by Lorenzo Canizares 3/20/2025
Encyclopaedia Britannica (EB) defines fascism as “a philosophy of government that stresses the primacy and glory of the state, unquestioning obedience to its leader, subordination of the individual will to the state’s authority, and harsh suppression of dissent. Martial virtues are celebrated, while liberal and democratic values are disparaged. Fascism arose during the 1920s and ’30s partly out of fear of the rising power of the working classes; it differed from contemporary communism (as practiced under Joseph Stalin) by its protection of business and landowning elites and its preservation of class systems. The leaders of the fascist governments of Italy (1922–43), Germany (1933–45), and Spain (1939–75)—Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and Francisco Franco—were portrayed to their publics as embodiments of the strength and resolve necessary to rescue their nations from political and economic chaos. Japanese fascists (1936–45) fostered belief in the uniqueness of the Japanese spirit and taught subordination to the state and personal sacrifice.”
Many will not question that the above-mentioned characteristics of fascism have also become prominent attributes of the Trump administration. And what will being under fascist rule mean to the American people? It will mean living in a dictatorship where laws are non-existent, where rich people run the system to their own benefit, and where earmarked groups are scapegoated for the ills of society. In Nazi Germany it was the Jews, the communists, the socialists, the homosexuals, the gypsies, etc.
The title of the article means what it says. We are getting close to fascism, but we are not there yet. What we are seeing is a tsunami of issues that are being raised with the purpose of getting the United States’ political system to fail, and in turn, make fascism desirable to some elements of society as a law-and-order alternative.
Notice that the EB in its definition of fascism refers to economic chaos. And that has definitely been one of the most salient points in the beginning of the second Trump administration. Purposefully hurting the economy to bring about the desired economic chaos will provide the excuse to conduct a mass-scale attack on Trump’s political enemies, mainly the left and the labor unions.
The main enemy of fascism is a class-conscious working class and its political and organizational leaders. A politically- conscious working class understands the power of its political and economic clout and its need to fight fascists’ attempt to squash working people and other common folks. It understands that fascist leaders act unabashedly in the service of the wealthy billionaires who control our society.
The deliberate steps being taken to maximize economic difficulties for the American people can be witnessed by the arbitrary imposition of tariffs, the threats to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and the massive layoffs of government workers. These layoffs don’t just affect the respective workers but also reduce the effectiveness of the service that the targeted departments provide to their clients.
The assault on labor unions is also an attack on the living standard of the American working class. In addition to the massive layoffs of federal workers, the National Labor Relations Board, meant to protect private sector employees, is being dismantled. This is yet another major component in driving economic chaos on the road to fascism.
A further consideration in this evaluation of the Trump administration is its attack on the First Amendment and the right to political dissent. What we are seeing in the case of Mahmoud Kahlil, the Columbia University graduate student imprisoned and awaiting a determination on his immigration status that could lead to his deportation, is the silencing of dissenting political viewpoints. As per the “Call to Resist Repression,” signed by many different organizations including the Jewish Voice for Peace and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network,“the Trump regime’s attacks on universities have been fueled by baseless smears against students, faculty, and staff propagated by Zionist groups who agitate specifically on college campuses.”
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) boasts about controlling the votes of the 349 members of Congress who received monies from them in the 2024 election. With that amount of power over 65% of the Congressional membership, Zionist groups feel that they can attack with abandon, those opposing Israel’s genocide and the expanded war in the Middle East.
Another element in the drive toward fascism is a reliance on racial supremacy to carry out attacks on others with impunity. In the USA today, the assault on immigrants is mainly geared towards non-whites. Trump’s statement that non-white immigrants need to be deported to prevent the poisoning of the blood is a case in point.
What we are seeing on the world scene is former colonizers fighting to conserve their hegemony through a scheme of perpetual war and regime change. The preservation of that hegemony is a major task of fascists aspiring for control of the world’s superpower.
We are very close to fascism. We are not there yet. We have to start preparing in earnest for its possible arrival. We have to work overtime with a major sense of urgency in order to achieve the unity of action required for our basic survival. Once Fascism enters the stage, it will be much more difficult to organize. Notice that most of the nations mentioned in the EB that experienced fascism were liberated from it by foreign forces. Let us instead, stop fascism in its tracks domestically. Let us heed Sara Nelson’s call for a general strike ASAP. We cannot wait until 2028. By then many of us may be in prison or dead, for fascists have no qualms in swiftly ridding themselves of any opposition.
Response from Steve Showen
If I may add a few observations. You mentioned “that EB (Encyclopedia Brittanica) in its definition of fascism refers to economic chaos.” And the Trump admin has taken “deliberate steps … to maximize economic difficulties for the American people.” I’m reminded of the definition of Fascism attributed to Benito Mussolini: “Fascism = ‘Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.'”
We see the major beneficiaries of today’s chaos are the billionaire and corporate classes, at the expense of the working class. A century ago, the last global manifestation of fascism was heralded by the Great Depression, which sparked major working class resistance and labor organizing, which has been attacked and marginalized in the intervening century, hopefully now to rise again. The Great Depression was not just some random failure of capitalism, but a feature of it, whereby economic shocks are engineered so that money, property and power can be accrued from the chaos.
What’s missing from Mussolini’s definition is the invisible control or virtual ownership of the corporate class by the banking sector. This is achieved because, unbeknownst to most of us, banks have usurped the power to create our money with the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which had been an exclusive power granted to Congress to promote the general welfare. Our monetary system has been privatized. Now banks create our money out of nothing in the process of making loans at interest, rendering our money a form of interest bearing debt, engendering a debt based economy. Just 16 years after its formation, which was said to stabilize the economy, the Fed brought on the Great Depression by choking off the money supply, the vital fluid of the economy.
Formerly, the government could create the money needed for the general welfare at no cost. Now it is required to borrow it at interest. This grants the banking sector immense power. They decide which industries will get loans to operate, and which don’t, and wield invisible control over our political process. Corporations and banks share boards of directors. The banking sector’s biggest money maker is loaning governments money for war, profiteering in collaboration with the military industrial complex.
Lorenzo’s warning of impending fascism is taken to heart. It’s encouraging to see people standing up to the onslaught in their workplaces and in the streets. I’m looking forward to developments from Sara Nelson’s call for a general strike. Whatever else can be an effective immediate response from the people I leave open for discussion. In the meantime, monetary reform groups educate about the money system, and model legislation has been introduced into Congress to recover the money creation power. Ultimately, we as a society must manage to recognize and organize to neutralize this invisible force at the root of the problem, and recover the essential key to self governance, the money power, or chaos will continue.
