Communism and Fascism

[Sheik]

Could someone please briefly outline the ideological differences between Communism and Fascism?

[Serb]

Fascism- Kill them all.

Communism- let's come together right now, to the sweet harmony.

[Elok]

I'm no expert, but communism is based on the equality of human beings within a state for the equal good of everyone. Fascism doesn't give a rat's patoot about individual right; Mussolini said that the Fascist individual is the state and vice versa. In a sense, Fascism is about the elimination of the individual will for the good of the state, which is held to be more important. I think.

[vovan]

If you think of the political ideology spectrum as a line, then the democrats would be just to the left of the center and the republicans - just to the right. (In the US, that is. In other countries, they may actually be a little further from the center.) Now, if you look waaaaaay on the left, you will see the communists. And if you look waaaaaay on the right, you'll see the fascists. So, basically, the fascists are ultra-conservative, and the communists are ultra-liberal.

As such, the communists believe that everyone should be equal, while the fascists believe that there is one superior group of people - be it race, cast, or whatever, - and that it should dominate all the rest. Also, then, the communists, like all liberals, but more extreme, believe in the ultimate equality - that is, absence of money. Indeed, if there is no money, then how can one person be richer than another? While the fascists, like all conservatives, only to the extreme, believe in moral qualities, and religion. But that belief is so extreme, it borders on the absurdity.

That's pretty much it.

[JCG]

Fascism and Communism hate each other so much that, taken to the extreme, they end up being disturbingly similar....

[Imran Siddiqui]

Communism is the believe that equality should be the end goal and thus we should eliminate class distinctions. That is the basic foundation. There are many, many, many, many, many different communist ideologies though, from worker democracies to pure Marxism.

Fascism is the belief that all the people should be united under the state. They hate democracy because it divides people into parties. They dislike capitalism because it divides people based on income. They dislike communism because it divides based on class. Fascists believe in an ordered structure for society (a heirarchy is good) and all should work for the good of the whole under the state, led by one leader, who is the embodiment of all that is good and moral. It's a very anti-individualist philosophy. There don't tend to be many offshoots of Fascist ideology.

[KrazyHorse]

They dislike capitalism because it divides people based on income

Then why did the monied corporations flourish under Hitler?

They had no problem with capitalism, but were certainly not laissez-faire capitalists (i.e. they believed in the subordination of markets to the greater good of the State).

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Serb
Communism- let's come together right now, to the sweet harmony.

And starve to death.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Then why did the monied corporations flourish under Hitler?

Corporations flourishing does not mean capitalism! Many, if not all, of these corporations became controlled by Nazi Party Members. Free enterprise (ie, easy entry and exist out of the market) was almost wiped out. This is basically a requirement for capitalism (remember, market doesn't equal capitalism either).

It's better to look at Italy's economic structure under Mussolini than Hitler.

Your statement is akin to saying 'Then why was there inequality under Stalin', responding to the query 'Communism believes in equality'.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

Then why did the monied corporations flourish under Hitler?

Corporations flourishing does not mean capitalism! Many, if not all, of these corporations became controlled by Nazi Party Members. Free enterprise (ie, easy entry and exist out of the market) was almost wiped out. This is basically a requirement for capitalism (remember, market doesn't equal capitalism either).

It's better to look at Italy's economic structure under Mussolini than Hitler.

Your statement is akin to saying 'Then why was there inequality under Stalin', responding to the query 'Communism believes in equality'.

The point is that Hitler was someone that fascists generally claim as a shining example (though some with the proviso that the racist stuff was BS)

Communism as believed in today by communists is generally not Stalinist.

As I said, the capitalism practiced by fascist states was not laissez-faire, but it was capitalism and not really socialism.

As I understand it, fascism did not proclude private ownership of the majority of the means of production, so long as the businesses were conducted in a manner which was in accordance with the interests of the State.

[Jules]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Fascism is the belief that all the people should be united under the state. They hate democracy because it divides people into parties. They dislike capitalism because it divides people based on income. They dislike communism because it divides based on class. Fascists believe in an ordered structure for society (a heirarchy is good) and all should work for the good of the whole under the state, led by one leader, who is the embodiment of all that is good and moral. It's a very anti-individualist philosophy. There don't tend to be many offshoots of Fascist ideology.

With that kind of broad definition, you could reasonably argue that the Roman Catholic Church is fascist (after substituting "Church" for "state")

[Imran Siddiqui]

The point is that Hitler was someone that fascists generally claim as a shining example (though some with the proviso that the racist stuff was BS)

How many 'Fascists' exist these days that aren't racists? It's become equated with Hitler, and hardly anyone wants that.

As I said, the capitalism practiced by fascist states was not laissez-faire, but it was capitalism and not really socialism.

Who said governmental control of the economy had to be socialism? There have been plenty of military juntas that weren't really socialism or capitalism.

As I understand it, fascism did not proclude private ownership of the majority of the means of production, so long as the businesses were conducted in a manner which was in accordance with the interests of the State.

And what if the businesses were not accorded with the interests of the State?

In most fascist countries, corporations were dictated targets of production by the government itself.

[KrazyHorse]

Yes, but they were privately-owned, and privately managed for private profit.

I suppose you could make the case that the economies of fascist states were more mercantilist than capitalist, though.

[KrazyHorse]

Who said governmental control of the economy had to be socialism? There have been plenty of military juntas that weren't really socialism or capitalism.

Most of these juntas (I'm thinking of the Latin American model here) were pretty close to what I'd term fascism, BTW.

[nationalist]

The first three definitions of Communism/Facism were absurdly stupid. I have a test tomorrow and I have to go to bed, but if this thread is still up, I'll give an actual explanation of Fascism.

But, just a tid bit, vovansim, you are completely wrong. Fascists does not equal conservative. Fascism is not a conservative ideology. The ultra-conservative party of the Weimar republic was the DNVP, the German National Folk's Party. They regarded the Nazis as leftist radicals hiding behind rightist rhetoric.

The traditional Left Right line, with Communism on the furthest left point and Fascism at the furthest right point, is over-simplified to the extreme and misleading. This political spectrum is a bit more accurate. It has Liberal Democracy at one pole of the spectrum and totalitarianism at the other side. Fascism and Communism are polar opposites in ideology, but extremely close in methods and "functional beliefs", as is reflected in their proximity in the spectrum.