Liberal Fascism?by
David Gordon
Jonah Goldberg has ruined what could have been a valuable book. Goldberg has in the past treated libertarians with disdain, but here he offers an analysis of fascism that libertarians will find familiar. Goldberg has been influenced by John T. Flynn's comparison of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal with Italian fascism; and he cites Friedrich Hayek with respect. He has learned from Murray Rothbard on the progressives as well. (He at one point remarks, "if libertarianism could account for children and foreign policy, it would be the ideal political philosophy" [p. 344].) Fascism is usually counted a movement of the Right; but, as Goldberg notes, many leftists viewed Mussolini with sympathy. (Here Goldberg follows the important work of John Patrick Diggins, Mussolini and Fascism: The View from America.) H.G. Wells in a speech at Oxford in 1932 called for a "Liberal Fascism"; and Rexford Tugwell, a leading member of Roosevelt's Brain Trust, said in 1934, "I find Italy doing many of the things which seem to me necessary…. Mussolini certainly has the same people opposed to him as FDR has. But he has the press controlled so that they cannot scream lies at him daily" (p. 156).
The progressives were well aware that war would enable them to advance their ambitious social plans, and they advocated American entry into the First World War for this reason. Herbert Croly, author of the vastly influential The Promise of American Life, "looked forward to many more wars because war was the midwife of progress … Croly's New Republic was relentless in its push for war" (pp. 99, 107). February 1, 2008 David Gordon [send him mail] is a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and editor of its Mises Review. He is also the author of The Essential Rothbard. See also his Books on Liberty. Copyright © 2008 Ludwig von Mises Institute |
Liberal
Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini
to the Politics of Meaning
How
is this possible? Leftists wish to reconstruct society along socialistic
lines; fascists glorify the nation and militarism. How can leftists
favor fascism? Goldberg readily resolves the difficulty. Precisely
by importing the war spirit into domestic affairs, leftists hope
to reconstruct society. In war, people unite to achieve victory;
in doing so, they sacrifice their personal ends to achieve the common
goal. The fascists took exactly the same view, and many leftists
accordingly recognized the affinity.