Fascists opposed both international socialism and free-market capitalism, arguing that their views represented a third position.[21][22]
They claimed to provide a realistic economic alternative that was neither laissez-faire capitalism nor communism.[23] They favored corporatism and class collaboration, believing that the existence of inequality and social hierarchy was beneficial (contrary to the views of socialists),[24][25] while also arguing that the state had a role in mediating relations between classes (contrary to the views of liberal capitalists).[26] An important aspect of fascist economies was economic dirigism,[27] meaning an economy where the government often subsidizes favorable companies and exerts strong directive influence over investment, as opposed to having a merely regulatory role. In general, fascist economies were based on private property and private initiative, but these were contingent upon service to the state.[28]
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21 Blamires, Cyprian; Jackson, Paul (2006). World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. pp. 404, 610. ISBN 978-1576079409.
22 "Hitler and the socialist dream". The Independent. 1998-11-22. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
23 Philip Morgan, Fascism in Europe, 1919-1945", New York, Taylor & Francis, 2003, p. 168.
24 "The Doctrine of Fascism". Enciclopedia Italiana. Rome: Istituto Giovanni Treccani. 1932. "[Fascism] affirms the irremediable, fruitful and beneficent inequality of men"
25 John Weiss, "The Fascist Tradition", Harper & Row, New York, 1967. pp. 14
26 Calvin B. Hoover, The Paths of Economic Change: Contrasting Tendencies in the Modern World, The American Economic Review, Vol. 25, No. 1, Supplement, Papers and Proceedings of the Forty-seventh Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association. (March, 1935), pp. 13-20.
27 Tibor Ivan Berend, An Economic History of Twentieth-Century Europe, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 93
28 James A. Gregor, The Search for Neofascism: The Use and Abuse of Social Science, Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 7