Red fascism

EU/USSR2 Files: Fascism resurgent amidst Eurocrisis: Cult of Mussolini grows among Italians, former PM Berlusconi rehabilitated Il Duce, invited post-fascists into government in 1994, 2001, absorbed Fini’s party into People of Freedom in 2009; neo-Stalinism alive and well in Russia, “Uncle Joe’s” homeland Georgia; Mussolini once described Stalin as “Slavic fascist”

 

Posted by periloustimes1 on January 2, 2013

Red fascism refers to the association of certain communist regimes with having strong similarities with fascism. Red fascism is commonly used in a pejorative way to describe Stalinism. However ideological similarities between communist and fascist governments have been noted. Michael Geyer and Sheila Fitzpatrick in Beyond Totalitarianism: Stalinism and Nazism Compared (2009), note close ideological similarities between Stalinism and Nazism.^[1]
Benito Mussolini positively reviewed Stalinism as having transformed Soviet Bolshevism into a Slavic fascism.^[2] Despite ideological differences, Adolf Hitler admired Stalin and his politics and believed that Stalin was in effect transforming Soviet Bolshevism into a form of National Socialism.^[3]

[edit] References

1. ^ Michael Geyer and Sheila Fitzpatrick. Beyond Totalitarianism: Stalinism and Nazism Compared. New York, New York, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Pp. 33-37.
2. ^ MacGregor Knox. Mussolini Unleashed, 1939-1941: Politics and Strategy in Italy's Last War. Pp. 63-64.
3. ^ François Furet. Passing of an Illusion: The Idea of Communism in the Twentieth Century. Chicago, Illinois, USA; London, England, UK: University of Chicago Press, 1999. ISBN 0226273407. Pp. 191-192.