Let's take these loose understandings of Laski's concepts:

• Self-government: the ability of a group — a church, a trade union, an ethnic community — to establish rules for itself independent of (and free from interference by) the overarching state. For example, the First Amendment of the US constitution effectively lays out certain principles of self-government for religions, the press, and associations of citizens
• Direct government: A system whereby groups of citizens can influence or dictate the practices of the state through plebiscite or other forms of mass-public action. For example, several US states have ballot initiative systems where citizens of the state can vote directly on legislation, bypassing the state legislature.

Laski's issue is that direct government often becomes a tool used by activated groups to suppress or destroy self-government of other groups. He points at fascism because fascists invariably leverage the power of direct government to disempower and disenfranchise everyone outside their ethnocultural group. Self-government decentralizes power in society; direct government centralizes power.

It's deeply misleading to make a claim like:

The concept(s) of direct government and self government are democratic [...], but Fascism [is dictatorial]

Fascism is a corrupt or malignant form of democracy: the perfected form of group tyranny within democratic systems. The logic of a fascist group always follows the same course:

1. Extoll the virtues of democratic rights and liberties as the highest ideals of humanity
2. Decry how 'other' (outsider) groups have weakened, destroyed, or stolen the democratic rights and liberties of 'our' (fascist) group
3. Demand publicly that 'our' (fascist) group must band together to take control to restore 'our' democratic rights and liberties, weeding out those 'others' as one would weed out parasites or vermin

Fascism cannot exist outside of a democratic political system any more than cancer can exist outside of a living organism, and for much the same reason. Fascism is a disease of liberal democracy, a disease that co-opts the principles and systems of liberal democracy to destroy it from the inside.

Let's take these loose understandings of Laski's concepts:

• Self-government: the ability of a group — a church, a trade union, an ethnic community — to establish rules for itself independent of (and free from interference by) the overarching state. The First Amendment of the US constitution (e.g.) effectively lays out certain principles of self-government for religions, the press, and associations of citizens
• Direct government: A system whereby groups of citizens can influence or dictate the practices of the state through plebiscite or other forms of mass-public action. Several US states (e.g.) have ballot initiative systems where citizens of the state can vote directly on legislation, bypassing state legislatures.

Laski's issue is that direct government often becomes a tool used by activated groups to suppress or destroy the self-government of other groups. He points at fascism because fascists invariably leverage the power of direct government to disempower and disenfranchise everyone outside their ethnocultural group. Self-government decentralizes power in society; direct government centralizes power.

It's deeply misleading to make a claim like:

The concept(s) of direct government and self government are democratic [...], but Fascism [is dictatorial]

Fascism is a corrupt or malignant form of democracy: the perfected form of group tyranny within democratic systems. The logic of a fascist group always follows the same course:

1. Extoll the virtues of democratic rights and liberties as the highest ideals of humanity
2. Decry how 'other' (outsider) groups have weakened, destroyed, or stolen the democratic rights and liberties of 'our' (fascist) group
3. Demand publicly that 'our' (fascist) group must band together to take control to restore 'our' democratic rights and liberties, weeding out those 'others' as one would weed out parasites or vermin

Fascism cannot exist outside of a democratic political system any more than cancer can exist outside of a living organism, and for much the same reason. Fascism is a disease of liberal democracy, a disease that co-opts the principles and systems of liberal democracy to destroy it from within.