what is fascism?

[-Cuba95-]

ive been hearing alot about it and im not quite sure as to wht it is....

[Magón]

Are you serious? Is this is serious question? I suggest googling it, or searching for it via search function on here. I believe you'll find plenty of threads with the same thread title, or at least similar.

[Tommy4ever]

Fascism refers to the ideology of Mussolini's Italy (1922-1943/45), Hitler's Germany (1933-1945) and Franco's Spain (1939-1975).

In essence it is a right wing, authoritarian ideology. At its heart it seaks to protect the Church and the capitalist system from the dual 'evils' of liberalim (laissez-faire capitalism was failing during the 30s and early 20s in these states) and Marxism (again on the rise when the facists took power in each state). They were all characterised by their brutality, ultra-nationalism and, with the exception of Francoist Spain, expansionism (although Spain was in no position to be expansionist whilst Germany and Italy were).

Nazi Germany's ideology is actually slightly different to that of Fascist Italy and Spain. In Germany racism and ethnic nationalim played a much bigger role whilst religion was also considerably less prominent. The racist theories of Nazi Germany eventually culminated in the holocaust.

So that's Fascism. Nowadays the word is used out of all context, especially by people on the Left, as a general derogatory term - this is probably where your confusion lies.

[Ocean Seal]

Fascism has three general characteristics. Authoritarianism, anti-communism, ultra-nationalism. It is dedicated to protecting the private property of the ruling class, although according to fascists it also appeals to the working class by being against capitalism. However, fascism is little more than capitalism with a vanguard. Fascism is generally regarded as extremely hostile to the principles of internationalism and revolutionary socialism. In many cases executing millions of socialists. Typically fascists do provide benefits for workers such as welfare/ healthcare, but at the same time they protect the very large corporations and allow them to carry out production privately. In addition to that fascism should also be noted for its strong proposition of the military-industrial complex, and its law and order style of rule.

In short fascism is a dictatorship of a victorious reactionary element against a revolutionary left. It is very protective of the ruling class, and establishes a strongly hierarchical corporate state which can be described as operating similarly to their military.

[Widerstand]

If I'm not mistaken here, one important aspect of fascism is missing, that of class collaboration. Fascism can be a stabilizing form of capitalism in times of increased class struggle. By uniting all classes under a national (and racial) identity, it effectively serves to protect capitalism by pacifying the workers. Other aspects of fascism, such as leader cult, strong social integration (through organs such as the Hitler Youth) and extreme repression also achieve this effect. Those excluded from the favored group (eg. Jews, Roma, Sinti, Homosexuals, Commies, etc. in the Third Reich) are often jailed and/or used as de facto slaves, even further stabilizing capital. The expansionism can be seen to do the same, though wars can also threaten the fascist project.

[28350]

Are you serious? Is this is serious question? I suggest googling it, or searching for it via search function on here. I believe you'll find plenty of threads with the same thread title, or at least similar.

It's the Learning section. Don't be a jerk.

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

Kind of in line with the other posters, I'd define it as a system where a core Elite, usually based around a military, political party, business and/or religious cabal, reaches out to a broader population from all classes, and finds something in common between this elite and the broader population. This becomes the in-group, IE the Aryans of Germany, Shiites in Iran, conservatives in Chile, nationalists in Italy, etc. Once this happens, people who don't fit in that group are victimized to varying degrees, blamed for class inequalities, and systemically isolated and alienated. In addition, foreign and conspiratorial enemies are appealed to as a justification for harsh state power.

[RED DAVE]

Basic text:

Trotsky: Fascism, What It Is and How to Fight It (http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1944/1944-fas.htm)

RED DAVE

[Princess Luna]

Fascism refers to the ideology of Mussolini's Italy (1922-1943/45), Hitler's Germany (1933-1945) and Franco's Spain (1939-1975).

In essence it is a right wing, authoritarian ideology. At its heart it seaks to protect the Church and the capitalist system from the dual 'evils' of liberalim (laissez-faire capitalism was failing during the 30s and early 20s in these states) and Marxism (again on the rise when the facists took power in each state). They were all characterised by their brutality, ultra-nationalism and, with the exception of Francoist Spain, expansionism (although Spain was in no position to be expansionist whilst Germany and Italy were).

Nazi Germany's ideology is actually slightly different to that of Fascist Italy and Spain. In Germany racism and ethnic nationalim played a much bigger role whilst religion was also considerably less prominent. The racist theories of Nazi Germany eventually culminated in the holocaust.

So that's Fascism. Nowadays the word is used out of all context, especially by people on the Left, as a general derogatory term - this is probably where your confusion lies.
Actually despite using the Fascist Falange to help him rise to power, Franco wasn't really a Fascist he was a extreme Conservative

[No Ha Muerto]

I've always seen fascism as thoroughly reactive apropos any threat from the left. What essentially happens in any fascism is that the central antagonism of Leftism: class-struggle, is replaced by another antagonism. The most obvious example is antisemitism in Nazi-Germany: class-struggle is dampened by assuming that all problems derive from an external agent (which can be anything, often it is all forms of Leftism, or any form of minority) that invaded an essentially good system (capitalism).

It serves then, to obfuscate class-struggle in prevention of a revolution. That is why you will almost always see Capitalists aligning themselves with fascism (this was certainly the case in 1930's Germany).

A few useful points for identifying fascism:
1: Usually very authoritarian, basically militaristic.
2: Romanticizes some 'ideal' past before the external agent (any minority and/or Leftism) corrupted it.
3: Suppresses the 'evil' external agent with the most systematic forms of violence
4: Usually arrives on the scene during times of economic hardship and/or increased class-conflict

[MarxistMan]

Go to this link and watch this explanation and presentation about fascism and how to fight it, by Fred Goldstein, a writter and economist of The Workers World Party

http://workers.blip.tv/file/4675094/


.



ive been hearing alot about it and im not quite sure as to wht it is....

[L.A.P.]

Are you serious? Is this is serious question? I suggest googling it, or searching for it via search function on here. I believe you'll find plenty of threads with the same thread title, or at least similar.

http://images3.cpcache.com/product_zoom/37134983v3_400x400_Front_Color-White.jpg

[Highfructosecornsyrup]

Actually despite using the Fascist Falange to help him rise to power, Franco wasn't really a Fascist he was a extreme Conservative

This would be an interesting question to pursue that gets at the heart of the imprecision of 'fascism' as a term.

Those who claim Franco's regime wasn't fascist make a valid point about the difference between the Spanish and the Italian or German case. The Spanish reaction was a fundamentally conservative movement, based on turning the clock back on the Republic. Being a military rebellion it was a continuation of the tradition of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship and a handful of other military restorations which are a trademark element of Spanish history.

The Spanish state was far more backward even in comparison to Italy, and thus the right wing movement was not based on the electoral and paramilitary efforts of the petite bourgeoisie (it barely existed). Within the right wing movement there was the Falange, a genuine fascist current, which wanted rather than a restoration - a right wing revolution, though unlike the German or Italian case this current never attained hegemony within the right wing movement due to a number of reasons. According to this view Franco's regime was a traditional conservative movement with only the cultural trappings of fascism.

An alternative view is that it was a Fascist regime, because from the perspective of the working class and in the context of the interwar period, right wing bayonets are right wing bayonets. Fair enough. As a label to garner the maximum political enthusiasm for the defense of the republic crying fascism was an understandable strategy. Supporting this, the previous dictatorships, Primo de Rivera's specifically, based at least part of their state on the working class, having legalised the Socialist Party and it's unions, whereas the Franco dictatorship made any organised expression of working class politics illegal. So from the perspective of the working class, it was virtually indistinguishable from fascism.

To turn the wrench further, the specificity of Spanish authoritarianism is also evident in the gulf between the Italian and German fascisms, which were also quite different. I hope this isn't too irrelevant of a explication of debates around Spanish fascism, what I would like to think it gestures toward though, is the definitional problems in trying to bracket together regimes with a lot of variation between them under a single conceptual category. Even more so if you'd like to expand 'fascism' to include Pinochet's regime or many others. Defining fascism is like pinning jelly to the wall.

But some basic directional points. Fascism is a movement based on 'conservatism from below'. In the interwar period it was based on paramilitaries of demobilised war-veterans brutalized in imperialist war allied with the petite-bourgeoisie, cheered on by segments of capital as a battering ram against the working class. Stillmore, they were supported by a layer of the working class because they postured as being a 'revolutionary' movement. It was/is the most extreme form of nationalism, a last resort of capital in a revolutionary period to restore order after everything else failed.