>>24642073
>They were poaching from the same worker centric movements that the communists drew from, a big part of why they’re mortal enemies. Mussolini was a communist originally. The bizarre thing is that both left, right and nazi larpers like to now pretend fascism is able to be comfortably pinned to our political spectrum.
>>24642105
>My issue with the marxist definition of Fascism is that it tries too hard to put down the fascists as a mutant and stillborn distortion of The Revolution™ so as to put some ideological distance between how fascist and socialist governments tend to function in practice
>>24642187
>Zeev Sternhell
Sternhell saw fascism as a kind of ultranationalist form of socialism that emerged out of a hybrid of anti-Enlightenment sensibilities found on the left and right. At the center of the anti-Enlightenment ideas on the right is the idea that humans are just fundamentally different, and they should not be treated equally. It stresses a deterministic role for ethnic, cultural, or religious backgrounds. Communism could be even bloodier and more totalitarian than fascism but it stressed the unity of the human race. The counter-Enlightenment ideas on the right are more about a struggle between nations and cultures, and that someone must be connected to his nation by more than just citizenship.
He also saw it as having influence from anti-reformist ideas on the left. Like, once liberal systems became more democratic (right to vote), and socialist parties could enter government, they began giving up the revolutionary road to power for a reformist one. This was happening in mainstream Marxism in the 1890s (except in Russia). There were not only true-blue conservatives who were chilled by this, there were syndicalists on the far left who were against that as well. Just this whole culture of liberalism, parliamentary democracy (and democratic socialism), bourgeois society -- mediocre!
The scenario here is, like, if revolution based on Enlightenment ideas is not possible, and you only get reformism, some people will choose a revolution based on *anti*-Enlightenment ideas. Fascism can appeal to certain converts from the left for whom revolt is more important than the particular ideas behind it. Since, as others have said, fascism is a rather inchoate thing. The most important thing is the glorification of the will and cult of revolutionary violence.
