Follow the grisly history of the 20th Century all the way into the early 21st, and you can see the degeneration of an industrial society goes like this:

"Woke Uprising" > Anarchy > Socialism > Fascism.

China completed that journey a generation ago.

The first step involves teaching disaffected members of society that they must "rise up" and forcibly take what they "deserve" because the existing system is hopelessly corrupt and justice cannot be obtained through playing by the rules.

Anarchy results when the old society has been subverted, weakened, and then destroyed once it no longer has the will to defend itself. The state of anarchy always comes as a surprise to "idealistic" revolutionaries who had no interest in learning how and why the old rules worked.

Anarchy doesn't last long, because power abhors a vacuum. After a period of lawless violence, the New Order takes control and declares itself smarter, wiser, more compassionate, and less corrupt than the old. It claims authoritarian power in the name of The People.

A major critique of the old system was that it was too weak, selfish, and corrupt to do what The People needed. The New Order vows to Get Things Done and refuses to allow piddling laws or constitutional rights to get in the way of righteous action.

The result is some form of socialism or communism, with property seized by moralizing authoritarians and redistributed according to their sense of "justice." Everyone will now get what they "deserve." The New Order ALWAYS promises to eliminate poverty and injustice.

The New Order is supported by the aggrieved, who love watching their class and race enemies get walloped. Books are written about the vast intellect, compassion, and spirituality of the rulers. THIS time socialism will work, because at last the Right People are in charge!

But the rulers very quickly lose interest in democracy, which they regard as an obstacle to Getting Things Done. Why should the unjustly privileged get a vote? They're selfish and short-sighted. They'll never go along with social justice schemes that put them at a disadvantage.

Why should those who embody the Will of the People put themselves up to a vote? Why should pure justice and inarguable wisdom be subjected to arguments and discussions that just waste time and energy? Defying the rulers of the New Order is sinful and treasonous!

The slide into fascism happens because socialism and communism are utter failures, as the Chinese Communists discovered. The authoritarian rulers don't want to give up their power, but they need a system with capitalism's energy harnessed to absolute political control.

Whatever the differences between various forms of socialism and fascism might be, it's always true that the political instruments that create and sustain a socialist system can be very easily repurposed for fascism. The basic mindsets are not much different.

The difference between the various dark "isms" of the 20th Century boiled down to who owned property and who decides how it will be used. Communal ownership is a farce that quickly degenerates into abject poverty and starvation.

Socialism is inefficient because it penalizes achievement, it's hideously corrupt, and it diverts far too much national wealth into nonproductive ends. Welfare states don't become world-dominating industrial titans with fearsome military forces.

So you always end up with fascism: a ruling Party with iron control, backed up by the dismal techniques of social engineering and manipulation we've become all too familiar with, ruling an industrial elite that can get very rich as long as it OBEYS.

Freedom is an incredible resource. In its absence, obedience becomes the major resource for a society. Fascism is the only variation of collectivism that can harvest enough obedience to sustain massive industrial output and the military force needed to protect the rulers. /end