Frontline – July 05, 2019

dia until after Independence (it
playedno seriousrolefor Gandhinor
evenNehru till then),andindeedit
onlybecameto be seriously relevant
in Indiaafterthe1980swhenthe
Europeancontextforit wasbeing
replicated or approximatedin India.
So,we haveto askthesameabout
fascismwhenapplyingit to India
todayor to Hungaryor....
If we are talkingaboutIndia,you
thenhaveto decide.Doesthe follow-
ingamountto an approximationof
whatwashappening in Germany
andItalyin thatfascistperiod?a)
Theexistenceof a vitally influential
paramilitaryorganisation like the
RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsewak
Sangh]workingbehindandinfluen-
cingthestate.b) Theentiretalkof
“purity” in the Brahmanismthatun-
derliestheHindutvaoutlook, mim-
ickingtalkof racialpurity.c) The
invokingof boththestate’spolice
andHome Ministry apparatusas
wellas theinvokingof “thenation”,
“thepeople”(volk), etc.to stifle indi-
vidualdissent andto undermine the
institutionsthatwouldprotectdis-
sentfromthe statebearingdownon
it. d) Theappealto a gloriouspastof
the superiorityof a peoplebeing de-
basedby thenamby-pamby secular
accommodation of despised out-
sidersandenemies withinthe nation
(Jewsthen,Muslims now).e) Above
all, thedispersingof theseattitudes
intothe mentalitiesof the peopleby
propagandaandby the sanctionthat
someof thembegin to feelis givento
themby the statefor brazenlycrim-
inalactsof lynchingandother forms
of brutalityagainstminoritiesand
Dalits.f) Theroleof the ABVP[Akil
Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad],
mimickingtheBalillasin Italy,tor-
menting dissidentstudentson cam-
pusesacrossthe nation.Andfinally,
of course,g) thefusionof stateand
corporations,to use[Benito] Mus-
solini’s term, as is emerging in
Modi’seconomic ideal for the nation.
Well,everybody shoulddecide
for themselvesif a) to g) amountsto a
familyresemblanceto Europein the
1930s.Whatelseis thereto say?If
someonedecides “no,it does not”,all
youcando is justquarrel abouttheir
judgementor perhapstheirtaste.

Butthereis no knockdownargument

on eitherside.Thatis whyI am really

quitehappynot to talkof fascismand

talkmerelyof a pathologicalauthor-

itarianism.ForthatI thinkwedo

havesomething likea theoretical ar-

gumentandnotjustan appealto a

familyresemblance.Hereis howI’ve

consistently presented that argu-

ment.I’ll repeatit here.

Thestatein polities broadlyde-

scribedas liberaldemocracieswith

political economies broadly de-

scribedas capitalistaresometimes

characterised by a featurethat[Ant-

onio] Gramsci called hegemony.

Thisis a technicalterm,notto be

confused withthe casualuseof that

termto connote“poweranddomina-

tionover another”.In Gramsci’sspe-

cialsense,hegemonymeansthata

classgetsto be therulingclassby

convincingall otherclassesthatits

interestsare the interestsofallother

classes. It is becauseof thisfeature

thatsuchstates(which represents

sucha class)canavoidbeingauthor-

itarian.Authoritarian statesneedto

be authoritarianprecisely because

thereis no Gramscianhegemony. It

wouldfollowfromthisthatif a state

thatdoespossesshegemonyin this

senseis authoritarian, thereis some-

thingcompulsiveaboutits authorit-

arianism. Now,whatis interestingis

thatthe presentgovernmentin India

keepsboastfullyproclaimingthatit

possesseshegemonyin thissense,

thatit hasall theclassesconvinced

thatits policiesare to theirbenefit. If

so, onecanonlyconcludethatits

widely recorded authoritarianism,

therefore,is pathological.

Thisdoesn’tmentionfascism;it

onlymentionsa pathology(though

youmightobserve thatNazism has

been frequently described as a

pathology).And,moreover,nothing

I havesaidexplainsthepathology.

The argument merely establishes

thatit is a pathology andleavesit

unexplained. AndI thinkon the Left,

onefinds thatthisis generallytrueof

fascismtoo.Yousee fascismis partic-

ularlyvexingto the Leftbecausethe

Leftcan’ttakeit withinits explanat-

ory stride. In thisit is unlikeimperi-

alism.I thinkit is veryplausible to

say thatimperialism isbuiltintothe

tendencies of capitalism, so we can

explainit moreeasilywithin a frame-

workwe canconstructfor theana-

lysisof capitalism. ButI don’tbelieve

we haveanything likean explanation

of fascismthatsubsumes it to the

outcomesof thetendencies of cap-

ital.It is not thatwe cannot have any

explanationof fascism; it is nota

mysterium, it is not evensuigeneris,

butunlikeimperialism,fascismis

primafaciemysteriousbecauseany

explanationthatLefttheoristsdevise

for it willhave to lookat factors that

go beyondthe tendenciesof capital-

ism.Certainly, capitalismandthe

crisesit generatesare the prompting

conditionsfor fascism(andotherap-

proximatepathologically authorit-

arianstates),buttheydo notsuffice

to explain it.

THENEOLIBERALVERSIONOF

CAPITALISM

The OxfordUniversityDictionary

chosepost-truthas the wordof the

year in 2017.The wordand the

worldoutlookbehindthat wordare

similarto that of postmodernism.

Are we reallylivingin a postmodern

and post-truthage? How do you

engagewith thesephilosophical

views?Marxistscholarssuchas

FredericJamesonmakea critique

of postmodernismby sayingit is the

FORMERBRAZILIAN

PRESIDENTLuizInacioLula da

Silva.“He cametopoweronthe

waveof a tremendousworking-

classmovement withan

impressivelyprogressive

manifesto.”

NELSON

ALMEI

DA/AFP