M³ | The Blog

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this over the past seven years, and I've come to the conclusion that capitalism is fascism. Not a tool of fascism, but actual fascism.

Here's my reasoning:

Fascism is many [awful] things, but a defining feature of fascism is the hierarchy of personhood: the belief that some people are less human than others and that it is right—necessary, even—for those “lesser” humans to be subjugated or eradicated by “real” humans. Fascists believe that their in-group is inherently stronger, more intelligent, and better suited to rule than any other group. Establishing and ruthlessly enforcing the supremacy of the fascist in-group is the ultimate goal of any fascist movement, and fascists will use any and all means to achieve that goal. They are particularly fond of violent means, but fascists are happy to use legislation, economic pressures, and social engineering to achieve supremacy when violence is socially or politically impractical.

Now, consider capitalism:

Capitalism cannot exist without a social hierarchy. It is a system defined by a small capitalist class that sets itself above the vast working class by securing private ownership of everything, hoarding the wealth that comes with owning everything, and by using that hoarded wealth to leverage influence and power that can only be matched by the working class when we all stand together. (Which is why capitalists invented the idea of the “middle class” and why they do everything they can to keep the working class distracted and divided.)

Capitalists believe that their wealth proves they are inherently more intelligent, more hardworking, and better suited to steering the course of civilization than the rest of us. They've created a system that uses one set of rules for them and an entirely different set of rules for everyone else—different legal frameworks, different healthcare systems and outcomes, different rights and freedoms—and they use all the means at their disposal to protect that two-tier system. Often, that means using their unmatched wealth to exert political influence to get what they want through government policy and legislation, but they are equally willing to use violence to get what they want, whether indirectly—as was the case when American fruit companies enlisted the aid of the United States government to overthrow socialist-leaning governments in South America—or directly—as has been the case whenever corporations hire thugs to enforce their agendas.

Fascism is capitalism plus murder.

Upton Sinclair

Capitalism can only exist with the subjugation and exploitation of some people by other people. In one sense, those of us who are not members of the owner class (the majority of humans on this planet) are all part of that exploited group; unfortunately, there are layers of social hierarchy implicit in capitalism that makes even working class citizens of wealthy and powerful nations complicit in the fascist nature of capitalism.

The device you're using to read this? The way capitalism works, you wouldn't have been able to buy it as cheaply as you did without the unjust resource extraction and unfair labor practices capital imposes on the poor nations of our world. (I haven't spent any time writing about the racist nature of capitalism because that could be another post entirely on its own, but it's no coincidence that the poor nations of this world that capitalism built are mostly populated by black and brown humans.) Same goes for the coffee you drink, the clothes you're wearing, and basically everything you buy on a regular basis, unless you go out of your way to find and pay more for items that are sustainably sourced and fairly traded. Even if you do go out of your way to shop conscientiously, you will find that there are some things you simply can't extricate from the shittiness that is capitalism.

This is not a judgment coming from some smug hipster who only shops at coops and farmers' markets; this is an observation from someone who is as complicit as everyone else who has ever shopped on Amazon, or bought a drink from Starbucks, or who owns a nice Samsung tablet. It fucking sucks to know that living a “normal” life in the United States of America means that I am implicitly supporting a fascist regime that puts the lives of some people—especially white, cisgender, heterosexual, neurotypical people—above the lives of others.

It's not easy or pleasant, but I think facing that uncomfortable truth is the only hope we have of unmaking this blood machine the capitalists have designed and that we have helped to build. It means changing our lives as much as we can on a personal scale, and then doing the much harder work of changing our lives on a global scale. Because it's long past time that we be perfectly honest with ourselves:

If we are anti-fascist, then we must be anti-capitalist as well.

Nothing is more important than stopping fascism, because fascism will stop us all.

Fred Hampton

Know more, believe less.