Ask Lemmy

Assuming you're good faith, I really just don't think it's that simple. There's also no whataboutism. If you had read and engaged with the OP and my comment, you'd see OP was directly comparing these countries to the West, which notably does include the US. My comment does the same, because I am engaging with the OP.

I'd recommend looking into the history of fascism if you want to learn what makes a country fascist. There's many different viewpoints, and some do define fascism in a way that would capture what you're saying and exclude the US. I don't think those are very good definitions - they usually say "fascism is when dictatorship", basically.

Others use definitions that explicitly tie fascism to particular ideological views (specifically views held by fascist Italy and Germany) like anti-semitism or anti-communism. That's probably too prescriptive and excludes basically any government that is not Italy or Germany in the 20s-40s.

You can see a good summary in the wikipedia article caleld "definitions of fascism". You'll see there are many definitions of varying quality and historical accuracy. The best definitions, in my opinion, focus on traits that capture the governmental structure of fascist states that make them different from non-fascist states. That includes economic and structural points.

I think we can use a tighter definition of fascism. Fascist governments have these traits:

1. privatization of public goods/services (that's a hallmark of fascism, they literally invented privatization in Germany in the 30s, and maybe actually Italy in the 20s)

2. some sort of in-group supremacy dynamic (racial in the case of Germany & Italy)

3. extreme nationalism & militarism

4. suppression of democratic groups (e.g. trade unions)

5. a government characterized by state-directed autarky, with production organized into government-sponsored cartels. (This is why privitization is important: that's what makes this possible)

So, does the USSR have some of these characteristics? Sure. Of course. Modern day China, too. And the US & Russia. But to be fascist, a government needs to do these things at once - it needs to have the economic and structural factors that distinguish fascism from other forms of government.