Your quite right that there were similarities, and even after WWII there were US corporate interests that argued for the creation of a corporatist society in the US. Sort of a structured version of "what's good for General Motors is good for the USA." There were articles and books talking about the concept of an Industrial Republic along corporatist lines.
But not all forms of corporatism were fascism, although some forms of fascism in state power involved corportism.
In any case the idea of creating an Industrial Republic by organizing unions as a way to achieve socialism was an idea current in socialist circles in the early 1900s. See "The Future of Labour" in James Connolly - Socialism Made Easy, 1908.
http://www14.pair.com/jcs/futurelabour/
The idea was first build strong industrial unions while cooperating with the state and industry in a corporatist manner, and then when strong enough, overthrow capitalism. Incidently, this is the theory put forward by Lyndon LaRouche when he was still claiming to be a socialist in the early 1970s.
What has been discredited is the idea that all forms of fascism involve corporatist ideas, especially as a movement, and that fascism as a movement is primarily the creation of corporate elites.
But there is no doubt that corporatism played a role in both Italy and Germany.
-Chip
----- Original Message ----- From: "michael perelman" <michael at ecst.csuchico.edu> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Friday, October 12, 2001 11:05 PM Subject: Re: "Clerical fascism"
> 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