Corporatism

Not to be confused with Corporatocracy.

"First and foremost, the State and every good citizen ought to look to and strive toward this end: that the conflict between the hostile classes be abolished and harmonious cooperation of the Industries and Professions be encouraged and promoted — Attention must be given also to another matter that is closely connected with the foregoing. Just as the unity of human society cannot be founded on an opposition of classes, so also the right ordering of economic life cannot be left to a free competition of forces. For from this source, as from a poisoned spring, have originated and spread all the errors of individualist economic teaching."

Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno

Corporatism is an economically third position, authoritarian ideology that advocates for the organization of society into specialized employment sectors, such as agriculture, military, engineering and others, referred to as "corporations". In its general sense, corporatism is built on the foundation of Nationalism. It advocates coordinating social conflicts through state-sanctioned monopolistic social organizations (such as trade associations and labor unions), and integrating fragmented interest demands into the national decision-making system. A "hierarchical and non-competitive" partnership is formed between the state and social organizations: while the latter have the right to provide advice in policy-making, they must subordinate themselves to the overall national goals. At the same time, corporatism promotes the official language and suppresses minority cultures through its structural framework, as exemplified by Kemalism in Turkey, Ilminism in South Korea and Xi Jinping Thought in China.

History

Corporatism has to some extent always existed, as its tendencies appear in many authoritarian-leaning states and systems that desire aspects of both a command and market economy. The ideology as a proper concept began with writings commissioned by Pope Leo XIII in 1881, attempting to resurrect the social and economic situation of " guild based socialism." Corporatism was also created to some extent to avoid and suppress the Marxist concept of class conflict and replace it with class collaboration. Seeking for the state to mediate conflicts between individual firms, employees, and economic sectors (corporations) in order to maximize economic efficiency and social harmony. Corporatism has been popular in many Reactionary and non-Capitalistic right-wing circles, as it functions on a largely collective basis and attempts to stifle over-eager individualism and competitiveness. It was picked up by many former Syndicalists who moved on to the emerging Fascist movement, having a few things in common despite not wishing to abolish the class structure. It was adopted in practice in Fascist Italy and the Regency of Carnaro, in which economic sectors were given representative authority and state-guaranteed powers of negotiation and arbitration. Despite this strong association with fascism, there were also several Social Liberals who advocated for corporatist economics known as Liberal Corporatism, which rejected traditional corporatism's anti-capitalism and authoritarianism, and was influenced by economist John Stuart Mill. This line of thinking was influential in the New Deal era of the United States, and is most prominent today in the Nordic Model. On a theoretical level, corporatism has also been influenced by the writings of Emile Durkheim and Ferdinand Tönnies on solidarity and community.

Beliefs

Statism

Statism is a central tenet within Corporatism. The combination of a strong authoritarian state and a corporatist economic structure is known as Corporate Statism.

Profession-Based Organization

Profession-Based Organization refers to a system in which society, governance, and economic structures are organized around occupational or professional groups rather than traditional political or regional divisions. Individuals are represented politically and economically based on their professions or industries, such as agriculture, manufacturing, engineering and education. Representation occurs through councils, syndicates, or guilds.

Class Collaboration & Anti-Marxism

Class Collaboration is a principle of social organization based upon the belief that the division of society into a hierarchy of social classes is a positive and essential aspect of civilization. This view is directly contrasted with Marxist ideas of class conflict, since class conflict seeks to end the socio-economic classes between the rich and the poor, while class collaboration seeks to mitigate the effects between these different classes. Class collaboration has its vocal supporters from fascists, social democrats, liberals, some socialists and other regulatory ideologies.

Economic Regulationism

Corporatism organizes economic sectors into self-managing representative councils, tasked with regulating their own affairs. The state still plays a significant role in coordinating the economy, particularly in larger, more strategic matters.

Syndicalism

Corporatism views syndicates or guilds as mechanisms for self-regulation within industries. Syndicates can set standards for wages, working conditions, production quality, and ethical practices, reducing the need for excessive state intervention. These bodies are seen as having the expertise and legitimacy to manage their specific sectors effectively, the state plays a supervisory or coordinating role rather than micromanaging every aspect of the economy.

Variants

Christian Corporatism

Christian Corporatism is a version of corporatism applied by Christian democrats and other religious ideologies related to it. Economic application of Christian corporatism has promoted consultations between employers and workers and has sponsored Christian trade unionism.

Corporate Statism

"No individuals or groups (political parties, cultural associations, economic unions, social classes) outside the State. Fascism is therefore opposed to Socialism to which unity within the State (which amalgamates classes into a single economic and ethical reality) is unknown, and which sees in history nothing but the class struggle. Fascism is likewise opposed to trade unionism as a class weapon. But when brought within the orbit of the State, Fascism recognizes the real needs which gave rise to socialism and trade unionism, giving them due weight in the guild or corporative system in which divergent interests are coordinated and harmonized in the unity of the State."

Benito Mussolini

Corporate Statism is the economic structure endorsed by Fascism, which holds the belief that every interest group that forms the state must be integrated into the state structure itself.

Fascism begins its economic principles with a consideration similar to that of the Socialists. It does indeed believe there is a contradiction between labor and capital, but that private property also is a spiritually positive construction that should be preserved, and planned economies fail in terms of eventual resource availability. The solution as seen by Fascism is to put capital under the control of the corporate state, which manifests in a synthesis of syndical composition and Corporate function, that is distinguished and against the conservative and reactionary versions of Corporatism.

Fascism's synthesis of syndicalism and corporatism represents a distinctive approach to organizing society, where labor relations and economic production are integrated into a unified, state-directed system. At the heart of this model lies the belief that the nation must transcend traditional class divisions by incorporating both workers and employers into a coordinated framework that serves the collective interest of the state. Rather than perpetuating antagonistic class struggle, Fascism seeks to harmonize the roles of labor and capital within a corporate structure where all social and economic functions are interconnected, regulated, and controlled by the state.

The system begins with syndicates, which are organized based on specific professions and industries, grouping workers and employers into representative bodies. These syndicates form the foundation of the corporate state, with higher-level federations and confederations that encompass broader sectors of the economy. Corporations, as the most advanced expression of this system, are the key institutional units through which these groups interact. By integrating both workers and employers within a single structure, corporations aim to ensure that the interests of both are aligned under the overarching authority of the state.

Ethically, this corporate structure rejects individualism and class-based conflict, promoting instead a sense of collective duty toward the nation’s well-being and advancement. Work is viewed not only as a personal obligation but as a vital contribution to the national organism. The system seeks to eliminate the divisions between labor and capital by fostering cooperation, guided by the principles of national unity and the national benefit. In this framework, the state plays a central role, regulating economic activity, maintaining social order, and ensuring that production serves the needs and objectives of the nation as a whole. Through this synthesis, Fascism aims to create a harmonious and productive society where economic and social relations are subordinated to the state’s vision of national strength and stability.

The Fascist corporate system aims to transcend class struggle by replacing conflict with class-based negotiation, ensuring that all categories of workers and employers work together for the good of the nation. This system, while drawing on syndicalist principles, ultimately transforms them into a corporatist structure that ties economic functions directly to the State. Through this, Fascism seeks to integrate labor, production, and governance in a harmonious, top-down arrangement that aligns the nation's economic and political interests.

Liberal Corporatism

Liberal corporatism is a liberal version of corporatism that recognizes the bargaining interests of multiple groups within society, such as in the business, labor, and agricultural sectors and licenses them to engage in bargaining over economic policies with the state. This form of corporatism doesn't oppose individualism like a lot of forms of corporatism, which is where the political liberalism comes from, and is an influential component of the progressive movement in the United States since the late 19th century, being referred to as "interest group liberalism". Liberal corporatism is commonly supported by proponents in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.

Neo-Corporatism

Neo-Corporatism is a democratic form of corporatism which favors economic tripartism; strong labor unions, employer's associations, and governments cooperate as "social partners" to manage the economy.

Nordic Model

The Nordic model is a Scandinavian/Nordic variant of social corporatism. It is based upon a comprehensive welfare state and multi level collective bargaining as well as the existence of several SOEs (state owned enterprises) while being decisively non-socialist and often very anti-communist (including authoritarian kinds even more so in Finland).

Polder Model

The Polder model is a variant of corporatism practiced in the Netherlands. It stems from the Dutch word 'polder' which means the tracts of land enclosed by dikes. Each economic sector has product and company boards (Product- en Bedrijfschappen) appointed by representatives of trade unions and employer associations. With oversight by the Social and Economic Council—which since the 1980s has tried to balance liberalization with protecting workers rights—these boards set economic policy, from quality standards to wages.

Progressive Corporatism

Progressive Corporatism is a form of corporatism developed in response to classical liberalism and Marxism. These corporatists supported providing group rights to members of the middle classes and working classes in order to secure cooperation among the classes. This was in opposition to the Marxist conception of class conflict. By the 1870s and 1880s, corporatism experienced a revival in Europe with the creation of workers' unions that were committed to negotiations with employers.

Social Corporatism

Social Corporatism is a form of economic tripartite corporatism based upon a social partnership between the interests of capital and labor, involving collective bargaining between representatives of employers and of labor mediated by the government at the national level. It is considered a compromise to regulate the conflict between capital and labor by mandating them to engage in mutual consultations that are mediated by the government. Social Corporatism often uses State Owned Enterprises for many goods such as alcohol and public utilities like energy, railways and water while allowing private control over most other industries and consumer goods. Historically they have clashed with the more socialist wings of social-democratic parties as they support negotiations between workers and owners as well as keeping industry in the hands of capitalists while making them obey the unions and sectoral bargaining rules. This sets them apart from the more radical socialists who support nationalisation of industry, sometimes without even compensating the capitalists, and workplace democracy while also setting them apart from the more neoliberal elements too as they oppose tax cuts, deregulation and often free trade which undermines trade union strength. There have also been controversies in countries like Sweden recently over many Social Corporatists taking anti-immigrant lines due to companies hiring cheap Polish or Thai workers unoffically in order to dodge sectoral bargaining laws.

Socialist Corporatism

Socialist Corporatism is an economic system that blends a corporatist economic structure with worker ownership of the means of production. Socialist Corporatism prioritizes workplace democracy, granting workers significant influence over production, resource allocation, and labor conditions, and often aims to destroy the employer-worker division within workplace structures, unlike regular Corporatism. Whether it is actually socialist is debatable.

Tripartism

Tripartism is an economic system of Neo-corporatism based on a mixed economy and tripartite contracts between employers organizations, trade unions, and the government of a country. Each is to act as a social partner to create economic policy through cooperation, consultation, negotiation, and compromise. In Tripartism, the government has a large role in the economy and engages in negotiations between labor unions and business interest groups to establish economic policy.

Stylistic Notes

• He isn't Corporatocracy, and he will make sure you know that as well as he does.

How To Draw

Corporatism's emblem design represents a fasces without the axe (a tied bundle of sticks), which is a symbol of corporatist economics tied to their association with fascism.

Flag of Corporatism

1. Draw a ball
2. Draw five long vertical black lines in the middle, making sure they do not reach the edges of the ball
3. Draw two horizontal red lines running through the upper and lower half's of the black lines
4. Add two eyes

You are done!

Color Name		HEX	RGB
	White	#FFFFFF	rgb(255, 255, 255)
	Black	#141414	rgb(20, 20, 20)
	Red	#FF0000	rgb(255, 0, 0)

Relationships

Friends

• Communitarianism - Our society is an organism, and we ought to harmonize the interests of every social class for the common good!
• Paternalistic Conservatism - This I like.
• Technocracy - Also assigns people based on skill. P R O G R E S S.
• Distributism - Fellow traditional economic system. He likes guilds and that's good.
• Integral Nationalism - A good royalist reactionary Catholic friend, tu est splendide.
• Guild Socialism - Corporations and guilds are a lot alike.
• Nationalism - Without my help, you will be nothing.
• Regulationism - The economy is too important as to be left running wild.
• State Capitalism - State owned business and state owned unions make tripartite agreements much easier.
• Syndicalism & National Syndicalism - Unions help balance the worker-owner relationship.
• Catholic Theocracy & Feudalism - I love Thomas Aquinas!
• Reactionary Socialism - I also love Louis de Bonald and Klemens von Metternich.
• Gandhian Socialism - Class collaboration will achieve socialism through crystal-like means.
• Neosocialism - It is good that you wish to technocratically plan the French economy in a class-collaborationist fashion to eventually socialize the economy.
• Cameralism - State-owned economy gang.
• Nordic Model - A decent form of capitalism.
• Gaddafism - Good on you for rejecting Marxism-Leninism and embracing a centrally controlled economy that accepts the need to equalize the proletariat and bourgeoisie.
• Xi Jinping Thought - I like this modern ideology, thanks for helping me get back into the world.
• Fascism - The corporate state will incorporate every 'divergent' interest into the state organically!
• Nazism - The social classes should be harmonized for the common good of the volk!
• New Deal Liberalism - The NRA was the best economic program the US ever had.
• Salazarism - Good Portuguese friend.
• National Movement - Based Hierarchist-Regulationist Pole.

Frenemies

• Social Democracy - Class collaboration within a democratic framework to reform capitalism? If it works...
• Market Socialism - Markets? No hierarchies? Not a life worth living. But he is cool, and my socialist variant sometimes uses you as economics.
• Titoism - You're a communist, but anti-revisionists have accused you of being a class collaborationist. You also provided inspiration to a few of my followers , namely, Juan Velasco Alvarado, Saddam Hussein, and Muammar Gaddafi.
• State Socialism - We have our differences, but I like some of your followers.
• Welfarism - Whatever we can guarantee welfare and other healthcare benefits depends on how successful class collaboration is.
• Kemalism - I like your Solidarism policy that categorizes people by professions and not class. But why didn't you start corporations?
• American Model - You were good for around 50 years before you threw it all away to become this.

Enemies

• Corporatocracy - NOOOO!!! CORPORATISM DOESN'T MEAN I WANT BIG BUSINESSES IN POWER!
• Capitalism - The end goal of capitalism is an atomized anti-cultural society where you are sold corporate products while you slave away in the economy paying for subscription services.
• Libertarianism - Oh for crying out loud, THE PERSON YOU'RE LOOKING FOR IS HIM!
  • - Well... YOU STILL SUCK!
• Anarchism - Abolish the state? Why would I want to do that?
• Mutualism - [Comment Removed by moderator]
• Marxism - Dickhead who doesn't understand the importance of class collaboration. But thanks for providing the language necessary to understand the nature of the classes
• Post-Leftism & Anarcho-Egoism - You WILL work and you WILL serve society.

Further Information

Videos

• Nationalist Corporatism and Syndicalism - Matthew Raphael Johnson

Literature

• Corporatism and Comparative Politics, the Other Great "Ism" by Howard J. Wiarda
• Corporativismo (Fascist Corporatism)
• The Coming Corporate State by Alexander Raven Thomson
• Nationalist Manifesto by Pablo Rodrìguez Grez
• Anarchy or Hierarchy by Salvador de Madariaga
• Victory and After by Earl Browder

Wikipedia

• Corporatism
• Corporate group (sociology)
• Class collaboration
• Corporate statism
• Tripartism
• Corporate nationalism
• Liberal corporatism
• Conservative Corporatism

Articles

• The Century of Chinese Corporatism By Reza Hasmath

Corporatist Organizations

• Chamber of Fasces and Corporations
• National Council of Corporations
• Spanish Syndical Organization
  • Minister for Trade Union Relations
• German Labour Front
  • Council of Trust
• National Trades Union Congress

Gallery

Portraits

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  Credits: Monkeysszz
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Alternative designs

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  Legacy design
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  Legacy design (2)
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  Social Corporatism
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  Flag of Social Corporatism