I read the through the post and I would like to see the same analysis applied to “Socialism” since that’s been applied to everything from CRT to drag shows. To answer the question directly yes Faciam does exist in the US. There are actual groups that espouse Nazism in the US. In a broader context the use of Nationalism by politicians and personal loyalty to a strong leader is definitely fascist in nature. So is the pushing of social political grievance against perceived cultural and economic elites and especially framing such as a defense of traditional values. Even the fear and tarring of opponents as “Socialists” is reminiscent of Fascists from the 1920’s and 30’s who frequently tied cultural degeneration and decadence to Communism.
Another common trait of fascists. Literally label anything to the left of them as socialist. Example, the belief that Dwight D Eisinhower was a secret communist party member held by American fascists.
Been there, done that. German Fascists learning from American Fascists Fascism is a form of government that is collectivist, nationalist, and totalitarian. Tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato. Everything for the state, nothing outside of the state, nothing against the state. If your movement isn't collectivist, nationalist, or totalitarian, then it isn't fascism. The bad guys in fascism are those outside the state. That's what differentiates it from communism (where the bad guys are the capitalists/reactionaries who are stealing the "surplus value" of your work by paying you an agreed upon wage).
Who do land and capital owners who share the ethnicity of the cultural majority typically side with during times of extremes clashing? Fascism and Communism are a yin and yang in that when there is economic turmoil or massive shifts in quality of life, commoners look for why it's happening and these two extreme ideologies show up giving their reason why society is collapsing around them. So which side do property owners who are part of the ethnic cultural hegemony typically side with? The fascists or communists? Also what type of people got ousted in the Night of Long Knives?
They tend to try to GTFO, or they end up getting purged. A few will become part of whatever side becomes ascendant. Those killed in the Night of Long Knives were rich and powerful Germans that were opposed to Hitler. Victims of the Night of the Long Knives - Wikipedia Some highlights: Otto Ballerstedt (secessionist Bavarian, remember: nothing outside the state) Georg von Detten (member of the Reichstag) Karl Ernst (member of the Reichstag, Hitler was the best man at his wedding) Alexander Glaser (lawyer) Edgar Julius Jung (lawyer) Gustav Ritter von Khar (former PM of Bavaria) Hans Karl Koch (member of the Reichstag) Kurt von Schleicher (former Chancellor of Germany) August Schneidhuber (member of the Reichstag and chief of police of Munich) Johann Konrad Schragmüller (member of the Reichstag and chief of police of Magdeburg) Emil Sembach (member of the Reichstag) This would be like killing Trump and a bunch of Senators. If you want to know what Fascism is: Microsoft Word - The Doctrine of Fascism.doc (sjsu.edu)
I fully agree with this and your definition would fit with trends we’re seeing such “America First” calling for a focus on external enemies and the punishing of even private corporations for being insufficient loyal to the state and / or perceived threats to a state sanctioned culture.
And Trump and others on the American right have specifically criticized not just senators but wealthy private individuals and businesses. Trump, DeSantis and others have used the force of law to go after those they oppose.
Not really. Every state has national pride. That isn't sufficient to be fascist. The two major accomplishments of the Trump administration were tax cuts and appointment of judges who are at least somewhat more pro-liberty/pro-Constitution. The entire point of fascism was a rejection of the individual and subordination to the state. It was that liberalism (free enterprise and individual rights) was a failure and needed to be replaced with a new imperial rule. Rejection of the confiscatory tax schemes and collectivist ideologies is antithetical to fascism. You didn't see the Trump administration nationalize Twitter and put one of their cronies in charge of running it. There simply is not a fascist party in the United States. Roosevelt probably got the closest, but even he wasn't full on fascist. Both parties use the law to go after their opposition. In fact, all governments use the law to go after their opposition to one extent or another. That is just power corrupting and is not inherent in or unique to fascism. @fchowd0311 thinks that because landlords don't typically support the ideology that calls for killing all the landlords that fascism must be pro-business. That just isn't the case. Liberalism is pro-business. Fascism is a different form of collectivism than communism, because it doesn't have the imaginary end-state of a classless, stateless society, but rather a grand empire where all the subjects are proud supporters of the emperor and the collective is "the state" as opposed to "the people".
Fascism has no economic system. It's an ideology about maintaining cultural, social and economic hierarchies. The economic system in fascism is whatever economic system that allows the maintaining of a traditional hierarchy as in Men do men stuff, women do women stuff, Jews do Jew stuff, blacks do black stuff, laborers do laborer stuff, capital owners and property owners maximize return on investment so on and so forth. Fascists want that system maintained. Fascism is seeing a snapshot of a hierarchical economic and cultural system and asking "how do we maintain this hierarchy at all cost". That is why land lords prefer fascism. Because they understand the ideology exists to maintain the current hierarchical system in place. It's a ideology about tradition. Fascism economics is fluid based on how those means I discuss above are achieved. A good example of this is fascists praising the free market when social norms are in their favor where hiding and suppressing gay media content maximized return on investment in the 60s but today the opposite maximizes return on investment and therefore fascists are angry at market forces not favoring their traditional hierarchal system.
". . . to borrow Kuklick’s acid description, the term is the verbal equivalent of 'throwing a tomato at a speaker at a public event.' ”
Came into this thread thinking, "it's really not that hard! I know what fascism is. " Then I see that everybody else has some loony toons definitions of what fascism might be, essentially proving the article's thesis that its such a nebulous word that its useless in debate. I'm not going to bother offering another definition into this argument. But, I would point out the article starts with asking if fascism exists in the US and concludes with a semantic argument that we can't agree on what fascism means. That we can't agree on what it is doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Rhetorically, it seems like the article is trying to throw cover for fascists, saying essentially that we can't know if we have a problem. Forget whether our problematic ideologies are fascist or not, we definitely have problematic ideologies!
Honestly, you could apply the same "fuzzy definition" logic to "socialist/communist" so if it works for fascists, it works for socialist. And so there are no socialists in america because a bunch of idiots define everything they dont like as communism.
Not at all. All im saying is whats good for the goose is good for the gander. If this logic applies to "fascism" it should apply to other like cases of "-ism". Im confident in saying something exists or doesnt exist independently of a bunch of mouthbreathers being incapable of being able to agree on a defnition, either from being stupid, or intentionally muddying the waters.
Mussolini disagrees with you. To ignore that fascism has an economic system is to ignore the very foundation of fascism. The economic system of fascism is state control of industry and labor.
