Reviews
The Birth of Fascist Ideology: From Cultural Rebellion to Political Revolution by Zeev Sternhell
lukescalone's review against another edition
4.0
A few interesting arguments by Sternhell.
According to him, there are three major elements of fascism:
1. Revolutionary revisionism
2. Integral nationalism
3. Futurism
Fascism emerged at a time when western European Marxists began "revising" their works and becoming social democratic parties, in contrast to revolutionary Marxist parties in Eastern Europe. Fascism was dissatisfied with this and transformed in a number of ways:
1. Accepting that revolution was rooted in a market economy, which represented the universal laws of economic activity
2. Abandoning the proletariat and the materialism of traditional Marxism in favor of national myths
3. Calling for the destruction of democracy, in contrast to Marxist calls for democracy (albeit different from liberal democracy).
In spite its density, this piece is certainly worth a read. I can't say that I agree with Sternhell on everything, but he makes some excellent arguments. Obviously, this book is an extremely concise (and skeleton-like) review on what Sternhell has to say. Frankly, there's too much to distill for one review.
According to him, there are three major elements of fascism:
1. Revolutionary revisionism
2. Integral nationalism
3. Futurism
Fascism emerged at a time when western European Marxists began "revising" their works and becoming social democratic parties, in contrast to revolutionary Marxist parties in Eastern Europe. Fascism was dissatisfied with this and transformed in a number of ways:
1. Accepting that revolution was rooted in a market economy, which represented the universal laws of economic activity
2. Abandoning the proletariat and the materialism of traditional Marxism in favor of national myths
3. Calling for the destruction of democracy, in contrast to Marxist calls for democracy (albeit different from liberal democracy).
In spite its density, this piece is certainly worth a read. I can't say that I agree with Sternhell on everything, but he makes some excellent arguments. Obviously, this book is an extremely concise (and skeleton-like) review on what Sternhell has to say. Frankly, there's too much to distill for one review.
ekul's review
4.0
A few interesting arguments by Sternhell.
According to him, there are three major elements of fascism:
1. Revolutionary revisionism
2. Integral nationalism
3. Futurism
Fascism emerged at a time when western European Marxists began "revising" their works and becoming social democratic parties, in contrast to revolutionary Marxist parties in Eastern Europe. Fascism was dissatisfied with this and transformed in a number of ways:
1. Accepting that revolution was rooted in a market economy, which represented the universal laws of economic activity
2. Abandoning the proletariat and the materialism of traditional Marxism in favor of national myths
3. Calling for the destruction of democracy, in contrast to Marxist calls for democracy (albeit different from liberal democracy).
In spite its density, this piece is certainly worth a read. I can't say that I agree with Sternhell on everything, but he makes some excellent arguments. Obviously, this book is an extremely concise (and skeleton-like) review on what Sternhell has to say. Frankly, there's too much to distill for one review.
According to him, there are three major elements of fascism:
1. Revolutionary revisionism
2. Integral nationalism
3. Futurism
Fascism emerged at a time when western European Marxists began "revising" their works and becoming social democratic parties, in contrast to revolutionary Marxist parties in Eastern Europe. Fascism was dissatisfied with this and transformed in a number of ways:
1. Accepting that revolution was rooted in a market economy, which represented the universal laws of economic activity
2. Abandoning the proletariat and the materialism of traditional Marxism in favor of national myths
3. Calling for the destruction of democracy, in contrast to Marxist calls for democracy (albeit different from liberal democracy).
In spite its density, this piece is certainly worth a read. I can't say that I agree with Sternhell on everything, but he makes some excellent arguments. Obviously, this book is an extremely concise (and skeleton-like) review on what Sternhell has to say. Frankly, there's too much to distill for one review.
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