Producerism sees society's strength "drained from both ends," from the top by the machinations of globalized "financial capital" and the large, politcally-connected corporations which together conspire to restrict free enterprise, avoid taxes and destroy the fortunes of the honest businessman, and from the bottom by members of the underclass whose reliance on welfare and government benefits drains the treasury. Critics of producerism see this analysis of the poltical economy as easily leading to Anti-Semitic and/or Racist conclusions, as Jews are often associated with finance and other minorities with the abuse of public generosity. But most supporters of producerism do not identify as racist or antisemitic, and denounce such charges as Ad hominem attacks.
Despite this, anti-immigration rhetoric is central to modern Producerism. Immigrants are viewed as a threat to the prosperity of the middle class, a drain on social services, and as a vanguard of globalization that threatens to destroy national identities.
In the United States, Producerists are distrustful of both major political parties. The Republican Party is rejected for its support of corrupt "Big Business" and the Democratic Party for its advocacy of the unproductive poor. The Reform Party of the United States of America is seen by many as the only organized party that furthers the Producerist cause.
Producerism is sympathetic to the idea that labor is an end in itself, inherently ennobling, and thus should be protected at least to some extent from the chaotic forces of consumer choice and market competition. In some Commonwealth countries, this position is used as an abstract definition of Producerism, which is then held as the opposite of an abstract Consumerism, the position that the free choice of the consumer should dictate the economic activity of a society. In other parts of the world, especially the United States, such a clear-cut definition is not feasible.
Early Producerism, if it can be called such, was abolitionist not on moral grounds but because slaves depressed the wages of free working men. Thus its sentiment was not to grant blacks rights and citizenship but rather to send them back to Africa or grant them an independent nation in the tropics. The racism that some see as inherent in Producerism perhaps has its genesis here - in the perception of not only the Plantation Economy but the "Negro" himself as a threat to the prosperity of the independent white worker or small businessman. In the 1840s and 1850s, this economic, as opposed to ethical, abolitionism found expression in the nativist Know-Nothing Party, which has been cited as the ancestor of modern Producerism.
While such theories remain speculative, most historians would agree that by the time of the Guilded Age and the candidacy of William Jennings Bryan Producerist currents are clearly visible in American society. Bryan's synthesis of leftist economic programs with the religious Fundamentalism has had a lasting, perhaps defining, influence on the ideology.
Despite its long historical legacy, the idea of Producerism as a defined political position outside of the common left-right axis only began to attract serious interst in the 1980s, when the dual concerns of foreign competition and domestic decay began to radicalize culturally conventional Americans, attracting the interest (and concern) of academia, which then sought out the roots of the phenomenon in 19th-century Populism or even 18th-century rural unrest.
Even at the present time there are very few politicians and commentators who define themselves as Producerist or anti-Producerist, and among those in the general public who would be sympathetic to a Producerist program or political party only a vanishingly small percentage are even aware of the term. This low level of ideological consciousness results, at least in part, from the fact that almost by definition Producerism lacks advocates at the elite level, and as a consequence it has not been able to summon the intellectual forces necessary to codify and propagate its tenents. Furthermore, Producerism has no primordial icon, no Marx or Adam Smith to rally around and give the movement a solid identity.
Therefore it is difficult to say exactly what Producerism is beyond the broad themes of nationalism, Protectionism, and opposition to the Welfare State and Immigration. Some historians use the term as a synonym for the right wing or rural elements of a form of populism peculiar to late 19th-century America, and as a result do not consider any modern or non-American movements as Producerist. Others, however, define Producerism as a thoroughly recent position that arose in numerous Western countries in reaction to the combined stresses of the liberal Big Government trend that followed the Second World War and the Globalization of recent decades, while recognizing that it drew on earlier sentiments.
There are points of contact between Producerism and Fascism as well: Producerism is closely associated with highly nationalistic right-wing thematics championing the traditional values of the "common man" against a morally corrupt and traitorous elite and, like fascism, it supports strong State intervention in the economy as necessary to preserve national strength and identity. The openly racist thinking that exists in certain Producerist circles is another similarity.
However, Producerism, especially in its American incarnation, also holds to an idealization of the "rugged individual" and a sense of freedom and self-determination that would be antithetical to any conventional conception of fascism or Marxism.
However, it would be a mistake to equate Producerism with a religious worldview. Its emphasis on economics, labor and class distinctions embues it with a materialism not entirely compatible with a purely spiritual outlook.
The domestic innovators and patriotic industrialists such as Henry Ford, Lee Iacocca and Sam Walton are the heroes in this view of the business world, while the cost-cutting CEOs and unaccountable financiers are the villains. Free trade is held to be a conspiracy either of a foreign nation or nations secretly aligned against the Producerist's country, or a plot by shadowy "internationalist" elements. This latter strain of thought is more associated with Anti-Semitic and conspiracist thinking than the former. As an example, for moderate American Producerists, the threat is China. For the extremists, it is Israel and the Freemasons.
Figures who have been called Producerist or associated with Producerism, although they may not use the term to describe themselves, include Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan. Some have associated Producerism with the wider phenomenon of the Radical middle, but such comparisons remain controversial. In general, it can be said that the average Producerist tends more towards Nationalism, conspiracist thinking and Anti-globalization than does the typical member of the Radical Middle.
Perhaps a more salient distinction is this: The Radical Middle is of the opinion that "government doesn't work" and must be overhauled, that is, government is well-intentioned but dysfunctional. Producerism believes government as currently constituted is ill-intentioned but quite functional - actively advancing the interests of international capital and the servile underclass it manipulates for the votes it needs to stay in power.
Opposing
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