Quotes About Fascism

identifies strongly with and claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use whatever means are necessary—including violence—to achieve his or her goals. In that conception, a Fascist will likely be a tyrant, but a tyrant need not be a Fascist.

There is, however, a tipping point where loyalty to one's own tribe curdles into resentment and hatred, then aggression toward others. That's when Fascism enters the picture, trailed by an assortment of woes, up to and including the Holocaust and global war.

If an advertiser can use that information to home in on a consumer because of his or her individual interests, what's to stop a Fascist government from doing the same?

Democrats pleaded with their countrymen to recognize the Communists' hypocrisy—that the same partisans who bragged about opposing Fascism were now aping its techniques. The Communists were simply replacing pictures of Hitler with portraits of Stalin and, like Mussolini's Blackshirts, attacking the press, smearing political rivals, demanding total loyalty from party members, and threatening anyone who stood in their way.

And why, this far into the twenty-first century, are we once again talking about Fascism? ONE REASON, FRANKLY, IS DONALD TRUMP. IF WE THINK OF FASCISM as a wound from the past that had almost healed, putting Trump in the White House was like ripping off the bandage and picking at the scab.

Strach z komunismu zplodil fašismus.

Every step in the direction of Fascism—every plucked feather—causes damage to individuals and to society; each makes the next step shorter. To hold the line, we must recognize that despots rarely reveal their intentions and that leaders who begin well frequently become more authoritarian the longer they hold power.

Unlike a monarchy or a military dictatorship imposed on society from above, Fascism draws energy from men and women who are upset because of a lost war, a lost job, a memory of humiliation, or a sense that their country is in steep decline.

Given that fascism tends to take hold in a step-by-step manner rather than by making one giant leap, could it ever proceed very far in America before being stopped? Is the United States immune to this malady—or susceptible?

that for Fascism to extend its reach from the streets to the high offices of state, it must secure backing from multiple sectors of society.

Fascism feeds on social and economic grievances, including the belief that the people over there are receiving better treatment than they deserve while I'm not getting what I'm owed. It seems today that almost everyone has a grievance:

caring about others and about the proposition that we are all created equal—is the single most effective antidote to the self-centered moral numbness that allows Fascism to thrive.

Fascism draws energy from men and women who are upset because of a lost war, a lost job, a memory of humiliation, or a sense that their country is in steep decline.

This generosity of spirit—this caring about others and about the proposition that we are all created equal—is the single most effective antidote to the self-centered moral numbness that allows Fascism to thrive.

the Fascist chiefs we remember best were charismatic. Through one method or another, each established an emotional link to the crowd and, like the central figure in a cult, brought deep and often ugly feelings to the surface.

The issue before us now is whether America can continue to exhibit that brand of leadership under a president who doesn't appear to attach much weight to either international cooperation or democratic values. The answer matters because, although nature abhors a vacuum, Fascism welcomes one.

Existen dos tipos de fascistas: los que dan órdenes y los que las acatan. El apoyo popular da al fascismo las piernas que necesita para caminar, los pulmones de los que se sirve para gritar y la musculatura en la que descansa la amenaza que representa; pero eso en todo caso sería el fascismo de cuello para abajo. Si se quiere sembrar la tiranía sirviéndose de los miedos y esperanzas del ciudadano medio, se necesita dinero, ambición e ideas perversas.

Thomas Edison hailed him as the "genius of the modern age"; Gandhi, as a "superman." Winston Churchill pledged to stand by him in his "struggle against the bestial appetites of Leninism." Newspapers in Rome, host to the Vatican, referred to him as "the incarnation of God." In the end, people who had worshipped [Benito Mussolini's] every move hung his corpse upside down next to his mistress's near a gas station in Milan.

ONE REASON, FRANKLY, IS DONALD TRUMP. IF WE THINK OF FASCISM as a wound from the past that had almost healed, putting Trump in the White House was like ripping off the bandage and picking at the scab.

Decades ago, George Orwell suggested that the best one-word description of a Fascist was "bully," and on the day of the Normandy invasion, Franklin Roosevelt prayed to the Almighty for a "peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men." By contrast, President Trump's eyes light up when strongmen steamroll opposition, brush aside legal constraints, ignore criticism, and do whatever it takes to get their way.

Every age has its own Fascism. —PRIMO LEVI

IF WE THINK OF FASCISM as a wound from the past that had almost healed, putting Trump in the White House was like ripping off the bandage and picking at the scab.

Fear is why Fascism's emotional reach can extend to all levels of society. No political movement can flourish without popular support, but Fascism is as dependent on the wealthy and powerful as it is on the man or woman in the street—on those who have much to lose and those who have nothing at all.

To my mind, a Fascist is someone who identifies strongly with and claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use whatever means are necessary—including violence—to achieve his or her goals. In that conception, a Fascist will likely be a tyrant, but a tyrant need not be a Fascist.