Permanently Deleted
The best definition for fascism I’ve come across is: fascism is the application of colonial control mechanisms to the domestic population.
I dislike this definition because then fascism becomes “settler-colonialism, but also fascist Italy, Germany, Spain, etc.”
There are a couple preconditions that are important to Fascism. First, there must be the merging of finance capital with the state. Second, Liberal Democracy must fail to manage class contradictions within a society.
Finance capital is a product of the age of imperialism, which began to dictate world development in the late 19th century. In the US, there have been attempts to merge finance capital with the state. The creation of the federal reserve in 1914. The attempted fascist coup in 1934. The creation of the CIA in 1947.
There is a perspective that the assassination of JFK was a soft coup by finance capital. It set a precedent that the state cannot contradict their interests. If a president wants to end their wars, he’ll lose half his skull. If a candidate wants implement mild social democracy, there will be voter irregularities, problems with our voting software (which is financed by the CIA), etc.
This gets to the second point, we still have Liberal Democracy. It is controlled, colonized people are routinely excluded from it, but there is still Liberal Democracy. That is not the case in Fascist governments. J. Sakai puts it well:
The main problem hasn’t been fascism in the old sense – it’s been neo colonialism and bourgeois democracy! The bourgeoisie didn’t need any fascism at all to put Leonard Peltier away in maximum security for life or Mumia on death row. They hunted down the Black Panthers and the American Indian Movement like it was deer hunting season, while white America went shopping at the mall – all without needing fascism.
I think we seeing the end of Liberal Democracy managing contradictions within the state. Both the Democrats & Republicans have said they will only recognize themselves as the victor in this upcoming election. That may lead to Fascism.
