It was immaterial to the discussion, and would have gotten us off on an unsatisfactory dispute, since fascism is not defined by having a quasi- market plus a totalitarian regime, but by having a particular ideology, for example, that the individual is subordinate to the state; that the dictator really speaks for the Volk in an "organic democracy'; that the fate of peoples is more important than the fate of mankind or the fate of individuals; that hierarchy and domination is ineradicable in human affairs; that conflict is healthy; that nations are doomed to war, and that the victors are right because they have shown the greatest vitality and will to power; and so forth.
Again, a Communist regime is primarily defined by its ideology, since it can always rationalize a resort to markets as a phase in the development to true socialism. Thus, a Communist regime believes in the dictatorship of the vanguard party, to advance the class interests of the proletariat; democratic centralism, that is, debate among those in authority until a decision is reached, at which point all must conform to the party line; the goal of equality; the transitory nature of the class struggle, eventually leading to a utopia of peace and modest plenty; the withering away of the state; the international solidarity of the proletariat;and so on. One might acknowledge that such beliefs are of diminishing vitality, without doubting that they continue to serve as a rationale for party dominance, and that the party has not taken to spouting fascist sentiments....... |
