No. Fascism and capitalism are ideological
antipodes. Here are some excerpts from THE
DOCTRINE OF FASCISM by Benito Mussolini and
Giovanni Gentile, published in 1932:
REJECTION OF INDIVIDUALISM AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE STATE
Fascism is therefore opposed to all individualistic
abstractions based on eighteenth century materialism [i.e., Enlightenment
liberalism].
Anti-individualistic, the Fascist conception of life stresses the
importance of the State and accepts the individual only in so far as his
interests coincide with those of the State, which stands for the conscience
and the universal, will of man as a historic entity [i.e., mysticism].
No individuals or groups (political parties, cultural
associations, economic unions, social classes) outside the State (15). Fascism is therefore opposed to Socialism to which unity within
the State (which amalgamates classes into a single economic and ethical
reality) is unknown, and which sees in history nothing but the class struggle.
Fascism is likewise opposed to trade unionism as a class weapon. But when
brought within the orbit of the State, Fascism recognizes the real needs
which gave rise to socialism and trade unionism, giving them due weight in the
guild or corporative system in which divergent interests are coordinated and
harmonized in the unity of the State (16).
8. Conception of a
corporative state
(16) We are, in other
words, a state which controls all forces acting in nature. We control political
forces, we control moral forces, we control economic forces, therefore we are a
full-blown Corporative state. We stand for a new principle in the world, we
stand for sheer, categorical, definitive antithesis to the world of democracy,
plutocracy, free-masonry, to the world which still abides by the fundamental
principles laid down in 1789. (Speech before the new National Directory of the
Party, April 7, 1926, in Discorsi del 1926, Milano, Alpes, 1927, p. 120)
The Ministry of Corporations is not a bureaucratic organ, nor
does it wish to exercise the functions of syndical organizations which are
necessarily independent, since they aim at organizing, selecting and improving
the members of syndicates. The Ministry of Corporations is an institution in
virtue of which, in the centre and outside, integral corporation becomes an
accomplished fact, where balance is achieved between interests and forces of
the economic world. Such a glance is only possible within the sphere of the
state, because the state alone transcends the contrasting interests of groups
and individuals, in view of co-coordinating them to achieve higher aims. The
achievement of these aims is speeded up by the fact that all economic
organizations, acknowledged, safeguarded and supported by the Corporative State,
exist within the orbit of Fascism; in other terms they accept the conception of
Fascism in theory and in practice. (speech at the opening of the Ministry of
Corporations, July 31, 1926, in Discorsi del 1926, Milano, Alpes, 1927, p.
250). [All emphasis is added]
Fascism thus rejects the very essential values
that form the core of capitalism, Enlightenment liberalism. Capitalism emerged
out of the ideals of individualism, including individual rights, and the
autonomy of each individual to use his own reason to govern his own life.
Fascism rejects individualism. Capitalism holds that government is the
individual’s agent whose powers are constitutionally limited to protecting his
liberty rights, which protect intellectual, political, and economic freedom based
on rights including speech, religion and conscience, assembly, property, and
laissez-faire economics—the separation of economics and state, under which
government polices the markets for force and fraud, but otherwise doesn’t
interfere in voluntary market activity. Fascism subordinates all individuals to
the state, which allows no individuals or groups to freely operate “outside the
state,” which “controls all forces acting in nature [including] political
forces, moral forces, [and] economic forces” by the state.
In every fundamental respect, fascist and
capitalist ideologies are antipodes. So why do some people so often equate the
two?
For one thing, many people equate capitalism
with capitalists. The existence of capitalists—business,
corporations, etc.—is not definitive proof of a capitalist system. Private
enterprise must also be free of government interference or “partnership”
(cronyism) to qualify as capitalist. Capitalists narrowly defined
as a business corporation can exist under certain forms of statism. Capitalism
in the broader ideological (or philosophical) sense cannot.
More fundamentally, unlike fascism’s ideological
cousin, communism, fascism “allows” a veneer of private ownership. But it is
not genuine private ownership. A system by which ownership of enterprise is
nominally private but over which total control is exercised through the state
is in no essential respect private ownership. Genuine private ownership
of business or property such as is sanctioned under capitalism implies not just
a name on a document but the owner’s right of voluntary acquisition, control,
use, disposal, and management. Clearly, fascism features control, use,
disposal, and management only through or by permission of the state, allowing
private individual action “only in so far as his interests coincide with
those of the State.” Marxists seize on this superficial equivocation to
link capitalism with fascism. And they have been quite successful at this ruse.
This helps communism set itself apart from its chief socialist rival,
fascism.
But in fact, communism and fascism are
ideological cousins. Fascism is guild socialism expanded to include all groups
as identified by the state, all of which can operate only “within the
sphere of the state.” Fascism differs from communism only superficially.
Essentially, there is no difference. Both are virulently anti-individualist.
Both are collectivist, or group supremacist (Fascism actually derives
from fascio, which literally means “group”).
Both are mystical, believing in the collective as a kind of deity separate from
and supreme over the individual, for whom the state carries out what it says is
the deity’s will. They merely define the deity differently—to the communist,
it’s the “proletariat”, for the Italian fascist, the” universal”, for the
German national socialist (NAZI), the race. For any kind of socialism, a
deified collective is fundamental. Both fascism and communism are
uncompromisingly totalitarian statist. Both are variants of socialism;
communist socialism is internationally oriented, fascist socialism is
nationalist. The fascist is merely more “practical”, seeking to tailor its
socialism in a way that makes it more palatable to specific national and
cultural realities. For example, to avoid total economic collapse, the fascist
preserves some semblance of private initiative. Fascism is socialism with a
capitalist veneer--that is, nominal private ownership of business but
controlled by the government. A fascist, to put it simply, is essentially a
pragmatic communist, packaging its socialism to fit a Western culture that
reveres private property rights and private enterprise.
Communism and fascism are akin to rival
underworld crime families fighting a turf war. Just as crime families are
united in their antipathy to the rule of law, fascism and communism are united
in their hatred of capitalism. The only opposite to both fascism and communism,
and all variants thereof, is the system whose government recognizes and
protects individual rights equally and at all times. That system is capitalism.
So, “Is
fascism a capitalist ideology?” Capitalism derives
from Enlightenment liberal ideology. Fascism explicitly rejects Enlightenment
values—derided by Mussolini and Gentile as “all individualistic abstractions
based on eighteenth century materialism.” So the answer is obviously no, Fascism
is not a capitalist ideology.
For a more thorough understanding, I recommend reading THE DOCTRINE OF FASCISM in its entirety, including all footnotes. As to capitalism as a system of political/economic social organization, I recommend Andrew Bernstein, The Capitalist Manifesto: The Historic, Economic, and Philosophic Case for Laissez Faire and Capitalism Unbound: The Incontestable Moral Case for Individual Rights. And The Declaration of Independence, the United States of America Founding document, which states in highly essentialized form, especially in the second paragraph, the basic Enlightenment principles that enable capitalism to emerge.
Related Reading:
Related Listening:
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