SEVEN
Socialismand Fascism
CloseRelatives
Capitalism+ Murder= Fascism?
In his otherwiseexcellentandwell-informedbookInside Terrorism, foreign-policy
scholarBruceHoffmanparrotsa falseaccusationadvancedby otherleft-wingers—that
Naziismandfascismare ideologiesthathave“assailed” governist,left-wing“liberalso-
cial welfarepolicies.. .”^1 UptonSinclairlevelsa stillmorenegativeappraisaltoward
privateentrepreneurs:“Fascismis capitalismplusmurder.”^2 Marchof the year 2000 saw,
in a highlyacclaimedworkpublishedby HarvardUniversityPress,sociologistAntonio
Negri(b. 1933)andDukeUniversityliteratureprofessorMichaelHardt(b. 1960)pro-
claimingthat“...NaziGermanyis the idealtypeof the transformationof modernsove-
reigntyintonationalsovereignty,andof itsarticulationin capitalistform.. .”^3 (emphasis
added).
Fortunatelyfor humanity,U.C.BerkeleypoliticalscientistA. JamesGregordisagrees
withthis conventional,PC interpretation.He writesto his fellowprofessors,“We have
livedso longwiththe comfortableconvictionthatFascismwasof the right[wing]and as
a consequencesharednothingwiththe left,thatwe are loathto consideranyalterna-
tives.” Gregor,as I do, imploresreadersto considersuchalternatives.Thatsort of consid-
erationis not easyto garneramongthe professorate.GregormentionsthatwhenItalian
historian RenzoDe Felice (1929–1996) presentedthe case“that Mussolini’s Fascism
sharedconsiderableaffinitieswiththe traditionaland revolutionaryleft,” the “suggestion
wasenoughto outrageItalianintellectualsand muchof the internationalacademiccom-
munity.”^4 Therhetoricalobfuscationsof the governistLeftnotwithstanding,the fascists
andthe Nazisrecognizedfromthe beginningthatthe principlesof laissezfairewere
inimicalto theirownambitions.
ItaliandictatorBenitoMussolini(1883–1945)coinedthe wordfascismin orderto em-
phasizethe collectivistbasisof his politicalsystem.As Dictionary.Comexplains,fascism
comesfromthe rootwordfascio, whichmeans“bundle” or “group” or “league”^5 —
appropriatefor a regimethatemphasizedthe importanceof the socialgroupabovethe
individual.In fact,fascioin Italywasa synonymforlaborunion.^6 As the Nazishave
frequentlybeencalledfascists,it mayastonishthe readerthatneitherMussolininor the
Nazisthemselvesthoughtit wasappropriateto describethe ThirdReichas fascist.Of
NationalSocialismandhis owngovernment,Mussoliniexplicatedthattheysharemany
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