Red fascism is a concept equating
Stalinism
Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...
and other variants of
Marxism–Leninism
Marxism–Leninism () is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the History of communism, communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist gov ...
with
fascism
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...
. As a term, it dates back to the 1920s and was originally used by
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
individuals who were critics of
Bolshevism; by the 1940s and the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
era, particularly in the United States, it was adapted as an
anti-communist
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...
slogan within the framework of
totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...
. Since the 1990s, the concept of red fascism began to overlap with that of
red–brownism. Others associated it with
red–green–brown alliances, "left-wing fascism" and the
regressive left, and
Islamofascism.
In the early 20th century, the original
Italian fascists initially claimed to be "
neither left-wing nor right-wing"; by 1921, they began to identify themselves as the "
extreme right", and their founder
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
explicitly affirmed that fascism is opposed to
socialism
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
and other left-wing ideologies. Accusations that the leaders of the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
during the
Stalin era
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
acted as "red fascists" have come from left-wing figures who identified as
anarchists,
left communists,
social democrats
Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...
, and other
democratic socialists, as well as
liberals and among
right-wing
Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...
circles both closer to and further from the
political centre. The
comparison of Nazism and Stalinism
Various historians and other authors have carried out a comparison of Nazism and Stalinism, with particular consideration to the similarities and differences between the two ideologies and political systems, the relationship between the two re ...
is controversial in academia.
History
Anti-Stalinist left origins
Use of the term "red fascist" was first recorded in the early 1920s, in the aftermath of both the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
and the
March on Rome
The March on Rome () was an organized mass demonstration in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (, PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, Fascist Party leaders planned a march ...
. For instance, the Italian anarchist
Luigi Fabbri wrote in 1922 that "red fascists" is "the name that had been given to those
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
communists who are most inclined to espouse fascism's methods for use against their adversaries". In the following years, other socialists began to believe and argue that the Soviet government was becoming a red fascist state.
Bruno Rizzi, an Italian
Marxist
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
and a founder of the
Communist Party of Italy
The Italian Communist Party (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...
who became an
anti-Stalinist, argued in 1938 that "Stalinism
ook ona regressive course, generating a species of red fascism identical in its
superstructural and choreographic features
ith its fascist model"
While primarily focused on critiquing
Nazism
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...
, the Austrian Freudo-Marxist psychoanalyst
Wilhelm Reich considered the Soviet Union under
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
to have developed into red fascism. The term is often attributed to the Austrian historian and sociologist
Franz Borkenau, another Freudo-Marxist, former communist, and anti-Stalinist socialist who was a key proponent of the theory of totalitarianism, which posits that there are certain essential similarities between fascism and Stalinism. Borkenau used the term in 1939.
Otto Rühle
Karl Heinrich Otto Rühle (; 23 October 1874 – 24 June 1943) was a German Marxist active in opposition to both the First World War, First and Second World Wars as well as a Council communism, council communist theorist.
Early years
Otto was ...
, a German Marxist and left communist in the
council communist tradition who also came close to anarchist positions, wrote that "the struggle against fascism must begin with the struggle against Bolshevism", adding that he believed the Soviets had influence on fascist states by serving as a model. In 1939, Rühle further professed: "Russia was the example for fascism. ... Whether party 'communists' like it or not, the fact remains that the state order and rule in Russia are indistinguishable from those in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
and
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. Essentially they are alike. One may speak of a red, black, or brown 'soviet state', as well as of red, black or brown fascism."
Kurt Schumacher, a member of the
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...
(SPD) who was imprisoned in
Nazi concentration camps
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe.
The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...
but survived World War II to become the first post-war SPD opposition leader in
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
, described pro-Soviet communists as "red-painted fascists" or "red-lacquered Nazis". Similarly, the exiled Russian anarchist
Volin, who saw the Soviet state as totalitarian and as an "example of integral
state capitalism
State capitalism is an economic system in which the state undertakes business and commercial economic activity and where the means of production are nationalized as state-owned enterprises (including the processes of capital accumulation, ...
",
used the term "red fascism" to describe it. In the United States,
Norman Thomas (a democratic socialist who ran for
president numerous times under the
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America ...
banner), accused the Soviet Union in the 1940s of decaying into red fascism by writing: "Such is the logic of totalitarianism ...
hat
A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
communism, whatever it was originally, is today red fascism." In the same period, the term was used by the
New York Intellectuals, who were left-wing but sided against the Soviet Union in the developing Cold War.
In the political mainstream during the Cold War
In the United States during and leading up to the Cold War, "red fascism" was used as an anti-communist slogan juxtaposing that Nazism and Stalinism were almost identical totalitarian systems. In a 18 September 1939 editorial, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reacted to the signing of the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...
by declaring that "Hitlerism is brown communism, Stalinism is red fascism."
The editorial further opined: "The world will now understand that the only real 'ideological' issue is one between democracy, liberty and peace on the one hand and
despotism
In political science, despotism () is a government, form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute Power (social and political), power. Normally, that entity is an individual, the despot (as in an autocracy), but societies whi ...
, terror and war on the other."
In 1946,
J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
, gave a speech in which he said: "
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
,
Tojo, and Mussolini brands of Fascism were met and defeated on the battle fıeld. All those who stand for the American way of life must arise and defeat Red Fascism in America by focusing upon it the spotlight of public opinion and by building up barriers of common decency through which it cannot penetrate."
The speech was reprinted in December 1946 in the ''Washington News Digest'', and Hoover also entitled an article "Red Fascism in the United States Today" in ''
The American Magazine'' in February 1947.
Also in 1946, Ukrainian writer
Ivan Bahrianyi published ''Why I Am Not Going Back to the Soviet Union''. In the pamphlet, he wrote about the
Holodomor
The Holodomor, also known as the Ukrainian Famine, was a mass famine in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. The Holodomor was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1930–193 ...
,
repressions of Ukrainian intelligentsia, Soviet policy of
Russification, and conception of the
Soviet people
The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" ().
Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...
. During the World War II years, he had worked in the
Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) propaganda sector and later in 1948 would found the
Ukrainian Revolutionary Democratic Party. Just like the OUN-M spoke of "millions of victims who perished at the criminal hands of the red and black totalisms", Bahrianyi argued that Ukrainians had fought "the two last totalitarian antidemocratic systems", and wrote: "A characteristic feature of the entire population of Ukraine is a colossal, repressed, but implacable hatred for the Bolshevik totalitarian regime, on the one hand, and for fascism in all its manifestation, even the memory of it, on the other."
Jack Tenney, an anti-communist politician who chaired the
California Senate Factfinding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities, published in 1947 a report entitled ''Red Fascism: Boring from Within, by the Subversive Forces of Communism'', which drew on the popular
anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...
of the war years to portray the Soviet Union and
Communism
Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
as similar to the Nazis; he also associated progressives with fascism and Communism, claiming the progressive policies supported by the
American Left to be fascist. Although they did not share this latter point,
Cold War liberals identified fascism as a totalitarianism that was common to both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. This new definition of fascism replaced the notable one given by
Carey McWilliams where fascism was defined by political repression, class inequalities, and racism.
Also in 1947, at the beginning of the
Second Red Scare, politicians across the two main political parties like Senator
Everett Dirksen
Everett McKinley Dirksen (January 4, 1896 – September 7, 1969) was an American politician. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As P ...
(a moderate Republican who supported much of the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
before becoming more conservative and isolationist but supported American involvement in World War II) and Representative
Henderson L. Lanham (a Southern Democrat and staunch segregationist) used the term. Dirksen's speech was reprinted in ''
Vital Speeches of the Day'' in April 1947 under the title "Red Fascism: Freedom Is in Jeopardy". In the speech, like Tenney did in his report, Dirksen warned of widespread Communist infıltration, including into the federal government, the fılm industry, labor unions, and educational systems; he also praised the work of the
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...
. Lanham stated that the
Greek and Turkish Assistance Act of 1947 (the first of many foreign policy initiatives created through the
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine is a Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy that pledges American support for democratic nations against Authoritarianism, authoritarian threats. The doctrine originated with the primary goal of countering ...
) was useful in fighting the spread of "Red fascism".
Post-Cold War and contemporary
Bernard-Henri Lévy, a French philosopher and journalist, used "red fascism" in arguing that some European intellectuals have been infatuated with
anti-Enlightenment theories and embraced a new absolutist ideology, one that is
anti-liberal,
anti-American
Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment and Americanophobia) is a term that can describe several sentiments and po ...
,
anti-imperialist
Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is opposition to imperialism or neocolonialism. Anti-imperialist sentiment typically manifests as a political principle in independence struggles against intervention or influenc ...
,
antisemitic, and pro-Islamofascist. In academic terms, "red–brownism" refers to the ideological convergence, emerging in the post-Soviet era and continuing to develop into the 21st century, among thinkers from European
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
movements, Russian Marxist–Leninism, and the
New Right. This movement has established red–brownism as a political opposition to capitalism, liberal democracy, the American way of life, and Western unipolarity, with strong
Eurasianist undertones. In contemporary discourse, it is increasingly taking shape as a hub of dissent.
See also
*
Beefsteak Nazi, leftists who joined the Nazi Party
*
Definitions of fascism, theories about the phenomenon of fascism
*
German–Soviet Axis talks, 1940 negotiations for Soviet entry as a fourth Axis power in World War II
*
Fascism and ideology, history of fascist ideology
*
Feudal fascism, term used to describe the Maoist China
*
Horseshoe theory, posited similarity of the far left and far right
*
Juche
''Juche'', officially the ''Juche'' idea, is a component of Ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea#Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, the state ideology of North Korea and the official ideology of the Workers' Party o ...
*
National Bolshevism, ideology combining Bolshevik communism with ultranationalism
*
Neosocialism, a 1930s political faction in Belgium and France
*
Red-baiting, logical fallacy
*
Social fascism, communist term for social democracy in the 1930s
*
Strasserism
Strasserism () refers to a dissident current associated with the early Nazi movement. Named after brothers Gregor and Otto Strasser, Strasserism emphasized revolutionary nationalism, economic antisemitism, and opposition to both Marxist socia ...
, revolutionary strand of Nazism.
*
Tankie, pejorative term for authoritarian communists
References
{{fascism
Anti-Stalinist left
Communist terrorism
Fascism in the Soviet Union
National Bolshevism
Stalinism