Fascism and Political Expedience

"What we need right now is a clear message to the people of this country. This message must be read in every newspaper, heard on every radio, seen on every television. I want everyone to remember why they need us!"
--Sutler (V for Vendetta)

Interesting proposition here that politicians will generally prefer fascism (i.e., government control but not necessarily ownership over means of productive capacity) over socialism (i.e., outright government ownership of productive capacity). The idea is that by not owning assets outright, politicians can lay off blame for problems on the so called private sector.

Of course, it can be argued, as Hayek did, that there is little difference between socialism and fascism in reality. In fact, fascism is really a flavor of socialism. Ownership is about who has decision rights to dispose of property. If government controls production, then government effectively owns it.

Nevertheless, the proposition helps explain why we tend to see socialism expressed in fascist forms more than in communist forms. Fascism can be a politically expedient choice.