Liberal financial powers welcomed fascism as a tool for subjugating labor

Evidence

When it came to dealing with Mussolini and Fascist Italy, the liberal axis of Britain and the United States constructed a practical dissonance: they looked past the country’s unsavory politics, which aft er 1922 were grounded in statesponsored political violence, while taking advantage of the opportunities in Italy’s stabilized economy. To the liberal fi nancial establishment, a country with revolutionary fervor like Italy’s required a strong state to reinstate order; that Italy veered all the way to an authoritarian state would just accelerate the subjugation of a radicalized working class to austerity. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 70

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s modern austerity thread — echoes of how Western finance tolerates authoritarian regimes that impose fiscal discipline. — connects to: Early liberal revival figures had financial ties to fascist movements — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 276; Anglo-American financial acceptance was crucial for Fascist consolidation — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1425; Fascism emerges organically from liberalism within a single capitalist social order — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 403 (+2 more)
• SEED: Angle: the liberal tolerance of fascist violence when it serves fiscal goals as a template for reading contemporary finance’s posture toward illiberal regimes.

Broader Connections

• Early liberal revival figures had financial ties to fascist movements #corroborates (0.95) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 276
• Anglo-American financial acceptance was crucial for Fascist consolidation #expands (0.90) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1425
• Liberal governments voluntarily ceded power to Mussolini rather than face a capitalist crisis #corroborates (0.90) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 354
• Liberal austerity and fascist repression converged in a shared coercive project #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1070
• Fascism emerges organically from liberalism within a single capitalist social order #expands (0.80) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 403