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Economic fascism is an economic system, originated in the 1920's and 1930's in fascist regimes, that had a variety of characteristics, with the most commonly cited one being private ownership or quasi-private ownership of the means of production that is heavily coordinated by government. In economic fascism, government institutes a planned economy that is held to be in the best interest of the nation rather than allowing an economy to self-organize without centralized coordination. Economic fascism typically includes government-mandated business and government partnerships (see corporatism). Economic fascism has also been called fascist political economy, fascist economy, planned capitalism, and autarchic capitalism.

Economic fascism constrasts with capitalism where the means of production are privately owned and privately controlled. It also contrasts with socialism where the means of production are owned collectively by communities or, in some definitions, the state. The common view on private property in economic fascism is, as Thomas R. Eddlem puts it, " simply heavy government regulation and control of what is only nominally private property." However, some dispute the extent of this regulation. Christoph Buchheim and Jonas Scherner argue that the common view that private property in the Nazi economy existed in name only is not correct. He says while there was substantial central planning of private industry, their severity of the restrictions did not arise to the level of rendering private property a mere formality. They refer to the system as a "state-directed private ownership economy." However, while a signifant amount of control over private property is a characteristic is essential to economic fascism, some others note additional aspects of fascist economies. For example, author and journalist John T. Flynn, notes 3 elements: "1) The institution of planned consumption of the spending-borrowing government. 2) The planned economy 3) Militarism as an economic institution" (As We Go Marching 1944). However, some believe militarism is not necessary for a fascist economy. Lawrence Dennis, in his 1936 book The Coming American Fascism promotes what he called a non-militaristic "fascist" economic system for the U.S., arguing that in the absence of war that laissez-faire cannot satisfy the needs of the masses.

While some see business as losers in economic fascism, others see the corporativist aspect of economic fascism as being a source of exploitation of the citizenry, where policies are not made in the best interest in the nation as a whole but in the profit interests of the business-government complex. Anthony Gregory, says that economic fascism is designed for government and business's "mutual benefit: profits for the corporate interests, expanded tax revenue, and augmented central planning powers for the state." Likewise, Jutta Schmitt, a lecturer in Political Science at the University de Los Andes in Venezuela says "the main objective of economic fascism is the elevation of the profit rate in times of economic recession to the detriment of the working class." Similarly, Geatano Salvemini said in 1936: "In actual fact, it is the State, i.e., the taxpayer who has become responsible to private enterprise. In Fascist Italy the State pays for the blunders of private enterprise... Profit is private and individual. Loss is public and social" (Under the Axe of Fascism, 1936).

Economic fascism was originally practiced in Italy under Mussolini and Germany under Hitler.

Footnotes

1. Capitalism is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (unabridged) as "an economic system characterized by private or corporation ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision rather than by state control, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly in a free market."

2. Socialism is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (unabridged) as "any of various theories or social and political movements advocating or aiming at collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and control of the distribution of goods."

External links

• The Role of Private Property in the Nazi Economy: The Case of Industry (pdf) by Christoph Buchheim and Jonas Scherner
• Economic Fascism by Thomas DiLorenzo
• When the Supreme Court Stopped Economic Fascism in America by Richard M. Ebeling
• Fascism by Sheldon Richman - discusses economic fascism
• The Coming American Fascism by Lawrence Dennis - advocates a non-militaristic economic fascism for the U.S. for the benefit of the working class
• The ‘Political Economy of Fascism’: Myth or Reality: or Myth and Reality? by David Baker