With the growth of far right populism and outright fascist movements across Europe, Stewart Smyth sets out the classical Marxist understanding of Fascism and explains that we are facing the beginnings of fascist currents trying to establish themselves in Ireland. Whether they are successful will largely depend on the challenge from anti-fascist socialists.
We are witnessing a rise in far right and fascist politics across Europe. From the Alternative for Germany (AfD) winning a regional election in Germany, to the National Rally (RN) winning the first round of voting in the French general election to the Brothers of Italy (FdI) leading a government.
This resurgence has led to considerable confusion on the left, here and internationally, about what exactly fascism is. The recent protests in Ireland and Britain are usually called far right or anti-immigrant, and not just by news media outlets of various persuasion.
Current Confusion
In some sections of the left there is a reluctance to use the term fascist – in the main, for two reasons. First, there is an understanding that fascism is a particular political movement that requires a particular response. Calling anybody on the right of the political spectrum a fascist muddies our analysis of current political developments and leads to confusion about how to respond. For example, in the cult 1980s sitcom, The Young Ones, one character would label anyone from Santa to those who didn’t like Cliff Richard’s music, as a fascist.
Second, in the current period, the growing fascist threat is emerging and evolving at a rapid rate. In November 2022, when the protests started in East Wall, Dublin the anti-immigrant sentiment was wrapped up in language about concerns for the safety of local people and a lack of local services. Because these, and subsequent protests, often had women with children to the fore, they didn’t look like the image many have of boot boys, marching through streets making Nazi salutes.
To try to cut through this confusion, I will lay out a classical Marxist understanding of fascism, drawing on the experiences of the 1920s and 1930s. Then I’ll seek to apply this understanding to the current position in Ireland – one which is fluid, changing and volatile.
Such an approach can be criticised – for example, Albert Toscana in his book Late Fascism, deliberately avoids the “checklist” approach. It also true that the resurgent fascist movement of today is not the same in every country. The dynamics of fascist movements in Britain, France and Germany all contain differences in emphasis and tactics, with each other as well as compared to Ireland.
Some argue that fascism today cannot be compared with that of the 1970s, never mind the 1930s. Such positions seem to me to be at the root of the confusion about far right and fascist movements. Largely they are based on a view that history is a series of individual, unique events and so every new event must be analysed from first principles, again and again.
This view is something of a rejection of the Marxist approach to history and condemns us to never being able to develop theories about how capitalism and all the horrors it generates can be understood and combatted.
Classical Understanding
First, the objective of fascism is to destroy all democratic structures in society, and in the process completely smash the working class movement. John Foot, in his book on Italian fascism, summarises the triumph of Mussolini and the blackshirts in these terms, ‘From 1926 onwards a regime was installed. Elections were abolished at local and national level.
Parliament continued to function, but as a fascist institution. A powerful cult of the personality was constructed around Mussolini. An efficient and all-encompassing system of spies and informers reported to the political police … Opposition figures were forced out of Italy, arrested, or silenced. This included a number of leading liberals and Catholics.’
The last sentence is important to note. Fascism cannot accept any form of opposition, even mild forms that can come from liberals. In many ways this description of fascist Italy could be applied to any dictatorship, just a bit more extreme.
So what makes fascism different to other dictatorial, totalitarian regimes? Fascism is not just about smashing working class organisation once, but continuing to do so, time and time again. Workers become completely atomised and unable to speak out. Foot quotes an Italian journalist and activist, saying that “fascism was the triumph of silence”.
Mass Movement of Despair
However, it is also crucial to understand the manner in which fascism comes to power. Unlike a military coup, where the army is social force that takes control, fascism is a mass movement from below: one that is based on despair, pessimism and division. It is a thoroughly counter-revolutionary
movement.
Fascism mobilises independently of the state. It seeks to organise mass violence from below, against oppressed groups, progressives and the left in general. Violence is central to fascism’s organising strategy. The first act of the “squadristi” (the Italian fascist gangs) occurred in April 1919, in a street fight between fascists and nationalists on one side, and socialists and anarchists on the other, in Milan. This was followed by an attack on the offices of Avanti!, the newspaper of the Italian Socialist
Party.
Fascism needs a paramilitary force – whether it is the blackshirts in Italy or Britain, the brownshirts in Germany or the somewhat lesser attempt in Ireland, in the form of the Blueshirts. The political innovation of fascism is to create the armed party, the combination of political and military action.
Violent to the Core Fascism puts forward a justification for violence on the basis that they are reactively defending some higher ideals, such as the traditional family or national culture. The violence is necessary only because the trade unions, socialist and communists, the narrative goes, “started it first”.
This, of course, is grossly misleading and a reversal of what actually occurs. As argued above fascism, from its very first act – the attack on the Avanti! offices – is based on violent actions and intimidation. To sustain this violence, fascism needs a strong media and publicity machine to spread lies and myths about individual incidents, as well as against particular groups. John Foot gives an example of this type of extreme smearing, with the case of La Cinquantaccia, in March 1921, an anti-fascist mother in Empoli, Tuscany.
The fascist newspapers claimed that, following an ambush of soldiers travelling through the city on their way to break-up a strike, she cut the ear off a dead soldier. Further it was claimed that La Cinquantaccia had taken home the piece of the ear, cooked it and fed it to her daughter. It later turned out she did not have a daughter but the lies had done the trick. Fascist violence that followed in Empoli and after the court case, was justified because the anti-fascists were animals. Therefore, Squadritisi violence was necessary against such (imagined) barbarity.
Fascist bands in Empoli 1921
This example has relevance for today as it highlights the fascist strategy of using emotion rather than truth to mobilise.
Class Basis
To understand the social roots of this mass movement of despair and violence, we need first to analyse its class basis. For this, we can turn to Trotsky’s writings on fascism in the 1930s, and specifically the growth of the Nazis in Germany. Trotsky wrote: “Through the fascist agency, capitalism sets in motion the masses of crazed petty bourgeoisie, and bands of the declassed and demoralized lumpenproletariat; all the countless human beings whom finance capital itself has brought to desperation and frenzy”. Further explaining that, fascism “raises to their feet those classes that are immediately above the proletariat and that are ever in dread of being forced down into its ranks”.
When crises occur in capitalism, the bosses have the state and other societal structures to defend their class interests. Workers have the organised labour movement including trade unions. But the petit bourgeoisie, the small business owners – in the words of the Paul Weller song “The Man in the Corner Shop” – have no defence against the economic whirlwinds. They become desperate and punch down (instead of up), seeking to maintain their status above the working class, by violently attacking the organisations of the working class.
Tony Cliff describes this outlook, while discussing the rise of Hitler and the Nazis:
“In the eyes of this crazed petty bourgeoisie, big business, Jewish finance, parliamentary democracy, Social Democratic governments, Communism and Marxism, were amalgamated into one enemy. The small businessman shook his fist at big business and claimed to be a socialist. Before the workers he stridently declared his opposition to the class struggle, his detestation of Marxist internationalism, his chauvinism”.
We see here the tactics the fascist movements employ to gain power. First, every social group from big business to Marxists, is all portrayed as part of the same problem, they are the enemy of the people. Second, fascists appear to face in two directions at the same time. Criticising big business, corporations and especially finance capital; but also rejecting any form of class struggle, preferring instead extreme nationalism, chauvinism, xenophobia and scapegoating.
It is important to note that although fascists will often talk of a coming revolution, they do not in any way mean the overthrowing of capitalism. As Piero Gobetti, a Milan-based journalist in the 1920s observed, ‘The fascist revolution is not a revolution, but a coup carried out by an oligarchy’. A coup which rather than ending capital’s exploitation of labour (as a socialist revolution would achieve), actually increases the rate of exploitation dramatically.
This explains why the capitalist classes in Germany, Italy and Spain were willing to co-opt the fascism movements into power, at particular historical moments. Two Masks While the ultimate goal of fascism is the violent suppression of all opposition, to garner popular support fascist movements have always worn two masks. First an anti-capitalist mask, which rails against big business, and appears to be revolutionary in their rhetoric. Second, a mask of respectability. This is where standing in elections (even though they seek to abolish democracy) looking respectable, wearing suits and trying to sound like legitimate politicians helps to create a veneer of acceptability.
Fascist movements utilise different aspects of existing capitalist democratic society to mobilise people, to take to the streets, to spread fear and hatred. Their marches are festooned with the nation’s flag; they often conjure up folklore and myths from previous times (Mussolini drew on legends from the Roman Empire, while Hitler drew on Norse mythology).
The importance of using symbols and flags in rallying support for fascist movements was outlined by the leader of the British National Front, John Tyndall: ‘I believe our great marches, with drums and flags and banners, have a hypnotic effect on the public and immense effect in solidifying the allegiance of our followers, so that their enthusiasm can be sustained.’
Tyndall’s words echo those of Hitler:
‘Mass demonstrations must burn into the little man’s sole the proud conviction that, though a little worm, he is nevertheless part of a great dragon.’ In sum, fascism is a political ideology of counter-revolution. It is a mass movement from below that sets out to destroy, through the fusing of politics and violence, the organised workers’ movement and any forms of democratic expression.
Ireland Today
Bringing this back to Ireland today, it is now clear that what we see is a fascist threat. All the elements of a fascist movement are present: the scapegoating of anyone who does not fit an image of ‘pure’ Irish; marches draped in flags; violent attacks on migrants, gay people, socialists; the use of intimidation to create fear in communities; attacks on workers in libraries or construction sites. The recent attempt by Justin Barret and the National Party, to launch a paramilitary force (the National Shield), understandably drew lots of ridicule, but it is straight from the playbook of fascist tactics in the 1930s. Indeed, the rhetoric used to justify the launch – not being an attack force, but a necessary defence force against the whim of “leftist mobs” and state forces – is the same justification Mussolini and the blackshirts used for the squadristi in Italy.
The two masks are also evident with the increased electoral activity from the present day would- be fascists. However, in contrast to the 1930s, the anti-capitalist rhetoric is not as obvious. Instead, they launch clear attacks on the elites which, like in the 1930s, encompasses the government parties, judges and journalists, but also left-wing groups, charities and NGOs.
Immature Fascism
While all the elements of a fascist movement are present, Irish fascism remains immature and relatively unorganised. We can see the immaturity in the tactical decisions made by the Coolock Says No group, mixing with loyalist and British fascist in Belfast in July, and then being thrown off an anti-immigrant protest back in Dublin the following week.
As horrifying as the violence of the riot in Dublin last November, and the Coolock protests in July, were they remain some way off from what a fully-fledged fascist movement needs. There is a qualitative change needed to go from these random violent outbursts to the organised and systematic violence of the blackshirts and the brownshirts. However, as highlighted above, Irish fascists are taking the first steps to organise such a paramilitary force.
A significant challenge for Irish fascism is whether they can coalesce into one party that can dominate the movement. We have seen an attempt at such a move with the National Alliance electoral pact between three small parties.
It is of course possible (even likely) that such moves do not develop or deepen Irish fascism and fall apart due to infighting or an inability to bring in other fascist groups. However, the experience in Britain shows that at times fascists can join forces. For example, the National Front was formed in 1967, out of the old British Union of Fascist amalgamating with three other groups.
Not Inevitable
The other way that Irish fascism doesn’t develop is through concerted and consistent opposition by anti-fascists. Indeed, the only tactic that will stop them is not law and order clampdowns or liberal campaigns against disinformation or hoping that by ignoring them they will go away. Rather it is mobilising against them, giving confidence to the many who oppose them, and creating a political climate in which their vile racist and fascist ideas becomes unacceptable. We have plenty of examples of how previous generations were successful in stopping the rise of fascism – some of which we have covered on this site.
The rise of fascism is not inevitable – our class beat the fascists before and we can do it again now.
