Re: CHAT: Support/Oppression of Conlanging
| From: | Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, June 18, 2002, 17:37 |
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En réponse à Andreas Johansson <and_yo@...>:
> >
> >Wasn't he?
>
> This's, of course, a question of definition. "Fascism" has become one
> of
> those political derogatives that people more or less automatically
> bash
> political enemies with. However, the almost completely state-run economy
> and
> society that Stalin created wasn't that similar too those of Germany
> and
> Italy during the 30s, which all agree where Fascist.
Really? What I've been taught is that the two economic systems, despite
superficial differences, were in fact extremely similar. Hitler's Germany was
largely as much state-run as the Soviet Union. The difference is that it was on
a less visible level.
Indeed, I'd argue
> that
> German society 1933-39 was more similar to France's than to the Soviet
> Union's. So, if I were trying to uphold some meaningful definition of
> "Fascism" more narrow than "totalitarianism", I would say that Stalin
> was no
> Fascist.
>
If I take a narrow definition of Fascism, Stalin was fascist. You have to
realise something: the political landscape is not a line going from extreme
left to extreme right. It's a circle. Both extremes are most often
indistinguishable. They may have different ways of looking at things, but
practically they are identical.
>
> Surely, utilizing nationalism for strengthening the ruling group doesn't
> by
> itself make you Fascist?
>
Yes, when it goes as far as xenophobia and deportations. They may have defined
differently the "groups to hate", but both Germany and the Soviet Union had
them. And both used deportation camps (calling them "gulags" doesn't change
what they are). To me that's a pretty good definition of fascism. Of course, if
you add that fascism *has to* be of extreme right, then the Soviet Union was
not fascist. But as I said, since practically there was no difference, why
making one? Let's keep definitions simple.
Christophe.
http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr
Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.
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