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This is the 4th and final part in my Capitol Hill Riot series. Read parts 1, 2, 3 if you haven't already. But ultimately, remember that this isn't over.
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“Ur-Fascism derives from individual or social frustration. That is why one of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of
lower social groups.
[...]
To people who feel deprived of a clear social identity, Ur-Fascism says that their only privilege is the most common one, to be born in the same country. This is the origin of nationalism. Besides, the only ones who can provide an identity to the nation are its enemies. Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one.”
~ Ur-fascism By Umberto Eco
The past reproduces present atrocities. Failure to pick out the roots will only exacerbate the weed problem. Fascism, as a socio-political organism, has its roots deep within the psyche of the American way of life. White supremacy, even more so.
Lessons must be learned. In terms of the building blocks that led up to the January 6th fascist riot in the Capitol, and in terms of the shit we let slide on a daily basis.
The other is the quintessential obsession of the fascist. Defined by nationality, race, gender, political alignment, or some combo thereof, fascism goes after the marginalized and disempowered. It should be obvious that not every racist, sexist, transphobe, and xenophobe is a fascist, but it’s important to know where the stakes lie. Xenophobia has been a common occurrence since this country was founded. Chinese immigrants were used as cheap labor to build the country’s infrastructure, only to be demonized by public opinion. Same with every nationality that’s immigrated here. Xenophobia isn’t new. But its intensity these days, combined with economic and socio-political clashes, enlivens it.
Here’s the kicker for some of y’all: nationalism inherently plays into xenophobia. They are one in the same. Nationalism is foundational for fascism. A main characteristic of it. The Trumper, QAnon fascists constantly rail against globalism, liberal elites, foreign powers (like, Iran, China, the UN, etc), and immigrants. All of this is mixed with white supremacy. US nationalism is white supremacy incarnate. It fuels these bigoted, fascists elements, that, when times get tough, become activated elements within our socio-political system.
The middle class and the petty-bourgeoisie (shopkeepers, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and the managerial class) are prime conduits for these fascist undercurrents. As the class strata contracts (read increased inequality), those with some will push to keep what little they still have. The working and poor classes, being at the bottom of the class strata have little to no power except when united against their bosses and capitalist owners. I’ve argued before that the middle class is becoming more and more a state of mind, as opposed to an income bracket. I blame this on increased inequality. Older generations of the middle class learned to live with certain expectations. They imparted this on their children. But even the older generations are losing what little they have. Some, in this moment of cognitive dissonance, unify themselves with the working and poor classes; realizing that their true enemy are the robber barons above them. For the vast majority of the shrinking middle class, this fact flies over their heads. They begin to drift farther and farther into conspiracy theories and jingoistic fervor.
As inheritors of a white supremacist society (again, the vast majority of middle class culture is dominated by whiteness) waist deep in nationalist fervor, this class begins to latch onto historical boogiemen. The US empire’s centuries of atrocities and misdeeds make the targets obvious. It’s no coincidence that our fascist creep plays into the US empire’s foreign relations, namely countries like Iran (the US destroyed a democratically elected president to install the Shah), China (US capitalists are unable to dominate Chinese Capitalists’ territory), and North Korea (Cold War atrocities).
If the political apparatus fails to quench their fears and demands, the middle class and petty-bourgeoisie turn reactionary. Or, should I say, accentuate their reactionarism. Many times, this reactionarism, and eventual fascism is utilized by capitalists to suppress worker unifications and lefitst encroachment. That a fascist riot broke out in D.C. and violated the seats of power - that they claim to revere - not long after the multi-month long uprising by Black Lives Matter and their lefitst accomplices is no accident. This has happened before with both iterations of the Klan.
Fascism will eventually, if left unchecked, outgrow its capitalist puppet masters. Fascism is only anti-capitalist in the sense that it wants to capture power from the capitalist class, to better serve the interests of the petty-bourgeoisie. It’s a power tossle between the varying levels of the upper class.
In the US, with our long and stringent history of racism, slavery, and subjugation, a fascist state would be an explicit ethno state.
Middle class sensibilities - its culture - play into this. At the very least, it excuses reactionary tendencies by couching them as the “way things are.” “Common sense,” turned fascistic sleeper cell. The intricacies of middle class cultural indoctrination are beyond the scope of this essay. But! It’s worth saying that the middle class psyche is explicitly self-centered in its quest to carve out a mini-kingdom to dominate. Not every component of this mini-kingdom is inherently problematic (although I do have a lot to say about the nuclear family). As a whole, combined with a mindset of accumulation emulating high class interests and sensibilities, it provides an easy pathway to further and further reactionary thought.
It explains how liberals can be complicit in fascist creep. Still glued to the values implicit within middle class culture, liberals value “going back to normal” over all else. Fighting fascists, regardless of tactics or intensity, is against their ethics because their ethics are tied up with the normalcy that gives capitalists and the state power. Pushing back against fascists disrupts business as normal. Pacifism isn’t so much a value, as an excuse to do nothing (while getting filled up on self-righteous delusions of grandeur).
That which starts off as the status quo, can eventually lead to reactionism, and if the situation deteriorates further, leads to the militancy we saw on J6.
American Christianity - specifically its evangelical, conservative elements - are prone to heightened levels of reactionism. To be fair, they’re prone to a lot of things. But who’s counting?
Our lack of critical introspectiveness, and general complicitness with interlocking systems of oppression, have become our undoing. As the baseball cap I have says so eloquently: your lifestyle sucks. But more explicitly: we can no longer walk around with plastic blinders around our eyes.
Domestication is so suffocating that it can force reactionary elements to resort to violence as a form of actualization. Fight Club is appealing - in a misunderstood way - because so many people - especially men - live domicile lives while being fed spoonfuls of patriarchal violence fantasies. Street battles are exhilarating because they unleash an untapped element that capitalism suppresses (until it needs it). Of course, violence isn’t an actualizing element. Violence can be part of the moment of actualizing. This is what the macho chud reactionaries fail to realize; it explains why it's so easy to defeat them. Fascism is mob violence, honed to the tune of power trips and privileged entitlement. The actualization that anti-capitalist/anti-colonialist advocates offer is of a wholesome variety. It both encapsulates a wide perspective on life within the leviathan, and presents a mental, emotional, and physically healthy approach to confronting it.
Fascists only see red.
The enticing lies of hierarchical accumulation that posits itself within the middle class physique, along with the middle class virtue of mimicking bourgeoisie idiocies, leads them to either participate outright in reactionary, and subsequently fascists outcroppings, or to condone or excuse the abuses of their peers.
This might seem like dichotomous thinking to the more middle class among us, but there is nothing questionable about drawing a line between abusive violence and defending the lives of our neighbors and loved ones.
Accusations of “both-sides” are statements of culpability by middle class actors. It’s no surprise that the ones who throw out such narrow-minded concepts are the ones who object to all forms of anti-fascist work that doesn’t explicitly reinforce the power structures of the state. Fascists aren’t voted out. Historically, they’ve always been voted into power.
The failings of the liberal middle class perspective to decipher fascistic rise is its inability to connect the dots beyond the most surface level tv-show plot. Life is more complicated than Game of Thrones, or, dare I say it, Harry Potter.
This is not to say that all semblance of autonomy is nonexistent from the ranks of the middle class; reactionary or liberal. Broad explanations of class consciousness and social alignments do not require the absolution of free will. Our lives are not islands. We live within a larger whole. Cogs within machines.
Failing to see the forest for the trees is to become defenseless to broader societal trends. Trends that are far from innocent. The winds of society can drive us anywhere if we’re not careful about the direction, or where we are already.
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A Curated Read-Fest
If you want a succinct and useful intro to Fascism's main ideological characteristics, I suggest reading "Ur-Fascism" by Umberto Eco. Probably as good of a starting place as any.
Here's a necessary read for my wellness culture, christian, alternative medicine folks on how QAnon and other conspiracy theories are invading these subcultures. “This Secret Message Could Change Your Life!”: Wellness Culture, Jesus, and QAnon.
And here's an interesting read on Dissent on organizing the unemployed during times like Covid-19, and the history behind it.
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