As I’ve said previously, calling someone “fascist” today means you disagree with them. Everyone you don’t agree with is fascist. Yet that’s not what the term means. From Will Ricciardella:
I see the word “fascist” tossed around so much now that it has practically lost any meaning.
Those on the left are once again claiming it’s a “right-wing” government.
That couldn’t be more wrong:
There is little that separates Communists from Fascists in principle and even less in practice.
Communists control the allocation of scarce resources by ownership of the means of production. Fascism permits private ownership but controls the allocation of scarce resources through direction of owners decisions via regulations and caps on what profits they could receive.
It is the illusion of private property rights that acts as an inducement for people to create and innovate, making it a more propitious system of dirigisme.
Communism and Fascism are both forms of totalitarian dictatorships, the former claimed to be internationalist and the latter nationalist. In practice, they were each very much an amalgam of both.
- Stalin’s policy of “socialism in one country” was little different from the Fascists policy of national socialism. The Communist International served the Soviets national interests despite their internationalist rhetoric. Moreover, the Soviets reversed their opposition to Western military defense efforts in World War II within 24 hours of being invaded by Hitler, obviously, in their national interest.
- Fascists did not relegate their ideology nor aspirations to within their own respective countries. Hitler and Mussolini both invaded other countries as well as the Soviets. Also, the Nazi’s had international networks among Germans living in other countries such as the US, Brazil, and Australia to name a few.
The idea that Communists and Fascists are at opposite poles of the political spectrum is demonstrably false, in both theory and in practice.