• outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 months ago

    I wouldn’t say fascist.

    Reactionary, enthusiastic about killing communists, generally not super big on the value of human life, hyperauthoritarian and imperialist, with a death spiral similar to fascism, but not fascism. That’s a specific thing.

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
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      4 months ago

      I mean at minimum the Stalin era hits literally all of Umberto Eco’s Ur-fascism points.

      • outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        4 months ago

        Its not though. Almost. There are a lot of similarities, but its not.

        I feel like the deeper you go the more different they look. Stalin was a shit head gangster who never shoukd have had power. The purges and stuff were about his fear, or terrorizing his subjects.

        Fascist purges are about hatred, especially of complexity, and of frenzy. You’ll notice fascist purges always kill people who prompt questions, they always narrow horizons of thought, of ways of being. Stalinist purges only sometimes did that.

        • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
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          4 months ago

          Its not though. Almost. There are a lot of similarities, but its not.

          It hits literally every point, quite firmly. Not really sure how much more fascist you want them to be.

          I feel like the deeper you go the more different they look. Stalin was a shit head gangster who never shoukd have had power. The purges anf stuff were about his fear.

          Fascist purges are about hatred, especially of complexity, and of frenzy. You’ll notice fascist purges always kill people who prompt auestions, they always narrow horizons of thought, of ways of being. Stalinist purges only sometimes did that.

          Stalinists purges very often did that and very often were about hatred of complexity and frenzy. And if your argument instead is that “Some of Stalin’s purges were about fear disqualifies it from fascism”, then that would disqualify Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy from being fascist as well.

          • outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            4 months ago

            eco

            Eco’s 14 points are a quick heuristic, not a deep study.

            purges were fucked

            Like i said, the closer you get to the top the more fascist stalin looks, and i will not defend him morally. This is entirely pedantic quibbling about how he sucked.

            They did sometimes, sure, but it wasnt the primary goal of every purge like you tend to see in fascism.

            Like purging queer and trans people; the nazis tried to kill them so there was no more complexity or people around who inconveniently didnt fit assigned gender roles and prescribed life paths, a narrowing of scripts. It’s why they hate us.

            Jews and romani; distinctive diverse cultures laced through the imperial core. Resevoirs of diverse values and virtues that would need their own rhetoric to turn fasc.

            My brain is melted right now, but it’s a pattern i remember seeing.

            • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
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              4 months ago

              Eco’s 14 points are a quick heuristic, not a deep study.

              What criteria are you using for fascism that the Stalinist USSR lacked?

              They did sometimes, sure, but it wasnt the primary goal of every purge like you tend to see in fascism.

              Bruh, there were numerous purges in the mainstream fascist regimes that were predicated primarily or entirely on paranoia rather than bigotry. Just like the Stalinist SovUnion.

              Like purging queer and trans people; the nazis tried to kill them so there was no more complexity or people around who inconveniently didnt fit assigned gender roles and prescribed life paths, a narrowing of scripts. It’s why they hate us.

              Do you… do you not remember what the Stalinist USSR did to queer folk???

              Jews and romani; distinctive diverse cultures laced through the imperial core. Resevoirs of diverse values and virtues that would need their own rhetoric to turn fasc.

              I have some really bad news for you about how the Stalinist regime treated ethnic minorities.