Fascism, Socialism, Communism: in theory these are three different forms of government but in practice they are one in the same. People call this person a fascist and that person a communist while today socialism is the growing trend among college students and some segments of the society who espouse “equality.” To that last group I offer the challenge to name one socialist government in history where individuals have been equal. To the others I challenge you to explain, not in theory but in practice, the governmental differences between Fascism and Communism. Both are dictatorial forms of one party government wherein the individual has no real protection from the government regardless of what the various constitutions may assert. It’s the practice of government we should observe and not the theory.
Fascism takes it name from the party started by Benito Mussolini in Italy in 1919. Did you know that Mussolini was kicked out of the Italian Socialist party because he advocated violent revolution and supported Italy’s entry into the first world war? Did you know he praised Karl Marx in several of his newspaper pieces? So, the father of Fascism was a proponent of Marx, a violent revolutionary and a member of the Italian Socialist party as was his father before him. He instituted a one-party, dictatorial government that controlled all aspects of life in Italy but somehow Fascism is set up by academia as being the opposite to Communism. Might this have something to do with the struggle in the Spanish Civil War where the Fascists aided the Nationalists against the Republicans who were supported by the Soviet Union? You bet it does.
That’s the same Soviet Union where one-party rule under the dictator Lenin and then Stalin controlled all aspects of life having come to power via a Marxist inspired violent revolution and civil war between 1917-23. This would be the same time Mussolini was forming and consolidating his power in Italy and when the first National Socialist Party (NAZI) putsch was being broken up in Germany.
Now, if you let the elite academics explain it they’ll tell you how Fascism is different from Socialism is different from Communism. They’ll point to the writing of this person or that person, the speeches of politicians, philosophers and economists. The real difference they’ll explain is Fascism is centered on the nation-state but Communism has world-wide aspirations. That is true but in my opinion, that has little to do with the actual implementation of governmental systems within the state itself. While we may be able to detect differences in theory there is no difference in the implementation of these three types of government. They use the same tactics to gain control and once established they brook no opposition using legal and illegal means to silence opponents. Germany in 1940 was no different from the Soviet Union or Italy or Spain. They all had one-party totalitarian governments under a dictator and full control of their respective societies. They all had secret police and with one-party rule elections were predetermined.
Yes, I’ll be taken to task for oversimplifying again but face it people; one-party rule is one-party rule. There may be differences in theory which can keep the academics and apologists occupied but in practice it doesn’t matter. There is no left and no right; totalitarianism is absolutely the same regardless of what you call it. One-party states allow no free speech, they allow no opposition, they provide no protection for the individual from the government; they control elections; they control the media; the party becomes the state. It is the exercise of power, pure and simple. It isn’t ideology, it isn’t theory, it is pure, raw, unadulterated power.
Look around you; listen to what is being said and how it is being said; listen to the rationalization of why this is ok but that isn’t. Reread “Animal Farm” and note how equality is defined after power is obtained. Take good note of the sacrifices asked of those less equal, for the good of the “farm” er I mean “State.”
Fascism, Socialism, Communism: lots of books on theory but when you look at the practice it’s just one government with three different names.
Caveat Emptor!!!!