What IS "fascism?"

[lost_sailor]

Dr. Lawrence Britt, a political scientist, wrote an
article about fascism which appears in the latest
issue of Free Inquiry magazine -- a journal of
humanist thought. Dr. Britt studied the fascist
regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco
(Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and
Pinochet (Chile). He found the regimes all had 14
things in common, and he calls these the identifying
characteristics of fascism. The article is
"Fascism Anyone?," Lawrence Britt, Free Inquiry,
Spring 2003, page 20.

The 14 characteristics are:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist
regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos,
slogans, symbols, songs, and other
paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag
symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights -
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security,
the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that
human rights can be ignored in! certain cases because
of "need." The people tend to look the other way or
even approve of torture, summary executions,
assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying
Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying
patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a
perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or
religious minorities; liberals; communists;
socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are
widespread domestic problems, the military is given a
disproportionate amount of government funding, and the
domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military
service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations
tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under
fascist regimes, traditional gender roles
are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high,
as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national
policy.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is
directly controlled by the government, but in other
cases, the media is indirectly controlled by
government regulation, or sympathetic media
spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in
war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as
a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined -
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most
common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate
public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is
common from government leaders, even when the major
tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to
the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and
business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the
ones who put the government leaders into
power, creating a mutually beneficial
business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing
power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist
government, labor unions are either
eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed .

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist
nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to
higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for
professors and other academics to be censored or even
arrested. Free _expression in the arts is openly
attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the
arts.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under
fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless
power to enforce laws. The people are often
willing to overlook police abuses and even forego
civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is
often a national police force with virtually unlimited
power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism a! nd! Corruption - Fascist
regimes almost always are governed by groups of
friends and associates who appoint each other to
government positions and use governmental power and
authority to protect their friends from
accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes
for national resources and even treasures to be
appropriated or even outright stolen by government
leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in
fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times
elections are manipulated by smear campaigns
against or even assassination of opposition
candidates, use of legislation to control voting
numbers or political district boundaries, and
manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also
typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or
control elections.

[crabbait]

Ok, that's scary. Good thing it could never happen here!

[happybrew]

Many of these are common to other totalitarian systems as well. One thing he seems to have left out is central government control of the economy, with ownership left in private hands, as opposed to communism, with central government control of the economy with ownership by the government as well.

Under fascism, the sovereignty of the nation is absolute, over and above that of the individual. Everything is subordinated to the nation. All facets of society are oriented toward serving the nation, including schools, universities, industry, churches, literature and art. Hitler was quite ticked off when Catholic and Lutheran clergy spoke out against the **** party, the Catholics under instructions to read a letter by the pope from the pulpit on a particular Sunday, and the Lutherans mainly individually and sporatically, and this led to the deaths of thousands of clergy in the concentration camps. It didn't seem they were serving the nation the way he wanted. There has been a similar experience in El Salvador and Guatamala, where bishops who spoke out against the government were assassinated. Generally, every aspect of society is expected to serve the nation, or there will be consequences.

Ordinarily, under a fascist system, any failure of the system will be viewed, not as the fault of the authoritarian elite, but as the result of a plot by outside forces. Thus, the Argentinian fascists blamed their failures on a lack of prestige, of being looked down upon by other nations, and invaded the Falklands as a way of boosting their national prestige. Fascists are generally obsessed with what they view as national prestige. Spanish fascists blamed everything on Communists and Anarchists, seeking an internal enemy rather than an external one. Hitler blamed the Jews. Mussolini blamed the Western European countries for not giving the Italians the gains they thought they deserved for being on the victorious side of WWI. Japan blamed the United States for thwarting its goals of industrialization and control of Eastern Asia.

happybrew

[Digifish]

Seems a few of these don’t always hold true, as, I guess should be expected in trying to precisely define human behavior.
For instance, suppression of religion is sometimes an integral component of a fascist’s control rather than an intertwining of it and the government.
Also, the private corporate ownership structure is dissolved in favor of a total national ownership system....and, labor is sometimes the only capital of fascists and is therefore courted, if you will.
Appears to me Dr. Britt had his prey in mind way befor he thunk up the definition. :tongue:

[Silver Hilton]

Yeah, this is one of those terms that is perhaps best thought of as a measure of degree or direction. It's got to be thought of as, relative to what? The US might be considered to currently have some facistic tendencies compared to Canada or Denmark, but not compared to North Korea or The People's Republic of China. It's relative.

[happybrew]

Originally posted by digifish:
Seems a few of these don?t always hold true, as, I guess should be expected in trying to precisely define human behavior.
For instance, suppression of religion is sometimes an integral component of a fascist?s control rather than an intertwining of it and the government.
Also, the private corporate ownership structure is dissolved in favor of a total national ownership system....and, labor is sometimes the only capital of fascists and is therefore courted, if you will.
Appears to me Dr. Britt had his prey in mind way befor he thunk up the definition. :tongue:

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">You are correct about ownership and labor. The Latin American fascists often nationalized industries to a much greater extent than the European fascists did. With the European fascists, nationalization took place later in their rule. With the Latin American fascists it was tool for gaining support. Also, Latin American fascists courted labor in order to gain additional support, but were sporatic in this.

happybrew

[skahorse]

I am all for Facism... As long as I am in charge! :grin:

I think I should run for office [img]graemlins/idea.gif[/img]

[happybrew]

I've always wanted to be Grand Poobah of a small Central American country. It has its benefits, as long as you trust no one.

happybrew :grin:

[Hoosier Daddy]

Lost Sailor, I see where you are going, and I will grant you much of numbers 1,3,7,9 and 12, and some of 2 and 13.

[BonkBonkBonk]

sounds familiar [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img]