They were hard against leftists, unionists, socialists, communists, and the like from the start, and that’s why the industrialists liked them in the first place, and why the west allowed them to fester, because the rich were afraid of the communists, and more afraid of a little reform in general, than putting a single person in absolute power indefinitely.

It really does boggle the mind after you realize this is a dynamic that happens over and over, just as Rome had the same thing a generation before Caesar around the 1st century BC when Sulla came to power on the tail end of Marius’ many consolships. They were afraid of the populares, and reform, and gave dictator powers to sulla that declared himself dictator for life and went on a proscription rampage after violently taking the city, putting up lists of men to kill every day, that soon included his allies, he took the assets of the proscribed and taking his rich allies assets was the end in itself after too long.

But time and again, fear of moderate reform on the “left” leads to supporting an all powerful ruler that carries far more danger to the rich and poor alike.