The differences between Fascism and Communism - a history lesson

I originally wrote this on MyLot.com. As I am the author of the piece, I do not see why I should not also issue it here. If there are any copyright issues, please contact me directly. This edition has been slightly amended to clarify some issues.


I have many times said that the terms "right and "left" are meaningless and will continue to repeat that belief.

It is also undeniable that the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Pinochet etc were murderous thugs of the worst kind, and their societies had undoubtedly nightmarish elements.

That said Hitler was not Stalin, though a lot of the results were the same.

Hitler was an extreme nationalist (Fascism is basically the application of extreme nationalism to the exclusion of all who do not fit the criteria). He obtained power by allying himself with "patriotic conservatives" who were afraid of the "foreign influences" running Communism.
He built his war machine not by taking over the arms companies, but by doing business with them. He was supported by the Ruhr capitalists in the 1932 election (Thyssen, Krupp, Kirdorf etc), partly because of his anti-Communist platform, and all of their companies profited massively as a result of the government orders that they received. As the likes of Margaret Thatcher, who was not a Fascist, ordered arms worth millions from private companies like British Aerospace, it is not unknown in democracies for governments to do this - it is not unusual.
Ownership of property was not discouraged, it was merely barred to those who did not fulfil the Aryan criteria.
Any "socialist" element in the Nazi party (NSDAP, people with a restricted and convenient view of history are always pointing out, contains the word "Socialist", so this needs explaining), was purged in the night of the long knives in 1934, when the leaders of the Strasserist wing of the party, who advocated a working-class based agenda, were either assassinated or driven into exile.

The rest is the "proverbial history".

Stalin meanwhile was a brutal tyrant who used the Communist Party for his own ends. Eventually its ideology recognises no right of ownership, and was about the collective sharing of all goods and produce for the common good (so all the arms produced for use during the war were not created by companies using the profit motive, but by organisations run by the party in the "name of the people").
It also recognises no national boundaries, so no nationalist concept is involved. So a Communist regime essentially was to be established using the right, established by the ideology, to cross borders and impose its will as the national boundaries were at best an inconvenience to be ignored. It was a sort of Imperialist theory, where the theory not a state was pre-eminent.
Stalin used this essentially as a means to impose his own version of tyranny. This was down to the man building power for himself and using the ideology to provide him the means to do this. Unlike Hitler who had killed people as they did not fit ethnic criteria (for the good of the nation - in theory), Stalin used the "anyone who gets in my way" approach, or maybe ideological criteria (bourgeois, middle-class etc) for the good of the ideology (though in fact to cement his own hold on power).

The next question is how do you stop extremist parties like these regaining power and influence?

Communism is a failed ideology which will not return any time for the foreseeable future. Its record of incompetence and tyranny will make sure that it is never that popular an option.

Stopping Fascist offshoots is a lot more difficult because this appeal to national characteristics (I suppose religious purist organisations could do this in a similar way, so it is accurate to describe Bin Laden as a type of Fascist) and the national good is a feature of politics. All you have to do is carry that thinking a couple of steps further ("the country is in a mess and it is the fault of the foreigners" etc), and you have potential trouble brewing.
The trick is to build an inclusive society with an inclusive economy and make sure that people are aware when something goes wrong, that the right people are identified as causing it.

It amazes me just how many people have forgotten what caused the 2008 financial crash. Some people seem to have even forgotten that it happened. Unfortunately in those circumstances, the easy targets will find themselves at risk rather than the true culprits.