Bryan Caplan came across his old review of A. James Gregor’s The Faces of Janus: Marxism and Fascism in the Twentieth Century and shares some highlights:
Gregor provides an elegant and thoughtful history of what one might uncharitably term the “Big Lie” of Marxism: That it is diametrically opposed to the theory and practice of fascist dictatorship. In this work, he probably does more than anyone else to show that mutual hostility of fascist and Marxism movements has always primarily been a case of the orthodox hating the heretic more than the infidel.Gregor begins his account by summarizing his major findings on Mussolini’s apostasy from orthodox Marxism. As Gregor’s earlier work shows, Mussolini’s fascism kept much of the basic Marxist outlook intact, but fiercely rejected its internationalism. It would be “better politics” to unite all social classes within a nation for struggle against rival nations. In response, orthodox Marxists throughout Europe joined together not to critique Mussolini’s arguments, but to impugn the integrity of any socialist wicked enough to buy into them.
The mutual hostility of fascist and Marxism movements has always primarily been a case of the orthodox hating the heretic more than the infidel.