Fascism is a historical and political force, that emerged in the 20th century most famously in Italy and Germany. The liberal view of fascism claims that it is merely nationalistic, right-wing, anti-Semitic, and most importantly the advocacy for "otherness". The liberal view also claims that fascism rejects liberal democracy for exterior motives such as militarism and race. This is false, because fascism only emerged in the period of capitalist crisis in which the bourgeoisie "must turn against what itself created, because what was once a factor of its development today has become an obstacle to the preservation of capitalist society." [1] Fascism only did away with liberal democracy because of the real conditions of Italian imperialism.
Fascism was defined by Georgi Dimitrov at the 7th World Congress of the Communist International: "the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialist elements of finance capital." [2]
Today, the left resembles fascism due to its liquidationist tendencies in favor of modern imperialism. It also contains the institutionalization and middle class mass character as fascism held historically. The former General Secretary of the Communist Party of Italy gave a clear warning against these narrow ideological characterizations of the liberal definition of fascism:
"I warn you against the tendency to regard fascist ideology as something that is solidly formed, complete, homogenous. Nothing more closely resembles a chameleon than fascist ideology. Don't look at fascist ideology without considering the objectives which fascism proposes to reach at a given moment with a given ideology." [1]
Suggested reading on fascism
Lectures on Fascism - Palmiro Togliatti The Fascist Offensive and the Tasks of the Communist International in the Struggle of the Working Class against Fascism - Georgi Dimitrov
Fascism and Big Business - Daniel Guerin
Under the Axe of Fascism - Gaetano Salvemini
The Theory of Factions in Monopoly Capital - Richard Corell and Ernst Herzog
Blackshirts and Reds - Michael Parenti
The Struggle Against Fascism - Clara Zetkin
Various works on fascism by R. Palme Dutt
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Togliatti, Palmiro. Lectures on Fascism. Edited by Vijay Prashad, International Publishers Company, Incorporated, 2017, 1970, 1935.
- ↑ Dimitrov, Georgi. “The Fascist Offensive and the Tasks of the Communist International in the Struggle of the Working Class against Fascism.” Marxists Internet Archive, 2 August 1935, https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/dimitrov/works/1935/08_02.htm#s2.