Mussolini: fascism = corporatism

[snopes]

Comment: "Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the
merger of corporate and government power" - Benito Mussolini

This quote is prevalent on lefty sites. It doesn't ring true to me - I
doubt "corporatism" was a word in the 30's and 40's.

[Dara bhur gCara]

I've not heard that specific quote before, but Mussolini did often refer to "corporate power." However, he didn't mean the power of big companies, rather the power of a large number of individuals working collectively. That's what he meant by corporativismo. (I know it's Wikipedia, but it's broadly speaking accurate.)

So I would imagine the quote is real, but it doesn't mean exactly the same as people think it means.

[BringTheNoise]

Originally Posted by Dara bhur gCara

I've not heard that specific quote before, but Mussolini did often refer to "corporate power." However, he didn't mean the power of big companies, rather the power of a large number of individuals working collectively. That's what he meant by corporativismo. (I know it's Wikipedia, but it's broadly speaking accurate.)

So I would imagine the quote is real, but it doesn't mean exactly the same as people think it means.

Yeah, he probably says it but it reflects on current corporations about as much as Hitler's party being called National Socialists reflects on lefties, which is to say, not at all.

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by BringTheNoise

Yeah, he probably says it but it reflects on current corporations about as much as Hitler's party being called National Socialists reflects on lefties, which is to say, not at all.

Particular as at the time there was an actual Socialist party in Germany.

[Dara bhur gCara]

Hey, Tarquin! Are you posting from work?

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by Dara bhur gCara

Hey, Tarquin! Are you posting from work?

Nope day off.

[Zachary Fizz]

Originally Posted by BringTheNoise

Yeah, he probably says it but it reflects on current corporations about as much as Hitler's party being called National Socialists reflects on lefties, which is to say, not at all.

Originally Posted by Tarquin Farquart

Particular as at the time there was an actual Socialist party in Germany.

I certainly can't claim any expertise on the matter, but wasn't Rudolf Jung's 1920 renaming of the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei as the NSDAP a reflection of a strongly anti-capitalist, anti-clerical philosophy which co-existed on an equal footing with the nationalist and anti-semitic elements of Nazi thought until the need to placate Army antagonism to the SA led Hitler to approve the purge of the more socialistic elements within the party in the Night of the Long Knives (which of course occurred a full year after the proscription of the internationalist socialists of the SPD under the Enabling Act of 1933)?

[Dara bhur gCara]

Originally Posted by Zachary Fizz

I certainly can't claim any expertise on the matter,

Oh, I don't know, you seem to have a more than average insight into the subject. You aren't a war-gamer by any chance, are you?

but wasn't Rudolf Jung's 1920 renaming of the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei as the NSDAP a reflection of a strongly anti-capitalist, anti-clerical philosophy which co-existed on an equal footing with the nationalist and anti-semitic elements of Nazi thought until the need to placate Army antagonism to the SA led Hitler to approve the purge of the more socialistic elements within the party in the Night of the Long Knives (which of course occurred a full year after the proscription of the internationalist socialists of the SPD under the Enabling Act of 1933)?

Broadly speaking yes, and there's an argument that "National Socialism" is a fairly discrete philosophy taking elements from both streams of thought. I would argue that "Corporatism" that is to say large groups of people working towards a common (evil) goal, is generally speaking the same philosophy. Certainly both Mussolini's fascism and Nazism embraced a planned economy, strong regulation of the markets and strong economic protectionism, which many would argue to be 'socialist' philosophies.

I would also argue that the anti-semitism of the NSDAP probably stems largely from anti-capitalism. Although it's obviously a canard now, in the early parts of the twentieth century, and particularly in the fin-de-siecle era, a lot of the banks who invested money internationally were Jewish-owned, and it's not hard to imagine one stemming from the other.

[Troberg]

Particular as at the time there was an actual Socialist party in Germany.

And they and the nazis were bitter enemies.

[Troberg]

From wikipedia:

The Labour Charter of 1927, promulgated by the Grand Council of Fascism, stated in article 7:
"The corporative State considers private initiative, in the field of production, as the most efficient and useful instrument of the Nation," then goes on to say in article 9 that: "State intervention in economic production may take place only where private initiative is lacking or is insufficient, or when are at stakes the political interest of the State. This intervention may take the form of control, encouragement or direct management."

In other words, real or not, it sound like a reasonably plausible thing for Mussolini to say.