I felt a bit icky about my post Hidden Fascists because my thinking usually work analogically, which is to say by taking bits of information from here and there and whapping them together when they’re at all similar. I was therefore a little worried that I was just making shit up. Turns out I wasn’t, which is nice.
I did a bit of reading up on this, just to make sure. So, to be more accurate, fascism and the corporation are not literally the same structure, but they’re very close and actually based on the same basic ideas. In fascism, the buck stops with the dictator, but in the corporation, power is somewhat more diffuse with the CEO making decisions, but answering to a higher authority (aka. the shareholders). I was feeling pissy and hyperbolic when I wrote the above, but (thankfully) I wasn’t that far off the mark.
Fascism is a society-wide structure based on CORPORATISM. The corporation gets its name from the same basic structure, an economic mini-society based around a “corpus” made up of many people working together.
CORPORATISM: The state/company/organisation is divided up into clearly-delineated bodies/departments that function independently, but which contribute equally to the wellbeing of the whole.
So, FASCISM is based on corporatism, as is each corporation within itself, but so is SYNDICALISM - also known as unionism and the workers-rights movement, which people (or at least I do) associate with socialism/communism. This, confusingly, implies that fascism and communism effectively have the same structure, but just put different people in charge.
Fascism puts the dictator in charge, and all of the various “fascia” of the body (corpus) are subservient to him (it’s almost always a him). Syndicalism makes its decisions by way of negotiations/bargaining between all of the various groups/fascia.
Similarly, there are different approaches to the structure of a corporation, the main polarity being in terms of “height.” Tall corporations have a strict hierarchy and all action is in reference to the whims of either an individual or a relatively small group of individuals (eg. the CEO and the board of directors). A flat corporation retains a central CEO (dictator) and directors, but each department and individual therein has more autonomy in terms of decisions and approaches to problem solving.
So, all of that said. Most corporations are “tall” hierarchies and there are few examples of “pure” corporatism as originally formulated that didn’t end up as fascism or that weren’t explicitly fascistic to begin with (though most modern “democratic” states have passed through a phase of “tripartism,” an offshoot of pure corporatism).
So, fascism and the modern corporation are both based on corporatism with a central dictator (military general/president/CEO) who sets policy and makes all high-level decisions. Anecdotally, it is a commonly expressed sentiment that CEOs often behave much like a cruel and punishing fascist dictator, Steve Jobs being the most famous of these, but I know a number of people who have experienced this even within corporations with only a few hundred employees.
There are more striking similarities, however, between a fascistic state and a modern corporation, ones which extend far beyond the basic organisational structure. Some of the most prevalent being:
Basically, both fascism and the corporation are what you get when you let frightened little boys take control of entire countries/organisations. Narcissism and macho bullshit abound in both systems, as do bullying, intimidation, manipulation, extortion, blackmail, racism, sexism, homophobia, rape and sexual abuse, and gaslighting.
Corporations often straight up lie about their business practices and are very prone to corruption, number fudging, and bribery - which are typically a central feature of day-to-day life within a fascist dictatorship.
It feels incredibly harsh to say, because most of us are forced against our will to engage with fascistic corporations on a literally daily basis, but, basically, if you own a corporation (of any size) subscribe to the same ideology as the fascists you criticise elsewhere, and if you work for or buy stuff from a corporation (as we all do), you’re supporting a basically fascistic enterprise, and therefore aiding-and-abetting the propagation of fascism.
And full disclosure, I make most of my income from insurance companies and private health insurance plans. So yes, I include myself in the fascism-enabling camp.