Is China Fascist?

Classism vs Corportatism

I have not read David's book but I think liberals as well as conservatives all to easily conflate fascism (Mussolini) with Nazism (Hitler)

The scary thing today, IMO, is that both right and left are all to willing to play with the "power to the people" rhetoric.

Hitler and Mussolini came to power with promises to make Italy and Germany "work for the people." At least initially, both leaders did just that .. they employed everyone and exploited a jingoistic pride of country not unlike what most Americans want now. Gandhi and Roosevelt praised il Duce.

What bwent wrong? I have never understood why fascism, European style, was built around the cult of the great leader. But, that cult remains a real concern today. Obviously there are cults of the same sort in N. Korea and Burma but the bigger question comes from China.

The Chinese state controls 75% of the "stock market." It may well be that President Hu and his oligarchs are benign patriots, but the dangers are all too real. Remember the Soviet Union. A nominally socialist movement became, but by its fall, a nationalistic, jingoistic monster.

The most frightening thing to remember is that Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin were very successful until they mixed imperialism with the rest of fascism. The rest of the world looked the other way as Hitler built camps, Mussolini tried to colonize Africa, and Stalin colonized a vast swath of Eurasia.

I suspect that racism and imperialism are intrinsic to any system built around a great leader. How many Popes or Kings have not had outsize egos? What did Napoleon do with the ideals of the French?

China may be creating a form of fascism that does not require a cult of the personality. I hope so. Maybe the foundations of Confucianism offer a better basis for government than the foundations of Christianity?

We have a different problem here. No one supports fascism in the US. What we do support is classism ... a system not unlike that of Britain before WW I.


What happens when a class bound society competes with a corporate state?

Cross post at HA.