Every one of us paints our own utopia in our hearts. If history had flowed within a pure vacuum, entirely free from external contaminants, the world would have been divided into two beautifully clear ideologies:
The "pure liberal" (the Right), who seeks to protect their intact soul and property to the extent that it does not infringe upon the rights of others; and the "pure egalitarian" (the Left), who strives to create a world where humans are respected as they are, without any discrimination or hierarchy.
The debate between these two idealists might have been an intellectual festival that enriched humanity. However, the moment the dice are cast upon the cruel game board of reality, these beautiful ideals are invariably shattered. Behind that destruction lies the most brutal paradox in economics: the "Prisoner’s Dilemma."
When Fear Begins, Betrayal Begins
The moment the game begins in real-world politics, what dominates the minds of idealists is not hope, but fear.
"What if, while I purely safeguard my ideals (freedom or equality) and refrain from gathering raw power, the enemy on the other side builds up strength and tramples me entirely?"
Once this mistrust and fear take root, humans begin to race toward the worst possible choice, dictated by the laws of game theory. To enforce one’s will—or rather, to protect oneself right now from that monster of an opposition—one reaches the conclusion that a powerful "force" is required. Consequently, they knock on the door of the entity with the most potent force in human history: the state’s monopoly on violence and massive capital. This is precisely where the deal with the devil begins.
The Tragedy of the Left: Colluding with Force
Look at the Left, who wanted to shatter the solid alliance of the establishment and capitalists to build an equal world. They realized that the wall of reality was far too rigid. Words and writings alone could not change the world.
Ultimately, they compromised: "To defeat that massive establishment, we, too, need a powerful dictatorial state and secret police that move in perfect order, just like an army."
Thus, the fierce sword dance of powerful control, drawn to realize the beautiful ideal of equality, ended up hacking away at the destination of equality itself. What was birthed at that dead end was Stalinism—a monster of "far-left totalitarianism" that sought to control even the human soul.
The Tragedy of the Right: Selling the Soul to Protect Property
The tragedy of the Right mirrors this with chilling accuracy. When communists raised the flag of revolution and attempted to strip capitalists and landlords of their wealth entirely, the Right was paralyzed by fear.
The compromise they chose went like this: "To protect our property and the free market (right-wing values), let us first submit ourselves underneath a powerful military and the madness of nationalism that will trample those violent communists."
This paradoxical choice—willingly colluding with a state dictatorship to protect individual freedom—resulted in the birth of the very monster we first encountered: fascism (far-right totalitarianism). In the end, though they may have saved the property of capitalists, they sacrificed "individual freedom"—the true essence of the Right—wholly as an offering before the God of the State.
Two Monsters Facing Each Other, and Our Coordinates
Ultimately, fascism and Stalinism in history are not alien ideologies that suddenly dropped from the sky. They are the final destinations of a historical tragedy where, out of mutual distrust, everyone rushed to possess massive force, causing both Left and Right to transform into the very thing they despised most: an absolute power that oppresses the individual.
When idealists trapped in a prisoner’s dilemma compromise with reality and succumb to the logic of force, the tank of the Left and the tank of the Right inevitably meet face-to-face in a single square called totalitarianism.
This long intellectual journey—which set out to uncover why fascism was so difficult to define and what the true criteria of Left and Right are—ends by confronting the most painful wound of humanity. We know now: no matter how noble an ideology may be, the moment it joins hands with a "massive force that oppresses the freedom of others" to enforce its will, that ideology becomes corrupted.
Even at this very moment, countless political forces are gathering strength, inciting the masses in the name of justice, freedom, and equality. The only way we can prevent them from colluding with power and turning into monsters through the prisoner’s dilemma is for the public gathered in the square to keep their eyes wide open and monitor their "means." For no matter how good the end may be, if the means trample upon individual dignity, it will simply be the prelude to another fascism.
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