France is speedrunning this right now. Any time a liberal claims to be antifascist, ask them to explain why they think fascism exists and where it comes from, materially.
To be fair, if liberals were capable of material analysis then they would no longer be liberals.
What does “material analysis” means in this context? What should I search to know more? I searched the term and only came up with chemistry topics.
Simply put, materialism — as opposed to idealism — is the idea that everything we do and experience as a society (our history, culture, politics, etc) is shaped by the material reality around us, rather than ideas.
“Material analysis” in this case therefore means analysing politics and history through this lens. And it’s a fundamental component of socialism/marxism.
Simple diagram of how our material reality shapes our society
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Yogthos is insulting liberals because liberalism is an idealist ideology that always eventually gives way to fascism when a capitalist state is (inevitably) in decay.
My original comment is meant to refer to the concept of Materialism, which contains the concepts of Marxist Dialectical and Historical Materialism. Materialism is a “reality-focused” branch of philosophy and analysis, contrasted with Idealism, which is idea-focused.
The connection to liberalism and fascism is because Liberalism is Idealist as opposed to Materialist. The Liberal answer to “where does fascism come from?” Would be “demagogues like Trump rising to power, racism, xenophobia, etc,” yet when you ask why those ideas are present or not present, the Liberal cannot answer genuinely.
For Marxists, fascism is a consequence of Capitalism’s decline, resulting in the Petty Bourgeois elements of society, ie the “Middle Class,” sliding into worse conditions and allying with the Bourgeoisie against the Proletariat. In the Weimar Republic, Capitalism was declining and genuine Communism was gaining steam, with the KPD at the forefront and the SPD representing the moderate Socialists, so fascism gained power as a reaction. Communism and Socialism gained appeal among the Lower Classes while fascism gained power among the Liberals, ie the Middle and Upper Classes.
The other works listed by other commenters are great, but my personal favorite work on the subject is Elementary Principles of Philosophy.
If they’re exclusively supporting the right wing candidate, they’re not a centrist, then
Centrism within the context of an exclusively right-wing overton window is always going to functionally be right wing.
You can’t possibly make a reasonable argument that Kamala Harris is a fascist lmao
- Authoritarian: no
- Ultra-nationalist: no
- Forcible suppression of opposition: no
- Militarisation of society: no
- State controlled economy: no
I didn’t make that point, I said she is right-wing, and is running on the same foreign policy as Trump did 4 years ago, with her promising to build the wall and strengthen border patrol.
Either way:
Authoritarian
What do you mean by this? America isn’t a real democracy, if she supports the current system then I believe her to be authoritarian.
Ultra-nationalist
If you count Trump’s border policy from 2016-2020 as Ultra-Nationalist, she’s Ultra-Nationalist. She also wants the US military to be, and I quote from her speech at the DNC, as “the most lethal military in the world.”
Forcible suppression of opposition
Democrats kicked the Party for Socialism and Liberation off the ballot in Georgia already, so while we aren’t all the way there, signs of it are showing up
Militarisation of society
Not there yet, sure.
State controlled economy
Much of the US economy is state-controlled, it’s just that the US State is controlled by the Bourgeoisie.
except she is for all those things except the last one which is self evident since fascists fucking love the shit out of the free market.
she is literally a fucking pig
she is amerikkkan and proud
literally head pig in california when the pigs where running people over in 2020
the amerikkkan empire is already so militarized that anything short of trying to scale it back counts
just because the other ghoul is even more of a fascists doesn’t make her not one.
The overton window shifted more left than right, unless said centrist lives in Turkey or Russia
What do you mean by that? Where is the Overton Window sliding to the left?
We can’t afford to stay neutral on a moving train.
Fascists are ‘centrists’ regardless how it’s spun.
