Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: Lol@Rogan.. says the Democratic Party has made us all feel like Morons by rapidly coalescing behind [View all]The Magistrate
(95,247 posts)There is more overlap than many suppose, or it is comfortable to acknowledge.
It is not generally recalled that at its origin fascism was a modernizing tendency which claimed would bring ordinary folks better and more prosperous lives. The places where it took deepest root after the Great War were industrially and socially backward by compare to Western Europe, such as Spain or Hungary, or had been countries which were severely wounded as societies in the Great War, such as Italy and Germany (though Nazism is not quite fascism despite some resemblances).
What we on the left are wont to denounce as 'corporatism' was presented by promoters of fascism as bringing capitalism under control of a government that would temper the excesses of bosses. Whether the promises of betterment for all were sincere or not does not matter, because they were frequently believed.
A leading purpose of early fascist leaders was giving workers a reason for patriotism, and they understood this required material gains by the working class in the new system. They viewed capital as exploitative, often in tones quite similar to Socialist agitation, and denounced this as driving workers away from national identity and into the hands of the anti-patriot Socialists. And when in power, there was often some follow-through on these promises, though it was always accompanied by rigorous persecution of adherents of Socialist parties, or Anarchist parties, let alone of Bolsheviks or Communists. By no means all workers in these places saw such persecutions as aimed against them, or even as wrongs to be decried.
Patriotism is not only a very strong emotion, it is a popular one. People want to love their country, to view it as a good thing, and to identify with it. Without the 'internationalism' Socialist agitation incorporated from its earliest days, the movement might have gone a good deal further.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden