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Business nationalism is aneconomic nationalist ideology held by a sector of the political right in the United States.[1]
Business nationalists areconservative business and industrial leaders who favor aprotectionist trade policy and anisolationist foreign policy. Locked in a power struggle withcorporate international interests, business nationalists often usepopulist rhetoric andanti-elitist rhetoric to build a broader base of support in themiddle class andworking class.[1]
In the past, business nationalism has also been the main sector in the US from which radicalanti-communism andunion busting has emerged. There have also been sectors of business nationalism, particularly the leadership of theNazi Party in Germany, andFascism in general, that have promoted theRed Scares,nativism, and allegations ofJewish banking conspiracies.[1]
Ultraconservative business and industrial leaders who felt that theNew Deal implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936 was proof of a sinister alliance by internationalfinance capital andcommunist-controlledlabor unions to destroyfree enterprise became known as "business nationalists".[2][3]
In the middle of the 1930s,Gerald L. K. Smith carried the banner for business nationalists, many of themisolationists who would later oppose the entry of the United States intoWorld War II. Smith received public and financial support from wealthy businessmen who were concentrated in "nationalist-oriented industries".
These included the heads ofnational oil companiesQuaker State,Pennzoil, andKendall Refining; automakersHenry Ford,John Francis Dodge, andHorace Elgin Dodge. Business nationalists who networked with other ultra-conservatives includedJ. Howard Pew, president ofSun Oil, and William B. Bell, president of the chemical companyAmerican Cyanamid.[4]
Pew and Bell served on the executive committee of theNational Association of Manufacturers. Pew also funded theAmerican Liberty League (1934–1940),Sentinels of the Republic, and other groups that flirted withfascism prior to World War II. After World War II Pew fundedconservative Christianevangelicals such as ReverendBilly Graham.[4]
TheJohn Birch Society, founded in 1959, incorporated many themes from pre-World War II right-wing groups opposed to the New Deal and had its base in business nationalist circles. The society heavily disseminated an ultraconservative business nationalist critique ofcorporate internationalists networked through groups such as theCouncil on Foreign Relations.[1][5]
As of 2007[update] business nationalism was represented by ultraconservative political figures such asPat Buchanan.[4]
According toprogressive scholar Mark Rupert, the right-winganti-globalist worldview of business nationalists "envisions a world in whichAmericans are uniquely privileged, inheritors of a divinely inspired socio-political order which must at all costs be defended against external intrusions and internal subversion.”
Rupert argues that thisreactionary analysis seeks to challengecorporate power without comprehending the nature of "capital concentration and the transnationalsocialization of production." The reactionary analysis absent this understanding breedssocial alienation and intensifies "scapegoating and hostility toward those seen as outside of, different or dissenting from its vision of national identity." As alienation builds, more overtlyfascistic forces will attempt to pull some of these angry people into an ideological framework that further justifies thedemonization of the chosen "Other."[1]
Investigative reporterChip Berlet argues:
When populist consumer groups, such as those led byRalph Nader, forge uncritical alliances with business nationalists to rally againstGATT andNAFTA, an opportunity emerges for the anti-elite rhetoric of right-wing populism to piggyback onto a legitimate progressive critique. Why is this a problem? Business nationalism carries with it its right-wing baggage.Pat Buchanan’s rhetoric is an example of this baggage. His racist, antisemitic and xenophobic inclinations reflect business nationalism's right-wing national chauvinism. At the core of the right wing, populism is the "producerist narrative" where the main scapegoats are people of color, especially Blacks. This narrative diverts attention from the White supremacist subtext. It uses coded language to mobilize resentment against people of color through attacks on issues immediately relevant to them, such as welfare, immigration, tax, or education policies. Women, gay men and lesbians, abortion providers, youth, students, and environmentalists are also frequently scapegoated in this manner.[1]
Ultraconservative business and industrial leaders 'saw the New Deal as proof of a sinister alliance between international finance capital and communist-controlled working-class organisations to destroy free enterprise.' [...] This sector of the U.S. political Right became known as 'business nationalists[...]' [...].
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