``However, it was a reactionary force in Germany, to to a lesser extent in Italy, due to larger socio-political changes. In Germany it was its social status in the Prussian state that was lost as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, for which the German right blamed Social Democrats. The Prussian military hated the entire Weimar Republic, not just the Communists and actively sought its overthrow. This is what eventually pushed them toward the Nazis,...'' Wojteck
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There were two key ingredients with Germany. One was the entire upper echelon of the military was dominanted by the aristocracy, just as the English and French upper classes dominanted their military. In Germany, that class also dominated the Imperial state government with ties to its capitalist class. So the elite could act in class unity to control the direction of the country. They were completely focused on creating a global power for both economic, political, and military reasons. WWI broke that central drive and unity, while Weimar forced the elites into sharing power with other classes of society, which all the upper classes had reason to despise for their various reasons.
The other element was the mobilization of mass conformity to re-establishing that vanquished power center at the top, in the name of German national identity. Whatever the details, this petit bourgeois was almost the entire lower government positions, trades and small business class who were whipped up into a frenzy of hatred that could be mobilized to force conformity to their political views and aspirations. They didn't need much prodding to go after their neighbors and other sectors of society and publicly confront them at any meeting, rally, or public event. The historical Jewish minority provided a central target of a `foreign' element.
What really helped me to understand this second phenomenon in the flesh was the interview with Max Blumenthal last week on Israelis going after eachother over any deviation from the government party line. Such spontaneous reactions to small BSD rallies, or issues over tearing down houses, or check point confrontations, etc, helped make the historical connection. You have to watch live videos to see this sort of work itself up into screaming matches.
We could use historical footage of white crowds in the US south during the 1950-60s civil rights demos to illustrate the same phenomenon. These people were protecting what they saw as their birthright and regional identity. The quality and quantity of the reaction was part of fascism as a political system with a popular base.
Now the teaparty and Republican elites could only hope to achieve those levels of forced conformity under popular threats of violence. But the Teaparty and Repugnants (TPR) don't have the issues or charismatic leadership to really mobilize that kind of mass hatred.
They are stuck with the problem of having to rent charisma, which is something of a feat to pull off for the TPR. None of their national leadership has any native sense for political passion. It all has to be arranged with money and back room deals and chickenshit local ordinances over voting and re-districting through what's left of the good-olde-boy networks.
CG