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This is a brilliant piece. I accept his argument (& Lou's) that calling Trump a fascist can actually get us to ignore the real problem or to look in the wrong direction. Quite clearly we are not dealing with a fascist regime in the USA. Though, I doubt not that at least some of the Trump- team would not have stood out in the crowd at Nuremberg. Still,I have to confess to almightygodsohelpmemaryevervirgin and plead guilty to calling Trump a fascist as a term of abuse. I will desist in future. comradely Gary On Fri, May 5, 2017 at 3:01 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > A comment from the always interesting Farans Kalosar: > > Gleichschaltung has to be understood as the second phase of a two-step > Nazification process, the first stage being the machetergreifung or > machtuebernahme, the capture or takeover of power. > > The sequence of events in culminating with Hitler's appointment as > Chancellor on January 30, 1933 was the first stage. What led up to that was > a complex series of opportunistic maneuvers within the legal limitations of > the Weimar constitution, which amounted to a hollowing out or > neutralization from within of the rules and rituals of bourgeois > parliamentary government. This was accompanied by a buildup of coercive > forces under the banner of the Party and the expansion of military-style > organization to every corner and aspect of life in the Reich. > > Despite a long history of preparation for power, the bringing into line of > the German state and people through an aggressive program of organization, > regimentation, and legal repression can be seen as beginning in earnest > with the Enabling Act of March 28, 1933, which established the formal > dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. This process of organization and > reorganization would continue for twelve years and would involve a > continuous doubling down on the most extreme outrageous positions and > practices of the Nazis, leading eventually to the Final Solution and the > total defeat of the German armed forces in 1945. > > You could allege that the current regime in Washington completed the > seizure of power in January 2017 and that the bringing into line is now > under way. But in fact, there are few signs of anything really analogous to > the rise to and consolidation of power by Hitler. > > Where the Nazis--while defiantly incoherent intellectually--were utterly > on point when it came to organization (albeit with a multitude of mutually > hostile fiefdoms), Donald Trump is chaotic and almost deliberately > inconsistent. Indeed, Trump appears to be making no more practical use of > his majorities in congress than Barack Obama did when first elected. > > Where everything in the Nazi state aimed to mobilize the German masses > toward the goals of the State, Trumpism seeks to put the masses to sleep. > > The message from the chaotic and wildly undisciplined Trump isn't "join us > and we will conquer the world." It's "Relax: you've elected the right guy > and he will take care of everything." Trump's icons are the wildly > eccentric and unclubbable Kid Rock and Alex Jones, not Himmler or Goebbels. > He has no SS, no SA, and his rallies--so far--are merely intended to > stimulate passive approval of his actions and improve his standing in the > polls. His White House is a chaos of impulsive appointments and firings > where the only consistency is supplied by the members of Trump's own family. > > Indeed, Trump appears bewildered by the very powerful authoritarian > machinery bequeathed to every American president since Roosevelt, and even > to be at war with such nominal icons of U.S. fascism as the FBI and the > CIA. While he has appointed a disingenuous right-wing fanatic to the > Supreme Court, and an out-and-out Ku Kluxer as head of the Department of > Justice, the much-bruited total reorganization of the federal government > has yet to begin in earnest and may never happen. > > Furthermore, enormous rallies like the Women's March and last week's > significant Peoples' Climate march take place with hundreds of thousands of > demonstrators cursing the name of Trump--while White House staffers gather > in the open door of the mansion and look on--and yet nothing happens to the > protesters apart from a few right-wingers calling them "morons." > > I do not disagree that the present situation is only transitional and is > very dangerous. We can't assume that Trump will remain, as he appears so > far to have been, largely a paper tiger--or at least, someone whose > governance in the long run will not differ much from what we would have > seen under Hillary Clinton. > > But the problem with wielding the "fascist" swear-word is not that > Trumpism is less dangerous to the peoples of the world than fascism, but > rather that it may be significantly different but even more dangerous, > causing us to look in vain for the wrong enemy and ignoring the one that is > under our noses. Indeed, fascism itself is by no means synonymous--as > American liberals always try to assume--with the Final Solution. It > includes such relatively mild infractions as hauling your enemies into a > police station, dosing them with castor oil, and literally beating the crap > out of them with rubber hoses--or merely, like the fascist Putin, ordering > a relatively small number of your political enemies to be assassinated in > broad daylight. But Hillary Clinton is not going to be locked up or > shot--and neither, for that matter (if things go on as at present) is Louis > Proyect. > > Historical fascism was a temporary response of capitalism to a crisis that > included the powerful presence of militant and effective Communist Parties > in Italy and Germany. After the cataclysm of the Second World War, actually > existing fascism--historical fascism or true fascism if you like--was > utterly defeated as an overt political force for many decades. But > capitalism and imperialism went on much as if nothing had happened, as > indeed they do today--albeit in new guises. > > If we are going to understand Trumpism in relation to fascism, we must > first see him in relation to the political crisis of capitalism without > immediate reference to fascism. It is quite possible that Trump will never > head a truly fascist regime. Where are his storm troops? Where is his > Enabling Act? The danger to which the absence of these things may blind us > is that Trump is not a fascist because he does not have to be--in other > words, that the capitalist system does not require Nazi pseudo-revolution > because in reality, as things stand to day (with a nod to M. Thatcher) > "there is no alternative." > > What could be worse than fascism? If you look at the broad spectrum of > actual fascisms excluding the Final Solution, a great many rather different > things could be at least as bad if not worse. But beyond that, there is at > least the "metabolic rift with the environment"--a problem that does not > appear to be solvable within the limits of capitalism--which raises the > specter of human extinction. > > If that isn't worse than fascism, what is? And climate and the environment > are not the only things that could be worse. > > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/opt > ions/marxism/gary.maclennan1%40gmail.com > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
