#socialists — Public Fediverse posts

Genealogical Diagram: From Romanticism to Marxism, National Socialism, and Fascism

                           ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                           │   ROUSSEAU & ROMANTICISM                     │
                           │  Natural self • Emotion • Authenticity       │
                           │  Anti-rationalism • Volk (Herder)            │
                           └───────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
                                           │
                                           ▼
                           ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                           │   KANT (Critical Philosophy)                 │
                           │  Limits of reason • Transcendental subject   │
                           │  Moral autonomy • Noumena/phenomena          │
                           └───────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
                                           │
                                           ▼
                     ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                     │ FICHTE & EARLY GERMAN IDEALISM                         │
                     │  The “I” posits itself • Struggle • Nationalism        │
                     │  State as moral educator • Volk as spiritual unity     │
                     └─────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┘
                                           │
                                           ▼
                           ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                           │   SCHELLING (Nature Philosophy)              │
                           │  Romantic metaphysics • Nature as Spirit     │
                           └───────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
                                           │
                                           ▼
                           ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                           │   HEGEL (High German Idealism)               │
                           │  Dialectic • Spirit • History • State        │
                           └───────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
                                           │
                                           │
       ┌───────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
       │                                   │                                              │
       ▼                                   ▼                                              ▼
┌──────────────────────┐       ┌──────────────────────────────┐            ┌──────────────────────────────┐
│      MARXISM         │       │   NATIONAL SOCIALISM         │            │           FASCISM            │
│ (Hegel inverted;     │       │ (Fichtean nationalism;       │            │ (Romantic will; myth;        │
│  class dialectic)    │       │  anti-Hegel due to Marx)     │            │  State as unity)             │
└──────────────────────┘       └──────────────────────────────┘            └──────────────────────────────┘
       │                                   │                                              │
       ▼                                   ▼                                              ▼
┌──────────────────────┐       ┌──────────────────────────────┐            ┌──────────────────────────────┐
│     COMMUNISM        │       │      HITLERISM / NAZISM      │            │     MUSSOLINI’S FASCISM      │
│ (Proletarian state)  │       │ (Rosenberg uses Fichte, not  │            │ (Sorel + nationalism +       │
│                      │       │  Hegel; Volk + race + State) │            │  modernist authoritarianism) │
└──────────────────────┘       └──────────────────────────────┘            └──────────────────────────────┘

How to Read the Genealogy

1. Rousseau & Romanticism — the emotional and moral root system

Rousseau and the early Romantic movement sit at the same level because they are essentially two expressions of the same worldview. Rousseau provides the philosophical core; Romanticism turns it into a cultural force.

Together they supply the soil from which later ideologies grow:

• authenticity over rationalism
• the natural self as morally pure
• suspicion of civilisation and modernity
• the heroic individual
• the Volk as an organic cultural community (Johann Gottfried Herder’s contribution)
• emotion as a guide to truth

This is the pre‑ideological foundation that later thinkers will systematise, politicise, or weaponise.

2. Kant — the bridge from Romantic sentiment to philosophical structure

Immanuel Kant is not a Romantic, but he provides the crucial intellectual machinery that makes German Idealism possible:

• the transcendental subject
• the limits of empirical reason
• the autonomy of the moral will
• the distinction between appearance and reality

Kant gives later thinkers the architecture they need to turn Romantic intuitions into philosophical systems.

3. Fichte & Early German Idealism — the nationalist and voluntarist turn

Fichte stands at the same level as Early German Idealism because he is its first full expression. He radicalises Kant and fuses him with Romantic nationalism.

Fichte introduces:

• the self (“I”) as world‑creating
• struggle as the engine of moral development
• the State as educator and moral shaper
• the Volk as a spiritual community defined by language and culture
• the idea that national unity is a moral imperative

This is why the National Socialists later mined him so heavily: he provides a philosophical justification for unity, struggle, and State supremacy without the Marxist baggage attached to Hegel.

4. Schelling — the Romantic metaphysician

Schelling blends Romanticism and Idealism into a metaphysics of nature:

• nature as living Spirit
• the unity of mind and world
• the aesthetic as a path to truth

He is the bridge between Fichte’s voluntarism and Hegel’s system‑building.

5. Hegel — the system‑builder of history and the State

Hegel takes the entire Romantic–Idealist inheritance and turns it into a grand historical machine:

• the dialectic
• Spirit unfolding through conflict
• history as rational development
• the State as the embodiment of ethical life
• freedom as recognition within institutions

Hegel is the pivot point. From him, the ideological branches diverge.

• Marx takes Hegel’s dialectic and flips it upside down: materialism instead of Spirit, class instead of consciousness.
• National Socialists reject Hegel because Marx used him, turning instead to Fichte and Herder.
• Fascists borrow the Romantic–voluntarist elements (myth, will, unity) without the metaphysical system.

6. The Three Ideological Descendants

Marxism

• class struggle
• materialism
• historical determinism
• the dialectic inverted
• the State as instrument of class rule

Marxism is Hegel without Spirit, Romanticism without the individual, and Fichte without the nation.

National Socialism

• racial struggle
• Volk as biological destiny
• State supremacy
• unity through exclusion
• Fichtean nationalism + Herderian cultural unity

Nazism is Fichte radicalised, Herder racialised, and Romanticism weaponised.

Fascism

• myth
• will
• unity
• anti‑liberal modernism
• the State as a living organism

Fascism is Romanticism without Rousseau, Fichte without metaphysics, and Hegel with the “correct” dialectic.

7. The Big Picture

All three ideologies — Marxism, National Socialism, and Fascism — draw from the same Romantic–Idealist well, but each selects different ingredients:

• Marxism takes Hegel’s dialectic and Rousseau’s egalitarian moralism.
• National Socialism takes Fichte’s nationalism and Herder’s Volk metaphysics.
• Fascism takes Romantic will, myth, and the unified State.

They are siblings, not strangers — born from the same intellectual family, but raised in different political households.

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Lawrence W. Britt: 14 Characteristics of #Fascism

[Unattributed, but based on the writings of #UmbertoEco]

"#Historian #LawrenceBritt studied the fascist regimes of #Hitler (Germany), #Mussolini (Italy), #Franco (Spain), #Suharto (Indonesia), and #Pinochet (Chile) and found they had 14 elements in common. He calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism.

1. Powerful and Continuing #Nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of #patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. #Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of #HumanRights
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, and long incarcerations of prisoners.

3. Identification of #Enemies / #Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: #racial, #ethnic or #religious #minorities; #liberals; #communists; #socialists, #terrorists…

4. Supremacy of the #Military
Even when there are widespread #domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant #Sexism
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional #gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to #abortion is high, as is #homophobia and anti-#gay legislation.

6. Controlled #MassMedia
Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation or by sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Government #censorship and #secrecy especially in war time, are very common.

7. Obsession with #NationalSecurity
Fear of hostile foreign powers is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. #Religion and Government are Intertwined
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.

9. Protection of #Corporate Power
The #industrial and business #aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Suppression of #Labor Power
Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor #unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for #Intellectuals and the #Arts
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to #HigherEducation and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other #academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

12. Obsession with #Crime and #Punishment
Under fascist regimes, the #police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego #CivilLiberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant #Cronyism and #Corruption
Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. #FraudulentElections
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by #SmearCampaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control #voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

This post is a summary of Fascism, Anyone? by Lawrence W. Britt published in 2003 by Free Inquiry magazine."

https://voxpopulisphere.com/2017/08/23/lawrence-britt-14-characteristics-of-fascism/

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