no single government is pure anything.  Most have elements of several structures with one dominant structure).  Below is the political definition and general characteristics of a fascist country. TOP

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1. Fascism is commonly defined as an open terror-based dictatorship which is:

• Reactionary: makes policy based upon current circumstances rather than creating policies to prevent problems; piles lies and misnomers on top of more lies until the truth becomes indistinguishable, revised or forgotten.
• Chauvinistic: Two or more tiered legal systems, varying rights based upon superficial characteristics such as race, creed and origin.
• Imperialist elements of finance capital: Extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political domination of one state over its allies.

Though a dictatorship is the most common association with fascism, a democracy or republic can also be fascist.

2. Fascism is an extreme measure taken by the bourgeoisie to forestall proletarian revolution; it thrives on the weakness of the bourgeoisie itself. It accomplishes this by embracing the middle-classes love of the status-quo, its complacency and its fears of: TOP

1. Generating a united struggle within the working class

2. Revolution

3. Losing its own power and position within society

The 7 conditions
that foster and fuel fascism are:

1. Instability of capitalist relationships or markets

2. The existence of considerable declassed social elements

3. The stripping of rights and wealth focused upon a specific segment of the population, specifically the middle class and intellectuals within urban areas as this the group with the means, intelligence and ability to stop fascism if given the opportunity.

4. Discontent among the rural lower middle class (clerks, secretaries, white collar labor). Consistent discontent among the general middle and lower middle classes against the oppressing upper-classes (haves vs have-nots).

5. Hate: Pronounced, perpetuated and accepted public disdain of a specific group defined by race, origin, theology or association.

6. Greed: The motivator of fascism which is generally associated with land, space or scarce resources in the possession of those being oppressed.

7. Organized Propaganda: The creation of social mythology that venerates (creates saints of) one element of society while concurrently vilifying (dehumanizing) another element of the population through misinformation, misdirection and the obscuring of factual matter through removal, destruction or social humiliation, (name-calling, false accusations, belittling and threats). b) The squelching of public debate not agreeing with the popular agenda via slander, libel, threats, theft, destruction, historical revisionism and social humiliation

3. Fascism concentrates each imperialist bloc (business and government sectors) into a single economic unit while concurrently increasing in-fighting and distrust between the units fostering advancement towards war. TOP

4. Fascism promotes chauvinist demagogy, junk science and obscuratinism. Fascism combines Marxist critiques of capitalism and bourgeois definitions of democracy to force its issues, confuse logic and create majority consensus between targeted groups. 

5. Both Bourgeois Democracy and Fascism are class dictatorships that use organized violence to maintain the class rule of the oppressors over the oppressed. The difference between the two is demonstrated by the policies towards non-proletarian classes.  Fascism attains power through the substitution of one state form of class domination by another form, generally bourgeois democracy segues into an open terrorist dictatorship.

Definitions

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Proletarian (adj):
1 the lowest class of citizens of ancient Rome who had no property
2: belonging to or characteristic of the proletariat (n) : a member of the working class (not necessarily employed); "workers of the world--unite!" TOP

Bourgeoisie (n): the social class between the lower and upper classes: Middle Class TOP

Imperialism  (n): The policy of extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political domination of one state over its allies and over other nations. 2: The system, policies, or practices of such a government. TOP

Demagogy (n): Impassioned appeals to the prejudices and emotions of the populace TOP

Obscurantism (n):

1. The principles or practice of delivering vague truths and hiding key facts.
2. A policy of withholding information from the public.
3. The act of lying through selective omission TOP

Tyranny (n):

1. A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator and is not restricted by a constitution, laws or opposition etc.
2. Dominance over a populous through threat of punishment, terrorism, oppression and violence  TOP

Autocracy (n):

1. Government by a single person having unlimited power; tyranny, dictator.
2. A country or state that is governed by a single person with unlimited power. TOP

[John Lenin]

I think the demoRATS are using the Mein Kampf and Facsim playbook to a T. How many tactics of the facist movement are they using right now ? I'd say almost all of them.

[GermanBabies]

Yes Fascism is making a comeback in Germany and France. No, there won't be big parades and such. Yes, there will be no more freedom of speech or religion (hate crime laws), governmental control of the economy (the 'green' agenda fits here), and plenty of lies.

[Jean S]

This is an interesting source. Did you read their homepage?
http://www.couplescompany.com/

[John Lenin]

I did notice the home page. Interesting isn't it ?

[Dr. Frank fan]

Simply stated, a fascist government always has one class of citizens that is considered superior (good) to another (bad) based upon race, creed or origin.

Not necessarily questioning this, I'm just wondering what this class of citizens was for Mussolini's Italy, exactly.

In general, much of this "definition" of fascism is unintelligible to me. The author employs terms and operates from assumptions which are unfamiliar and probably do not apply in the United States (I wonder if the author is an American). For example, a sentence like

Fascism is an extreme measure taken by the bourgeoisie to forestall proletarian revolution;

reduces to complete gibberish in America, because those terms have no meaning or resonance here. Another way to say this is to observe that according to the author's definitions of "bourgeoisie" and "proletariat", one must conclude that in America either there is no "bourgeoisie", or the "bourgeoisie" is the same thing as the "proletariat" (because basically all of the "middle" class work, which means they are "members of the working class", which is the definition of "proletariat").

Such terms may have made sense to people living in the 19th Century in feudal countries like Germany and Russia. They make little sense in 21st century America. The author seems to carry a bit of Marxist baggage.

[The Duke]

The definition of fascism given here is *WAY OFF BASE* from the defintions I've read elsewhere - where fascism was described basically as an "unholy alliance between government and big business", in which individuals own the business, but government skims off all the profits.

[GermanBabies]

Does the name really matter? You can call it 'Potato Chips' but it doesn't make it any less worse.

[John Lenin]

You bring up some good points but the article makes some sense to me. I was always under the impression that fascism was a worker movement against the CEO/business class.

Looking at the American situation I think the left is being hoodwinked by the multinational corporations who have found a vehicle to rid themselves of competition through various extremist left-wing movements like the animal rights and environmental movements

When you trace the money back to the owner most of the activism money is coming from billionaires through organizations like the Pew Foundation and many others. Liberals are an easy target, they can be swayed on emotion and thats what all these activist rights movements are about. The sky is always falling in their little worlds.

[keithtoo]

I think this is just one person's opinion. I have heard other definitions. This one definition seems to occupy a lot of this author's attention, because his definitions of Communism and Socialism amount to ONE PARAGRAPH! This definition of Fascism goes on for two pages.

The fact is that any form of overcentralization is evil. Whether it is central control or central ownership, it is Socialism and it is evil.

[x]

It looks like you've come across a Marxist definition of fascism, and not an especially clear one. Fascism is a form of tyranny adopted in countries where there is great insecurity and political combat. Fascism differs from other forms of tyranny in its dynamic aspect. It's not simply the army imposing martial law. There's a political movement involved and it includes a large scale mobilization of society.

In its day, fascism involved combat and suppression of Marxists and communists, but the opposition between fascism and communism has often been exaggerated. On the one hand, opposition to communism motivated many to support fascism in defense of property and private enterprise. On the other hand, Leninism was in many ways a model and precursor for fascism, as well as an opponent. Both sought total mobilization and control of society.

It's hard to imagine that fascism would have caught on as much as did without Marxism-Leninists as competitor, threat, precursor and example, but one can easily imagine societies divided along other lines, racial or ethnic or religious or cultural, that would adopt fascist policies. It's egocentrism that makes communists think that it's all about them.

Another important element behind historical fascism was the First World War. The vision of civil society as a battlefield, the hunger for redemption through violence, and the idea of mobilizing society for combat made their way into the bloodstream of the era, left and right.

Many Third World dictatorships in recent years have had much in common with fascism, but the intensity, the hunger for war and conquest, and the fear and desire for revolution weren't present. Fascism is "hot" and impassioned, while contemporary society tends to be "cool" and dispassionate.

But if you asked a fascist what his movement was about, he might well talk about the corporate state and representation by occupational groups, things that get left out of modern polemical definitions of fascism.

[The Duke]

Does the name really matter?

Words only matter if it is important that people can communicate. I'll leave the answer to that question up to you.

[Terriergal]

I'd say that about sums it up.

[Terriergal]

The definition of fascism given here is *WAY OFF BASE* from the defintions I've read elsewhere

You mean in the mainstream media?

[x]

Nice Couples Company poll to freep. Go here and scroll down.

[xm177e2]

I disagree with this definition of fascism, racism is not a necessary component (even though it is almost always present in fascist systems, because it is such a useful tool).

Fascism is a dictatorial ideology which calls for government control and organization of private industries (not necessarily all of them, but especially ones vital to the survival, success, and warmaking capability of the nation). Fascism has inherent in it the glorification of strong leadership, strong soldiers, and war as an end and not a means.

Iraq fits this definition of fascism completely.

<Flameshield On>

The economic/industrial description does not fit America, but we do come superficially close to matching the ideological component. We do like having a strong leader, and we do celebrate our military victories, and we do place a very high social value on military service. We like having a strong military, we believe it is very important to our nation.

But I said the resemblance is only superficial: we don't want to rush headlong into war, we've been trying to avoid it. Even the hawk Bush decided to go through Colin Powell and the UN (and Powell succeeded brilliantly there). We do glorify strong soldiers, but only if they are also moral. Part of our high social status for veterans and soldiers is that they are upholding democratic values and human rights.

Our willingness to use military force to protect those values (and to protect ourselves) is sometimes confused by left-wing @$$#0135 for a fascist affinity for war. They are completely wrong, they have completely taken morality out of the equation (which is why the pundit Andrew Sullivan refers to them as "depraved"--a description with which I wholeheartedly agree); they see the US as a bigger fascist than Saddam Hussein, merely because we are bigger.

</Flameshield>

[CobaltBlue]

>>Fascism is an extreme measure taken by the bourgeoisie to forestall proletarian revolution<<

In plain English, one could say that the Germans hated and feared the Soviets and thought Hitler would be a good way of preventing a Communist/Socialist takeover of Germany.

[CobaltBlue]

>>an "unholy alliance between government and big business<<

Flawed, in my opinion, as yet another economic definition of fascism, which wasn't based on economics.

I definte fascism as follows - and in the following definition, I've included Islamofascism aka Islamism:

1. Extremely nationalistic - in the case of Hitler, the nation was the Third Reich, in the case of bin Laden, the nation is the Nation of Islam, the Ummah, which doesn't exist now but did within living memory as the Ottoman Empire.
2. Anti-democratic - these people want to destroy democracy.
3. Subjugation of the individual to the group, to the point of totalitarianism.
4. Use of violence, including mob violence, to achieve political goals, rather than votes or persuasion.
5. Emphasis on action rather than thought.
6. Exaltation of a strong leader.

[marron]

Fascism is right-wing socialism, which is to say, nationalist socialism, as opposed to left-wing socialism, which is to say, internationalist socialism (communism).

Most socialists are somewhere on the continuum between the two extremes, and would be our "christian socialists", or "social democrats". Out on the extremes, you find the Stalinists and others of their ilk, who shoot dissenters.

The "left" and "right", actually, are a little deceptive, as the classic left-wing example was Stalin and the other Soviets, who promoted internationalist socialism, but this version always led back to Soviet control, which is to say, they used left-wing ideology to achieve a right-wing result.

Classic liberals, US-style conservatives, libertarians, are not a part of this continuum, they have no place in this left-right model.

[WOSG]

This whole article is mostly crap, designed to confuse not enlighten.

In fact, Hitler *was* a fascist. So was Mussolini. Not mentioning either shows the agenda here: to try to transfer the term to modern Republics and free market free societies.

[WOSG]

Duh, now its obvious ... "to forestall proletarian revolution" ... this is written from the communist perpective....

what this propaganda omits is that fascism and communism are ideological twins, peas in the same collectivist pod. the only difference is that fascism openly allows a (property-controlling) ruling elite as part of the ideology - while communism pretended there wasnt (but in fact there really was, for example USSR had the "nomenklatura" of elites; consequently, Stalin's USSR and Hitler's Germany wasnt much different for the average person not in the "Party").