08 August 2005

The Ignorance of Puppy Drinkers.

Conservatives who try to rewrite history and make fascists out to be left-wingers remind me of how Noam Chomsky tries to rewrite history and make Stalin out to be a right-winger


This person is filling in over at the site of the inventor of the Puppy Milkshake.

Trotsky claimed that fascism was a version of socialism inherently flawed because it's run by rich people slumming as "workers" who are secretly funded by large corporations desiring to overthrow themselves.

The genuine basis (for fascism) is the petty bourgeoisie. In italy, it has a very large base -- the petty bourgeoisie of the towns and cities, and the peasantry. In Germany, likewise, there is a large base for fascism....

It may be said, and this is true to a certain extent, that the new middle class, the functionaries of the state, the private administrators, etc., can constitute such a base.


Fascism: Rule by the middle class! The horror!

Trotsky didn't think fascism was right-wing, he thought it was a sham, a 'moderate' change to prevent the massive "permanent revolution" that he wanted. He considered Stalint to be a pseudo-fascist, not because of Stalin's position on anything, but because Stalin was too tolerant of dissent and the middle-class "petty bourgeoisie".

Hitler joined the German Workers Party, a small socialist organization, and talked them into changing their name to the National Socialist German Workers Party. Socialism was only to be for Germans, which became the big difference between national and international socialism. Home rule or subservience to Stalin via COMINTERN.

Mussolini viewed fascism as an activist form of socialim, which he saw as being totally ineffective and dominated by compromisers. This puts him opposite Trotsky, not on the left-right spectrum, but on the "my ideology is more militant than yours" spectrum.

Why does Mr. Totten hold this sort of ignorance? He's the one who also claimed to be 'moderate'.

Communists in the U.S. were against anybody help build up America's military power during the Second World War until Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Likewise, Mr. Totten's brand of 'moderates' are people who are willing to put aside any collectivist principles to defeat the more pressing threat, such as the enemy in this war. Supporting a few things opposed by the dominate socialist groups doesn't make one 'moderate', even if it makes you a pariah from those same socialist groups.

But are these 'moderates' pacifistic collectivists who oppose a socialist revolution because someone might get hurt but support socialist oppression as an equalizing force, or are they libertarians splitting off from an increasingly left-wing Republican Party. Mr. Totten is not a republican, so we've a notion of which one he is, and I've a pretty good idea what Mr. Trotsky would call an upper-class socialist.

But what about the rest of them? There's no way to tell.

ADDENDUM: btw, totten seems to be a little annoyed that his gross misstatements are drawing more attention than his claim that george galloway is a dumbass. saying galloway is a dumbass is like saying the sky is blue or curly was the coolest stooge. it's so obvious and commonly known that there's no point in doing so around anybody with enough knowledge to agree or disagree with you on the subject. and if you only read one cartoon a day, it might as well be worth reading.

Goe, hates commies

3 comments:

Jim said...

It’s not often that I would say this, but I think this article could use a few more links. Are the quotes about Commies based on something Totten just wrote, something Chomsky wrote, or just random ranting against Totten? I scoured instapundent , but I didn’t see anything recent by Totten about commies.

Perhaps its just the format, but its not clear if you are quoting someone, responding point-by-point to something, or just venting.

Looking at the choice of things that Totten chooses to write about, it seems clear that he has a fascination with gay men, and liberal whiners. However I don’t see a lot that says what he believes in, only what he sees as wrong. A thin way to write entertaining posts, but nothing to be taken too serious except in argument.

As far as labelling fascists right or left, I am not a big fan that a single axis is enough to get a reasonable picture of political desires anyway. At the very least, a separate measurement would have to be taken for social and economic stands. Libertarians are more than just right-wing potheads. (sometimes)

Rach, likes that he doesn’t have to make an extra click to get his “Day by Day”

Goemagog said...

I've fixed it. I think any depiction of political inclination is inherently misleading, because so many believe that the power of the government should grow or contract with their influence over the use of said powers. trying to put it in 'other' terms though would mean making such discussions inaccessible to anyone not privy to the original formulation of such terms.

Goe, fixed the 'permalink' for you.

Goemagog said...

like drudge but without the catchy headlines.

Goe, likes real news.