“Fascism” is the current malediction of the left media to evoke fear and loathing of Trump, Alternatives for Germany (AfD), and other right-wing movements. It’s a strongly charged term, but false and harmful.
What we are witnessing now is not the rise of fascism but the fall of social democracy – very different. Social democracy arose in the late 19th Century as a defense against the growing socialist movement. It modified capitalism, softened it to ease mass poverty and improve the living conditions of the working class, not out of benevolence but to forestall uprisings. With the exception of the Russian Revolution, it was effective for over a century.
But now the competition from new cheap-labor capitalist countries like China and India is too intense. Our capitalists can’t afford to be generous anymore. So they are cracking down and cutting back on wages, benefits and social programs. The purpose of current swing to the right is to restore hardcore capitalism – the oppression and exploitation of workers.
Social democracy still has supporters among capitalists whose businesses depend on consumer buying power. They control politicians in the Democratic Party and the moderate wing of the Republican Party. They are losing ground now.
That doesn’t mean fascism is rising. Systemically seen, Trump and AfD are disruptors necessary to break the encrusted, self-serving rule of the “progressive” parties, which have shown themselves to be incapable of solving the social problems confronting us. These problems are created by capitalism and can’t be solved by any form of it. The duty of socialists is to present the Marxist solution, not to spread irrational fear. Our job now, as Lenin said, is to build the revolutionary party.
Instead of fascism, we are entering the stage of dialectical swings between right and left, each increasing in momentum until they culminate in revolution. How long this current rightward phase will last will depend on how the material situation develops.
Trump and AfD are strict conservatives who want to reduce taxes, keep poor immigrants out of the country, restore traditional values, and limit the role of government. That’s reason enough to oppose them. But they’re not fascists. Rather than limiting government, fascists impose an overwhelming government controlling every aspect of life through state violence.
The checks and balances built into US Constitution prevent that kind of drastic, fundamental change. The Constitution would have to be annulled and the right to vote abolished. If either of these occur, the American people would arise in mass and restore democracy.
The Constitution might be overthrown in the future by a military coup as a last-ditch effort to crush the working class and preserve capitalism, but we’re a long ways from that. Using that term now will blur its meaning when we really need it. Fear-driven politics aren’t effective – they’re exhausting and paralyzing.
This is not just a quibble over terminology. We have to recognize where we are now: the crumbling of social democracy and the reinstating of conservative capitalism. Labeling this fascism or claiming it might become fascism sometime in the future just creates fear and confusion when we need clear thinking instead of misleading exaggerations.
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William T Hathaway’s books won him a Rinehart Foundation Award and a Fulbright professorship at universities in Germany. His political novel, Lila, the Revolutionary, is a fable for adults about an eight-year-old girl who sparks a world revolution for social justice.
