# What would life be like under a Fascist or Nazi Government? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 11, 2002, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-life-be-like-under-a-fascist-or-nazi-government/128007 "2002-09-11T19:26:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-life-be-like-under-a-fascist-or-nazi-government/128007/41 "2002-09-20T16:17:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spoke- \* > \*\*Ah, one of those “the Soviet Union wasn’t _real_ communism” types. :rolleyes: > > Well, there’s the fact that capitalism and free enterprise were not permitted in Russia. That is not the case in a fascist state. (See Franco’s Spain, Nazi Germany, Mussolini’s Italy.) > > Once again your logic is flawed. The Soviet Union indeed had a one-party system, and a revered leader. Fascist states also have a one-party system and a revered leader. It does not follow that the Soviet Union was fascist. \*\* O.K. there was no free enterprise, that doesn’t make it a _real_ communist state. Free enterprise was done away with, indeed with the communist ideal in mind, long before Stalin took power. He worked with what the Bolsheviks had left for him to use and turned that into a fascist state . I am not convinced that lack of free enterprise, constitutes enough difference to call Stalinist Russia a communist regime, rather than a fascist. I don’t think there can be such a thing as a ‘totalitarian-communist state’. Communism is the direct opposite of totalitarian. Anyway, the point was that **the level of oppression** wasn’t a criterium, you do agree on that one? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-life-be-like-under-a-fascist-or-nazi-government/128007/42 "2002-09-20T17:58:54Z")
Oh come on, **Latro**. Do you seriously think a communist state can exist _without_ devolving into totalitarianism? Name one that has. A communist state pretty much has to be totalitarian. How else can you force people to abandon free enterprise, religion, ownership of property, etc.? Only through a single-party state with total power. Communism is the totalitarianism of the left. Fascism is the totalitarianism of the right. Fascism is one type of totalitarianism. Communism is another type. Both are totalitarian, but they are not the same thing. The total power of the state is being used to different ends. (And yes, to answer your last question, they are both oppressive.) ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-life-be-like-under-a-fascist-or-nazi-government/128007/43 "2002-09-21T09:41:26Z")
I’m not saying that communism is a viable state form. I don’t think it is. It relies too much on the good in man. You’re right that such a state would, very likely devellop into something else. But that something else then couldn’t be called _communism_ anymore. There has never been a true communist state. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-life-be-like-under-a-fascist-or-nazi-government/128007/44 "2002-09-21T10:16:40Z")
> [@](#): > > You **Go alien** : Communism, fascism - both one party kleptocracies with a tin-pot dictator running the show using lots secret police to maintain themselves. The only difference was in the propaganda. Therein lies a serious answer. Any time power is concentrated in the hands of a few individuals, the state takes on the character of the individuals. Communism, fascism - tomato, tomAto. A “dictatorship of the proletariat” is just another dictatorship. I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it: “Communism is the only system which has been tried, has failed dozens of times, yet has ‘never’ been tried.” – Me I wonder why it never works? > [@](#): > > **spoke-** : A communist state pretty much has to be totalitarian. How else can you force people to abandon free enterprise, religion, ownership of property, etc.? Only through a single-party state with total power. That’s about right. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-life-be-like-under-a-fascist-or-nazi-government/128007/45 "2002-09-22T21:51:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spoke- \* > \*\*SNIP > > To get an idea of what a futuristic fascist state might look at (well, if it were attacked by giant alien bugs, anyway), rent Starship Troopers. \*\* * * * Agreed. For what the filmmakers claimed was a satire of that sort of state, it sure came off looking like propaganda in favor of the fascist/militaristic state. Scary website, too, with music to match. [www.starshiptroopers.com](http://www.starshiptroopers.com) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-life-be-like-under-a-fascist-or-nazi-government/128007.md?page=2)