From: BMSDGATH <BMSDGATH@livjm.ac.uk>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Godwin's Law
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 09:19:47 -0500 (EST)
On Wed, 27 Jan 1999 21:51:47 -0600 Lloyd Robertson
<hawkeye@rongenet.sk.ca> wrote:
> >Derek
> I thought fascists could be described as authoritarian conservative
> capitalists. Did I miss something?
Fascists are opposed to capitalism (some of them see it as a Jewish
conspiracy). Fascist economic policy revolves around the 'corporate
state', which has all the means of production in the hands of the
government, and also governmental control of trade unions, educational
institutions, the media etc. (they are power freaks, naturally). You
might think that there is precious little difference between this and
state socialism of the Soviet variety, and there is quite a bit of
truth in that, but one salient difference is that fascists deny the
existence of classes (unlike Marxists for whom class conflict is
central). Therefore the whole Marxist thing about (nominal) worker
control ('dictatorship of the proletariat') is ignored. Fascists place
control firmly in the hands of the party led by a charismatic leader
(caudilllo, duce, fuhrer etc.) The second important difference is the
emphasis on nationality. Marxists are internationalists ('workers of
the world unite') whereas fascists almost always only want the workers
of their own country to unite (and unite in obedience to the leader).
This leads to the second plank of their economic policy which is
autarky - the economic self-sufficiency of a single country/region.
Some 'progressive' fascists (if that isn't a contradiction in terms)
have now become pan-European nationalists in that they want autarky
for a European economic zone (and of course restricted nationality
rights within that zone to those they regard as proper Europeans).
British Union of Fascists ex-leader Oswald Mosley was advocating this
as far back as the 60s and his last political party at that time was
called the Union Movement.
Pardon my potted lecture (bloody academics, eh??? start them off and
you just can't shut them up). Roger Eatwell is the man to read. He
explains it very well. The currently trendy neo-fascist philosopher is
the late Julius Evola, whose work was spread around Europe in the early
1980s. What happened was that memebers of the Italian Armed
Revolutionary Nuclei fascist terrorist group had to flee Italy in the
wake of the appalling massacre they committed in Bologna railway
station in 1980. They scattered to various countries taking Evola's
dubious teaching with them. One of the places they hid out was in
London, where their influence has been blamed for the fatal split that
occurred in the British National Front in the late 80s, which
effectively destroyed that party.
'Searchlight' magazine in the UK does a grand job of exposing fascists,
their dirty doings and their dog's breakfast philosophy. It's a hoot!
Derek
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