Trotsky's view of Fascism

[Raúl Duke]

I'm writing a paper on the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party which has been hinted to have been (implicitly) a fascist party.

Although the leader of the party has denounced the fascist regimes in Europe and the party has participated in sugar workers strikes, the party had a base that could mostly be described as "petit-bourgeois" (shopkeepers, students, teachers, white-collar, lawyers) and romanticized the past.

While the romanticizing of the past is probably only considered a trait of fascism by Umberto Eco ("Ur-Fascism"), the fact about the parties social base remains.

If I remember correctly, Trotsky pointed out that fascist parties are based around a certain support base/ class (or classes, we can't rule out the role heavy industry capitalists played for the German Nazi party) and if I remember correctly one of the classes mentioned was the petit-bourgeois.

I just want one of our more knowledgeable members to clarify and explain concisely Trotsky's view of fascism with a focus on what he thought formed it's support base and also perhaps from those with more historical background info on what compromised the support base for the Italian and/or Spanish fascists.

[Yehuda Stern]

You can read this article (http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1944/1944-fas.htm) by Trotsky which explains his views quite fully. It's true that the fascist movement is a mass movement of the petty-bourgeoisie, but then that hardly means that every petty-bourgeois party is fascist. Fascism is usually a petty-bourgeois reaction to capitalist crisis when the working class fails to take power, and its unique trait is that because of its character as a mass movement, it can break and atomize the labor movement upon coming to power.

[Random Precision]

You can read this article (http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1944/1944-fas.htm) by Trotsky which explains his views quite fully. It's true that the fascist movement is a mass movement of the petty-bourgeoisie, but then that hardly means that every petty-bourgeois party is fascist. Fascism is usually a petty-bourgeois reaction to capitalist crisis when the working class fails to take power, and its unique trait is that because of its character as a mass movement, it can break and atomize the labor movement upon coming to power.

Thanks for reminding me of that, I especially liked this part:

An Aesop Fable

A cattle dealer once drove some bulls to the slaughterhouse. And the butcher came night with his sharp knife.

"Let us close ranks and jack up this executioner on our horns," suggested one of the bulls.

"If you please, in what way is the butcher any worse than the dealer who drove us hither with his cudgel?" replied the bulls, who had received their political education in Manuilsky's institute. [The Comintern.]

"But we shall be able to attend to the dealer as well afterwards!"

"Nothing doing," replied the bulls firm in their principles, to the counselor. "You are trying, from the left, to shield our enemies -- you are a social-butcher yourself."

And they refused to close ranks.

[Raúl Duke]

You can read this article (http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1944/1944-fas.htm) by Trotsky which explains his views quite fully. It's true that the fascist movement is a mass movement of the petty-bourgeoisie, but then that hardly means that every petty-bourgeois party is fascist. Fascism is usually a petty-bourgeois reaction to capitalist crisis when the working class fails to take power, and its unique trait is that because of its character as a mass movement, it can break and atomize the labor movement upon coming to power.

Thank you very much, that's the exact article I'm looking for (I just didn't know the name or the fact that it was all in one article.)