Sorry, Charlie—the Right Is Not Fascism-Lite

Chapter 5.2: But the left IS communism-lite.

Why this book | Title Page | Table of Contents
Preface | Introduction
PART 1
Chapter 1 (1.1) (1.2) | Chapter 2 (2.1) (2.2) (2.3) | Chapter 3 (3.1) (3.2) (3.3) (3.4) (3.5) (3.6)
PART 2
Chapter 4 (4.1) (4.2) (4.3) (4.4) (4.5) | Chapter 5 (5.1) (5.2) | Chapter 6
PART 3
Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14
PART 4
Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 |
PART 5
Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Conclusion
Appendix | Works Cited

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5.2
The ultimate whacking stick: ‘The Right’ = Fascism, cont’d

• The Marxist Continuum Cudgel, cont’d

  • The left half is accurate

  • The right half…not so much

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The left half is accurate

For the left’s purposes, it does not matter that this spectrum is—in terms of theory, practice, history, and underlying philosophy—utterly unsupportable. It does not matter that it has no unit of measure. It serves their needs just as it is. It is a useful myth—the kind of “vital lie” that George Sorel believed should be used to further the aims of leftism. And so it does. But is it only mythology? Is there any truth to it?

Yes. To its left side, this spectrum is largely accurate. 

In provenance and ideological underpinnings, all movements of the left are kindred phenomena.¹ Unfortunately, many on today’s left are ignorant of their ideological origins and do not have particularly deep understanding of their own philosophical roots, and thus protest this characterization.

An indignant leftist recently objected to parallels I was drawing among communism, socialism, and more moderate iterations of the modern left. Proud of his understanding of the doctrinaire differences from one of these movements to the next, he challenged me with a scolding inquiry: “You do realize that communism and socialism are different systems, right?”

Systems? Sure, to a degree. Then again, my wife and I have different systems for loading the dishwasher, but we’re both loading the dishwasher.

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