[PEN-L:1782] Re: More Polanyi vs. Hayek

[JDevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (James Devine)]

As much as I dislike Hayekian politics, I think it's confusing
matters to call them "fascist" as Huseyin Ozel does. Hayekian
politics may push us in the direction of an "objectively fascist"
system, i.e., strengthen the power of the state, repressing
organized labor, etc. (It need not go all the way; I wouldn't
call Thatcherism "fascism.") But in terms of its explicit ideas,
Hayekism advocates 19th century liberal ideas of individual
freedom and all that. I think it's more useful to point to the
contradiction between intentions and results than to waste the
word "fascism."

Put it another way: fascism -- real fascism as in Mussolini,
Hitler, Franco, etc. -- didn't arise because of right-wing
thinkers' works. It rose because of a severe social crisis, in
which socialist and labor forces could not be suppressed using
traditional liberal means. (There were also important gender and
ethnic components to fascism, especially Hitler's version, but
that's another issue.)

Again, I think it's a real mistake to over-use the word
"fascism." It was one of the mistakes of the New Left in the US
during the 1960s and early 1970s.

Despite the use of the term "fascism," I generally agreed with
Huseyin Ozel's posting.

in pen-l solidarity,

Jim Devine   jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ.
7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA
310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950
"Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way
and let people talk.) -- K. Marx, paraphrasing Dante A.