[[link removed]]

HOW TO STOP FASCISM  
[[link removed]]


 

Timothy Snyder
July 5, 2024
Thinking About ... [[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Those who wish to preserve the American constitutional republic
should also recall the past.  A good start would be just to recall
the five basic political lessons of 1933. Recalling history, we act
for a future that can and will be much better. _

"Not Hitler" (fragment), by M.P.N.texan (CC BY-NC 2.0)

 

As the United States hovers at the edge of fascism, the history of
Germany can help.

To be sure, Americans have other histories to ponder, including their
own.  Some American states, right now, are laboratories of
authoritarian rule (and resistance).  The American 1860s and American
1930s reveal tactics authoritarians use, as well as the weaknesses of
the American system, such as slavery and its legacy. At those times,
though, Americans were lucky in their leadership.  Lincoln and
Roosevelt were in office at the critical moments.  And so we lack the
experience of the collapse of the republic.

We can certainly learn from contemporary authoritarian success, as in
Russia and in Hungary, which I have written about elsewhere
[[link removed]].  Yet the classic example of a
major economic and cultural power collapsing into fascism remains
Germany in 1933. The failure of the democratic experiment in Germany
led to a world war as well as the Holocaust and other atrocities.

Yet today a taboo hovers around anything concerning Hitler.  As soon
as the collapse of the German republic in 1933 is evoked, American
voices commence a fake lament — America is uniquely good so nothing
about Nazis can ever apply, and/or Hitler was uniquely evil and so
nothing concerning him is relevant.

To be sure, every person and every event is in some sense unique. 
But history is precisely the interaction of individuals and situations
which, seen in isolation, will appear unique.  The taboo on fascist
history shoves people back to a turbulent present, leaving them
feeling more helpless. It is an element of the fascist takeover.

The lessons from Germany that I present below are not at all new.  We
have been trained by digital media to believe that only what happens
right now matters.  But the people who intend to destroy the American
constitutional republic have learned from the past.  One of the basic
elements of Project 2025, for example, is what the Nazis
called _Gleichschaltung: _transforming the civil service into a
fascist nest.

Those who wish to preserve the American constitutional republic should
also recall the past.  A good start would be just to recall the five
basic political lessons of 1933.

Upgrade to paid [[link removed]] sub to
Thinking About

1.  Voting matters.  Hitler came to power after an election which
enabled his appointment as head of government.  It is much easier for
fascists to begin from within than to begin from without.  Hitler’s
earlier coup attempt failed.  But once he had legitimate power,
inside the system as chancellor (prime minister), he could manipulate
it from within.  In the American system, “voting” means not just
going to the polls yourself, but making donations, phone-banking, and
knocking on doors.  We are still, happily, at the stage when
unglamorous actions can make the difference.

[white flower on black wooden table]
[[link removed]]

2.  Coalitions are necessary.  In 1932, in the crucial German
election, the far left and the center left were separated.  The
reasons for this were very specific: Stalin ordered the German
communists to oppose the German social democrats, thereby helping
Hitler to power.  To be sure, the American political spectrum is very
different, as are the times.  Yet the general lesson does suggest
itself: the left has to hold together with the the center-left, and
their energies have to be directed at the goal rather than at each
other.

3.  Conservatives should be conservative.  Which way the
center-right turns can be decisive.  In Germany in 1932,
conservatives enabled the counter-revolution.  They did not see
Hitler and his Nazis as something different from themselves.  They
imagined, somehow, that Hitler would preserve the system rather
revolutionize it.  They were wrong, and some of them paid for the
mistake with their lives.  As in American today, the German “old
right” was less numerous than the “new right,” the fascists. 
But how the traditionalist center-right acts can very well make the
difference.

4.  Big business should support democracy.  In the Germany of the
1930s, business leaders were not necessarily enthusiastic about Hitler
as a person.  But they associated democracy with labor unions and
wanted to break them.  Seeing Hitler as an instrument of their own
profit, business leaders enabled the Nazi regime.  This was, in the
end, very bad for business.  Although the circumstances today are
different, the general lesson is the same: whether they like it or
not, business leaders bear responsibility for whether a republic
endures or is destroyed.

5.  Citizens should not obey in advance.  Much of fascism is a bluff
—_ look at our loyal cult, listen to our outrageous language, heed
our threats of violence, we are inevitable!_  Hitler was good at that
sort of propaganda.  Yet to gain power he needed luck and the errors
of others.  American fascism, likewise, is far from inevitable.  It
too is largely bluff, most of it digital.  The internet is much more
fascist than real life, which is discouraging.  But we vote in the
real world.  The crucial thing is the individual decision to act,
along with others, for four months, a little something each day,
regardless of the atmospherics and the polls and the media and the
moods.

It’s simple: recalling history, we act in the present, for a future
that can and will be much better.

* _Timothy Snyder is an American historian of Europe and a public
intellectual on both continents. Among his books are On Tyranny and
Bloodlands, which appear in new editions in 2022. His work inspires
art and music, and is read at protests around the world._
* Share
[[link removed]].
Thinking about [[link removed]]... is a reader-supported
publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider
becoming a free or paid subscriber. Upgrade to paid
[[link removed]].

* Fascism
[[link removed]]
* Anti-Fascism
[[link removed]]
* History
[[link removed]]
* Donald Trump
[[link removed]]
* Adolph Hitler
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]