Running for Power

14 PHILOSOPHY Running for power The ‘spectrum concept’ of fascism n 1984, several members of the European SIMONA AIMAR Parliament signed a proposal to examine Ithe rise of fascism and racism in Europe. Jason Stanley The committee submitted a report in Decem- HOW FASCISM WORKS ber 1985. Despite the persistence of extremist 240pp. Random House. $26. groups, the violence to which they resorted, 978 0 525 51183 0 and growing xenophobia – the committee said – Europe’s fascist fringes were “controllable” and unlikely to undermine Europe’s democra- rhetoric, a way of running for power”. His inter- cies any time soon. “The armoury of defence est in the demagogic side of politics goes back against these dangers should be constantly at least to his 2016 book, How Propaganda improved”, its report concluded, “for the time Works. In an essay of 1995, Umberto Eco also being, the climate of mistrust and xenophobia warns about what he calls “Ur-Fascism”, an existing here and there has not weakened over- archetypical narrative that lurks over our all confidence in the democratic institutions. democracies. Both Eco and Stanley assume But this confidence could be eroded.” that fascism has to do with language. It is a way Today, confidence in democracy is being of talking about things, a narrative so well-built eroded worldwide. Politicians such as Jair that it manipulates people into endorsing Bolsonaro in Brazil, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in authoritarian regimes. Fascism becomes a dis- Turkey and Viktor Orbán in Hungary are caus- course that erodes democracies away. ing alarm among many. A wave of articles, Essentially, Stanley’s fascist demagogues books and op-eds warns us that we are in fact rely on a divide-and-rule strategy. They witnessing the return of fascism – “fascism foment biases and hatred to separate the 2.0”, as the Italian journalist Ezio Mauro puts people they claim to stand for. Hitler per- it. The philosopher Jason Stanley’s How Fas- suaded Germany that its enemy was the Jew. cism Works belongs to this wave. He is joined Trump scapegoats Muslims and illegal immi- by politicians (Madeleine Albright’s Fascism: grants. Several European politicians are A warning), historians (Timothy Snyder’s On building careers on anti-immigration stances, Tyranny), constitutional lawyers (Paul Neu- from Orbán to the head of the Lega Matteo born’s When The Mob Gets Swayed) and psy- Salvini (whose “let’s close the harbours” slo- chologists (John Gartner’s contribution to The gan helped his party gain 34 per cent of the Dangerous Case of Donald Trump). The Phil- votes at the last European elections). In a ippines, Rwanda, Myanmar, Brazil, Russia, radio interview, Stanley also describes the Hungary, Poland and the US are just some of politics of Brexit as “completely fascist”. the countries Stanley diagnoses as affected by This is partly because some politicians in the fascist politics today. Leave campaign gave voters two enemies: Establishing whether fascism has come immigrants and Europe. In fact, fascist dema- back involves the delicate task of clarifying gogues divide us along many dimensions: what “fascism” means. If we use the term rural versus urban, religion-A versus reli- “fascism” very narrowly, and confine it to Italy gions-B/C/D, hardworking versus lazy, men under Mussolini (say), we miss the chance to versus women, white versus the rest, and so identify similar things – not even Nazism on. The more people learn not to trust each would count as a form of fascism. But if we use other, the more they lose the political strength “fascism” very broadly, we may end up dilut- of their union, and the more fascist leaders can ing the term so much that the most alarming take control. political phenomena our societies can face Unfortunately, demagogues sell their sto- might escape our notice. This, George Orwell ries well. By the Washington Post’s count, the warned us in 1944, is why one should “use current US president has stated falsehoods on [‘fascism’] with a certain amount of circum- average thirteen times a day while in power. spection and not, as is usually done, degrade it “Donald is a believer in the big-lie theory: if to the level of a swearword”. you say something again and again, people The European committee of 1984 took time will believe you”, one of his attorneys told a to agree on a characterization of fascism. In journalist. Demagogues also rely on propa- the end, it decided it was not its place “to solve ganda and attack whoever might expose their theoretical problems”, and settled on a liberal lies. Hitler’s second speech in power was take: “fascism” is a term incorporating a vari- about “the lying press” (die Lügenpresse). ety of expressions, including “the extreme Trump often charges “the lying media” – some nationalism of the right”, “neo-nazism” and supporters saw the analogy in 2016, and “neo-fascism”. Stanley embraces the theoreti- adopted the hashtag #Lügenpresse. Fascist cal challenge, however, and characterizes leaders also frame their false picture of reality fascism as “a set of tactics devoted to achiev- in a mythic past. Just as Mussolini appealed ing power”. In his view, it is not necessary to to the Roman Empire, Erdoğan refers to the assume that fascist politics aims at world dom- greatness of the Ottoman Empire, and ination; in this sense, its ends are flexible. It Trump’s “MAGA” is on his fans’ caps. Thus is the methods of fascism, rather than any lies create pseudo-problems (the threats of specific doctrine, that remain constant across outsiders), symptoms (nostalgia for a glorious decades and countries. past) and a solution (a fascist takeover). There What Stanley calls “fascism” is in fact fascist is no scam like fascism. rhetoric. He makes this explicit himself in an Precisely because words are powerful, this interview for Vox: “I think of fascism as … a narrative of describing fascism as a rhetorical TLS NOVEMBER 1 2019 PHILOSOPHY 15 Matteo Salvini, Milan, 2014 strategy will have an impact. Treating fascism fascism as a rhetoric risks not only making as mere rhetoric may make it easier for some fascism appear acceptable to some, but also readers to find fascism palatable, or to con- making complacency too easy for others. clude that fascism is not as dangerous as it History does teach us that the charge of fas- actually is. “I never thought I’d die a fascist, cism can backfire. In 1930, the German Com- and yet!”, a man recently told me in Italy, “I am munist party (KPD) declared most of its a Salvini supporter.” He agreed that Salvini is opposition “fascist”. It stated that Heinrich a fascist, but thought of fascism as a good Brüning’s right-wing government was “a fas- thing. From his perspective, the rhetoric of fascist takeover”; it described the Social Demo- cism is direct, authentic and effective. He also crats as “social fascists” who deceived the acknowledged that he went from finding fas- population with pseudo-socialist rhetoric – cism negative (when he didn’t think he would “they are just as bad as Hitler”, a party member die as a fascist) to positive (when he did). One said. “Nothing could be more fatal for us than wonders whether a shift in the meaning of “fas- to opportunistically overestimate the danger cism” facilitated this turn. By confining fas- posed by Hitler-fascism”, the KPD leader cism to a rhetoric, authors such as Stanley Ernst Thälmann affirmed in 1932. It took might dilute “fascism” just enough to make it Hitler one more year to seize power and start look more respectable than historical fascisms proving him wrong. The KPD’s lumping like Mussolini’s ever were. of Hitler together with other politicians – on There is more to fascism than rhetoric. In the basis of rhetoric – made him look less dan- 1923, Mussolini published a piece titled gerous. There is a risk that by using “fascism” “Force and Consensus”. Consensus, he writes, too freely, one makes it easier for the most dan- is “as changeable as the shapes of sand on the gerous politicians to get by until it is too late. beach”. “One cannot always have it. And it can Even if one were to include violence in one’s never be total.” To seize and stay in power, concept of fascism, there are still grounds to Mussolini concludes, one also needs force – worry that warnings of fascism 2.0 will remain “physical and military force”, he clarifies. ineffective. Some have been quick to dispute When Mussolini says that violence is essential such warnings, noting that figures like Trump to fascism, he is not lying. Without the raids of haven’t yet committed a crime as grievous as the fascist squads, and the fear they created, genocide. In a note to reply to critics, Stanley King Vittorio Emanuele III would not have put writes that the concept of fascism is a spectrum him in charge of the government. Hitler was concept: Trump’s politics are fascist, but fas- initially elected, but also relied on violence to cist to a lesser degree than, say, Rodrigo get to power. In the 1920s, while he delivered Duterte’s. This might well be true. But it may effective speeches, the SA engaged in street not be enough to make the worry go away. violence on a regular basis. Nor was these In the context of sparking a danger alarm, leaders’ rhetoric confined to persuading spectrum concepts tend to be used in discrete, people to hand them power. A key role of their well-defined ways. Colour is a spectrum con- rhetoric was to apply a veil of respectability cept, but in the context of a traffic light, red over their parties’ violence.

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