Historical Definition Of Fascism

[Guest guest]

This is a historical look at fascism, but the new

brand is much more complex, sophisticated and hidden,

(at least at this point).

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Famously, the American political scientist C. J.

Friedrich defined totalitarianism as follows:

 

1. A single mass party, led by one man, which forms

the hard core of the regime and which is typically

superior to or intertwined with the governmental

bureaucracy.

 

2. A system of terror by the police and secret police

which is directed against real and imagined enemies of

the regime.

 

3. A monopolistic control of the mass media.

 

4. A near monopoly of weapons.

 

5. Central control of the economy.

 

6. An elaborate ideology which covers all aspects of

man's existence and which contains a powerful

chiliastic [messianic or religious] moment.

p31

 

Fascism is a set of ideologies and practices that

seeks to place the nation, defined in exclusive

biological, cultural, and / or historical terms, above

all other sources of loyalty, and to create a

mobilized national community.

 

Fascist hostility to socialism and feminism, for they

are seen as prioritizing class or gender rather than

nation. This is why fascism is a movement of the

extreme right.

 

Fascism is also a movement of the radical right

because the defeat of socialism and feminism and the

creation of the mobilized nation are held to depend

upon the advent to power of a new elite acting in the

name of the people, headed by a charismatic leader,

and embodied in a mass, militarized party. Fascists

are pushed towards conservatism by common hatred of

socialism and feminism, but are prepared to override

conservative interests - family, property, religious,

the universities, the civil service - where the

interests of the nation are considered to require it.

 

Fascist radicalism also derives from a desire to

assuage discontent by accepting specific demands of

the labour and women's movements, so long as these

demands accord with the national priority.

 

Fascists seek to ensure the harmonization of workers'

and women's' interests with those of the nation by

mobilizing them within special sections of the party

and / or within a corporate system.

 

Access to these organizations and to the benefits they

confer upon members depends on the individual's

national, political, and / or racial characteristics.

All aspects of fascist policy are suffused with ultra

nationalism.

p72

[Guest guest]

Frank,

I believe that Benito Mussolini associated Fascism with corporate control

of government.

Jerry M.