He may be among the most notorious fascists, but Mussolini was not the first to introduce economic and political fascism to the world. After Lenin’s … - L.K. Samuels

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He may be among the most notorious fascists, but Mussolini was not the first to introduce economic and political fascism to the world. After Lenin’s ‘War Communism' produced massive famine, street riots, and economic collapse, Marxist leaders searched for an alternative ‘Third Way’ between socialism and capitalism. In response, Lenin rolled out his New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921, which introduced a form of ‘market socialism’ or what he approvingly dubbed, ‘state capitalism.’ In fact, Lenin described this change as the ‘development of capitalism under the control and regulation of the proletarian state (in other words, ‘state’ capitalism of this peculiar kind) is advantageous and necessary…’ which was adopted by the Third Congress of the Communist International. This means that fascism was not the ‘last stage of capitalism’ as Marxist historians have maintained, but the first stage of a pullback from the economic and political failures of Marxism–Leninism. Lenin’s reactionary policies to mitigate the defects of absolute nationalization and communism not only spawned the NEP but also ushered in the world’s first modern fascist regime.

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About L.K. Samuels

Lawrence K. Samuels (born December 7, 1951) is an American author, classical liberal, and libertarian activist. He is best known as the editor and contributing author of Facets of Liberty: A Libertarian Primer and In Defense of Chaos: The Chaology of Politics, Economics and Human Action.

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International socialists found it advantageous to hide both Mussolini’s and Hitler’s socialist, labor unionist, Marxist, and atheist pasts. One reason was that Hitler and Mussolini were independent of Moscow’s direct control, and they had the audacity to oppose the Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War. To pay for their insolence, the Soviets and their minions felt compelled to whitewash the collectivist-socialist ideology and history behind nationalistic socialism, determined to bury Hitler and Mussolini under a falsely inscribed tombstone. That is, they threw both comrades Mussolini and Hitler under the socialist bus in a campaign to relabel their Marxist-leaning collaborators as reactionary, monarchy-loving, and religious extremists who were claimed to be duty-bound to the capitalist and land-owning class. Never was there a more beautifully executed con job designed to erase and alter history in the Soviets’ favor. But then again, Stalin accused the Social Democrats, who originally arose out of Marxist ranks, as ‘social fascists,’ comparing Hitler’s Nazis as ‘twin’ brothers to the Social Democrats.

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