Re: fascism in the world system

Eric--

        As an interloper from history I cannot speak for world-systems
theorists as such, but as I see it, one must distinguish between the
ideologies of fascism (e.g., Fascism, Nazism, Rexism, Falangism) and the
behavior of fascist regimes that actually achieved power.  The majority of
fascisms in the interwar period borrowed heavily from socialism and
anarcho-syndicalism;  or, alternatively, from reactionary strands of
anti-modernist Christian thought.  There was also a generous dollop of
neo-paganism and neo-medievalist romantic nationalism, both arguably
antisystemic.  So on balance I think it could be said that fascisms were
ideologically antisystemic.  But once in power, fascist regimes played
ball with the capitalist world-system, launched a huge multinational
crusade to crush Bolshevik Russia, and followed policies largely favorable
to the economic elites in each fascist country.  In short, antisystemic
ideologies gave birth to prosystemic regimes.

        Warren


On Thu, 9 Dec 1999, Eric Mielants wrote:

> WSN'ers,
> 
> I have a specific question. What is 'the' position of World-system people
> (IF there is a consensus) on fascist (nazi and far right) movements in the
> 20th century? Can someone please refer to me to some literature on this?
> More specifically, are fascist movements considered by world-system
> theorists as 'as systemic as you can get' (let's say the ultimate last
> stage of capitalism) or are they considered as anti-systemic 
>(anti-systemic
> does not necessarily imply that they are ethically 'good' movements, but
> just that they oppose the system) in the sense that racist ideology is so
> important for them that fascists historically relegate capitalist
> accumulation to a secondary position? While it is true that Hitler, for
> example, needed support of 'big capitalists' to come to power, it seems
> that by 1942 many of them felt 'betrayed' by him: they could not control
> him, and SOME of the nazi decisions can be said as being so wacko extreme
> that they actually obstructed the 'smooth' ceaseless accumulation of
> capital instead of furthering it. Again, this is an open question.
> Did anyone so far analyze the historical role of the far-right in the 20th
> century as either 'pro-system' or 'anti-system'?
> Thanks for your input,
> 
> eric mielants
> Soc. Dept.
> SUNY-Binghamton
> 
>