In reply to Marv: First, I don't think we can use Bonapartism and fascism interchangeably. The main difference is that fascism has a mass base committed to that form of rule by violence if necessary. Fascist leaders also have their own private armed militias. Trump has the various militias but just raising that term in the context of the US shows the huge difference between his rule and that of Mussolini or Hitler. But Bonapartism takes on far more varied forms. Contrary to what Marv says, it does not necessarily mean one party rule. Under Putin several parties exist. An even more clear example was the Bonapartist rule of the PRI. In that case, not only did different parties contest for elections, there were large and angry protests denouncing the PRI. But the whole thing was controlled and manipulated by the PRI itself, including the protests. So my point is that I don't think we should automatically think of absolute rule by the generals as defining Bonapartism.
Also, Marv writes that Trump and his minions "have not yet gone beyond the bounds of bourgeois democracy." I think that puts it too strongly, especially if we see that Bonapartism does not necessarily take the form of regimes like those of Pinochet in Chile or Galtieri in Argentina. I would say that the Trump regime has made important steps in the direction of Bonapartism, steps far greater than anybody would have thought possible ten years ago. On important policy matters he has freed himself from the chains of the bourgeoisie. These include his tariff policy and his war in Iran. He has forced major capitalist institutions to bend the knee to him. These include major capitalist law firms, major universities, large sectors of the capitalist media, and individual corporations. He has made the Republican Party his own personal instrument of power in which no questioning of him is permitted. He has taken direct personal control over the US military. He has overstepped the normal bounds of democratic rights under capitalism including habeas corpus and even federal agents murdering white US citizens. (It's always been okay to murder black citizens!) He is flagrantly using the DOJ as his personal law firm. As i have pointed out, he is setting himself up to overturn the upcoming election. Despite the unprecedented nature of what he's done and is doing, some claim that Bonapartism isn't possible because the capitalist class neither wants nor needs it. They miss the fact that the capitalist class is less able to influence public opinion than it ever was in many decades. I think they are living in the past and aren't seeing what is happening right before our very own eyes. As I've pointed out many times over, what we have is the polar opposite of the past conditions which led to Bonapartism. In the past, those conditions were defined by an unbearable clash between the two powerful classes in society - the capitalist class and the working class. Today, what we have is the crisis in the working class and the inability of the capitalist class to shape public opinion as it did in the past. What we have is a vacuum, and into this vacuum has stepped this weird figure. It's impossible to predict with confidence how far he will go... or won't go. But it is doctrinaire and short sighted to pretend he cannot go a lot further in the direction of Bonapartism. John Reimann -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#42896): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/42896 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/120665425/21656 -=-=- 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. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
