By George Koumoulli
Judging by social media, too many people don’t know exactly what fascism is. In order to fully understand this concept and its various nuances, it is necessary, as a first step, to understand some concepts concerning political systems.
Social scientists usually classify states as democratic, authoritarian or totalitarian, with each category having a variety of subtypes. Democratic states all know how they work. Authoritarian states rely on the state bureaucracy, the army and the secret police. They are like democratic states (such as Turkey) and are usually led by juntas, generals or a corrupt President. Totalitarian states abolish all the characteristics of democracy, authorize bureaucracies, armies and the secret police to control the entire public and private space, promote ideologies that cover everything and always have a supreme leader.
Fascist states have all the characteristics of totalitarianism, but with two main differences. Fascist leaders have genuine charisma – this ephemeral quality that evokes popular admiration – and they promote this gift and the image that accompanies it, personality cult. The people truly love the fascist leaders, and the latter in turn are presented as incarnations of the state, the nation, the people. The clear definition of the fascist state is therefore as follows: It is an authoritarian state ruled by a charismatic leader who enjoys a cult of personality.
In this light, Franco’s Spain, Pinochet’s Chile and the colonels’ Greece were in fact authoritarian states. The dictatorship in Greece was carried out by three colonels, but no one, not even Papadopoulos, enjoyed the adoration of personality. In contrast, Mussolini’s Italy and Xi Jinping’s China are clearly fascist, as are Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s USSR. Fascist states can thus be right (black fascism) and left (red fascism). So black and red fascism are two sides of the same coin.
In what political system does Putin’s Russia rank? Unfortunately, the leader of this country has completely dismantled all of Russia’s democratic institutions that were hatched under Yeltsin. Elections are neither free nor fair. Putin’s party, United Russia, always wins and the opposition is persecuted or killed. He has the support of big business (as Hitler had) and is himself a billionaire. The media have been constrained. Freedom of speech and assembly no longer exists and draconian punishments are imposed for the slightest criticism of the regime. A supranationalist, imperialist ideology praises Russia and regards its expansion as its legitimate right. War is worshipped and justified by state propaganda. As the brutal invasion of Ukraine shows, the war is fully justified if it is directed against a people whose existence Putin sees as a threat to himself and to Russia. On the model of Nazi Germany, the “Youth of Putin” was founded, which is an instrument of political pressure and activism against the enemies of the Russian leader at home and abroad. Finally, the secret Police and military authorities, along with a corrupt bureaucracy, form the core of the political system, led by the “infallible” Putin, who is the undisputed charismatic leader who is glorified as the embodiment of Russia. Putin’s supporters proclaim that “if there is no Putin, there is no Russia!” is obvious the resemblance to the claim of the French king Louis XIV, “L’état, c’est moi” (The state is me) and Hitler’s “One people, one empire, one Führer”.
Therefore, the conclusion is that Putin’s Russia is the classic example of black fascism and it is natural that captivates all far-right parties. But he is not a Nazi. Nazism is a form of fascism, but it differs from the latter in the sense of racial superiority and inferiority. According to Nazi doctrine, tribes are classified as superior and inferior, with the Aryan race at the top and blacks and Jews at the bottom of the tribal pyramid.
It is a great irony that one of Putin’s excuses to invade Ukraine was de-Naziisation. In other words, the Russia of the world’s most greedy capitalists and a former Agent of Mrs. Gee Be claims to be de-Naziising its neighbour when in the elections held in Ukraine in 2019, the far-right Svoboda received only 2.15%. I wonder what Putin will say about Cyprus that ELAM reaped the dazzling 7% in the last elections!
Another paradox we are experiencing. it is Putin’s support for Cyprus and Greece, not only from the far left, but also from many others. The explanation of this phenomenon is not so complicated: all of them share Russia’s position that the US is a destructive, imperial superpower, and this tendency leads to an anti-American and anti-NATO worldview, not to say hysteria, coinciding with the position of the Russian leader. This is essentially the school of international relations – “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
*Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of CypriumNews.
