During the Covid games of the last few years, I often hear people exclaim in response to the latest government dictate/abuse of its citizens, “That’s Communist”, little of what has happened of the last few years has been leading us in the direction of communism.
Ayn Rand has been promoted over the years as an ultra libertarian vehemently anti communist writer, having reviewed some of her writing again.
While is true she was – especially as she had been a child experiencing the Russian Revolution was opposed to communism but she was also probably more opposed to fascism, which she felt an opposing variant of statisim from communism.
In her words “Fascism and communism are not two opposites, but two rival gangs fighting over the same territory . . . both are variants of statism, based on the collectivist principle that man is the rightless slave of the state.”
“‘Extremism,’ or the Art of Smearing,”Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 180
Depicting her as anti communist and not also antifascist missed a big part of her position on the subject. “Contrary to many conservative commentators during the 1960s, Rand maintained that America was drifting toward fascism, not socialism, and that this descent was virtually inevitable in a mixed economy. “A mixed economy is an explosive, untenable mixture of two opposite elements,” freedom and statism, “which cannot remain stable, but must ultimately go one way or the other””. Will anyone say we have devolved in the direction of freedom?
Looking at things today, we in the Western so called Developed World have as she predicted progressed deeper into fascist world. For a time as we came out the McCarthy search out and destroy the communists era of the 50’s drifting towards fascism may have been the best term. During the period of the Covid games our world has at a far greater rate than a mere drift has proceeded with all possible haste into fascist/corporatist world.
One only has to look at how our governments have given not only vast sums of money but, also it’s citizen’s health and even the right for un censored opinions to the corporations especially big pharma. Ms Rand was correct when she observed we were heading towards fascism. With a nod to a statement usually attributed to Mussolini and to avoid the baggage that hangs on fascism we should start referring to coproratisim. The current trend of most governments is certainly not governing in accordance with a worker collective,they are fully aligned with the dictates of the corporate controlled dictates of a global corporate cabal.
It is the mainstream media that is continuing to promote what was a winning strategy during the McCarthy era to divide the people into opposing camps. We need to unite and oppose statisim whether it is represented by communism or fascism. A world where the technocrats are increasingly comprised and in the pocket of the corporatists.
“Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.” — Benito Mussolini
For me neither a corporatist environment or a communist one is acceptable, we should recognise the common enemy for all of is statisim. We need to set aside our divisions of left/right economic theory and stand united to stop any form of statisim in its tracks, reverse our direction and strive for freedom. Freedom for all.
"That's Communist" Ayn Rand warned us years ago we were trending to Fascism