Ed Weick wrote:
[snip]
> > I was thinking of the way Bertram Gross used it, in this review of his
> book.
> >
> > http://www.eclectica.org/v1n1/reviews/wharton_friendly.html
> >
> > Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America by
> > Bertram Gross
> >
> > M. Evans: New York
> > 410 pp.
[snip]
> > Fascism emerged in 1919 in Milan (after Italy came Germany, Japan, and
> > Spain). It supplanted loose
> > working arrangements that jelled during world war 1. Manufacturing and
> > finance had drawn closer.
> > Industrialists, alongside government officials on wartime agencies, saw
> > firsthand the beauties of
> > economic planning and cooperation. Unlike communists, the fascists--while
> > uncouth--did not menace
> > the survival of old structures.
> >
> > In seeking the gist of fascism Gross skips the optional extras: the single
> > charismatic leader, the
> > one-party dictatorship, rigid censorship, regimentation of
> > industry/commerce/finance, etc. What
> > remains is big government in alliance with big business: corporate
> > authoritarianism that subverts
> > constitutional democracy.
[snip]
I am not expert here, but I once heard/read that Franklin Roosevelt's
National Recovery Act (NRA) was perceived by some at the time as
fascist.
I think this fits in with Ed's incisive quote. The essence of fascism is
a society of total control from above. (e.g.: I think of Stalin as a
fascist, not any kind of communist.)
But FDR conjures up the image of "fascism with a human face", and
I have previously speculated that such may be the best deal
our population-and-technology-and-just-about-everything-else
out of control world can hope for.
Another thing about the FDR example: I read somewhere that Herbert
Hoover's reason for not intervening more actively in the 1929
economic crisis was that he believed that if America could
not pull itself up by its own bootstraps then it deserved to
collapse, rather than being propped up by massive government intervention.
Hoover clearly *could* have acted more "fascistically" (as FDR was to do),
since Hoover had organized America's rescue of Europe after WWI
(I forget what that program was called...) -- which possibly tipped
the balance for the survival of capitalism there vis-a-vis the
communist popular uprisings in Germany etc.
+\brad mcormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
914.238.0788 / 27 Poillon Rd, Chappaqua NY 10514-3403 USA
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