The Rise of American Facism

There are many readily available definitions of facism:

"A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism."

<>"Fascism is a form of extreme right-wing ideology that celebrates the nation or the race as an organic community transcending all other loyalties... Fascism's approach to politics is both populist--in that it seeks to activate "the people" as a whole against perceived oppressors or enemies--and elitist--in that it treats the people's will as embodied in a select group, or often one supreme leader, from whom authority proceeds downward. Fascism seeks to organize a cadre-led mass movement in a drive to seize state power. It seeks to forcibly subordinate all spheres of society to its ideological vision of organic community, usually through a totalitarian state. Both as a movement and a regime, fascism uses mass organizations as a system of integration and control, and uses organized violence to suppress opposition, although the scale of violence varies widely. "

"Characteristics of Fascist PhilosophyFascism, especially in its early stages, is obliged to be antitheoretical and frankly opportunistic in order to appeal to many diverse groups. Nevertheless, a few key concepts are basic to it. First and most important is the glorification of the state and the total subordination of the individual to it. The state is defined as an organic whole into which individuals must be absorbed for their own and the state’s benefit. This “total state” is absolute in its methods and unlimited by law in its control and direction of its citizens. 2A second ruling concept of fascism is embodied in the theory of social Darwinism. The doctrine of survival of the fittest and the necessity of struggle for life is applied by fascists to the life of a nation-state. Peaceful, complacent nations are seen as doomed to fall before more dynamic ones, making struggle and aggressive militarism a leading characteristic of the fascist state. Imperialism is the logical outcome of this dogma. 3Another element of fascism is its elitism. Salvation from rule by the mob and the destruction of the existing social order can be effected only by an authoritarian leader who embodies the highest ideals of the nation. This concept of the leader as hero or superman, borrowed in part from the romanticism of Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Carlyle, and Richard Wagner, is closely linked with fascism’s rejection of reason and intelligence and its emphasis on vision, creativeness, and 'the will.'"

In summary, the most commonly held definitions of fascism consist of strong centralization under a dictatorial government, suppression of opposition through censorship and oppression, prevalence of Social Darwinism as the prevailing ideology, and extreme nationalism. All of these aspects exist in modern American corporate structure.

The first element, strong centralization of authority, is the most immediately obvious similarity. While there is not always a single individual with absolute power, there is without fail some strong governing body possessing absolute control over all aspects of the business as well as all employees of the company. The nature of this government differs significantly from the traditional concept of the fascist leader, in that the actual identity and personality of the leader is rarely significant, and it is not uncommon for workers to be completely ignorant of even the names of those who control the company they have sworn allegiance to. Their power, however, is absolute, so long as their decisions do not conflict with the prevailing ideology of corporate society, i.e. the worship of the almighty dollar.

The next element is the oppression of opposition. There are two unique types of opposition, internal and external opposition. External opposition is met through both overt propaganda (advertising), and through attempts, usually successful, to manipulate local and national laws.

Advertising in recent years has become of paramount importance. This topic is vast, and I will only attempt to summarize the relevant aspects. In modern advertising, it is no longer satisfactory to simply attempt to persuade the consumer to purchase a product. Modern advertising seeks to redefine commonly held social norms to serve the purposes of the corporate state, and consumerism in general. To achieve this, a utopian world is presented, and through repetition, the consumer ultimately accepts it as a true representation, not of what society is, but what society should be. The nature of this utopia varies greatly between different advertising demographics, but prevalent among all are the ideals of materialism and conformity. This attempt to remake society is an essential aspect to fascism.

Aside from advertising, external corporate interests are met also through hiring of lobbyists, to attempt to directly persuade government officials to side with their employer. Corporations spend billions of dollars every year on lobbyists, to the extent that it is seen as a vital aspect of corporate business.

The next major category of oppression is internal oppression. An overt example of internal oppression is the growing corporate hostility toward labor unions. This has been attributed to many factors, such as federal regulations limiting who can legally go on strike, as well as the expansion of national non-union corporations, with whom small companies can rarely compete with.

Less overt examples of internal oppression lie in the attempts to influence the ideology of employees through propaganda. Internal propaganda can be both formal, such as posters in employee work areas with slogans like "Every Employee Contributes", as well informal through the selection of "right-thinking" individuals for management positions. While these efforts are not always directly successful in influencing the ideology of individual employees, they act similarly to external advertising, by presenting a utopian ideal, in this case the model of an ideal employee, who puts the interests of the corporation ahead of their own. Through repetition this ideal is gradually accepted as the norm. While the internal choice to conform remains up to the individual, apparent adherence to the model is strictly enforced by management.

The next aspect of fascism shared by corporate society is that of Social Darwinism, i.e. the survival of the fittest. This doctrine is the essence of capitalism on a fundamental level, and forms the foundation of corporate ideology. The driving force behind every business decision is profit. No venture is undertaken unless it is believed to be profitable. Profitability always takes precedence over all other considerations, especially the welfare of the individuals who work for a corporation and those who purchase their products. Corporations routinely find ways around providing health benefits and a safe work environment for their employees. Even the safety of products is secondary to profit. To determine if an unsafe product should be recalled, the potential monetary liability of not recalling it is weighed against the cost and further lost profit of the recall. Human welfare is a peripheral consideration at best.

The final aspect, extreme nationalism, is fairly obvious. An employee of a corporation is expected to put the interests of the corporation ahead of their own, making any and all possible sacrifices. The corporation is successful in eliciting these sacrifices by all of the means described above, as well as by manufacturing a constant state of emergency. United Airlines, for example, has routinely asserted that concessions by the unions are the only way to bring the company out of bankruptcy, while at the same time, all of the upper level executives gave themselves retention bonuses of over $200,000.

The power of corporations, unarguably, has increased dramatically in recent years. With it, the American worker has seen a proportional decrease in working conditions. In every industry, mergers have resulted in the emergence of a handful of enormous corporate entities. Real wages have gone down, and the ratio between the average worker and the average executive has skyrocketed. Health care is becoming prohibitively expensive, while insurance companies report record profits. This new form of fascism dominates almost every aspect of modern life, and the destructive results will only increase in the future.