• any (tme)

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im an adult but this is a (mostly) sfw page (as in, might discuss nsfw topics)


The model of an equilateral triangle, where each of liberalism, fascism, and socialism represents a different vertex, is incorrect. Rajani Palme Dutt’s claim that fascism represents “capitalism in decay” and “the death-rattle of the dying bourgeois civilization” also confuses things. [63] Fascism is as co-constitutive of capitalism as liberalism is. Liberalism corresponds to the operational aspect of surplus value exploitation in the core, whereas fascism corresponds to the operational aspect of primitive accumulation at its temporal and spatial boundaries.

A much-simplified — but still useful — version of the “stagist” Marxist model of historical development looks like this:

  1. Primitive communism
  2. Slavery
  3. Feudalism
  4. Capitalism
  5. Socialism
  6. Communism

Describing fascism as the “death-rattle” of stage four obscures the fact that it has been present from the outset. Fascism is just the operational aspect that the unlucky part of the globe gets to experience capitalism as. We need to expand the model into a second dimension to integrate this understanding.

I propose the following:

  1. Primitive communism
  2. Slavery [64]
  3. Feudalism — Ideological superstructure in defense of divine right (monotheistic hereditary land claims)
  4. Capitalism — Ideological superstructure in defense of individual genius (entrepreneurship, race science, will to power)
    - Expropriative aspect: Primitive accumulation, fascism.
    - Exploitative aspect: Wage labour, liberalism.
  5. Socialism — Ideological superstructure in defense of mass consciousness (Soviets, democratic dictatorship of the proletariat, scientific socialism)
    - Multiple aspects (e.g. “Socialism with X characteristics”)
  6. Communism — Ideological superstructure no longer has any class or state content.

This model conceives of the Axis powers as failed fascist experiments in empire-building, and the North Atlantic empires as successful ones. Fascism as an accusation stops relying on a cartoonish depiction of the Nazis as a cautionary tale of a potential future dystopia. Instead, it captures the fact that vicious dehumanizing brutality is co-constitutive of the violent, white supremacist, “freedom-loving” Western worldview. As Jiang Shigong put it:

This resilience in the face of “challenges” became the savage spirit of “freedom” that Europeans came to cherish, and resistance to pressure and the impetus for world domination were elevated to the position of dominant philosophical ethos. [65]

This model also draws the distinction between socialist and capitalist projects more starkly, and thoroughly rejects the ahistorical notion of “totalitarianism,” as well as any other formulation that casts fascism as a “third way.”

Nietzsche is an essential figure because he’s not confined to either of the two operational aspects of capitalism, and his body of work is hugely influential. Thus, in analyzing his popularity (“the real is rational”), we get to appreciate the ideological appeal of fascism. His metaphysical and aesthetic defense of slavery, along with his appeals to a distinctly European spirit, as beautiful and effective as they may have been to many, reveal that the talented reactionary philosopher couldn’t find any way to counter the growing power and appeal of scientific socialism in rational terms. This understanding should give us the confidence not to lay down what Amílcar Cabral termed “The Weapon of Theory.” “Really Existing Fascism,” however vulgar Nietzsche might have found the compromises made in pursuit of his “new slavery,” should be defeated not only as a practice but also by fully dismantling its reactionary ideal.

Don’t take it from me, though. Take it from Nietzsche: “With dialectics the rabble gets on top.”


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