Historia, Magistra Vitae
The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder
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Comments by "Historia, Magistra Vitae" (@Historia.Magistra.Vitae.) on "Jimmy Dore Uses Holocaust Denier’s Tweet To Prove Italian PM Isn’t Fascist" video.
"Samuel Rosander: Also, when someone tries to push the narrative that fascism is "a form of socialism (but..but..not the MARXIST form)," or other nonsense about how fascism is in any way a left-leaning system or doctrine...ask them what, EXACTLY, it has that distinguishes it as such. Not just one or two things it has in common, or the common claim that "fascism was born from socialism" (it was, but primitive communism was the first form of government, and all other forms were "born" from that, yet monarchy and other anti-communal forms of government are not forms of communism, primitive or otherwise), but structurally and ideologically, what puts it into the category that they claim."
Fascism was a political and economic system that rejected capitalism, liberalism/democracy, and communism, in which the means of production were organized by national worker syndicals (i.e. trade unions), and the guiding philosophy of the state was Actual Idealism. Fascism was one of the branches of socialism, which advocated for centralized/planned economy, big government and government control over economy, businesses and people's personal liberties such as private property. Fascism opposed liberal capitalism, but also international socialism, hence the concept of a “third way,” their centralized economic policies obeyed collectivist and socialist principles, openly opposing capitalism and the free market, favoring nationalism and autarchy.
You won't be able to understand fascism without first understanding corporatism, syndicalism, and socialism, because fascism is essentially a combination of those three philosophies. Fascism is an extension of Marxist philosophy. Giovanni Gentile, who was a student of Karl Marx, concluded that Marxism was an untenable philosophy to base a new government on, therefore using Marxist philosophy as a base, he evolved the concept into a more centralized organization where the government was the center of all authority. So Fascism is based on the idea that the Government are the People and the call to Nationalism is actually a call to the authority of the Government.
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"Samuel Rosander: For example, all branches of socialism (not just Marxian) have, at their core, which is to say, THE BASIS OF THEIR DOCTRINE THAT DEFINES THEM AS SOCIALIST, communal democracy and some degree of mutualism. Ask them to explain why fascism falls into that category, particularly when Mussolini explicitly said that fascism is anti-democratic and places everyone as subservient to the (totalitarian, per his words) state."
Socialism has nothing to do with democracy. Socialism is an economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. Or simply, it advocates for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources. Society as a whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members.
"Some still ask of us: what do you want? We answer with three words that summon up our entire program. Here they are…Italy, Republic, Socialization... Socialization is no other than the implantation of Italian Socialism…“
— Benito Mussolini, Speech given by Mussolini to a group of Milanese Fascist veterans (October 14, 1944)
The philosopher behind Mussolini's ideology, Giovanni Gentile, believed that all private action should be oriented to serve society. He was against individualism, for him there was no distinction between private and public interest. In his economic postulates, he defended compulsory state corporatism, wanting to impose an autarkic state (basically the same recipe that Hitler would use years later). A basic aspect of Gentile’s logic is that liberal democracy was harmful because it was focused on the individual which led to selfishness. He defended “true democracy” in which the individual should be subordinated to the State. In that sense, he promoted planned economies in which it was the government that determined what, how much, and how to produce.
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@taranullius9221 : " he did not give workers any kind of control over their production or say in their workplace." ... correct, because that would be marxism which Adolf was against. Adolf promoted state socialism, not marxism. Both Adolf and Mussolini were simply imitating Lenin, who had earlier closed down all independent labor associations, factory committees and worker cooperatives, banned strikes, walkouts, and lockouts. Lenin even forced workers to work a slavish 80-hour week. After the Bolsheviks banned all labor unions, one unionist “described the unions as ‘living corpses.’” Any Russian worker who participated in general strikes was arrested, imprisoned or shot. Under Lenin’s regime, workers had no real representation or bargaining rights and were treated like industrial serfs who were chained to their factories. Although Hitler and Mussolini followed Lenin’s nationalizing craze, their treatment of workers did not mimic their Russian counterparts.
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@taranullius9221 : "He left the capital class alone," ... no, Ad olf was strictly against capita lism and the bourg eoisie. He promoted planned economies in which it was the government that determined what, how much, and how to produce. That is why he sought out to natio nalize almost every aspect of the Germ an life.
"A strong State will see that production is carried on in the national interests, and, if these interests are contravened, can proceed to expropriate the enterprise concerned and take over its administration.“
— Adolf H itl er, As quoted in Hi tl er and I, Otto Strasser, Boston, MA, Houghton Mifflin Company (1940) pp. 113-114 Other remarks
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