"Clerical fascism"

michael perelman michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Fri Oct 12 20:05:04 PDT 2001


Chip, I am sure that you know more more about fascism than I do, but I as I understood it, Mussolini's fascism, like Hoover's rule by trade associations, seemed similar. How was this part of fascism discredited. Yes, the term corporatism was used laterto give an air of rhetorical respectability to such an arrangement.

Chip Berlet wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> 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

--

Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu



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