Date: 15 Mar 96 22:13:41 EST
From: Jon Flanders <72763.2240-AT-compuserve.com>
To: <jamiller-AT-igc.apc.org>, <marxism-AT-jefferson.village.virginia.edu>
Subject: fascism


 >> We haven't gotten anywhere near that stage in the class
 struggle yet. But right now, the crisis, together with the
 anti-labor offensive of the bosses and the resistance of
 the workers, is provoking the emergence of fascist, or
 pre-fascist, formations in the US and other countries. <<Jim Miller

 Jon Flanders:

  Jim, I noticed that the latest edition of the Militant calls Buchanan an
ultra-rightist in its headline. The tone seems to have calmed down a bit.  Any
comments on this?

  The NYTimes had the following analysis of Buchanan and the south

 >> ``The notion that Buchanan would do well in the South was based on an
image of the South as an impoverished Dogpatch where the rawest kind of
emotional, nativist appeals will rally the people to your side,'' Black said.
``But the most effective politicians in the South are those that can balance
social and economic concerns, and there's nothing balanced about Pat
Buchanan.''

 Former Gov. Carroll Campbell of South Carolina, whose endorsement and
 organization helped Dole win there, said Buchanan had suffered from a
 protectionist economic message that held limited appeal in the region.

 Unemployment rates in most Southern states fall below the national average,
and the region has outperformed the nation in job growth in each of the last
15 years.

 Many of the new jobs have been created by foreign investment and exports,
 making many Southerners wary of talk about raising tariffs and closing
 borders.

 And many of those jobs have been filled by transplanted Northerners, who
 bring their own accents and typically mainstream political views to the
 suburbs of Atlanta, Nashville, Tampa and Greenville.

 ``People just have a total misimpression of what Southern states look like
these days,'' said Susan A. MacManus, a professor of political science at the
University of South Florida-Tampa. ``There's been a huge infusion of growth in
recent years, and that's been ignored in analyzing the rise of Republicanism.
These people just don't have the Deep South mentality.'' <<

  It seems that sucessful fascism will have to be a bit more sophisticated
than the boobish nationalism of Pat B. The message will have to appeal to
pro-NAFTA yuppies terrified of having to pawn their Macintoshes to pay the
rent on the graphics studio.

 Best, Jon Flanders

  E-mail from: Jonathan E. Flanders, 15-Mar-1996




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