Re: AUT: Fascism

["cwright" <cwright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just a thought.

If we take the idea of class composition seriuosly, isn't it possible that
fascism corresponds ot a particular class composition?  After all, even
commie00 would agree, I think, that a mass petty bourgeoisie existed in
Germany and Italy in the 1920's and 1930's.  Fascism has been connected with
a mass petty bourgeois movement (as separate from any kind of military
dictatorship) by a wide range of commentators, from Trotsky to Sergio
Bologna (Common Sense #16).  Fascism may certainly respond to mass workers'
movements, but it is a specific response, not just of the bourgeoisie, of
the capitalists.  It also took place in the era of the transition from
professional to mass worker.  What might this have to do with fascism as we
knew it?  Would it also be connected to statification as a way of
reorganizing the class composition, hence the tendency towards state
capitalism?  If so, maybe we would have to reverse the relation of fascism
and state capitalism, with fascism being one means of bringing about greater
integration with the state of all aspects of social life for the working
class?

If this is reasonable, then might the end of the professional worker and a
mass petty bourgeoisie have meant the end of classical fascism?  After all,
even if I argue that the PB still exists as a class, it is certainly much
tinier than it was in the 1930's, prolly less than 20% of the total
population.  Might this also not explain the emergence of fascist or
fascist-like regimes in countries with the professional worker class
composition?  (Harald's comments on Iraq and the Baathists come to mind, but
others as well, such as Argentina, Greece, etc.)  As such, it would also
explain why fascism has ceased to appear in the developed countries.

Also, fascism is not an aberration of the state form (as Poulantzas
thought), but one of the actual representations of its form.  If in thinking
of the discussion of form and essence raised a while back, we might want to
concretize it in the Hegelian idea of Universal, Particular and Unique, in
which essence and form play the role of Universal and Particular, while any
actual state is not a form (the Particular), but the Unique, since each
state apparatus is a unique happening of the state form as the
particularization of the political as Universal.  Of course, I could also be
stretching the Hell out of this and mixing my categories.  ;)

Cheers,
Chris

ps  Welcome on board Marco.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Jovanovic" <peterzoran@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <aut-op-sy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 12:03 AM
Subject: Re: AUT: Fascism


> hi all
>
> I broadly agree with Floyce's response to Tahir on fascism but i have a
bit
> to say on the subject myself.
>
> fascism to me means a violent anti-proletarian movement outside of the
> normal channels of bourgeois rule. the obvious examples being Italian
> fascism and German Nazism which were both responses to mass proletarian
> struggles. as a form of government i don't think fascism is that different
> to other forms of capitalist rule such as Stalinism or military
> dictatorship.
>
> >One last point: I don't think that fascism will disappear within a
> >capitalist order. It just ebbs and flows. The significance of this:
> >democratic anti-fascist movements are futile in the the longer view of
> >things; they just preserve the social order which will bring back fascism
> >again at some later stages and in some other places.
>
> if my definition is correct then fascism while not disappearing has never
> reappeared fully fledged either. sure there are plenty of violent 'Nazi'
or
> 'fascist' groups but they have little support from the bourgeoisie. they
> could only get that support if proletarian revolts make normal rule
> impossible.
>
> Dauve/Barrot in one of his pieces on fascism claims that fascism has been
> surpassed by better methods of integrating the proletariat into
capitalism.
>
> cheers
> peter
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at
http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.
>
>
>
>      --- from list aut-op-sy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
>



     --- from list aut-op-sy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---