Struggle for Public Goods in the Shadow of Fascism

Michael Fabricant is Professor of Social Work at Hunter College, City College of New York (CUNY). He is the author or co-author of 10 books, including Austerity Blues: Fighting for the Soul of Public Higher Education (2016) and The Changing Politics of Education: Privatization and the Dispossessed Lives Left Behind (2015).

“The book is written with absolute clarity and offers a timely contribution to understanding the current political moment of the United States. While conceptually sophisticated it is written in an accessible style that will help readers make connections between fascism, the extreme right, and the attack on the welfare state. I believe it to be a very important contribution to the debates on fascism in the contemporary U.S.”Bret Gustafson, Professor of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, USA"How do we defeat a growing far-right and build something better in its place? The Struggle for Public Goods in the Shadow of Fascism: Hope at Dusk argues that the future depends on whether we can build a bold, inclusive left that reimagines what is possible. We can find inspiration from history but we can’t go back to what we had before. Instead, The Struggle for Public Goods in the Shadow of Fascism urges us to fight for an expanded welfare state that can expand freedom for all. In these dark times, our hope lies in organizing."Stephanie Luce, Professor of Labor Studies at the School of Labor and Urban Studies, and Professor of Sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY), USA"In these dark times, Mike Fabricant's excellent new book gives us an incisive analysis of the political landscape, and a compass with which we might navigate it. The book is a terrific diagnosis of how we got here and a strategic perspective on how we might claw our way back to a humane social order."Vivek Chibber, Professor of Sociology, New York University, USA“Michael Fabricant's study of the emergence of contemporary fascism in the United States as a historical phenomenon is a very important contribution to contemporary political debates. Characteristically close to the ground and concrete, Fabricant's focus on the struggle for public goods as the best, if not only, route to developing the movement we need to combat the fascist tendency is beyond persuasive. This book should be read by anyone concerned with turning back the reactionary tide.”Adolph Reed, Jr., Professor of Politics, Mount Holyoke College, and author of Black Studies, Cultural Politics, and the Evasion of Inequality (Routledge, 2025)

• Introduction: Dusk in America; 1. The evolution and contestation of citizenship; 2. Fascism gradually: Historic, political economic context; 3. Fascism suddenly: Far right strategies and tactics; 4. The welfare state: How it came to be, and what is at stake now; 5. The unmaking of the welfare state; Conclusion: The struggle ahead