FASCISM: Closer in time, Closer to home

1. FASCISM: Closer in time, Closer to home Dr. Zoltán Grossman Member of the Faculty (Geography/Native American Studies) The Evergreen State College Olympia, Washingtonhttp://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz

2. Marquette Parkneighborhood, Chicago

3. What fascists are not Not upholding economic status quo Not simply authoritarian conservatives Not simply fundamentalist Christians Not simply angry working-class “rednecks”

4. What fascists are Right-wing revolutionaries against status quo (liberal or conservative, largely middle class) Extreme nationalism and/or racism Law & Order = Absolute rule of core ethnic/racial group See similar problems as Left, but not class analysis: explain world through nation/race, conspiracy theories Magyar Gárda (Hungarian Guard) Jobbik party for “radical change”

5. What fascists are "The role of racism and the role of anti-Semitism and of scapegoating in general is quite different for a fascist movement from that of a right-wing conservative movement or a traditional Klan-type movement. That is, it is not to put people in their place. It is not to make a sub-class out of them and to exploit, or super-exploit, their labor. It is genocidal. It is exterminationist.” --Ken Lawrence Britain Hungary

6. Blood and Soil • Each race/ethnic nation has its place • Need to stay in ancestral homeland (separatism) • Racial mixing as violating nature (Turner Diaries) • Jews (and Gypsies) historically • depicted as “rootless.” • Cosmopolitan or separated from land • African Diaspora also depicted as rootless • Jews direct • “global conspiracy” • - Smart/crafty • - Manipulate others Blueprint for US revolution by National Alliance leader Wm. Pierce Ataka (Bulgaria): “I don’t want to live in a Gypsy country,” 2011

7. Ethnic/Racial Consciousness over Class Consciousness Fascists as economic populists; depicted as champions of majority ethnic group’s working class (Mussolini ex-socialist, NSDAP) Reality quite different: suppress strikes, advocate labor and capital as partners to build the nation (Fasces as symbol) Corporate backing for Fascists/Nazis (Militarism as superprofitable: Expansion benefits both German farmer settlers (lebensraum) and rich industrialists. Law & Order is good for business. Fasces: Roman symbol of strength through unity Hitler greets Krupp von Bohlen

8. Scapegoating as Social Control of Majority Fascism flourishes in economic crisis: Scapegoating minority as source of problem, not majority elite. Rulers need to identify enemies both belowand above the majority. Win over “Middle” by diverting animosity toward poor, also by emphasizing threat from above, to detract attention from ruling institutions. (Warren, The Radical Center) Majority citizens portrayed as underdogs, or victims of elite-underclass conspiracy Hungary: Jews & EU above, Roma below; U.S.: Coastal elites above, immigrants below Jobbik/Magyar Gárda march through Hungarian Roma community Minutemen on Arizona border

9. Manipulating paganism, youth counterculture Early Nazis used Pre-Christian pagan warrior ethos Later tried to secure loyalty of Christian churches Celebrate rural homeland as symbol of organic purity; City as degraded, cosmopolitan, distant from nature Hiking societies, chorale groups, youth health groups Hitler “was a vegetarian and loved dogs” German Left held rallies and speeches, failed to articulate vision Wandervogel (Wandering Birds) proto-hippies later joined Hitler Youth, SA Brownshirts

10. Nationalist Rock

11. Exploiting anti-elite/anti-government sentiment Fascists can oppose: Corporate globalization, Outsourcing of jobs overseas, Environmental pollution, Demise of family farms, Consumerist culture, Iraq and Afghan wars, CIA drug running, Foreign arms sales, Free trade (EU, NAFTA, WTO), but for opposite reasons than the left. They exploit and manipulate legitimate issues for their own nefarious ends. In competition with the left for followers. LaRouche cult against VP Cheney Public face of French National Front

12. Differences among fascists Axis or “Fascist International” is difficult; Competing national priorities (or territories) Differences over primary enemy (Japanese fascists sheltered Jews in Shanghai) Differences over central role of traditional institutions (Church central in Clerical Fascism) Fascism about ethnicity; Nazism about race. Mussolini (Italy), Horthy (Hungary), Franco (Spain) were Fascists but not Nazis. Hungary annexes southern Slovakia, 1938 “The Result: Racial Pride Disappears”

13. U.S. Fascist Sympathizers, 1920s-30sMany Western conservatives saw communism as the main enemy (e.g., in Spain) Charles Lindbergh with Hermann Göring Father Charles Coughlin addresses rally, radio William D. Pelley of Silver Shirts German- American Bund Henry Luce, Time publisher Henry Ford’s The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem

14. Modern Fascist Leaders Jean-Marie Le Pen (France), 2nd for French presidency, 2002 Jörg Haider (Austria), party in government, 2000-04 Gábor Vona (Hungary), Jobbik party won 17% of vote, 2010 David Duke, Lyndon LaRouche, etc. (U.S.) Popularize racist policies (e.g., anti-immigrant) that are then taken up by conservative politicians to win votes. Klan/Nazi leader David Duke won majority of white vote in Louisiana governors’ race, 1991

17. Searchlight (UK) on European fascism http://www.searchlightmagazine.com Center for New Community http://www.buildingdemocracy.org Turn it Down: Campaign Against White Power Music http://turnitdown.newcomm.org Political Research Associates http://www.publiceye.org Hatewatch http://www.splcenter.org/intel/hatewatch Hate symbols http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/default.asp Novel warns of American homegrown fascism, 1935 Militia followers bomb Oklahoma City, 1995 Jobbik gains 17% of vote, 46 seats in Hungarian Parliament, 2010 Extreme-right recruiting in Tea Party (NAACP report, 2010)