Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism

190 Pages·2001·1.453 MB·English

by  Michael Parenti

MICHAEL PARENTI
BLACKSHIRTS &
Rational
Fascism & the
Overthrow of
Communism

& RED
BLACKSHIRTS
Parenti, Michael,
1933- Blackshirts &
reds
By Michael Parenti
Dirty Truths (1996)
Against Empire ( 1995)
Democracy for the Few (1974, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1995)
Land of Idols: Political Mythology in America ( 1994) Inventing
Reality: The Politics of News Media ( 1986,
2nd edition, 1993)
Make-Believe Media: The Politics of Entertainment ( 1992) The
Sword and the Dollar: Imperialism, Revolution, and the Arms Race
(1989)
Power and the Powerless (1978)
Ethnic and Political Attitudes ( 1975)
Trends and Tragedies in American Foreign Policy (1971)
The Anti-Communist Impulse (1969)
MICHAEL PARENTI
BLACKSHIRTS &
Rational Fascism
& the Overthrow
of Communism
CITY LIGHTS BOOKS
San Francisco
© 1997 by Michael Parenti All Rights Reserved
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cover design: Nigel French Book design: Nancy
J. Peters Typography: Harvest Graphics
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Data Parenti, Michael, 1933-
Blackshirts and reds : rational fascism and the overthrow
of communism I Michael Parenti. p. cm.
ISBN 0-87288-330-1 (hc). — ISBN 0-87286-329-8 (pbk.)
1. Communism. 2. Post-communism. 3. Fascism.
4. Capitalism. 5. Free enterprise. 6. Anti-communist movements. 7.
Revolutions.
I. Title.
HX44.5.P35 1997
335.43 —dc21 97-119
CIP
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CITY LIGHTS BOOKS are edited by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and
Nancy J. Peters and published at the City Lights Bookstore,
261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to Sally Soriano, Peggy Noton, Jane Scantlebury, and
Richard Plevin for their valuable support and helpful criticisms of the
manuscript. On numerous occasions, Jane also utilized her professional
librarian skills to track down much needed information at my request.
My thanks also to Stephanie Welch, Neala Haze, and Kathryn Cahill for
valuable assistance rendered.
Again, I wish to express my gratitude to Nancy J. Peters, my editor
at City Lights Books, for her encouragement and her critical reading of
the final text. And belated thanks are owed my publisher, the poet and
artist Lawrence Ferlinghetti, for inviting me to become a City Lights
author some years ago. Finally, a word of appreciation to Stacey Lewis
and others too numerous to mention who partook in the production
and distribution of this book: they who do the work.
To the Reds and others, nameless heroes many,
who resisted yesterday’s Blackshirts and who
continue to fight today’s ruthless corporate
stuffed shirts.
And to the memory of Sean Gervasi and Max
Gundy, valued friends and warriors for social
justice.
Per chi conosce solo il tuo colore, bandiera rossa, tu
devi realmente esistere, perche lui esista . . . tu che gid
vanti tante glorie borghesi e operaie, ridiventa
straccio, e il piu povero ti sventoli.
For him who knows only your color, red flag, you
must really exist, so he may exist . . . you who
already have achieved many bourgeois and
working-class glories, you become a rag again and
the poorest wave you.
— Pier Paolo Pasolini
CONTENTS
Preface xiii
1 RATIONAL FASCISM 1
Fascism historically has been used to secure the interests of
large capitalist interests against the demands of popular
democracy.
Then and now, fascism has made irrational mass appeals in
order to secure the rational ends of class domination.
Plutocrats Choose Autocrats 2
Whom Did the Fascists Support? 6
Kudos for Adolph and Benito 10
The Rational Use of Irrational Ideology 11
Patriarchy and Pseudo-Revolution 14
Friendly to Fascism 17
2 LET US NOW PRAISE REVOLUTION 23
Revolutions are democratic developments that expand the
freedoms of people who enjoyed no freedom under oppressive
prerevolutionary regimes. Revolutions are a mass
empowerment against the forces of exploitative privilege. They
hring a dramatic reduction in political and economic
oppression.
The Costs of Counterrevolution 24
Presumptions of Power 26
Whose Violence? 28
Free Market for the Few 31
The Freedom of Revolution 34
What Measure of Pain? 36
3 LEFT ANTICOMMUNISM 41
Like conservatives and reactionaries, most of the U.S. Left
greeted communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
with fear and loathing, and with idealized expectations that
took no account of Western encirclement and the survival
necessities of socialism under siege.
Genuflection to Orthodoxy 42
Pure Socialism vs. Siege Socialism 49
Decentralization vs. Survival 53
4 COMMUNISM IN WONDERLAND 59
The internal irrationalities and weaknesses of past communist
economies and the systemic reasons why productivity
stagnated and reforms were so difficult to effect.
Rewarding Inefficiency 59
Nobody Minding the Store 62
Wanting It All 65
Reactionism to the Surface 68
Romanticizing Capitalism 72
5 STALIN’S FINGERS 76
Newly published documentation on the gulag reveals a
somewhat different picture of the repressive nature of
communist systems, both in the past and in recent times. The
historic accomplishments in economic development within
communist countries represented a positive gain in the lives of
hundreds of millions.
How Many Victims? 77
Where Did the Gulag Go? 81
Memories of Maldevelopment 84
6 THE FREE-MARKET PARADISE GOES EAST(I) 87
Repression by conservative forces in the former communist
states in the name of “democratic reform.” Privileges from
pre-communist days restored to the old owning classes.
Western investors plunder the public sector at great profit to
themselves, reducing the former communist countries to Third
World levels.