Two fascist movements that gained state power in interwar Europe adopted a system of "corporatist" economic organization AFTER attaining state power. In both cases, Italy and Germany, a sector of powerful elites cut a deal with populist fascist political movements to block left-wing agitation for a more-revolutionary solutions to societal problems. Hitler was handed state power in a deal, as was Mussolini--his march on Rome was largely a faked event. Before taking state power Hitler posed as a national socialist, and Mussolini (falsely) tried to argue he represented a synthesis of socialism and anarchism and futurism.
Leftists, focusing on fascism holding state power, made a number of assumptions about the nature of fascism that turned out to be dubious at best, and disproven at worst.
See:
Fritzsche, Peter. (1990). Rehearsals for Fascism: Populism and Political Mobilization in Weimar Germany. New York: Oxford University Press.
Fritzsche, Peter. (1998). Germans into Nazis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
And for the record, corporatism was a form of Italian syndicalism whereby sectors of society were to be organized in cross-class vertical structures from worker to owner who were to elect representatives to a common assembly. This never happened, but the term corporatism was pilfered to describe the rule by a sector of capitalist elites who had formed an alliance with the fascist movement leaders in Italy and Germany.
The idea that fascism is only a system of corporatist economic organization has been largely discredited, and even if you believe that, it has little to do with fascist political movements which are autonomous populist movements.
I would never describe fascism as a "nationalistic cult." However, many fascist movements adopt a cult of personality honoring their demogogic leader. And while fascist totalitarianism is sometimes crudely reduced to the term "cult," I prefer not to do that.
-Chip "can't take a joke" Berlet
----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Perelman" <michael at ecst.csuchico.edu> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Friday, October 12, 2001 7:29 PM Subject: Re: "Clerical fascism"
> What about fascism as a system of corporatist economic organization rather
> than a nationalistic cult?
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu