In The End of Economic Man, Peter Drucker was impressed (not pleased, but impressed) with the ability of fascists and communists to gain the support of millions of people by offering an alternative to economic status within a society.
In both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, a person might not have status within their profession, but he or she could have great status and possibly some real power through his or her position in the party apparatus. Drucker noted that the most fundamental feature of German and Italian fascism of the period was "the attempt to substitute noneconomic for economic satisfactions, rewards, and considerations as the basis for rank, function, and position of the individual in industrial society."
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