I suppose that the iimplication of that first article is that we don't have
to worry about Trump leading a Fascist revolt. Germany in the 1930's isn't
the US in the early twenty first century, however. But my daughter came up
with a theory yesterday, similar to one that I have had which is evenmore
conspiratorial in nature. She said that the plan is for Hillary to win and
Donald is just helping her out by being the most obnoxious candidate he can
be. She said, "They're friends, you know". Well actually, I'd been thinking
that there really was a plot worked out by the elites to ensure that Hillary
would win and that Trump being the Republican candidate from hell, was part
of it.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran
Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2016 10:39 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] What is fascism?
https://socialistaction.org/
What is fascism?
By JEFF MACKLER
Despite the charged rhetoric of Trump and Co., the U.S. ruling class today
has no need or desire to play the fascist card. Absent any significant
working-class opposition to its policies and with a broad array of
consciously constructed and/or controlled pro-Democratic Party "civil
rights, immigrant rights and environmental NGO-type organizations" behind
it, coupled with an ever-declining labor movement headed by the most
hide-bound pro-capitalist and parasitic union bureaucracy ever, the ruling
rich today have little to fear, at least in the short term, from a mass
working-class insurgency capable of challenging its rule.
Fascism, historically the most extreme political form of capitalist rule, is
called into being only when the question of which class shall rule
society-either the working class and its allies or the minority
property-owning elite-is sharply posed.
This was the case in Germany, Italy, and Spain in the 1920s and the 1930s,
where mass workers' organizations led by Communists and Socialists, and
anarchists in Spain, had the power and mass support to paralyze capitalist
society through massive mobilizations and general strikes. Indeed, were it
not for the Stalinist and reformist mis-leaders of these and other
working-class parties, socialist revolution would have likely been on the
immediate order of the day. Only at this point did the divided and
frightened capitalist classes employ the fascist option, which began with
the physical annihilation of the leadership of the mass workers' parties and
organizations.
Fascism arises only when, in the context of a deep economic crisis, society
experiences a deep class polarization characterized by broad struggles of
radicalizing and class-conscious workers and their organizations on the one
side-potentially capable of seizing power and ending capitalist rule-and a
frightened, divided, and largely impotent minority capitalist class on the
other.
Under these circumstances, armed fascist gangs, usually consisting of a
threatened petty-bourgeois layer (middle class), accompanied by de-classed
and alienated workers (the lumpen proletariat) and a small portion of
misguided working-class elements, begin to take form under the tutelage of a
"strongman" leader, usually trumpeting "left-sounding"
populist/nationalist language against the powers that be, while scapegoating
the most oppressed layers of society.
Hitler and Mussolini, and Franco in Spain, initially organized and armed
these disaffected elements to direct their anger and frustrations against
the major organizations of the working class as opposed to the ruling
capitalist class. They routinely deployed armed thugs to break up union
meetings and workers' protests.
These fascist-led forces operated outside the formal police and military
institutions of the still "democratic" capitalist state, although with its
increasing implicit approval. But when the beleaguered capitalist rulers
came to realize that the deepening working-class mobilizations had the
potential to challenge their rule, and at a time when even the ranks of the
working-class-based bourgeois army were considered unreliable instruments to
quell workers' uprisings, they felt compelled to call on or accede to the
now sizeable armed fascist forces to assume at least a share of the state
power.
Adolph Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, for example, was never elected as
Chancellor of Germany. In January 1933 he was appointed to this post by
Germany's president, Paul Von Hindenburg, ostensibly to keep Hitler's forces
"in check"-that is, to give the Nazi Party a piece of the state power to be
wielded against an insurgent workers' movement without posing a direct
threat to Germany's existing "democratic" capitalist parliamentary
institutions. In short order, however, Hitler employed his new "legitimacy"
to physically smash, dismember, murder, or imprison the leading ranks of the
mass parties of the working class-especially the Stalinist-led Communist
Party, the largest in the world outside the Soviet Union, and the reformist
Socialist Party.
Tragically, it was the refusal of the Stalinists to join forces with the
Socialists in a workers' united front to challenge Hitler and the capitalist
state power itself that led to one of history's most terrible working-class
defeats, and, indeed, the single most important event that opened the road
to the Second World War, which cost the lives of 80 million people
worldwide.
Photo: Nazi supporters in 1938 cheer Hitler's campaign to unite Germany and
Austria.
Posted in Marxist Politics and Philosophy on April 25, 2016.
May 2016 Chicago $15
Fight for $15 in Chicago
By MARK UGOLINI
- CHICAGO - Low-wage workers and their supporters turned out in force at
over 300 locations in the U.S. and over 40 countries on April 14
demanding a $15 minimum wage and union organizing rights. The prime
target was McDonald's Corporation, referred to as a "poster-child" for
unfair labor practices and poverty wages for low-wage workers worldwide.
(more.)
Posted in Chicago, Labor and tagged 15 Now, Fight for 15, McDonald's,
SEIU on April 19, 2016.
April 2016 France
One million strike in France
By JEFF MACKLER
One million workers and students took to the streets of Paris and cities
across France on March 31 to protest draconian Labor Code changes
proposed by the austerity-minded governing French Socialist Party of
Francois Holland. The changes are set to be considered by the French
parliament in late April; more giant protests are planned at that time.
(more.)
Posted in Actions & Protest, Europe, International and tagged Britain,
France, NPA on April 17, 2016.
April 2016 Trump, Cruz
The politics of deception
BY JEFF MACKLER
I am tempted to compare the stated political views of the leading
Republican and Democratic Party presidential contenders-even though they
are largely irrelevant. But ranking Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and
Bernie Sanders according to their purported degree of "socialist,
progressive, liberal, conservative" or even incipient-fascist views is
of little value in comparison to their central defense of capitalism-the
system of the rule of an elite minority that owns and controls the vast
productive capacities and wealth of society. It is the system whose
inherent evils include war, repression, racism, poverty, sexism,
homophobia, mass incarceration, environmental destruction, and
ever-deepening incursions on civil liberties and democratic rights. (more.)
Posted in Elections and tagged Bernie Sanders, Clinton, Cruz, Democrats,
Republicans, Trump on April 14, 2016.
April 2016 Miguel
Cuban official tours Bay Area
By NICK BAKER
- SAN FRANCISCO - Miguel Fraga, first secretary of the Cuban Embassy,
which opened last year in Washington, D.C., came to the Bay Area in
March for a week-long tour, speaking to students and community members
about life in Cuba, renewed U.S.-Cuba diplomatic relations, and the need
to end the U.S. embargo of Cuba. The Northern California tour was
organized by the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity.
(more.)
Posted in Caribbean, Cuba, International, Latin America, San Francisco
Bay Area and tagged Cuba, Miguel Fraga on April 11, 2016.
April 2016 Labor Notes 3
Labor Notes conference big & diverse
By BILL ONASCH
Though official statistics were not yet available at our deadline, there
were clearly at least a couple of thousand participants at the April 1-3
Labor Notes Conference in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont. (more.)
Posted in Chicago, Labor on April 11, 2016.
April 2016 Saudi
Coalition to expose U.S.-Saudi alliance
By MARILYN VOGT-DOWNEY
Over 260 people attended the first 2016 Summit on Saudi Arabia held in
Washington, D.C., on Saturday, March 5 and Sunday, March 6, at the
University of the District of Columbia Law School. The conference was
organized by Code Pink and a new organization, the Coalition to End the
U.S.-Saudi Alliance. (more.)
Posted in Anti-War, International, Middle East and tagged Saudi Arabia,
Yemen on April 7, 2016.
April-2016-Teachers-1-e1459963315347
Day of Action for Chicago teachers
By MARK UGOLINI
- CHICAGO - On April 1, the solidarity of Chicago Teachers, along with
the solidarity of more than 50 union, community, and student
organizations, was on full display before the entire city and state, and
across the country. Nearly 20,000 teachers and supporters flooded the
streets in a late-afternoon rally and march in Chicago's "Loop," capping
a powerful Day of Action on the theme "Fund Our Futures." (more.)
Posted in Chicago, Education & Schools, Labor and tagged CTU, teachers,
unions on April 6, 2016.
March 2016 Edu cartoon
Obama's 'Race to the Top' falters
By KEVIN YESSIAN
In 2009, President Obama issued a fact sheet outlining his new education
reform plan. Race to the Top, as it is called, has four key areas:
rigorous standards and assessments, adoption of better data systems for
reporting, support for teachers and school leaders to become more
effective, and a plan for rigorous interventions when a school fails to
meet standards. In the seven years since this announcement, the results
range from somewhat satisfactory to outright disastrous. (more.)
Posted in Education & Schools on April 4, 2016.
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