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Workers and the Radical Right
When fascism emerged in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, many saw it as a left-wing movement. The Right had originally been associated with the aristocracy, with respect for traditional order and established hierarchies. Under the assault of socialists, capitalism, with its radical and destructive transformation of the old order, also became associated with the Right. Fascists opposed both. They denounced the aristocracy as weak, and hated it for letting the traditional order fall apart. They denounced capitalism for betraying "the nation," for turning the land and its people into servants of capital. Fascists sought a new order, based on new hierarchies, with their own decidedly non-aristocratic leaders at the top, committed to rewarding--and saving from ruthless capitalist exploitation--those at the bottom. In return, the latter had only to accept the end of political democracy, said to be an obstacle to fighting treacherous elites, and their own subordinate role, so as to give leaders the freedom to properly rebuild "the nation."
Only the last principle, concerning the subordination of the working class, was contrary to what leftists stood for. Otherwise, fascism could, and did seem to many, to be a variant of left-wing politics.1The left, of course, had also opposed the aristocracy, not because it was weak but because it was reactionary, trying to restore hierarchies that capitalism had already swept away and that socialism would eliminate entirely. As for a modernizing, non-aristocratic anti-capitalism, this was, of course, the foundation around which the Left first emerged. The attack on political democracy might seem to be a key point distinguishing fascism from the Left. But that was not entirely true. Fascists denounced liberalism and parliamentarism as a whole. It wanted democracy violently torn down, replaced by a dictator realizing the interests of a mythical "nation." Leftists, however, were themselves skeptical of liberalism and parliamentarism. Leninists pushed for their violent overthrow, though they were weak outside of Russia. In the parts of Europe where fascism emerged, left-wing socialists were wary of joining liberal parliamentary governments, believing they would thereby be serving the interests of capitalism. Even more, however, they thought the impending economic crisis would tear liberalism down and usher in a socialist transformation. Few could be mobilized to defend...