Fascism Is Attractive To Capitalists

There is no doubt that capitalists have a preference for fascism over socialism, for rule of law by force rather than any real kind of democracy and public participation. Capitalism itself is an economic system that has as its basic tenet the goal of achieving dominance over others and to take from others whatever one can. To take from customers maximum profit at the least cost. To take from the worker the most one can while giving him the least amount possible in return. Isn’t what happened in Nazi concentration camps merely this idea taken to its logical conclusion? To say that coercion is not an aspect of the capitalist system is to believe that capitalists are driven by something other than profit and that they appreciate the ideals of capitalism more than they do wealth and power. In short, it is to believe in unicorns. If this were true we would not today have billions of dollars of wealth being created by those in prison with many more corporations looking to profit off the labor and the incarceration of these workers. If the capitalist can use coercion, he will. He is driven by his duty to his share holders to do exactly that. To this end he will use government to set the rules in his favor, and as the government works more and more exclusively for the benefit of the powerful, it will become increasingly fascistic.

Besides that, democracy is messy and unpredictable. Capitalists need predictability so that they do not over-purchase or over-produce. They cannot sacrifice profit to the whims of the public. The government must function dependably, and function dependably in their favor.

The people, if they understood what was going on, would never stand for this. So they must be kept in the dark, or kept distracted. To this end the capitalists must own the media, in order to keep the populace ignorant, frightened, angry, nationalistic, and amused. The Nazis understood this quite well: they doled out anger, fear, nationalism and ignorance through their news channels while offering people banal entertainment at the theaters and cinemas.

Lastly, fascism demands quieting of dissension. This is quite easy through the normal media, since almost all of it is owned by a small group of extremely powerful corporations. These media companies put forth a pro-corporate, pro-capitalist viewpoint. Why would they not?

For a time, the internet has provided a means for ordinary citizens to communicate with each other and share truths. But this has gotten dangerous, so that now censorship of what we see on social media is now more and more a reality. Of course, it is not called censorship, they call it protecting us from propaganda. But the handwriting is written clearly on the wall and a small group of unaccountable individuals now have the authority to decide who is permitted access to information from their corporate-owned platforms.

We are looking at an emerging global fascism, and so few of us seem aware. So many of us, on the left and the right, waste our time and energy bickering with each other over lesser issues while supporting a fascistic agenda, all the while believing ourselves enlightened, caring, and courageous.