Keep Your Eyes On Big Business

Business Interests Have Historically Lined Up With Whomever Is In Power

Big business has historically aligned with authoritarian regimes when it is profitable to do so, and there is every reason to believe this pattern will repeat itself today. The logic of capitalism, agree with it or not, prioritizes profit maximization and market expansion above ethical concerns. This creates an environment where corporations, unless actively constrained, will find ways to benefit from or enable authoritarianism, repression, and even mass atrocities.

Historical Precedents: Corporate Collaboration with the Third Reich

Many companies actively profited from and facilitated Nazi atrocities, including genocide, forced labor, and war profiteering. Here’s how it happened:

1. Bayer (IG Farben) – Profiting from Forced Labor and Holocaust Atrocities

• IG Farben, Bayer’s parent company at the time, developed and supplied Zyklon B, the gas used in concentration camps to murder millions.

• The company ran its own slave labor camp at Auschwitz, where prisoners were worked to death in chemical and pharmaceutical production.

• After the war, IG Farben was broken up, but Bayer re-emerged and continued as a pharmaceutical giant without any meaningful reparations or accountability.

2. IBM – Enabling the Bureaucratic Infrastructure of Genocide

• IBM’s Hollerith punch-card system was used by the Nazis to efficiently track, categorize, and round up Jewish people, Romani people, and other persecuted groups.

• Without IBM’s technology, the Nazi government would have had a much harder time systematically identifying and deporting populations.

• IBM executives knew their machines were being used for these purposes but continued to provide technology and service contracts to the Nazi regime.

3. Hugo Boss – Fashioning the SS and the Nazi Elite

• Hugo Boss produced uniforms for the SS, SA, and Hitler Youth, using forced labor.

• The company benefited from cheap or free labor from concentration camp prisoners and other enslaved workers.

• After the war, Hugo Boss was briefly penalized, but the brand survived and thrived.

4. BMW & Mercedes-Benz – Manufacturing War Machines with Slave Labor

• BMW and Daimler-Benz (Mercedes) produced aircraft engines, military vehicles, and other machinery crucial for the Nazi war effort.

• They employed tens of thousands of forced laborers, including concentration camp prisoners.

• Today, both companies have admitted their past collaborations but have faced little actual accountability.

5. Chanel – Opportunistic Collaboration and Wealth Consolidation

• Coco Chanel was a known Nazi sympathizer and leveraged Nazi anti-Semitic laws to seize control of Chanel No. 5 from its Jewish owners.

• She had romantic ties with Nazi officers and used her connections to advance her business interests during the occupation of France.

6. Krupp – Building the Nazi War Machine

• Krupp, a steel and arms manufacturer, produced tanks, weapons, and ammunition for the Nazis.

• The company exploited concentration camp labor to meet Hitler’s war production demands.

• Despite being a key enabler of Nazi militarism, the Krupp family retained its wealth and influence after the war.

What This Means for Today

Authoritarian regimes prioritize control over economies and markets. However, rather than nationalizing industries (as classic fascists did in some cases), contemporary right-wing authoritarianism seeks to integrate corporate power into governance. This means that major industries will align with authoritarian rulers in exchange for economic favoritism, deregulation, and lucrative government contracts.

Industries Most Likely to Align with Contemporary Authoritarianism

1. Big Tech & Surveillance Capitalism

   • Just as IBM enabled the Nazi bureaucracy, modern tech giants like Google, Meta, and Palantir have the capability to facilitate mass surveillance, censorship, and political repression.

   • China’s government has already pioneered AI-driven social control mechanisms (such as the social credit system), and similar tools could be adopted by authoritarian regimes elsewhere.

   • Elon Musk’s control of Twitter/X, alignment with the far right, and increasing ties to authoritarian leaders illustrate how tech moguls may facilitate authoritarian control.

2. Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Corporations

   • Under authoritarianism, corporate healthcare providers could exploit policies that restrict care to marginalized groups, while profiting from government subsidies.

   • Companies could engage in medical surveillance and biometric tracking, particularly targeting immigrants, political dissidents, and LGBTQ+ people.

3. Military-Industrial Complex

   • Defense contractors benefit from perpetual war, militarized borders, and increased repression of civil unrest.

   • Companies like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing stand to profit from authoritarian militarization.

4. Private Prisons & Detention Centers

   • With authoritarian crackdowns on immigrants, dissidents, and marginalized communities, corporations that run private prisons (GEO Group, CoreCivic) stand to gain billions.

   • Trump’s administration already expanded for-profit detention centers, and Project 2025 could dramatically escalate this trend.

5. Energy & Fossil Fuel Industries

   • Climate authoritarianism is a real and growing threat. Fossil fuel companies benefit from weakened environmental protections and state crackdowns on climate activists.

   • Oil and gas giants (ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron) are already major political funders of right-wing authoritarian leaders.

6. Agrochemical & Industrial Agriculture

   • Just as Bayer (formerly IG Farben) profited from Nazi forced labor, agribusiness giants like Monsanto (now owned by Bayer), Cargill, and Tyson Foods could exploit authoritarian labor crackdowns to suppress unions and drive down wages.

   • Deregulation could allow these companies to exploit workers more freely, engage in environmental destruction, and drive monopolization of food supply chains.

What Can We Do to Counter This Trend?

Preventing corporate complicity in authoritarianism requires direct action, policy interventions, and strategic resistance. Here’s how activists, organizers, and concerned citizens can fight back:

1. Expose & Hold Corporations Accountable

• Investigative journalism, boycotts, and public pressure campaigns can force companies to divest from authoritarian regimes and oppressive policies.

• Support worker-led whistleblower initiatives that expose corporate collaboration with authoritarian power.

2. Fight Corporate Consolidation & Break Up Monopolies

• Antitrust laws must be enforced to prevent corporate monopolies from growing too powerful.

• Regulate Big Tech to ensure data privacy, prevent mass surveillance, and limit their ability to shape political discourse.

3. Strengthen Labor Protections

• Unions must be defended and expanded—labor organizing is one of the most powerful tools against corporate-fascist collaboration.

• Boycott companies that bust unions or rely on low-wage, precarious labor.

4. Create Independent Supply Chains & Worker-Owned Enterprises

• Build alternative economic systems that are not dependent on corporate giants aligned with authoritarianism.

• Strengthen community-led cooperatives and invest in locally controlled infrastructure.

5. Support Campaigns for Ethical Investment

• Pressure pension funds, universities, and municipal governments to divest from companies complicit in authoritarianism.

• Advocate for stronger corporate accountability laws, including human rights standards in supply chains.

Final Thoughts: Corporations Will Follow Power - We Must Make Democracy More Profitable

History teaches us that when democracy weakens, corporations will align with the new power structure to protect profits. If that power structure is authoritarian, big business will actively aid repression, labor exploitation, and political purges just as they did in Nazi Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, Pinochet’s Chile, and beyond.

The challenge for pro-democracy activists is not just resisting authoritarian leaders, it’s disrupting the economic incentives that allow authoritarianism to thrive. By holding corporations accountable, breaking monopolies, organizing labor, and creating alternative economies, we can limit the ability of big business to function as a tool of oppression.

The time to act is now. Authoritarians consolidate power faster than democracies defend it. But history also shows that corporations fear mass resistance, public exposure, and economic disruption. The more we make corporate complicity costly, the harder it will be for them to fuel authoritarian rule.