re: #117 Justanotherhuman

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Folks in that part of the world do sure love to hurl the word “fascist” around. It reminds me of George Orwell’s essay on the use of the word fascist as an epithet.

orwell.ru

ETA: If you read Orwell’s essay, you’ll see the idea that of “liberal (or left of center) fascism” isn’t anything new, and Jonah Goldberg didn’t come up with it on his own - it’s actually an idea that’s been around for quite awhile.

Socialists: Defenders of old-style capitalism (example, Sir Ernest Benn) maintain that Socialism and Fascism are the same thing. Some Catholic journalists maintain that Socialists have been the principal collaborators in the Nazi-occupied countries. The same accusation is made from a different angle by the Communist party during its ultra-Left phases. In the period 1930-35 the Daily Worker habitually referred to the Labour Party as the Labour Fascists. This is echoed by other Left extremists such as Anarchists. Some Indian Nationalists consider the British trade unions to be Fascist organizations.

Communists: A considerable school of thought (examples, Rauschning, Peter Drucker, James Burnham, F. A. Voigt) refuses to recognize a difference between the Nazi and Soviet rgimes, and holds that all Fascists and Communists are aiming at approximately the same thing and are even to some extent the same people. Leaders in The Times (pre-war) have referred to the U.S.S.R. as a ‘Fascist country’. Again from a different angle this is echoed by Anarchists and Trotskyists.