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As We Go Marching (Right Wing Individualist Tradition in America Series)

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"As We Go Marching" is a three-part examination of fascism in Italy (part 1) and Germany (part 2). Part 3 ties things together with an examination of Franklin D. Roosevelt's so-called "New Deal."

The book covers periods from the mid-1800's, the time of the respective unification of Italy and Germany, to mid-WWII. Briefly, neither Mussolini nor Hitler laid the foundations, let alone invented, the social-government systems that supported their regimes. Both systems of fascism, Italian and German, had roots in the early days of industrialization, with deep and powerful roots in the concept of syndicalism. Mr. Flynn opines that, absent certain events related to The Great War, neither Mussolini nor Hitler would ever have amounted to much more than minor political nuisances; but that someone else could very well have held power and governed via fascism through pre-existing government institutions. (eg, imagine a German Chancellor without the anti-semitism but still with the militarism.)

The third part of "Marching" concerns the intellectual and systemic relationships between Italian and German fascism, and FDR's New Deals (there were at least three of them). Although the reader will learn a lot of Italian and German hisotry, the entire book concerns what FDR was doing to the United States in the 1930's. Mr. Flynn's view is through a lens of what had happened in Italy and Germany.

In 1944, some critics called Mr. Flynn's publication of "Marching" treasonous. But I doubt they read the book before doing so. Mr. Flynn was labeled, in his day, as a "Roosevelt-hater," and summarily dismissed in polite company of the time. Many people worked overtime to discredit him and his books. But to this modern reader, Mr. Flynn offers a historical and logical, well written and consistent study of fascism, with a disturbingly accurate critique of FDR and his programs.

You will gain additional perspective by reading Mr. Flynn's "The Roosevelt Myth" (1948/rev 1956). This latter book utterly demolishes FDR and his four terms of office, like a fast freight train hitting a stalled pickup truck. "The Roosevelt Myth" should be required reading in every US history course. No, that is not quite right. What I really mean is that the legend of FDR the Great President and Wartime Leader cannot co-exist in any universe in which a single copy of "The Roosevelt Myth" remains unburned.

John T. Flynn -- a forgotten master from a different era.

John T Flynn was a business journalist who originally covered graft and Wall Street scandals in the 1920s and 1930s. Originally a supporter of Roosevelt, he came to believe the New Deal's compulsory cartels under the NRA was a betrayal of traditional 'trust busting' liberalism. He saw FDR's massive reliance on public borrowing and deficit spending, rather than fiscal reform, was dangerous. A former Nye Committee investigator, Flynn was involved in Nye's exposure of the role major banks and munitions makers played in President Wilson's march to war in 1918. Flynn believed the failure of the New Deal to bring jobs would see FDR turn to military spending as an economic cure. When this prediction eventuated, Flynn became a leading spokesman for the America First Committee. After the war, wrote one of the first exposes arguing FDR had prior knowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack. Flynn stayed a committed "isolationist" after the war, believing the same pattern of was re-emerging in the then new Cold War.

This book was written in 1944. I read the 1973 reprint "Free Life" edition of the book. It includes an excellent preface essay by Ronald Radosh summarising Flynn's life and work and placing his ideas in a broader context. Radosh compares Flynn's analysis to that of Indian / British communist writer R. Palme Dutt whose "Fascism and Social Revolution: A Study of the Economics and Politics of the Extreme Stages of Capitalism in Decay" provides something of an interesting "odd couple" pairing.

"As We Go Marching" provides an analysis of fascism that looks beyond the biographies of Mussolini and Hitler, and even the histories of the fascist and nazi parties. Flynn is interested in the political economy roots of fascism. This he locates in the economic crisis, but he goes beyond the depression, into the on-going political and economic crises of his subject states.

This is really two books in one. Flynn provides a background to the development of fascism in Italy and Germany and then looks as fascistic trends in the US during the war and pre-war periods. If Flynn had excluded the US chapters his well written book would have been more broadly acknowledged as a dissection of the roots of nazism. His American chapters however are what make the book controversial, especially as most (but not all) of the faults he identifies are rooted in the New Deal. Has he left the American material out he would probably have had a wider audience. Thankfully he didn't. But even the most one eyed liberal reader will find something to appreciate in his non-American sections.

Flynn shows how non-fascist politicians paved the way for fascist and nazi rule in Italy and Germany. The Weimar Constitution, with it's dictatorial Article 48 provision, exploited opportunistically by non-authoritarian politicians, was a time bomb waiting to explode. In both countries, it was non-fascist leaders, opportunists dealing with crises, paved the way for later dictators. They did so by building centralised emergency administrations and autarchic economic policies, all in the name of rational economic planning. They fostered syndicalism and corporatism, these tended in time to blur and the top down government element grew. They generated massive cycles of public spending and public debt. Debt and the growing cost of servicing it generated opposition from the saving, investing and taxpaying classes. Both Mussolin and Hitler were opportunists who felt unconstrained by tradition, ethics and even their own parties' platform. In order to win and maintain support from debt burdened taxpayers, they found militarism the path of least resistance, and the form of public spending least likely to alienate the savers. And to keep militarism alive they needed infusions of imperialism.

Flynn walks through this process in both Italy and Germany and highlights similar steps then being taken in the USA. Flynn's journalistic experience shines through and his writing is clear and argument logical. Some of his writing in the section dealing with America's turn-of-the-century experience with imperialism in the Philippines and Cuba is superb. Indeed Flynn's discussion of the linkages between depression, debt, militarism and war, what would later be called "military Keynesianism", is some of the best written.

A major weakness in Flynn's argument is his lack of any discussion of what causes economic crises that play such a prominent role in his book. He is more interested in how politicians and political systems react to depression than what causes it.

Another weakness, by focusing on the foundations of fascism he dismisses too lightly some of the 'superstructure', namely the fuehrer prinzip, antisemitism and alike. Flynn sees these almost as 'optional extras' for a fascist state not the real meat. This may be true, but these are of course, some of the most unpleasant and inhumane aspects of the whole system. Without them, as Flynn himself notes, many firm anti-fascists would be quite happy under fascism. My suggestion is that a quick peek at Peter Viereck's discussion of some of the 'spiritual' and romantic aspects of the Nazism to fill in the gaps.

How then do Flynn's arguments stand up looking back sixty years later? Although America isn't quite the great republic it was, the US certainly didn't end up like Mussolini's Italy, let alone Hitler's Germany.

If anything, subsequent research, particularly by historian Henry Ashby Turner, has shown that, in Germany at least, big business was probably not as supportive of Hitler as Flynn, and conventional wisdom ever since, imagined. And both the corporatism and economic planning of both Italy and Germany was probably more shambolic than their friends, foes and Flynn ever imagined. So, again, maybe superstructure is more important than Flynn's foundations.

Flynn believed the US would pursue national economic planning after the war. The postwar planning fashion attracted the critique of Hayek whose "Road To Serfdom" provides something of a distant cousin to Flynn's book. Flynn believed economic planning would necessitate, if not outright economic autarchy, at least international coordination between the major corporatist nations. The New Deal planners around Dr Alven Hansen, who headed FDR's personal planning think tank, were definitely thinking along these lines. The post-war planning push was however defeated and Truman's postwar demobilisation was probably more extreme than the New Deal planners wanted. The resulting postwar boom took much of the wind out of the sails of the economic planners. Was this enough to stop the beat of the marching drums?

To a certain extent, no. By the time Eisenhower left office the 'military industrial complex' had grown to be a sufficient concern to warrant his Farewell Address warning. Flynn's fellow WW2 isolationist Lawrence Dennis noted that US military spending in the 1950s in terms of GNP percentages exceeded Nazi Germany's prior to WW2. The US ultimately didn't adopt planning, but it did embrace it "lite" as keynesianism via the Full Employment Act. So without full national planning there was no need for autarchy, or Fynn's internationally co-ordinated corporatist autarchies.

But there was Breton Woods and the push for a new dollar based world monetary system and the birth of the so-called "free trade" regime. This has evolved into today's "Washington consensus". Instead of the unilateral removal of import restrictions as advocated by Adam Smith, "free trade" has now been reinvented a series of internationally negotiated agreements. It is now forgotten, but the Truman originally wanted a UN International Trade Organisation (the forerunner to today's WTO) but due to conservative opposition could only obtain a GATT. GATT, ITO, WTO or NAFTA are probably more accurately described as "mutually assured protectionism", or "mercantilism lite". So maybe Flynn was partly right here.

Militarism and 'imperialism' have certainly progressed since Flynn's day and executive power has risen to the point where "the Imperial Presidency" is now a reality not a nightmare. I doubt whether Flynn would have imagined Truman waging a major war without Congress vote, or Nixon's and LBJ's "secret wars" (presumably the enemy knew). Or Bush's organizing of illegal mass surveillance at home and rendition and Cuban Gitmos, thus placing his policies and agents, beyond the clutches of US law.

Still, thankfully, there do seem to be barriers, however thin, between our current predicament and Flynn's fascist future. The press, law and parliamentary practice, despite real failings, have not exactly rolled over and played dead. One party rule is still a long way off. And despite the slow ratcheting upwards of government spending, the market economy has managed to outrun the worst of the assaults of depression, corporatism and the wannabe economic planners. Whether what remains of these institutions can do so forever remains to be seen.

_As We Go Marching_ by John T. Flynn, first published in 1944 during the Second World War, and reprinted in The Right Wing Individualist Tradition in America series, is an attempt to come to grips with fascism by an opponent of the New Deal and a non-interventionist. Flynn, who began his career as a proponent of progressive economic policies, came to oppose Roosevelt's New Deal policies and the entry of the United States into the Second World War. In this book, Flynn predicts how these policies are leading in the direction of increasing militarism, socialism, and eventually totalitarianism and fascism. Flynn's understanding of fascism is in economic terms, an attempt to overturn the capitalist system through state borrowing and continued militarism (i.e. the state sanctioned continuation of perpetual revolution) and corporativism. While Flynn recognizes the defects in the capitalist system, particularly those that have led to the coming crisis, he believes that this system is far superior to that of fascism in which individual liberties are trampled upon. In this sense, Flynn may be seen as an advocate for classical liberalism against government intervention and the debt based economy.

This book traces the history of fascism as it developed in Italy and Germany and then turns its attention to the United States, where Flynn sees a creeping fascism. Against those who argue that "it cannot happen here" or who point to the various pro-German or outright Nazi groups in America at the time as the only fascist threat, Flynn argues that the fundamental basis for the totalitarian state is already established and that all that remains is for the President to claim for himself absolute power. Flynn begins by tracing the origins of fascism in the Italian state under Mussolini. In particular, he shows the conflicts that arose between various socialist groups who sought to abolish the capitalist system and conservative groups. While conservative groups often represented a reaction of the most heavily taxed, it became apparent that while they would not support the growth of public welfare projects that they would support an increase in militarism. In particular, militarism became a means to achieve full employment. In addition, rather than trying to achieve a balanced budget, the government became based upon a system of tax and borrow and spend. Another important point to note is the growth of syndicalism as a viable alternative to socialism. While socialism had sought for the state to seize control of the means of production, being little more than "state capitalism", syndicalism proposed the alternative that the means of production should actually be controlled by the workers themselves and the state composed of worker's counsels. The theory of syndicalism was advocated by Georges Sorel as the alternative to socialism and as an answer to the crisis in capitalism and was taken up by the young Mussolini. Indeed, Mussolini's system came to make use of syndicalism as well as militarism in its quest to achieve total dominance of the state. This apparent alliance between the forces represented by the far Left and those of the conservative Right was achieved under Mussolini who continued to tax, borrow, and spend his way to dominance. Flynn also turns his attention to Hitler's Germany. In much the same way, the economic system of Hitler's Germany can be understood. The new breed of economists came to deny the importance of a balanced budget while at the same time claiming that the debt was unimportant as an attempted cure for the depression. In particular, it must be noted that Germany's economy had been crippled because of reparations owed for the First World War. It was the Treaty of Versailles which Hitler came to use as a strong point which he rallied against. A second important point to note is the role of militarism (conscription even during peacetime) and imperialism as part of Hitler's fascism. These components along with the absolute rule of the dictator allowed for the creation of fascism in Hitler's Germany. Following this discussion, Flynn turns his attention to the most controversial component of his thesis. This is the rise of fascism in America brought about by similar forces and a debt based economy with a government operating on the principles of tax, borrow, and spend. In particular, Flynn shows how the executive branch has subtly usurped the powers of Congress allowing for the rise of a potential dictatorship. Flynn also shows how militarism, the draft, and American imperialism have made for a particularly dangerous concoction especially in light of the growing absolute powers of the executive. Flynn shows how Anglo-Saxon imperialism shares many of the same racialist underpinnings as fascist imperialism and has come even to reject the Teuton as racially inferior. This difference is particularly striking in light of the entry of the United States into the Second World War. While Flynn calls attention to the presence of pro-German or pro-Nazi forces in America at the time, he believes these do not constitute the greatest fascist threat, which arises from the government itself. In light of these remarks, Flynn ends the book with this chilling warning, "My only purpose is to sound a warning against the dark road upon which we have set our feet as we go marching to the salvation of the world and along which every step we now take leads us farther and farther from the things we want and the things that we cherish." In a time in which the nation again is involved in war, Flynn's warnings are particularly prescient.

John T. Flynn's book titled AS WE GO MARCHING is indeed a classic study of Fascism whatever that political disapproval word means. Flynn's study gives the historical background to late 19th century and early 20th century Italy and German. The book concludes with the U.S. political and economic schemes before, during, and after World War I. Flynn also compares U.S. economic planning and control with that of "Fascist" Italy and Germany.

Flynn introduces readers to the economic realities in the second half of the 19th. century in Italy and Germany. A good point is the fact that deficit spending, protectionism, and economic classifications originated in 19th. century and were not new to rise of Fascism. Flynn provides "chatper-and-verse" statistics of the Italians and German budgets prior to World War I. Flynn's economic analysis is connected with the political changes that occured in these two countries. Flynn cites the "Classical Liberals" and their political allies who preached limited government and balanced budgets but voted for deficits and expanded military budgets.

Flynn patiently explains the rise of Mussolini and Hitler. These two political dictators did not rise to power through luck or what some consider gangsterism. Both Mussolini and Hitler got power due to the political climate and laws that were enacted in Italy and Germany in the late 19th. and early 20th. century. Given the legal and political conditions, both Mussolini and Hitler rose to power via quite legal means. The naive view that they used gangster tactics disintegrates when exposed to reality. Flynn is very clear on this point in pages 149-153.

Flynn then compares the political and economic problems with the background to the U.S. New Deal and the economic schemes that were enacted as part of the New Deal. Flynn makes the remark that the New Deal was not new at all, and FDR'S "Brain Trust" merely emulated their German and Italian counterparts. The New Dealers created government corporations, and Fascist Italy was known as The Coporate State. The tax and budget plans of Germany were adopted in by the New Dealers. The Italian and German "Fascists" resorted to borrowing and deficit spending when taxes were too high. The New Dealers did the same. The late A.J.P. Taylor made an interesting remark in his book titled THE ORIGINS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR. On page 72 or page 70 in the newer edition of this book, Taylor wrote that Hitler stumbled on the economics of full employment exactly as FDR did. The only difference is that the German New Deal worked better and did indeed eliminate unemployment.

Those in the U.S. who equate Fascism with militarism should look in the mirror. Flynn argued that military expendatures were part of the economic plans in German and Italy. Had Flynn had access to Burton Klein's book titled GERMANY'S ECONOMIC PREPARATIONS FOR WAR, he would have altered his views. Klein cites German and U.S. documents ( not hysteria)to clearly prove that the British and French spend more for guns and munitions than the Germans. The record of the U.S. during World War II until the present dwarfs anything the Germans did prior to and during World War II.

Flynn made brief comment of the terrribly dislocations in Europe after Wrold War I. He should have placed more emphasis on these tragic times which would explain why powerful political leaders labeled Fascists got power. These Fascists got power due to mass support during desparate times.

Flynn's book AS WE GO MARCHING is well worth reading. Those interested should also read Lawrence Dennis' THE DYNAMICS OF WAR AND REVOLUTION and John Maynard Keynes' THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF PEACE. A solid study of the German economy before and during World War II is Burton Klein's book titled GERMAN'S ECONOMIC PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. Another interesting aspect is the comment Keynes made in his German edition of THE GENERAL THEORY in which he stated that his economic theories were more suited to Totalitarian systems than those of laissez-faire. This can be found in James J. Martins' book titled REVISIONIST VIEWPOINTS. A careful reading of Flynn's book plus the others cited above introduces readers to serious political realities and honest history.