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A Fascism in Our Future?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 September 2018
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Americans of almost every variety want to believe again in the goodness and vitality of our nation. This hope was expressed in the 1976 Bicentennial observance and, for many, was strengthened by the election of Washington outsider Jimmy Carter, signaling a new era in our politics. It is with misgiving, therefore, that I add a skeptical note to this hopeful mood.
The flames of political passion and cultural frenzy that recently scorched our body politic have not been extinguished. Our discontents and disorientations may not rage, but they do smolder, hidden beneath dense clouds of bitter smoke. This situation may not comfort most Americans, but it does console genuine radicals who habitually fantasize about a mass radical movement in America. An American history full of aborted crusades and faded causes has put the radical faith to test, but never to rest.
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- Copyright © Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs 1977
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Notes
* The critical variable is the ever-increasing role of "knowledge" in the economy. It is widely suspected that the production, distribution, and consumption of knowledge and related services may now account for a greater percentage of the American GNP than manufacturing. Politically, the producers and purveyors of knowledge are the most significant component of this growing tertiary or "service" sector of the economy. But with this much said, some caveats are in order. Obviously, many services (e.g., barbering, circus work, auto repair) do not require degrees of higher education and bear no striking resemblance to what is called "brain work." It is evident that the verbalist forces are by no means as large as the service sector as a whole. Also, since manufacturing and farming are popularly considered economically "productive" whereas mental work is disparaged as "unproductive," it is common to counterpose verbalists, to "producers." Nevertheless, so-called "nonproducers" contribute mightily to the GNP (even if economists cannot agree on how to measure that productivity). Therefore, the term "producer"—however metaphorically heuristic—should not be taken too literally. The key work in the literature on the postindustrial revolution is Daniel Bell's The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (I973). My interpretation of this revolution owes much to the anarcho-syndicalist tradition in political analysis exemplified by Georges Sorel, Waclaw Machajski, Roberto Michels. and Max Nomad.
1. See Dale Vree, “Ten Years After the Free Speech Movement: Reflections of a Participant,” Worldview (November, 1974).
2. For data see Everett Carll Ladd, Jr. and Seymour Martin Lipset, The Divided Academy (1975), Charles Kadushin, The American Intellectual Elite (1974), Allen H. Barton, The Limits of Consensus Among American Leaders (1973), and John W. Johnstone et al., The News People (1976).
3. “The Verdict Thus Far,” Time (April 25, 1977).
4. Noam Chomsky, “Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship,” in Power and Consciousness, edited by Conor Cruise O'Brien and William Dean Vanech (1969).
5. Louis Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America (1955).
6. See A. James Gregor, The Ideology of Fascism (1969), and Gregor, The Fascist Persuasion in Radical Politics (1974).
7. See Samuel A. Stouffer, Communism, Conformity, and Civil Liberties, and Seymour Martin Lipsel, “Working-class Authoritarianism,” in Political Man (1960). “Right-wing” movements in America have traditionally found a constituency among plebian elements. See Seymour Martin Lipset and Earl Raab, The Politics of Unreason: Right-Wing Extremism in America,, 1790-1970 (1970), and Daniel Bell, editor. The Radical Right (1963).
8. See Robert Heilbroner, An Inquiry into the Human Prospect (1974), and his Business Civilization in Decline (1976).
9. The Gallup Opinion Index (February. 1975), p. 16. and (November-December, 1975), p. 83.
10. William Schneider, “Public Opinion: The Beginning of Ideology?” Foreign Policy (Winter, 1974-75).
11. See S.M. Lipset and EC. Ladd, Jr., “The Changing Social Origins of American Academics,” (mimeo, 1977). I am grateful to Professor Lipset for permission to cite this manuscript prior to publication. Regarding the correlation between success and leftism, see Ladd and Lipset, The Divided Academy.
12. See Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (1976).
13. T.S. Eliot, “The Idea of a Christian Society,” in Christianity and Culture (1940).