Elon Musk’s fascist turn isn’t puzzling at all. It’s all about labour.

It all started when Tesla workers tried to unionise in 2017. Musk fiercely pushed back against the effort to unionise, and won. Today, Tesla is the only un-unionized auto manufacturer in the US.

Musk gained a reputation as a fearsome union buster. Recently, the UAW brought federal labour charges against him over his anti union comments. The ITUC singled out Tesla as one of six companies “that benefit… by continuing to violate trade union and human rights.”

Naturally his battles with organised labour drove him into the arms of the right. As he became closer to right wing figures in the US and around the world, he became more convinced by their arguments on migration. Why?

Because every smart right winger in the world knows that neoliberal economics don’t win elections. Their ultimate aim is corporate welfare for big business, tax cuts for the rich, and the crushing of unionists and protestors. But they can’t say that out loud.

The only way the right can win state power is to acknowledge the deep suffering that has been created by decades of rising inequality, and blame this suffering on some ‘other’ - migrants, criminals, deviants etc. That othering is, of course, the prerequisite for fascism.

In sum, Musk hates unions. He wants the government to crush them. Politicians who say ‘crush unions’ don’t win elections. But politicians who say ‘deport immigrants’ do. Once they’ve won power, then they can go head to head with labour - as Trump is now.

Oddly enough, this link between a big American auto manufacturer and fascism isn’t unique. Henry Ford was an ardent anti-Semite and one of the most ruthless and skilful union busters of the twentieth century.

In 1938, Ford accepted the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, the Nazi regime’s highest honor for foreigners. Hitler even singled Ford out for praise in Mein Kampf.

Ford was also known for hiring thugs to beat up striking workers. At the Battle of the Overpass, Ford’s private army attacked UAW workers attempting to hand out leaflets outside the factory, injuring 16.

Union busters like Ford and Musk know they can’t rely on brute force all the time. They need to win popular consent for their politics, and the only way to do that is to viciously victimise minorities and bring neoliberal politics in through the back door.

But it’s not just Musk or Ford. The links between union busting and fascism run deep. While lots of people have been surprised by Musk’s descent from progressive into far right bigot, it was clear he would end up here the moment he started a war with his unions.