Clifton D’Rozario (CPIML Liberation, India): Understanding the rise of the global far right

There is no denying the far right has emerged as a formidable political force around the world. Take the June European parliamentary elections, where France’s National Rally, the Brothers of Italy and Alternative for Germany all performed well. The far right ended up as the second-largest bloc in the European parliament, leading Dutch politician Geert Wilders to declare after the surprise victory of his hard right anti-immigrant party in the Netherlands: “The genie is out of the bottle”.

But the rise of the far right is hardly a phenomenon exclusive to Europe. It has emerged as a strong and resurgent political force in several democracies around the world. See for example the victory of Javier Milei in Argentina and the inroads made by right-wing populists in Chile, Paraguay and El Salvador. Meanwhile, Donald Trump looks likely to return to power in the United States and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is back — although his mandate has been diminished, it does not change the fact that Modi’ right-wing political party is enjoying power for a third straight term.

This worldwide rightward shift is occurring in the context of global neoliberalism, where capital — in the face of recurrent crises — is on the offensive. Neoliberalism has seen economic policies decimate the welfare state and workers’ rights, the wholesome transfer of people’s money to corporations in the name of tax breaks and bail-outs, the privatisation of natural resources and other assets, etc.

It has spurred an unconscionable rise in social and economic inequality and unprecedented poverty, presided over the decimation of the working class and peasantry, fueled the exploitation of natural resources and climate change, and, importantly, curtailed democracy. This global environment — fertile ground for the emergence of fascist regimes — makes international opposition at the level of states to Modi and his ilk unlikely. Rather, there is mutual collaboration and legitimation. Economic liberalism paved the way for the far right. 

This far right preys on people’s insecurities and disillusionment while whipping up mass frenzy against perceived internal enemies who are portrayed as threats to the state, nation, civilisation, culture and even notions of public order and public health. This leads to war, xenophobia, Islamophobia, right-wing consolidation and the thorough undermining of bourgeois democracy.

Common features and attributes

What one refers to as the far right spans from anti-democratic regimes to fascism and extreme right nativist parties. Each state has its own peculiar material conditions that have bred particular forms of far right politics. That means each regime has its own specificity and intensity.

That said, there are some common features that appear to varying degrees in far right regimes, such as populism, nationalism, authoritarianism, majoritarianism and nativism. By populism we mean the mobilisation of disgruntled people against elites by providing a commonality based on holding “those above” responsible for people’s grievances. Modi does this, Trump too.

Nationalism is the bedrock of most populists: a nationalism born out of nativism, with the belief that the interests of the “native-born” must have absolute priority over others on the grounds that the former are natives. Of course, the category of “native” comes with the erasure of past and present indigenous populations: Native Americans in the US, Adivasis in India, First Nations in Australia, etc. This is normally combined with anti-multiculturalism and the belief that the nation’s “people” and culture can only be singular, requiring a relentless pursuit against pluralism and diversity. Alongside these aspects are other characteristics: climate change denial, anti-genderism, historical revisionism and intense Islamophobia.

But there are three common and unmistakable characteristics:

1. Brazen defence and shoring up of capitalism and private property by wedding religious/ethnic fascism with economic liberalism. What we are seeing is, in effect, a corporate takeover of the state and consolidation of the ruling classes that will not tolerate any dissent. This is a class project predominantly supported by the upper class but which recruits sections of the lower classes as foot soldiers in its counterrevolution.
2. Categorical rejection of democracy and the general principles on which democracy is premised: freedom to dissent, free and fair elections, rights for minorities, free media, etc.
3. Built on the strength of consistent mobilisation of public consensus for its ideology and through street mobilisations.

Understanding fascism in India

Modi's BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party or Indian People's Party) retained power in the 2024 general elections, despite a worse result than in 2019. This was the most unequal elections in India to date, conducted by an election commission that could not care less for its constitutional responsibilities and accountability, and behaved as an extension of the executive.

Under attack, the opposition belatedly came together as the INDIA alliance. It lacked the kind of cohesion, clarity and dynamism demanded by the situation, yet the people made it work, using INDIA as a vehicle to channel their energy against the rampaging fascist bulldozer. Beyond the INDIA coalition, the elections became a grassroots people’s movement supported by committed civil society activists and a highly effective and dedicated community of digital warriors.

The 2024 elections will be remembered as producing a truly historic verdict at a very critical juncture of modern India. India heaved a huge sigh of relief when the BJP lost its outright majority. The battle to deliver a more crushing defeat must now be carried on with greater unity, courage and determination to rein in the executive, restore the constitutional rule of law and undo the damage done to India's social fabric and federal framework.

To understand the present fascist regime in India, one must understand the role of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, National Volunteer Association), a Hindu supremacist organisation founded in 1925. Its primary objective is making India a religious (Hindu) majoritarian state. It has affiliate organisations working among all sections of society — students, women, workers, Adivasis, Dalits, farmers, advocates, etc — to build acceptance and propagate its ideology. It has been accumulating power over its nearly century-long existence through relentless campaigns of hate, lies and rumours, and by penetrating an entire range of key institutions.

The decisive victory by the Sangha Parivar [referring to the collection of Hindu nationalist front organisations affiliated to the RSS, including the BJP] in the 2014 election was the result of mobilising more and more sections of society and filling a political vacuum. It retained power with an even bigger victory in 2019, which saw Modi 2.0 hurtle at break-neck speed to implement his core economic and communal agenda. Without doubt, the international climate of neoliberalism and Islamophobia has facilitated Modi’s growth.

The end product is a Hindu majoritarian state marked by unabashed crony capitalism, subservience to imperialism, aggressive majoritarianism, the dismantling of the Constitution and democracy, relentless persecution of any ideological dissent, concerted attacks on the working class, and the privatisation of violence — especially against Muslims, Christians and Dalits — to Hindu supremacist organisations alongside increased caste and patriarchal aggression. What was once a fringe philosophy for decades is now the mainstream.

Ideological parallels

In some cases, far right forces inspire and shape each other’s politics. Parallels can be drawn, for example, between the ideologies and policies of Hindutva [Hindu supremacism] and Zionism.

The ideas Theodar Herzl put forward in his 1896 book The Jewish State became popular by the 1920s. With the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the British government made public its support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. Around the same time, key ideologue Vinayak Savarkar coined the term Hindutva in 1922. Savarkar did not hide the fact that he saw Zionism as an ethno-nationalist parallel whose ideology was built on similar foundations: racial supremacy, politicisation of religion, and the idea that a nation can be built on a singular identity.

Savarkar claimed:

If the Zionists’ dreams are ever realised — if Palestine becomes a Jewish state — it will gladden us almost as much as our Jewish friends.

He also argued:

If tomorrow there breaks out a war between Pakistan and Bharat, almost all Muslims will be arrayed on the side of Pakistan in opposition to us, and their enemy Israel will be our only friend. Therefore, I say that Bharat should give unequivocal recognition to Israel.

Many thinkers have pointed to the irony inherent in comparing Savarkar and Herzl, considering that Savarkar and other Hindutva ideologues were known admirers of European fascism and openly expressed admiration for Nazi ideology and methods.

Another RSS ideologue, Dr. B.S. Moonje, made explicit its connection with rising fascism in Europe when he visited Italy in March 1931 to meet Benito Mussolini and tour various fascist institutions in Rome, including the Balilla (Mussolini’s youth organisation), about which he wrote:

The Balilla institutions and the conception of the whole organization have appealed to me most, though there is still not discipline and organization of high order. The whole idea is conceived by Mussolini for the military regeneration of Italy. Italians, by nature, appear ease–loving and non–martial, like the Indians generally. They have cultivated, like Indians, the work of peace and neglected the cultivation of the art of war. Mussolini saw the essential weakness of his country and conceived the idea of the Balilla organization. ... Nothing better could have been conceived for the military organization of Italy.

In 1940, RSS supremo Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar advocated the notion of Hindu national resurgence and argued Hindus must unite to combat the threats posed to Indian culture by foreigners, especially Muslims and Christians. Golwalkar openly admired Nazi Germany’s efforts to “cleanse” itself of unwanted ethnic minorities:

To keep up the purity of the Race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic races — the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for Races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by.

Today, when we say fascism in India has found a role model in Israel, it comes from this deeper ideological similarities between Hindutva and Zionism.

Fighting back

Even as far right politics proliferate, people are waging a historic battle around the world. In India, fascism is not just being fought in the electoral arena; it is also being confronted on the streets.

Since 2014, we have witnessed a huge people’s upsurge. Modi’s pro-corporate farm laws were met with determined struggle and the unity of farmer groups. A year-long encampment on the outskirts of Delhi compelled the government to withdraw the laws. The communal Citizenship Amendment Act saw the mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy people. Students and workers fought pitched battles against Modi’s anti-people policies. These struggles created the atmosphere for a united front on the electoral front.

Now we need to go further. The battle for democracy against fascist forces in India encapsulates the struggle against feudal remnants, the battle for annihilation of caste and gender equality, and the struggle for ending religious fundamentalism and communalism, all of which remain a stumbling block to a thorough democratisation of society. The political and economic struggle for democracy against capitalism forms the other plank for democratisation that can forge a unity of the masses.

[Former CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary] Vinod Mishra rightly declared that the basic challenge facing Marxists today is to explore the broadest form of proletarian democracy — beyond the limits of parliamentary democracy — so that the inevitable defeat of world capitalism is the victory of both socialism and democracy. For this the proletariat cannot, as Lenin said, “pin its faith in general democratic slogans but must contrapose to them its own proletarian-democratic slogans in their full scope”.

This article is based on Clifton D’Rozario’s presentation to Ecosocialism 2024. D’Rozario is a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation and is involved in the campaign to unionise and fight for the conditions of Dalit sanitation workers in Karnataka state.