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In the 1930s fascist parties came to power across Europe. Millions were killed in the war and the Holocaust. Yet, sixty years on, fascism is on the rise once more in all major European states and far right parties are again winning converts.To explain this disturbing trend, Dave Renton surveys the history of modern fascism in Europe, from its prewar origins up to the present day. Renton examines the Marxist response to fascism in the age of Hitler and Mussolini and the writings of political thinkers such as Trotsky and Gramsci, as well as more recent European theorists such as Miliband, Mason and Poulantzas. Focusing on a critical assessment of the current liberal theories of fascism which emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, the author argues that such theories provide an incomplete explanation of what fascism is and was: to understand any political movement it is vital to view it in a historical context. Renton argues that fascism should be understood not through the 'theory' of liberal fascism studies, but rather in terms of the brutal practice that fascism brought in its wake. Providing the first new theory of fascism in its historical context to come from the left for over twenty years, this volume makes a key contribution to what is now a wide-ranging and heated debate.
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Fascism Theory and Practice
Dave Renton
Pluto
P
Press
LONDON • STERLING, VIRGINIA
First published 1999 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166–2012, USA Copyright © Dave Renton 1999 The right of Dave Renton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 7453 1475 9 hbk Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Renton, Dave. Fascism: theory and practice/Dave Renton. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0–7453–1475–9 (hbk) 1. Fascism. 2. Fascism—Europe—History. I. Title. JC481.R45 1999 320.53'3'094—dc21 Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Production Services, Chadlington, OX7 3LN Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton Printed in the EC by T.J. International, Padstow
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98–53606 CIP
Contents
Acknowledgements Abbreviations
vi vii
Introduction
1
1 Fascism today
6
2 The prison of ideas
18
3 Classical fascism
30
4 An alternative method
44
5 Marxists against Mussolini and Hitler
54
6 Thalheimer, Silone, Gramsci, Trotsky
63
7 Beyond 1933
77
8 Marxists and the Holocaust
91
Conclusion
100
References Select bibliography Index
117 142 147
Acknowledgements
At the outset, I would like to express my thanks to two writers, whose work I found especially valuable when I came to write about theories of fascism. The first is Chris Bambery, who has written powerfully on the need to confront fascism today; the second is John Rees, who has examined the philosophical method behind the Marxist tradition. If readers of this book are interested in reading which develops the ideas expressed here, I would strongly urge them to read these two in the original.1 When I began to write this account, I was a member of academic departments at Sheffield University and Nottingham Trent University, and I would like to thank friends in each university for their encouragement, including David Baker, Tony Burns, Jason Hepple, Sean Kelly and Peter Pugh. Some of the ideas