Re: Forwarded from Anthony (on fascism)

[Dennis R Redmond <dredmond@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 15 Jul 2000, Xxxx Xxxxx Xxxxxx wrote:

> b) in the context of Europe (wasn't the core class composition of German
> fascism upper middle class (big business)?)

I'm not qualified to talk about Turkey, but German fascism was a complex
beast. There were the classic petit bourgeoisie (small shopowners,
white-collar professionals, etc.) who had their main expression in the
S.A. -- they were populists, who raged against big biz, Jewish
banker-Bolshevism etc. After the Night of Long Knives, the big bourgies
(Ruhr industrialists, war profiteers, etc.) took over and instituted
military Keynesianism. Fascism was very much the political revolution of
German, Italian, and Japanese monopoly capitalism, not liberal capitalism.

I've always thought we should talk about the lumpenbourgeoisie rather than
the lumpenproletariat -- the passive, rotting mass of thieves, gangsters
and military cadre thrown off by primitive global accumulation in the
Third World, who took the greatest delight in administering IMF austerity
programs and banking the profits in Switzerland.

-- Dennis