AFAIK Horthy did not become head of state in Hungary until February 1920. He played a leading, though slightly ambiguous, role in the preceding "White Terror" from November 1919 to February 28, 2020, after which the National Assembly restored the Hungarian monarchy with Horthy as regent. Five thousand Hungarians were killed during the terror.
Strictly speaking, I believe, the first fascist state in Europe was t he Italian Regency of Carnaro, later known as the Free State of Fiume. This was AFAIK a self-proclaimed state in the city of Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia) ruled by a dictatorship of the Italian poet and war hero Gabriele d'Annunzio between September 12, 1919 and December 1920. T he Italian government and the Allies had proposed incorporating Fiume into the new Yugoslav state. D’Annunzio believed Fiume rightly belonged to Italy and saw his government as a means of re-establishing Italian sovereignty, though perhaps more significantly it also embodied certain proto-fascist or early fascist ideals (corporatist state, etc.) not actually in power in Italy at the time. D'Annunzio became an ardent fascist and Mussolini accorded him a title and a national edition of his works. Historical fascism is a complex entity and any functional definition of the word fascist is bound to be to some extent stipulative. The question is why we are using this term today, and what it enables us to accomplish politically. If all we mean by "fascism"--as per the typical "woke" Facebook user--is the eternal and unchanging face of Evil as manifested in bloodthirsty governance by a bunch of big meanies, then Genghis Khan was a fascist and so was Julius Caesar. Michael Meeropol wrote: The question for today is whether the KKK, Proud Boys, Bougaloo Boys, etc. can be the shock troops for a "fascist style" (and I don't mind using the term Bonapartist which may technically be a more appropriate analogy) transformation of the American polity or will the Biden ADministration (and the law enforcement establishment have enough strength, interest and support to suppress these folks and defeat that political movement. It seems clear that the likes of the Q Shaman would be a bit upset by the requirement for corpselike obedience under Option A. But is Option B--defeat of eg Hawleyism by a law enforcement crackdown--really the only option? If so, what would the consequences be for the left? Among other possibilities: the metamorphosis of the ha-ha "liberal" Biden into a de facto authoritarian in his own right could a) fail to provide the Bidencrats with a Jesus for people to come to in any numbers, leading to continued erosion of legitimacy backed by an increasing compensatory "lawn order" focus followed by b) the political failure of the Democrats and the appropriation by the Right of the police/etc. infrastructure build up by the "liberals." The Proud Boys or equiv are in no position now to assume police powers, but their successors could if Biden does the obvious stupid thing and plays his cards as wrong as only he can--by appealing to the so-called "center." His only card right now is "law and order" and that should concern us. Another week or two should suffice to show us what forces, if any, the potential clown insurrectionists have at their disposal--for example in statehouses and county courthouses. At this point, nobody knows for sure what will happen. The clowncar insurrection showed (if anyone doubted it) that there hasn't been business as usual in the Republic for some time. It would be a mistake IMO to focus on fascism to the exclusion of a broader historical view of current events, including the long-brewing crisis of legitimacy of bourgeois democracy in the US altogether, which in turn reflects the crisis of the capitalist world system. Antifascism in any form by itself is too narrow a focus. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#5563): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/5563 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/79662733/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
