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I think the Political Spectrum section would benefit from a bit of a reorgansiation along the following lines:
I don't see any reason to include the specific claims that Fascism is an ideology of the left or far left. I am not aware of any reliable source that takes these claims seriously. I see them as little more than speculative suggestions recently being punted by far right groups and individuals in an attempt to distance themselves from association with historic fascist movements. Of course, if any reliable source does take this seriously then it should be mentioned.
I think this can be done mostly by juggling the existing paragraphs and simplifying a bit. Normally I would just dive in, but I know that this article is a minefield, so I thought I should check here first.
-- DanielRigal ( talk) 14:53, 7 February 2009 (UTC)
I looked up the sources and found the following:
The statement "it has been described as left, right and center" is given two sources:
1) Social Science and Political Theory states: "One of the most interesting analyses of this is an essay by Professor Lipset entitled 'Fascism -- Left, Right and Center'" (p.150).
2)The Fascist Reader reference is from a chapter by Lipset called "Fascism as 'extremism' of the middle class". (p.112). It appears that this article is the same as the one referred to in Social Science.
Finally the Wikipedia article states (later in the section) "Seymour Martin Lipset sees fascism as "extremism of the center" which is sourced to Russian Fascism That book merely says "Lipset sees fascism as extremism of the center". (p.14).
You can read Lipset's "Fascism -- Left, Right, and Center" which is chapter V of his book Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics on Questia. Lipset did not put fascism on the right because fascists did not intend to restore monarchial and aristocratic privilege. Its middle class origins put it in the center (along with social liberalism and libertarianism).
So the sources do not in fact support the statement "it has been described as left, right and center", just that Lipset thought it was part of the center. The Austrian view of fascism as socialism does not put it on the left either. Hayek called it a "union of the anti-capitalist forces of the right and the left in The Road to Serfdom(p.173). And conservatives have also been called socialists, e.g., Bismarck's "State Socialism" or Disraeli's "Tory Socialism".
I have not read any academic or even popular writing that puts it on the left.
The Four Deuces ( talk) 00:41, 11 February 2009 (UTC)
On the term "reactionary" to describe fascism, Mussolini indeed once described the fascist movement as reactionary, but while Mussolini and the Fascists declared that they were reactionary towards existing traditional politics of that time in that they rejected them, BUT Mussolini declared that Italian Fascism was also revolutionary in that it was not solely interested in looking backward to restore pre- Enlightenment values as reactionaries promote, but that Fascism was interested in combining what elements it appreciated of society (including a number of ideas which reactionaries would agree with) combined a new forward-looking agenda of making one's nation or race powerful through the direction of the state, forging a new culture based upon a national and racial unity and sense of family, and lastly promoting social darwinist values of strength and militarist values of courage. Many of these latter revolutionary ideals cannot be accredited to reactionaries as Lenin's Bolshevik movement held similar views of progress for workers through state direction, forging a new society based on worker-based societies, and also promoting that working people be strong and courageous. Italian Fascism in my mind and in the minds of a number of scholars including I believe Stanley Payne, claim that Fascism was always a combination of reactionary and revolutionary ideas. I see this balancing act as part of fascism's inherent desire to create national unity by tackling the issue of finding a means to avoid class conflict and various sectarian conflict that may arise - this means that under a fascist state, the nation's working classes must be satisfied to avoid agitating workers while at the same time the nation's business people must be satisfied so that the nation's economic capacity is not hindered, fascists appealed to a number of traditional social values to avoid splitting society, such as by trying to bind national and religious values together. Some of these values were very favourable towards reactionaries but one must bear in mind that policies combining nationalism, social darwinism, class collaboration, traditional social values, and significant state intervention were considered "progressive" in for many years in the 19th century and early 20th century. Fascism by today's standards looks very regressive and reactionary due to the advent of the spread of egalitarianism in progressive politics during the 20th century to present. If one looks at fascism from an egalitarian progressive perspective, it's social darwinist views are very regressive and reactionary. But in the 1920s, Italian Fascists and Nazis in promoting social darwinism were crossing the line of alienating social conservatives - particularly religious communities, enough to the point that Italian Fascism turned to focus on spiritual evolution of nations and races rather than biological evolution to avoid sparring with the Roman Catholic Church over the issue of Creationism. Meanwhile the Nazis were less conciliatory towards religious conservatives as they constantly promoted biological racialism which caused them to be scorned by the Roman Catholic Church. To sum up above what I believe Fascism can be identified as having the following components in reviewing the political spectrum:
-- R-41 ( talk) 04:32, 12 February 2009 (UTC)
I do not see that any of the texts are helpful. [9]Horowitz borrowed his use of the term "left-wing" from Lenin and it does not mean he thinks of fascism as "left-wing". He uses Left-wing fascism to apply to groups like the Larouche movement, which are not usually considered to be fascist, and he is not referring to the fascism of Mussolini, Hitler, or Franco. His point is they use left-wing rhetoric to express fascist ideas. [10]Wilkinson's book refers to left-wing people who had supported fascism but later opposed it because it was right-wing. [11] Pound referred to a left-wing of the fascist party which is similar to Hayek's view. [12]Farrell acknowledges that the "popular definition of fascism is right-wing", that Mussolini called it right-wing and that its "manifestations became" "right wing". He merely states that many fascists leaders had been left-wing and that it had left-wing influences. [13]Eysenck states that fascism is "not consistently right-wing" (p.85). I think that "left-wing Fascism on page 86 is a reference to Stalin, who is normally not considered to be a fascist.
All this proves that "fascism is generally considered to be on the right of the political spectrum", it contains elements from both left and right, Lipset thinks it's centrist and no one places it on the left.
By the way, I do not know what you mean by "there is, in fact, disagreement about the very applicability of a "left-right" spectrum"
The Four Deuces ( talk) 00:43, 13 February 2009 (UTC)
A person reading the "Political spectrum" section sees "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum; it has been described as left, right and center." There is also disagreement over whether man evolved from apes, smoking causes cancer, blacks are equal to whites, HIV causes AIDS and lots of other subjects. We can all believe what we want. But it is totally misleading to give equal credence to the theory that fascism is on the right (accepted by most scholars), fascism is in the centre (accepted by one scholar), fascism is on the left (accepted by no scholars) or fascism is outside the spectrum (claimed by fascists). The fact that most scholars may be wrong is irrelevant - the article should tell the readers what the generally accepted opinion is. And use references properly - the reference given for this sentence is the lone writer who puts fascism in the centre!
By all means differing opinions should be given. But don't claim that they have equal acceptance without any evidence. These articles are supposed to inform people of generally accepted views not our personal opinions no matter how valid.
The Four Deuces ( talk) 07:15, 13 February 2009 (UTC)
I did not say that no scholars say fascism can be on the left, but that no scholars say that fascism is on the left. It is not even clear that scholars who use the term "left-wing fascism" are implying that it is on the left, merely that it uses left-wing rhetoric. In any case there is nothing in this article about left-wing fascism. I am not saying that these writers are wrong, merely that their views are not generally accepted. One of your quotes above says, "the popular definition of fascism as right wing is misleading." Why do you not want the article to inform people what the popular view is? I suggest that you read the articles you are citing and understand their contents, before using them. The Four Deuces ( talk) 17:26, 13 February 2009 (UTC)
I am about to say something long and complicated for which I am often criticized for, but I believe it will help you, The Four Deuces in recognizing that claims of fascism being staunchly right-wing are inaccurate. Bear in mind that I am a social democrat, so I have nothing to gain or promote by showing that fascism has strong leftist tendencies, but I do so out of an honest review of multiple sources and arguments. Mussolini, prominant Italian Fascist Roberto Farinacci, British Fascist Oswald Mosley, Nazi Ernst Rohm, and Joseph Goebbels, all had at one point socialist or leftist roots, connections, or beliefs. Some changed drastically, but all came to fervently believe in nationalism as an ideology to solve national problems. Italian Fascism was originally strongly left-wing and progressive as described in the Fascist manifesto (i.e. anti-monarchist and republican, anti-clerical, anti-business and pro-labour combined with nationalism, anti-communism, anti-internationalism, and anti-socialism) but it wasn't drawing in the anti-communist and anti-socialist support that Mussolini wanted, so he opportunistically started to try and draw in reactionary and indeed right-wing support by toning down his rhetoric, sacrificing anti-business rhetoric for a compromise class collaboration between business people and labourers through negotiating in a political system called corporatism, sacrificing anti-monarchist rhetoric for toleration of the monarchy, sacrificing anti-clericalism and becoming pro-religious, and lastly sacrificing calls for national egalitarianism for all Italian men and women for a compromise social darwinist and traditionalist patriarchial ideal that men and women had to prove their worth in society and that men and women had defined roles in society (i.e. woman as a mother and caretaker of a family and a man as a warrior, provider, and protector of the nation and families). These concessions were necessary for the Fascists to gain a wider populist support and it succeeded. In 1922, Mussolini rose to power not yet as a dictator of a single-party state but as the head of a fractious coalition of fascists, liberals, and nationalists to oppose the socialists and communists, as a pragmatic opportunist, Mussolini's first three years as Prime Minister were indeed economically right-leaning because he had to gain the support of classical liberals in parliament in order for them to support his government, so he appointed a non-fascist liberal, Alberto De Stefani as finance minister of Italy in 1922 who promoted laissez-faire economics and free trade. But after working to undermine political oppositon with the Acerbo law and the Matteoti crisis, Mussolini in 1925 declared Italy a single party state with him as dictator of the government on behalf of the King and promptly banned all opposition, kicked De Stefani out of his cabinet, and from that point on began to promote large state-planned economic initiatives and protectionism like the Battle for Grain to make Italy self-sufficient in grain and not dependent on foreign sources of grain from Canada and the United States, the Italian Fascists nationalized multiple private petroleum companies which were not being profitable in the private sector into a single government-run petroleum company called Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli, AGIP (General Company of Italian Petroleum), which still exists today. Italian Fascism promoted economic assistance to failing companies during the Great Depression through the Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale, economic "bailout" policies were sharply criticized then and are sharply criticized now by the economic right-wing laissez-faire proponents as being too far to the left in their view (but unlike neoconservative critics claim "ah, modern liberals look like they have fascist economics", I in addition note that social conservatives like George W. Bush have utilized massive state-interventionism in the economy and classical conservatives such as John A. MacDonald in my country of Canada utilized large state interventionism long before the advent of fascism and before communism was a serious political force in the world. Italian Fascists even tried to combine conservative and leftist views to claim that they promote traditional national and patriotic values while at the same time claiming that they are modernist i.e. promoting a " New Roman Empire", promoting traditional Roman-like and Christian art while also promoting modern art which promoted the movement as futurist while having symbols of ancient Roman idenity like the fasces, the Aquila (the Roman eagle), Capitoline Wolf, etc. The merging of nationalism with a combined leftist and reactionary critiques of liberalism and laissez-faire capitalism was pursued from the mid 1920s onward, blamed liberalism's protection of multiparty democracy as causing political instability, corruption, and lack of political progress; and blamed liberalism and laissez-faire capitalism for being uncaring to nations which the Italian Fascists claimed caused the rise of communism and class conflict which in their view were destroying nations. In the light of economic troubles, corruption, and perceived social stagnation or decline under classical liberal governments which had dominated Italy since the 1870s and the advent of the international economic crisis following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, so by 1929 Fascism's anti-liberal critiques from social, political, and economic standpoints were enormously popular and as hyped through propaganda were very convincing to Italians and gained attention elsewhere in the world. It should be noted that fascists, classical and religious conservatives, and leftists share a common rebuke of what they see as a problem of a literal liberalism of laissez-faire's promotion of unrestrained individual economic accumulation. They all see unrestrained self-indulgence as reckless or who were a strong political force in the 19th to mid-20th centuries and perhaps returning in the recent international economic crisis, believe that unrestrained self-indulgence and having unearned luxuries is selfish, uncaring to others, and morally wrong. All these groups claim that self-restraint, that people should not have excessive and unearned personal luxuries, and that people should have a sense of care for a community rather than self-interest. Some claim that fascism's appeal to class collaboration and its large base of middle-class supporters indicates absolutely that it is reactionary - this is a fallous argument, a significant number of working-class people did join the Italian Fascists and in the case of Germany, the Nazis, but they were not a clear majority due to fascism's class collaborationist appeals. I have found articles mentioning police reports of the Nazis which show that the Nazis were posing a serious threat to depleting democratic socialist and communist parties' base of working-class supporters. This demonstrates that the combination of appeal through nationalism to classical, religious, reactionary, and social conservatives along with leftism is politically possible and that neither totally exclude each other. And please don't just take my word for it, look through books about classical conservatism, religious conservatism, and now to mention it, national conservatism you will find these common grounds between conservatism and leftism which fascism appealed to.-- R-41 ( talk) 00:24, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
I removed the following until someone can provide context and explain what he really means.
Irving Louis Horowitz writes of "the new left-wing Fascism" with anti-Semitism as the "essential motor." <ref>Winners and Losers: Social and Political Polarities in America - By Irving Louis Horowitz ,Duke University Press, 1984, ISBN 0822306026 ,328 pages, page 214</ref>
My hunch is that he is using the term fascism to describe left-wing critics of Israel, with the implication that they are motivated by a hatred of Jews, not concerns about human rights. Feel free to provide the relevant text if he is discussing actual fascism, and not merely using the term as a smear. Spylab ( talk) 14:56, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
This is what you added to the article:
Irving Louis Horowitz writes of "the new left-wing Fascism" with anti-Semitism as the "essential motor."
Please add some context and explain what it actually means. What is this "new left-wing Fascism", and who are its supporters? The sentence on its own lacks substance and is wide open for misinterpretation. It's not very useful to say someone "writes of" something without clarifying what he writes about it. Spylab ( talk) 18:38, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
The same applies to the other sentence you added:
Jeffrey Bale writes on "'National Groupuscules' and the Resurgence of 'Left-Wing' Fascism" in "Fascism: Critical Concepts in Political Science."
Please provide context and meaning. Spylab ( talk) 18:43, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
Collect: In reply to your comment in the previous section, neither Horowitz nor Bale said that fascism is left-wing. Their use of that adjective does not mean they think fascism is left-wing or even that "left-wing fascists" are on the left, any more than the name "South Dakota" identifies it as a southern state. On the contrary, Bale calls the "left-wing fascist" Nouvelle Resistance (NR), which is the subject of his article, a "rightist political organization" (p.282). The Four Deuces ( talk) 22:21, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
And your point is? The Four Deuces ( talk) 23:46, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
The new left-wing fascists are modern fascists who use left-wing rhetoric to hide right-wing beliefs. An example is claiming to be anti-zionist when they are actually anti-semitic. The rightist Nouvelle Resistance is one such group. Would that be a fair assessment of what Horowiz and Bale are saying? The Four Deuces ( talk) 20:32, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
Ok, Collect, you added a few examples of so-called "left-wing fascists", but still no definition of so-called "left-wing fascism", and no real context. Let's take a look at the examples:
Collect: the footnotes don't seem to support this statement: "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum; it has been described as left, right and center.[33] [34]" If you follow them they refer to an article by Lipset, called 'Fascism -- Left, Right and Center', where he argues that fascism is centrist. Is there any reason why you are citing this source? The Four Deuces ( talk) 15:03, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
Although the title of Lipset's article uses the term "Left, Right and Center", his article does not say, "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum; it has been described as..." What are your sources for that part of the sentence? Why not instead write "Lipset wrote an article called "Fascism -- Left, Right and Center""? Would that have the same meaning? The Four Deuces ( talk) 18:20, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
I think that Horowitz sees Horkheimer and Odorno as influences on left-wing fascism not as actual fascists. At the beginning of the article he identifies Larouche's groups as left-wing fascists. While Horowitz's article is mostly about influences, Bale's article gives details of a specific case, the NR. The Four Deuces ( talk) 13:20, 16 February 2009 (UTC)
Right. The Four Deuces ( talk) 23:40, 16 February 2009 (UTC)
R-41: I am paying attention. Perhaps you could assist with the wording of the introductory sentence to the "Political spectrum" section which states:
Do you think this is an accurate statement? Do you think that the footnotes support this statement? How would you phrase it? The Four Deuces ( talk) 07:34, 20 February 2009 (UTC)
Ideally the first sentence in a section should give a summary of what is in the section, much as the lede does for an article. Cites are given for each word used, and, in a serendipitous use, one cite is given for the actual phrase used. One remaining problem is that "fascuism" is not a single cohesive political philosophy as defined by any article, and we allow the term to get further muddied by adding sections on sex and the like which are clearly handled differently by different nations. Collect ( talk) 11:54, 20 February 2009 (UTC)
Collect. Thanks for adding the Linehan reference. He does not actually say that fascism "has been described as left, right and center", but that the "dispute amongst historians...overlaps with another contentious area of scholarship, the question of whether fascism was an ideology of the right, left or centre". This may seem similar, but he does not claim that any scholars consider fascism a left-wing ideology and provides no examples that they do. The statement fascism "has been described as left, right and center" is entirely inconsistent with what is found in the literature, which is probably why it took so long to find even this reference (from a book about British Fascism). The Four Deuces ( talk) 17:21, 21 February 2009 (UTC)
Again -- I sm not asserting that "fascism" is in any one position on the political spectrum, and that is the point. Various "fascisms" have occupoied quite different positions on the political spectrum, thus saying "fascism" isin oneposition is quite problematic. IMHO the concept of "authoritarian nationalism" exists apart from the "political spectrum" issue -- Putin is, again IMHO, an "authoritarian nationalist."
Collect (
talk)
18:00, 21 February 2009 (UTC)
In that case why does the sentence say "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum?" And why are you talking about Peron, Putin and Francin (as opposed to Hitler, Mussolini and Franco) in the Political spectrum section when they are mentioned nowhere else in the article? The Four Deuces ( talk) 11:51, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
What is the disagreement? The Four Deuces ( talk) 12:09, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
Some learned historians place differing groups of fascists on the left, on the right, and in the center. There is not an agreement tht all fascists are in one spot, hence there is a "DISagreement" on that issue. "Disagreement" means that they do not all "agree." Thanks!
Collect (
talk)
12:25, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
Is there any way you can expand the sentence to reflect that view? Not everyone may read the existing sentence to have the meaning that you have described. Maybe it should read: "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum. Not all historians place all fascists in one spot. Some historians place differing groups of fascists on the left, on the right and in the center. The Four Deuces ( talk) 22:19, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
Or: "Historians do not place all fascists in the same position on the political spectrum - groups have been placed left, right and center, or not in the spectrum at all. " Which keeps the phrase from the cite, clearly states not all are in one place, and adds the fact that some seem to place some examples entirely outside any spectrum. (keeping same cites)
Collect (
talk)
22:27, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
I finished high school, Collect, but I have no idea what you are talking about. The Four Deuces ( talk) 06:36, 26 February 2009 (UTC)
We worked long and hard to make sure the spectrum section was as well documented as possible. One person placed a POV tag onthe section, and I would hope he reads the long and detailed discussions leading to the very NPOV current section. Placing the tag without discussing his concerns here first is worrisome. Collect ( talk) 22:33, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
Having reliable sources does not make something neutral, and I do not see that any consensus has been reached. I have placed a request for help on the Fascsim projedt page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Fascism The Four Deuces ( talk) 00:17, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
We put in each source available -- might I ask specifically what in the section you find to be POV? Collect ( talk) 01:12, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
Sources are clearly given for historians placing types on fascism in all locations on the spectrum, and two sources for "left, right and center." This was hashed out pretty thoroughly before. ""There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum. Not all historians place all fascists in one spot. Some historians place differing groups of fascists on the left, on the right and in the center." was your own suggestion -- seems odd that you now dispute essentially the same language you assented to. And the cites are releibale sources, which means your desidre to remove them is quite contrary to WP guidelines in the first place. Thanks -- and I expect your POV tag to go, as we already use what YOU proposed!
Collect (
talk)
10:21, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
It's not that the statement is not factual, it's that it does not explain what the mainstream view is, and leaves the reader with the view that the dispute is greater than it is. The same statement could apply to both the American Democratic and Republican parties, yet would be considered misleading. The statement ignores the fact that there is general agreement about fascism as right-wing with some left-wing and possibly even centrist elements. You would not find a statement like this in a textbook. I think it would be better if other people looked at it. The Four Deuces ( talk) 17:03, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
I think it is important that the opening sentence of a section is NPOV. I had written "While fascism is popularly considered to be right-wing, some scholars have questioned its place on the political spectrum," which I think is generous to minority academic opinion. However, I think the discussion of "left-wing fascism" in the section is a fatal flaw. Horowitz and Bales (and they are the only two writers who use the term) are referring to neo-fascists who use left-wing terminology but they still consider "right-wing" because both these authors consider fascism to be right-wing. The section however misinterprets their position in order to argue that the opinion that fascism is leftist has equal acceptance to the opinion that it is rightist. The discussion is further jarring because there is no mention of neo-fascism or "left-wing fascism" anywhere else in the article. I have by the way tried to edit the article, but there is no consensus on change. The Four Deuces ( talk) 23:17, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
I removed the section and it has now been reinserted without any Talk here --- as there is no commonality specific to fascism in the topic, I wonder just what relevance it has. Actually the only commonality seems to be that governments regulate all of this -- but that is true of non-fascist governments as well, making it a pretty useless section. Can someone tell me why it is an important section to maintain? Thanks! Collect ( talk) 22:48, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
This is what you said:
Some people might have missed that you were referring to the "Abortion, eugenics and euthenasia" section as it was not specifically mentioned. You also gave no warning that you intended to delete anything. By the way, what does "<g>" mean? The Four Deuces ( talk) 11:39, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
This heading was stable for aeons -- now it is "position in the political spectrum" where the actual text makes it clear that it has no singular position in the political spectrum ... if we are to alter "political spectrum" it ought not be in a misleading direction for sure. Thuse "Uncertain position in the political spectrum" would be an improvement, I suppose. Or, best of all, just keep "Political spectrum" where it had been. Collect ( talk) 13:34, 14 March 2009 (UTC)
I seriously doubt that many articles have hyperlinks to this section. The Four Deuces ( talk) 18:38, 14 March 2009 (UTC)
Doubt or not, the guideline still aplies. Collect ( talk) 22:13, 14 March 2009 (UTC)
I'm not sure how to phrase this other than to ask is there any way to nail down Fascism a bit? Almost every single one of their 'core tenents' seems to contradict itself hopelessly. The justification for inclusion is invariably one of the Italian school. Considering how much the ideology and practices have changed, perhaps there should be some kind of distinction? Soxwon ( talk) 16:26, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
I Core Beliefs
- A) Belief 1
- B) Belief 2
- II Itailain (possibly Nazi) Fascism
- A) Belief 1
- B) Belief 2
- III Other forms
- A) Belief 1
And so on, we could also trim and combine sections 3, 4, and 5 this way. Soxwon ( talk) 14:32, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
Mussolini was actually writing about fascist ideology rather than who were his supporters. In any case the article should use secondary sources where available. I meant something more detailed. See: United_States_Democratic_Party#Voter base or Republican Party (United States)#Voter base as examples. Financial support is also important. The Four Deuces ( talk) 16:16, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
Should we state that fascists drew wide support and that demographics (religion, ethnicity, class, gender, previous political alliance, etc.) played no part in determing fascists' support? The Four Deuces ( talk) 19:02, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
I seem to have sidetracked everyone from Soxwon's re-organization proposal. I don't think the academic consensus is that they had core beliefs beyond the idea of a leader, but that some beliefs are typical of fascists and what unites them is their self-consciousness of a connection. It's like one of those tests where someone is determined to have a condition if they have a high score, e.g., the Hare Psychopathy Checklist. I don't have any position on re-organization, but started this new section to get back to the discussion. The Four Deuces ( talk) 16:02, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
R-41 said: "What Wikipedia does is filter the views of multiple sources to find common strands of information which are not under dispute". That is absolutely wrong. WP Policy states "Neutrality requires that the article should fairly represent all significant viewpoints that have been published by a reliable source, and should do so in proportion to the prominence of each" and "Do not put together information from multiple sources to reach a conclusion that is not stated explicitly by any of the sources". (See Wikipedia:Npov#Undue_weight and Wikipedia:Syn#Synthesis_of_published_material_that_advances_a_position.) I have therefore tagged this article. Please do not remove these tags until the dispute is resolved.
Again, the "Political spectrum" section first sentence has been changed to 'Historians do not place all fascists in the same position on the political spectrum - groups have been placed "left, right and center," or not even in the spectrum at all'. As we discussed above, this statement is false and not supported by the references or even in the section itself. This followed by Mussolini's views on fascism. Mussolini is not a reliable source. Therefore I have removed this paragraph.
Editors should familiarize themselves with guidelines for writing articles before making changes, which will go a long way to reduce disputes. Please note too that these articles are supposed to be informative and not to to present personal views.
The Four Deuces ( talk) 11:44, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
(out) Kindly note that every claim made in the first sentence is fully sourced. Further that the first sentence is to be, if possible, a summary of the section. Also that the precise phrase is cited, which makes it kind of hart to claim that any OR is present. And finally that I refrained from re-adding the valid cites for historians referring to "left wing fascism" after you repeatedly deleted the RSs cited. Now, absent you being able to find a consensus to remove the phrasing you yourself insisted on, I would ask you recognize the consensus for the current wording. Finally Mussolini is, indeed, a reliable source as to what Mussolini said -- so removing that makes no sense at all. Thanks! Collect ( talk) 15:04, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
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I think the Political Spectrum section would benefit from a bit of a reorgansiation along the following lines:
I don't see any reason to include the specific claims that Fascism is an ideology of the left or far left. I am not aware of any reliable source that takes these claims seriously. I see them as little more than speculative suggestions recently being punted by far right groups and individuals in an attempt to distance themselves from association with historic fascist movements. Of course, if any reliable source does take this seriously then it should be mentioned.
I think this can be done mostly by juggling the existing paragraphs and simplifying a bit. Normally I would just dive in, but I know that this article is a minefield, so I thought I should check here first.
-- DanielRigal ( talk) 14:53, 7 February 2009 (UTC)
I looked up the sources and found the following:
The statement "it has been described as left, right and center" is given two sources:
1) Social Science and Political Theory states: "One of the most interesting analyses of this is an essay by Professor Lipset entitled 'Fascism -- Left, Right and Center'" (p.150).
2)The Fascist Reader reference is from a chapter by Lipset called "Fascism as 'extremism' of the middle class". (p.112). It appears that this article is the same as the one referred to in Social Science.
Finally the Wikipedia article states (later in the section) "Seymour Martin Lipset sees fascism as "extremism of the center" which is sourced to Russian Fascism That book merely says "Lipset sees fascism as extremism of the center". (p.14).
You can read Lipset's "Fascism -- Left, Right, and Center" which is chapter V of his book Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics on Questia. Lipset did not put fascism on the right because fascists did not intend to restore monarchial and aristocratic privilege. Its middle class origins put it in the center (along with social liberalism and libertarianism).
So the sources do not in fact support the statement "it has been described as left, right and center", just that Lipset thought it was part of the center. The Austrian view of fascism as socialism does not put it on the left either. Hayek called it a "union of the anti-capitalist forces of the right and the left in The Road to Serfdom(p.173). And conservatives have also been called socialists, e.g., Bismarck's "State Socialism" or Disraeli's "Tory Socialism".
I have not read any academic or even popular writing that puts it on the left.
The Four Deuces ( talk) 00:41, 11 February 2009 (UTC)
On the term "reactionary" to describe fascism, Mussolini indeed once described the fascist movement as reactionary, but while Mussolini and the Fascists declared that they were reactionary towards existing traditional politics of that time in that they rejected them, BUT Mussolini declared that Italian Fascism was also revolutionary in that it was not solely interested in looking backward to restore pre- Enlightenment values as reactionaries promote, but that Fascism was interested in combining what elements it appreciated of society (including a number of ideas which reactionaries would agree with) combined a new forward-looking agenda of making one's nation or race powerful through the direction of the state, forging a new culture based upon a national and racial unity and sense of family, and lastly promoting social darwinist values of strength and militarist values of courage. Many of these latter revolutionary ideals cannot be accredited to reactionaries as Lenin's Bolshevik movement held similar views of progress for workers through state direction, forging a new society based on worker-based societies, and also promoting that working people be strong and courageous. Italian Fascism in my mind and in the minds of a number of scholars including I believe Stanley Payne, claim that Fascism was always a combination of reactionary and revolutionary ideas. I see this balancing act as part of fascism's inherent desire to create national unity by tackling the issue of finding a means to avoid class conflict and various sectarian conflict that may arise - this means that under a fascist state, the nation's working classes must be satisfied to avoid agitating workers while at the same time the nation's business people must be satisfied so that the nation's economic capacity is not hindered, fascists appealed to a number of traditional social values to avoid splitting society, such as by trying to bind national and religious values together. Some of these values were very favourable towards reactionaries but one must bear in mind that policies combining nationalism, social darwinism, class collaboration, traditional social values, and significant state intervention were considered "progressive" in for many years in the 19th century and early 20th century. Fascism by today's standards looks very regressive and reactionary due to the advent of the spread of egalitarianism in progressive politics during the 20th century to present. If one looks at fascism from an egalitarian progressive perspective, it's social darwinist views are very regressive and reactionary. But in the 1920s, Italian Fascists and Nazis in promoting social darwinism were crossing the line of alienating social conservatives - particularly religious communities, enough to the point that Italian Fascism turned to focus on spiritual evolution of nations and races rather than biological evolution to avoid sparring with the Roman Catholic Church over the issue of Creationism. Meanwhile the Nazis were less conciliatory towards religious conservatives as they constantly promoted biological racialism which caused them to be scorned by the Roman Catholic Church. To sum up above what I believe Fascism can be identified as having the following components in reviewing the political spectrum:
-- R-41 ( talk) 04:32, 12 February 2009 (UTC)
I do not see that any of the texts are helpful. [9]Horowitz borrowed his use of the term "left-wing" from Lenin and it does not mean he thinks of fascism as "left-wing". He uses Left-wing fascism to apply to groups like the Larouche movement, which are not usually considered to be fascist, and he is not referring to the fascism of Mussolini, Hitler, or Franco. His point is they use left-wing rhetoric to express fascist ideas. [10]Wilkinson's book refers to left-wing people who had supported fascism but later opposed it because it was right-wing. [11] Pound referred to a left-wing of the fascist party which is similar to Hayek's view. [12]Farrell acknowledges that the "popular definition of fascism is right-wing", that Mussolini called it right-wing and that its "manifestations became" "right wing". He merely states that many fascists leaders had been left-wing and that it had left-wing influences. [13]Eysenck states that fascism is "not consistently right-wing" (p.85). I think that "left-wing Fascism on page 86 is a reference to Stalin, who is normally not considered to be a fascist.
All this proves that "fascism is generally considered to be on the right of the political spectrum", it contains elements from both left and right, Lipset thinks it's centrist and no one places it on the left.
By the way, I do not know what you mean by "there is, in fact, disagreement about the very applicability of a "left-right" spectrum"
The Four Deuces ( talk) 00:43, 13 February 2009 (UTC)
A person reading the "Political spectrum" section sees "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum; it has been described as left, right and center." There is also disagreement over whether man evolved from apes, smoking causes cancer, blacks are equal to whites, HIV causes AIDS and lots of other subjects. We can all believe what we want. But it is totally misleading to give equal credence to the theory that fascism is on the right (accepted by most scholars), fascism is in the centre (accepted by one scholar), fascism is on the left (accepted by no scholars) or fascism is outside the spectrum (claimed by fascists). The fact that most scholars may be wrong is irrelevant - the article should tell the readers what the generally accepted opinion is. And use references properly - the reference given for this sentence is the lone writer who puts fascism in the centre!
By all means differing opinions should be given. But don't claim that they have equal acceptance without any evidence. These articles are supposed to inform people of generally accepted views not our personal opinions no matter how valid.
The Four Deuces ( talk) 07:15, 13 February 2009 (UTC)
I did not say that no scholars say fascism can be on the left, but that no scholars say that fascism is on the left. It is not even clear that scholars who use the term "left-wing fascism" are implying that it is on the left, merely that it uses left-wing rhetoric. In any case there is nothing in this article about left-wing fascism. I am not saying that these writers are wrong, merely that their views are not generally accepted. One of your quotes above says, "the popular definition of fascism as right wing is misleading." Why do you not want the article to inform people what the popular view is? I suggest that you read the articles you are citing and understand their contents, before using them. The Four Deuces ( talk) 17:26, 13 February 2009 (UTC)
I am about to say something long and complicated for which I am often criticized for, but I believe it will help you, The Four Deuces in recognizing that claims of fascism being staunchly right-wing are inaccurate. Bear in mind that I am a social democrat, so I have nothing to gain or promote by showing that fascism has strong leftist tendencies, but I do so out of an honest review of multiple sources and arguments. Mussolini, prominant Italian Fascist Roberto Farinacci, British Fascist Oswald Mosley, Nazi Ernst Rohm, and Joseph Goebbels, all had at one point socialist or leftist roots, connections, or beliefs. Some changed drastically, but all came to fervently believe in nationalism as an ideology to solve national problems. Italian Fascism was originally strongly left-wing and progressive as described in the Fascist manifesto (i.e. anti-monarchist and republican, anti-clerical, anti-business and pro-labour combined with nationalism, anti-communism, anti-internationalism, and anti-socialism) but it wasn't drawing in the anti-communist and anti-socialist support that Mussolini wanted, so he opportunistically started to try and draw in reactionary and indeed right-wing support by toning down his rhetoric, sacrificing anti-business rhetoric for a compromise class collaboration between business people and labourers through negotiating in a political system called corporatism, sacrificing anti-monarchist rhetoric for toleration of the monarchy, sacrificing anti-clericalism and becoming pro-religious, and lastly sacrificing calls for national egalitarianism for all Italian men and women for a compromise social darwinist and traditionalist patriarchial ideal that men and women had to prove their worth in society and that men and women had defined roles in society (i.e. woman as a mother and caretaker of a family and a man as a warrior, provider, and protector of the nation and families). These concessions were necessary for the Fascists to gain a wider populist support and it succeeded. In 1922, Mussolini rose to power not yet as a dictator of a single-party state but as the head of a fractious coalition of fascists, liberals, and nationalists to oppose the socialists and communists, as a pragmatic opportunist, Mussolini's first three years as Prime Minister were indeed economically right-leaning because he had to gain the support of classical liberals in parliament in order for them to support his government, so he appointed a non-fascist liberal, Alberto De Stefani as finance minister of Italy in 1922 who promoted laissez-faire economics and free trade. But after working to undermine political oppositon with the Acerbo law and the Matteoti crisis, Mussolini in 1925 declared Italy a single party state with him as dictator of the government on behalf of the King and promptly banned all opposition, kicked De Stefani out of his cabinet, and from that point on began to promote large state-planned economic initiatives and protectionism like the Battle for Grain to make Italy self-sufficient in grain and not dependent on foreign sources of grain from Canada and the United States, the Italian Fascists nationalized multiple private petroleum companies which were not being profitable in the private sector into a single government-run petroleum company called Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli, AGIP (General Company of Italian Petroleum), which still exists today. Italian Fascism promoted economic assistance to failing companies during the Great Depression through the Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale, economic "bailout" policies were sharply criticized then and are sharply criticized now by the economic right-wing laissez-faire proponents as being too far to the left in their view (but unlike neoconservative critics claim "ah, modern liberals look like they have fascist economics", I in addition note that social conservatives like George W. Bush have utilized massive state-interventionism in the economy and classical conservatives such as John A. MacDonald in my country of Canada utilized large state interventionism long before the advent of fascism and before communism was a serious political force in the world. Italian Fascists even tried to combine conservative and leftist views to claim that they promote traditional national and patriotic values while at the same time claiming that they are modernist i.e. promoting a " New Roman Empire", promoting traditional Roman-like and Christian art while also promoting modern art which promoted the movement as futurist while having symbols of ancient Roman idenity like the fasces, the Aquila (the Roman eagle), Capitoline Wolf, etc. The merging of nationalism with a combined leftist and reactionary critiques of liberalism and laissez-faire capitalism was pursued from the mid 1920s onward, blamed liberalism's protection of multiparty democracy as causing political instability, corruption, and lack of political progress; and blamed liberalism and laissez-faire capitalism for being uncaring to nations which the Italian Fascists claimed caused the rise of communism and class conflict which in their view were destroying nations. In the light of economic troubles, corruption, and perceived social stagnation or decline under classical liberal governments which had dominated Italy since the 1870s and the advent of the international economic crisis following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, so by 1929 Fascism's anti-liberal critiques from social, political, and economic standpoints were enormously popular and as hyped through propaganda were very convincing to Italians and gained attention elsewhere in the world. It should be noted that fascists, classical and religious conservatives, and leftists share a common rebuke of what they see as a problem of a literal liberalism of laissez-faire's promotion of unrestrained individual economic accumulation. They all see unrestrained self-indulgence as reckless or who were a strong political force in the 19th to mid-20th centuries and perhaps returning in the recent international economic crisis, believe that unrestrained self-indulgence and having unearned luxuries is selfish, uncaring to others, and morally wrong. All these groups claim that self-restraint, that people should not have excessive and unearned personal luxuries, and that people should have a sense of care for a community rather than self-interest. Some claim that fascism's appeal to class collaboration and its large base of middle-class supporters indicates absolutely that it is reactionary - this is a fallous argument, a significant number of working-class people did join the Italian Fascists and in the case of Germany, the Nazis, but they were not a clear majority due to fascism's class collaborationist appeals. I have found articles mentioning police reports of the Nazis which show that the Nazis were posing a serious threat to depleting democratic socialist and communist parties' base of working-class supporters. This demonstrates that the combination of appeal through nationalism to classical, religious, reactionary, and social conservatives along with leftism is politically possible and that neither totally exclude each other. And please don't just take my word for it, look through books about classical conservatism, religious conservatism, and now to mention it, national conservatism you will find these common grounds between conservatism and leftism which fascism appealed to.-- R-41 ( talk) 00:24, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
I removed the following until someone can provide context and explain what he really means.
Irving Louis Horowitz writes of "the new left-wing Fascism" with anti-Semitism as the "essential motor." <ref>Winners and Losers: Social and Political Polarities in America - By Irving Louis Horowitz ,Duke University Press, 1984, ISBN 0822306026 ,328 pages, page 214</ref>
My hunch is that he is using the term fascism to describe left-wing critics of Israel, with the implication that they are motivated by a hatred of Jews, not concerns about human rights. Feel free to provide the relevant text if he is discussing actual fascism, and not merely using the term as a smear. Spylab ( talk) 14:56, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
This is what you added to the article:
Irving Louis Horowitz writes of "the new left-wing Fascism" with anti-Semitism as the "essential motor."
Please add some context and explain what it actually means. What is this "new left-wing Fascism", and who are its supporters? The sentence on its own lacks substance and is wide open for misinterpretation. It's not very useful to say someone "writes of" something without clarifying what he writes about it. Spylab ( talk) 18:38, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
The same applies to the other sentence you added:
Jeffrey Bale writes on "'National Groupuscules' and the Resurgence of 'Left-Wing' Fascism" in "Fascism: Critical Concepts in Political Science."
Please provide context and meaning. Spylab ( talk) 18:43, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
Collect: In reply to your comment in the previous section, neither Horowitz nor Bale said that fascism is left-wing. Their use of that adjective does not mean they think fascism is left-wing or even that "left-wing fascists" are on the left, any more than the name "South Dakota" identifies it as a southern state. On the contrary, Bale calls the "left-wing fascist" Nouvelle Resistance (NR), which is the subject of his article, a "rightist political organization" (p.282). The Four Deuces ( talk) 22:21, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
And your point is? The Four Deuces ( talk) 23:46, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
The new left-wing fascists are modern fascists who use left-wing rhetoric to hide right-wing beliefs. An example is claiming to be anti-zionist when they are actually anti-semitic. The rightist Nouvelle Resistance is one such group. Would that be a fair assessment of what Horowiz and Bale are saying? The Four Deuces ( talk) 20:32, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
Ok, Collect, you added a few examples of so-called "left-wing fascists", but still no definition of so-called "left-wing fascism", and no real context. Let's take a look at the examples:
Collect: the footnotes don't seem to support this statement: "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum; it has been described as left, right and center.[33] [34]" If you follow them they refer to an article by Lipset, called 'Fascism -- Left, Right and Center', where he argues that fascism is centrist. Is there any reason why you are citing this source? The Four Deuces ( talk) 15:03, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
Although the title of Lipset's article uses the term "Left, Right and Center", his article does not say, "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum; it has been described as..." What are your sources for that part of the sentence? Why not instead write "Lipset wrote an article called "Fascism -- Left, Right and Center""? Would that have the same meaning? The Four Deuces ( talk) 18:20, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
I think that Horowitz sees Horkheimer and Odorno as influences on left-wing fascism not as actual fascists. At the beginning of the article he identifies Larouche's groups as left-wing fascists. While Horowitz's article is mostly about influences, Bale's article gives details of a specific case, the NR. The Four Deuces ( talk) 13:20, 16 February 2009 (UTC)
Right. The Four Deuces ( talk) 23:40, 16 February 2009 (UTC)
R-41: I am paying attention. Perhaps you could assist with the wording of the introductory sentence to the "Political spectrum" section which states:
Do you think this is an accurate statement? Do you think that the footnotes support this statement? How would you phrase it? The Four Deuces ( talk) 07:34, 20 February 2009 (UTC)
Ideally the first sentence in a section should give a summary of what is in the section, much as the lede does for an article. Cites are given for each word used, and, in a serendipitous use, one cite is given for the actual phrase used. One remaining problem is that "fascuism" is not a single cohesive political philosophy as defined by any article, and we allow the term to get further muddied by adding sections on sex and the like which are clearly handled differently by different nations. Collect ( talk) 11:54, 20 February 2009 (UTC)
Collect. Thanks for adding the Linehan reference. He does not actually say that fascism "has been described as left, right and center", but that the "dispute amongst historians...overlaps with another contentious area of scholarship, the question of whether fascism was an ideology of the right, left or centre". This may seem similar, but he does not claim that any scholars consider fascism a left-wing ideology and provides no examples that they do. The statement fascism "has been described as left, right and center" is entirely inconsistent with what is found in the literature, which is probably why it took so long to find even this reference (from a book about British Fascism). The Four Deuces ( talk) 17:21, 21 February 2009 (UTC)
Again -- I sm not asserting that "fascism" is in any one position on the political spectrum, and that is the point. Various "fascisms" have occupoied quite different positions on the political spectrum, thus saying "fascism" isin oneposition is quite problematic. IMHO the concept of "authoritarian nationalism" exists apart from the "political spectrum" issue -- Putin is, again IMHO, an "authoritarian nationalist."
Collect (
talk)
18:00, 21 February 2009 (UTC)
In that case why does the sentence say "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum?" And why are you talking about Peron, Putin and Francin (as opposed to Hitler, Mussolini and Franco) in the Political spectrum section when they are mentioned nowhere else in the article? The Four Deuces ( talk) 11:51, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
What is the disagreement? The Four Deuces ( talk) 12:09, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
Some learned historians place differing groups of fascists on the left, on the right, and in the center. There is not an agreement tht all fascists are in one spot, hence there is a "DISagreement" on that issue. "Disagreement" means that they do not all "agree." Thanks!
Collect (
talk)
12:25, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
Is there any way you can expand the sentence to reflect that view? Not everyone may read the existing sentence to have the meaning that you have described. Maybe it should read: "There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum. Not all historians place all fascists in one spot. Some historians place differing groups of fascists on the left, on the right and in the center. The Four Deuces ( talk) 22:19, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
Or: "Historians do not place all fascists in the same position on the political spectrum - groups have been placed left, right and center, or not in the spectrum at all. " Which keeps the phrase from the cite, clearly states not all are in one place, and adds the fact that some seem to place some examples entirely outside any spectrum. (keeping same cites)
Collect (
talk)
22:27, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
I finished high school, Collect, but I have no idea what you are talking about. The Four Deuces ( talk) 06:36, 26 February 2009 (UTC)
We worked long and hard to make sure the spectrum section was as well documented as possible. One person placed a POV tag onthe section, and I would hope he reads the long and detailed discussions leading to the very NPOV current section. Placing the tag without discussing his concerns here first is worrisome. Collect ( talk) 22:33, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
Having reliable sources does not make something neutral, and I do not see that any consensus has been reached. I have placed a request for help on the Fascsim projedt page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Fascism The Four Deuces ( talk) 00:17, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
We put in each source available -- might I ask specifically what in the section you find to be POV? Collect ( talk) 01:12, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
Sources are clearly given for historians placing types on fascism in all locations on the spectrum, and two sources for "left, right and center." This was hashed out pretty thoroughly before. ""There is disagreement on the position of fascism in the political spectrum. Not all historians place all fascists in one spot. Some historians place differing groups of fascists on the left, on the right and in the center." was your own suggestion -- seems odd that you now dispute essentially the same language you assented to. And the cites are releibale sources, which means your desidre to remove them is quite contrary to WP guidelines in the first place. Thanks -- and I expect your POV tag to go, as we already use what YOU proposed!
Collect (
talk)
10:21, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
It's not that the statement is not factual, it's that it does not explain what the mainstream view is, and leaves the reader with the view that the dispute is greater than it is. The same statement could apply to both the American Democratic and Republican parties, yet would be considered misleading. The statement ignores the fact that there is general agreement about fascism as right-wing with some left-wing and possibly even centrist elements. You would not find a statement like this in a textbook. I think it would be better if other people looked at it. The Four Deuces ( talk) 17:03, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
I think it is important that the opening sentence of a section is NPOV. I had written "While fascism is popularly considered to be right-wing, some scholars have questioned its place on the political spectrum," which I think is generous to minority academic opinion. However, I think the discussion of "left-wing fascism" in the section is a fatal flaw. Horowitz and Bales (and they are the only two writers who use the term) are referring to neo-fascists who use left-wing terminology but they still consider "right-wing" because both these authors consider fascism to be right-wing. The section however misinterprets their position in order to argue that the opinion that fascism is leftist has equal acceptance to the opinion that it is rightist. The discussion is further jarring because there is no mention of neo-fascism or "left-wing fascism" anywhere else in the article. I have by the way tried to edit the article, but there is no consensus on change. The Four Deuces ( talk) 23:17, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
I removed the section and it has now been reinserted without any Talk here --- as there is no commonality specific to fascism in the topic, I wonder just what relevance it has. Actually the only commonality seems to be that governments regulate all of this -- but that is true of non-fascist governments as well, making it a pretty useless section. Can someone tell me why it is an important section to maintain? Thanks! Collect ( talk) 22:48, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
This is what you said:
Some people might have missed that you were referring to the "Abortion, eugenics and euthenasia" section as it was not specifically mentioned. You also gave no warning that you intended to delete anything. By the way, what does "<g>" mean? The Four Deuces ( talk) 11:39, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
This heading was stable for aeons -- now it is "position in the political spectrum" where the actual text makes it clear that it has no singular position in the political spectrum ... if we are to alter "political spectrum" it ought not be in a misleading direction for sure. Thuse "Uncertain position in the political spectrum" would be an improvement, I suppose. Or, best of all, just keep "Political spectrum" where it had been. Collect ( talk) 13:34, 14 March 2009 (UTC)
I seriously doubt that many articles have hyperlinks to this section. The Four Deuces ( talk) 18:38, 14 March 2009 (UTC)
Doubt or not, the guideline still aplies. Collect ( talk) 22:13, 14 March 2009 (UTC)
I'm not sure how to phrase this other than to ask is there any way to nail down Fascism a bit? Almost every single one of their 'core tenents' seems to contradict itself hopelessly. The justification for inclusion is invariably one of the Italian school. Considering how much the ideology and practices have changed, perhaps there should be some kind of distinction? Soxwon ( talk) 16:26, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
I Core Beliefs
- A) Belief 1
- B) Belief 2
- II Itailain (possibly Nazi) Fascism
- A) Belief 1
- B) Belief 2
- III Other forms
- A) Belief 1
And so on, we could also trim and combine sections 3, 4, and 5 this way. Soxwon ( talk) 14:32, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
Mussolini was actually writing about fascist ideology rather than who were his supporters. In any case the article should use secondary sources where available. I meant something more detailed. See: United_States_Democratic_Party#Voter base or Republican Party (United States)#Voter base as examples. Financial support is also important. The Four Deuces ( talk) 16:16, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
Should we state that fascists drew wide support and that demographics (religion, ethnicity, class, gender, previous political alliance, etc.) played no part in determing fascists' support? The Four Deuces ( talk) 19:02, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
I seem to have sidetracked everyone from Soxwon's re-organization proposal. I don't think the academic consensus is that they had core beliefs beyond the idea of a leader, but that some beliefs are typical of fascists and what unites them is their self-consciousness of a connection. It's like one of those tests where someone is determined to have a condition if they have a high score, e.g., the Hare Psychopathy Checklist. I don't have any position on re-organization, but started this new section to get back to the discussion. The Four Deuces ( talk) 16:02, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
R-41 said: "What Wikipedia does is filter the views of multiple sources to find common strands of information which are not under dispute". That is absolutely wrong. WP Policy states "Neutrality requires that the article should fairly represent all significant viewpoints that have been published by a reliable source, and should do so in proportion to the prominence of each" and "Do not put together information from multiple sources to reach a conclusion that is not stated explicitly by any of the sources". (See Wikipedia:Npov#Undue_weight and Wikipedia:Syn#Synthesis_of_published_material_that_advances_a_position.) I have therefore tagged this article. Please do not remove these tags until the dispute is resolved.
Again, the "Political spectrum" section first sentence has been changed to 'Historians do not place all fascists in the same position on the political spectrum - groups have been placed "left, right and center," or not even in the spectrum at all'. As we discussed above, this statement is false and not supported by the references or even in the section itself. This followed by Mussolini's views on fascism. Mussolini is not a reliable source. Therefore I have removed this paragraph.
Editors should familiarize themselves with guidelines for writing articles before making changes, which will go a long way to reduce disputes. Please note too that these articles are supposed to be informative and not to to present personal views.
The Four Deuces ( talk) 11:44, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
(out) Kindly note that every claim made in the first sentence is fully sourced. Further that the first sentence is to be, if possible, a summary of the section. Also that the precise phrase is cited, which makes it kind of hart to claim that any OR is present. And finally that I refrained from re-adding the valid cites for historians referring to "left wing fascism" after you repeatedly deleted the RSs cited. Now, absent you being able to find a consensus to remove the phrasing you yourself insisted on, I would ask you recognize the consensus for the current wording. Finally Mussolini is, indeed, a reliable source as to what Mussolini said -- so removing that makes no sense at all. Thanks! Collect ( talk) 15:04, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
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