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

[weikel]

Yeah but FDR didn't go nearly as far towards communism as he could have. He was virtual dictator of the US remember. The other branches basically did as he told them to.

[Dr. Frank fan]

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.

Ok. This doesn't answer the issue I raised, which was about the nonsensicality of a statement like " measure taken by the bourgeoisie to forestall proletarian revolution" in a society like ours, where there's no clear delineation between "bourgeoisie" and "proletarian". But I don't disagree with what you say.

[JoeA]

Well I'm not saying that FDR was a socialist, he was too patrician for that. Although many of his actions are suspect, especially with the benefit of hindisght. My point is that Hopkins was an active, possibly communist, influence on FDR.

[weikel]

Oh they had influence over him. But he was probably more independent then the international would have liked. Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter on the other hand took their direct marching orders from communist handlers( not sure who it was with Carter Wilson's handler was "Colonel" Edward Mandell House).

[JoeA]

Yes, I know about House. Carter... wasn't Ramsey Clark in the administration?

[weikel]

With Carter it could have been a lot of people. Be interesting to see if any records of who House was working with. You find the associates of House and you find the top guys of the international.

[Dr. Frank fan]

["bourgeois", "proletarian"] Though they've never been a part of my everyday vocabulary, I learned those terms in world history.

Congratulations. So did I. We all did. (For some reason it's deemed quite important to teach all American kids about Marxist terms and assumptions.)

And that's where these terms belong: in history. They have little relevance for our society, today, not much more than does the term "centurion" or "vassal".

Sure, I was taught that "proletarian" meant "working class" while "bourgeois" meant "middle class". I never fully understood this though. The problem is that in America, generally speaking, our "middle class" works, and our working class enjoys a "middle class" lifestyle. So it just doesn't compute. I tried to understand those terms, and I tried to read Marx and all, but something just didn't compute.

But it still goes on: teacher writes "proletarian = working class, bourgeois = middle class" on the chalkboard and 95% of the kids nod their heads so that they seem smart. Lesson learned. Well, what can I say, I wasn't one of them. That's because I actually tried to think about what these definitions meant, and I realized that they were nonsense in our society. Grouping hordes of people into large, vaguely-defined, stereotypical categories so as to perform simplistic analyses on them while ignoring individuals is really more of a 19th century kinda thing anyway. I was never comfortable with the whole exercise myself.

[JoeA]

Google search returns 1,100 entries for colonel House. There's a Yale chronology (his alumnus) but it's fairly sanitary.

[sneakypete]

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.

HorseHillary! Fascism is the marriage of communism and capitalism. It is a return to the feudal system,where a monied elite are the only ones truly free and the rest of the population are serfs. Bush-1 called it "The New World Order". Bubba-1 called it "The Third Way". Others refer to it as a "One World Government". What it truly amounts to is "Corporate Communism".

[sneakypete]

(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;"

He is just another commie,who most likely thinks that any system other than Marxism is Fascism.

[sneakypete]

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.

Duke,what you described is "classical fascism". The modern version we (or our children) will end up suffering under will flip-flop classical fascism. The new fascism will have the corporations at the top,and the politicians will be their employees and PR agents. Look to China for a prime example of how this will work,and look at WHO from the US is in business with the fascists who run China. For instance,remember back in the old days when Wal-Mart advertised "American made"? Notice how it is damn near impossible to find anything for sale at Wal-Mart now that wasn't made in China? Did you know that Hillary Clinton was on the board of directors of Wal-Mart before her husband was elected president,and she only resigned because she had to when they moved into the White House? Now think back to when the Chinese goods started swamping Wal-Mart and other American stores. Wal-Mart was one of the first to "go Chinese" in a big way,almost like they had a sweetheart deal with the fascists who own all the corporations in China,huh? Also please note that Diane FineSwine's hubby is in business with these same fascists,and is most likely the ones who tipped them off about the BATF raid on their leased warehouses in San Diego that held all the fully-automatic AK-47's they had smuggled into the country.

Also take note that Jorge Ali Bubba Bush has a uncle who lives in China,and is bestest buddies and business partners with these same fascists.

I think it is already safe to say that corporations are already in a position where they dictate government policy,and that it will only get more brazen in the future. Our politicians are no longer bought and sold,they are now minority stockholders.

[sneakypete]

I was always under the impression that fascism was a worker movement against the CEO/business class.

It is the exact opposite. Only "favored" citizens/employees get the best jobs,go to the best schools,and live in the best neighborhoods. It is a top-down system that rewards lackeys and punishes people who try to be independent.

[sneakypete]

Perhaps Bush can stop it.

ROFLMAO! As a member in good standing of one of the elitist ruling families who has a uncle in business with the fascists that own/run China,I kinda doubt he has any interest in trying.

[sneakypete]

No communist or fascist state has survived longer than 100 years.

Really? Ever heard of the feudal system?

[LloydofDSS]

This thread is a good place to point out that capitalism is a derogatory term coined by marxists. The real name for capitalism is "economic freedom". It is strange how we have embraced this term. It is a bit like embracing the term "honky" as a name for all white people.

[sneakypete]

It just doesn't resemble traditional fascism at all.

It's not traditional fascism. The Corporations got tired of being second-rate powers who had to bow to the politicans,so they just bought them out with stock options and employment for their relatives. Fascism has now evolved to where the Corporations are the ones telling the politicans what to do.

[sneakypete]

Let our rabid political class lead the charge into war, politicians first, pundits second, their families third.

Sounds good to me!

[wcbtinman]

"No communist or fascist state has survived longer than 100 years."

I believe that the US is now a quasi-fascist state. The only reason that it survives in the US is that the citizens are armed, and that right is supposedly protected by the Constitution.

As more and more laws regulating and controlling firearms ( and other aspects of our everyday existence) appear, the US will move ever closer to the classical definition of Fascism. At some point, this movement will spill over into open conflict.

[Boot Hill]

John Lenin asks:   "How many tactics of the facist movement are they using right now?"

Depends on whether you want to put in credence in something so obviously written by some left-wing college professor. Here's your first clue from the text:

The 7 conditions that foster and fuel fascism are:

3. The stripping of rights and wealth...[from] intellectuals...as this [is] the group with the means, intelligence and ability to stop fascism if given the opportunity.

The "intellectuals" will save us from fascism?

LOL, do you want me to let you in on one of the dirty little secrets you learn when you've taken too many college courses in psychology? It is the secret of the "F scale" test. This is a test that is designed to measure a person's readiness to adopt fascist ideologies.

And guess who it is that traditionally scores the highest in this test? Is it the "rural lower middle class"? Is it the hard-hat red-necks? Is the "have-nots"? Why no, it is the college educated intellectual. In fact test results for decades have shown a strong correlation between both IQ and educational level to one's degree of willingness to accept fascism (hence its euphemistic name: The "F scale").

The farther you've gone in school, the more likely it is, that you would NOT rebel under a fascist system of government. Think about it. Doesn't your own life experience confirm what this test tells us? Where is it that we see, not just the acceptance of a curtailment of free speech rights, but the whole hearted endorsement of such fascist PC practices. Why, of course, it is on college campuses.

Years ago I had an opportunity to discuss this with a fellow whose job it had been to interrogate Waffen SS officers (Colonel and above) after WW II. He said that his experience showed him exactly the same thing that the F scale tests show. He said that the image of the SS officer as some under-educated, low IQ, brut recruited from the lower classes of society was completely in error. He told me that the worst of the worst, were highly educated and quite intelligent men.

The intellectuals will save us from fascism? Not likely! They will be the ones organizing and building the gas chambers.

--Boot Hill

[cricket]

"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." Agree and don't forget one of their favorites as well, Karl Marx.

They take the 'best' from the worst and roll it up into their 'neutralizing' rhetoric.

Good post!