Re: [Marxism] fascism and capitalism

[Carrol Cox <cbcox@xxxxxxxxx>]

Fascism is just one of many possible forms of tyranny -- and my own view
is that probably it is best to think of it as a historical term, like
divine-right monarchy, applicable primarily to a few regimes between the
wars. What was special about it was its basis in a mass movement, which
does not characterize most forms of tyranny.

The main reason to be _very_ careful in using the term is that it
conceals just how authoritarian bourgeois democracy is, has been, and
will be. It also conceals the very powerful form of repression exercised
by non-state agencies in a democracy. Death squads (e.g., the KKK).
Corporate blacklists. Self-censorship by the media. University
presidents. Faculty committees. Outfit-controlled unions. Criminal
organizations (mafia, etc). Pinkertons & similar security forces. And
the extent to which police departmens operate illegally in the normal
course of business, and are seldom seriously interfered with by courts.

If you make fascism cover everything, then the word is meaningless: it
adds nothing to a description. Or you see only open repression and get
destroyed by less open repression.

Carrol


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