To answer the basic question - what is fascism? It is essentially, the response of the ruling class to the working class under certain conditions when the normal approach of the pseudo-democratic method of domination has ceased to function. As such fascism is not really another form of society, it is not revolutionary, it maintains the rule of the class which ruled before it. it is simply, albeit disguised in all sorts of mythology which may vary from country to country (Remember Agincourt is a BNP slogan - how pathetic!) the tool to smash the proletarian threat.

However, this probably omits the usefulness of maintaining a fascist "undercurrent" outside of these moments of intense class conflict where the real possibility of the downfall of the bourgeoisie is present. Small fascist outfits become the spreaders of reactionary filth and possibly a terrorist organ to be manipulated against "enemies of the state". The ruling class can call on the spectre of fascism to make its mainstream political options appear more attractive very much like some sort of political sheepdog/bogeyman, convincing the masses to seek the lesser evil of the “democratic” capitalist parties. And of course the odd working class element with enough spirit to stand up against the system, may be pulled inside the fascist organisations, through ignorance, and the ideological anti-communist conditioning all around, which is obviously a loss to the proletarian movement as such people can become very useful, however shaky their starting point.

The issue of racism and nationalism is obviously intertwined with the fascist/BNP (British National Party) question, and as we know, is not at all restricted to such circles, but part of the backbone of bourgeois ideology. Lenin said that there are two schools of thought, bourgeois nationalism and proletarian internationalism. Thus the question of the BNP and the issues it raises are not simply easily dismissed, because the wider subject of proletarian consciousness, its development into a class for itself, its rejection of nationalism and the extension of struggle beyond all national frontiers are the real stakes.

The following is the text of a brief A5 leaflet distributed at an anti-BNP demo on Saturday 16th of May.

CAPITALIST DISASTER -

THE BNP HAS NO SOLUTION

Businesses are going bust daily, unemployment is rising. Debt has been rising for years. There is no hiding the fact that capitalism is a disaster and the ruling class expect the working class to pay for it.

The crisis

Now the media is full of doom and gloom but the present crisis has been building up for decades; the post war boom ended nearly 40 years ago, and since then workers all over the world have seen attack after attack on our living standards. The same crisis which devastated the Third World, and led to the collapse of the USSR has become a disaster for workers in the capitalist heartlands of the USA and Europe too. The capitalist disaster is world - wide.

Nationalism.........or Revolution

Nationalism, from the BNP, the Labour Party the Tories or wherever has NOTHING to offer the working class. Only the end of capitalism can put an end to poverty, misery and racism.

Only the working class has an alternative to offer. Only through international unity can it challenge capitalism. Socialism is the only alternative to this crazy system. It cannot come through parliament, but through class struggle. This system and its politics work only for the parasitic few and cannot be ‘reformed’ to work for the exploited many.

Read about the revolutionary alternative, the only way out of the capitalist disaster;

leftcom.org

Or write to BM CWO, London, WC1N 3XX, UK

This leaflet was produced by the

COMMUNIST WORKERS ORGANISATION.