Jim F.
On Wed, 27 Jun 2001 12:39:49 -0400 "Chip Berlet" <cberlet at igc.org>
writes:
> Hi,
>
> Let me ask a blunt question. Has Charles Brown or Nathan Newman or
> anyone else claiming that it is hard to define fascism, or offering
> Dimitrov or R. Palme Dutt (or any of the other Comintern
> definitions),
> actually read anything written by Griffin? Anything written about
> fascism in the last 20 years?
>
> It seems to me that much of this discussion is based on a stunning
> lack
> of reading of recent material on the subject.
>
> Also. there is a difference between authoritarianism and
> totalitarianism. (and not the difference suggested by Kirkpatrick in
> her
> misrepresentation of arendt). There is a difference between a
> police
> state and a fascist police state.
>
> If you read Matt Lyons' definition, it talks about attacks on the
> left
> and the mythical organic tribalist nature of fascism.
>
> Here is the definition:
>
> What is Fascism?
> Some General Ideological Features
> by Matthew N. Lyons
>
> I am skeptical of efforts to produce a "definition" of fascism. As
> a
> dynamic historical current, fascism has taken many different forms,
> and
> has evolved dramatically in some ways. To understand what fascism
> has
> encompassed as a movement and a system of rule, we have to look at
> its
> historical context and development--as a form of
> counter-revolutionary
> politics that first arose in early twentieth-century Europe in
> response
> to rapid social upheaval, the devastation of World War I, and the
> Bolshevik Revolution. The following paragraphs are intented as an
> initial, open-ended sketch.
>
> Fascism is a form of extreme right-wing ideology that celebrates
> the
> nation or the race as an organic community transcending all other
> loyalties. It emphasizes a myth of national or racial rebirth after
> a
> period of decline or destruction. To this end, fascism calls for a
> "spiritual revolution" against signs of moral decay such as
> individualism and materialism, and seeks to purge "alien" forces
> and
> groups that threaten the organic community. Fascism tends to
> celebrate
> masculinity, youth, mystical unity, and the regenerative power of
> violence. Often, but not always, it promotes racial superiority
> doctrines, ethnic persecution, imperialist expansion, and genocide.
> At
> the same time, fascists may embrace a form of internationalism based
> on
> either racial or ideological solidarity across national boundaries.
> Usually fascism espouses open male supremacy, though sometimes it
> may
> also promote female solidarity and new opportunities for women of
> the
> privileged nation or race.
>
> Fascism's approach to politics is both populist--in that it seeks
> to
> activate "the people" as a whole against perceived oppressors or
> enemies--and elitist--in that it treats the people's will as
> embodied in
> a select group, or often one supreme leader, from whom authority
> proceeds downward. Fascism seeks to organize a cadre-led mass
> movement
> in a drive to seize state power. It seeks to forcibly subordinate
> all
> spheres of society to its ideological vision of organic community,
> usually through a totalitarian state. Both as a movement and a
> regime,
> fascism uses mass organizations as a system of integration and
> control,
> and uses organized violence to suppress opposition, although the
> scale
> of violence varies widely.
>
> Fascism is hostile to Marxism, liberalism, and conservatism, yet it
> borrows concepts and practices from all three. Fascism rejects the
> principles of class struggle and workers' internationalism as
> threats to
> national or racial unity, yet it often exploits real grievances
> against
> capitalists and landowners through ethnic scapegoating or
> radical-sounding conspiracy theories. Fascism rejects the liberal
> doctrines of individual autonomy and rights, political pluralism,
> and
> representative government, yet it advocates broad popular
> participation
> in politics and may use parliamentary channels in its drive to
> power.
> Its vision of a "new order" clashes with the conservative attachment
> to
> tradition-based institutions and hierarchies, yet fascism often
> romanticizes the past as inspiration for national rebirth.
>
> Fascism has a complex relationship with established elites and the
> non-fascist right. It is never a mere puppet of the ruling class,
> but an
> autonomous movement with its own social base. In practice, fascism
> defends capitalism against instability and the left, but also
> pursues an
> agenda that sometimes clashes with capitalist interests in
> significant
> ways. There has been much cooperation, competition, and interaction
> between fascism and other sections of the right, producing various
> hybrid movements and regimes.
>
>
>
>
>
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