10 Tactics of Fascism

Fascism is a cult of the leader, who promises national restoration in the face of supposed humiliation by immigrants, leftists, liberals, minorities, homosexuals, women, in the face of what the fascist leader says is a takeover of the country’s media, cultural institutions, and schools by these forces.
And that’s why you need a really macho, powerful, violent response.
The fascist leader says that he will solve the problem.

Jason Stanley

Jason Stanley is a professor of philosophy at Yale University. He writes about authoritarianism, propaganda, free speech, mass incarceration, and other topics. In September of 2018 he published a book entitled How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them.

In the book, Stanley outlined ten tactics fascists use to take over a country:

1. The mythic past. Fascists promote a glorified mythical past to make people dissatisfied with the present. The past is painted as a time of greatness. That greatness was based on a strong military and the fact that the dominant racial group ruled over the others. Fascists claim that the “leftists and communists” have “taken your greatness from you.”
2. Propaganda. Fascists lie and manipulate language in order to rewrite the shared reality of the population. Fascist propaganda is based around naming “friends” and “enemies.” The political opponent is declared to be a merciless threat to the nation.
3. Anti-intellectualism. Fascists attack universities and educational systems because they could potentially teach people to challenge fascist ideas. The fascist leader sets the rules about what is true or false. Expertise, even reality, is a threat to the authority of the leader.
4. Unreality. Freedom and political equality require truth. Fascist voices work deliberately to create a state of unreality. Its adherents lose the ability to recognize truth. Reasoned discussion and debate is replaced with conspiracy theories and lies.
5. Hierarchy. Fascists create a hierarchy of human worth. They promote social divisions and harden social rankings over such things as race, religion, and gender. Once the hierarchies are in place, people are controlled by being kept nervous and frightened about the possibility of losing their place in the hierarchy.
6. Victim-hood. Once people come to believe that they are higher than another group in the hierarchy, any move toward equality by lower groups is used to stoke feelings of resentment and victim-hood among the dominant population. Equality becomes, not a goal, but a threat.
7. Law and Order. “Law and Order” politics is used to cast “them” as dangerous, lawless, criminals and to justify brutal crackdowns on minorities or people who are out of favor. Minority groups are considered “law-abiding” only as long as they accept their subservient role. At the same time, however, the fascist leader is not bound by any law.
8. Sexual Anxiety. A fascist hierarchy is rigidly patriarchal and is threatened by gender equity. Hence, they impose strict control and dominance over women. They also promote paranoia about homosexuality.
9. Sodom and Gomorrah. Fascist movements typically emphasize an urban/rural divide. The cities are portrayed as decadent criminal centers full of enemy “elites” and immigrants. City dwellers don’t even do “real” work (with their hands) like rural folks do.
10. Arbeit macht frei. (Work shall make you free). This slogan was written on the gates of Auschwitz. Fascists claim that the minority group and the leftists are lazy by nature and must be made to work (hence, concentration camps and forced labor camps). Labor unions are said to be run by communists – so unions must be crushed. Since hard work (by the underclasses) is the primary virtue, fascists ultimately decide that the disabled have no value and devise ways to get rid of them.

Jason Stanley says that each of the above elements are not, in themselves, fascist. But he also says that when they are all present and working together (as they are now), there is much to fear.

Every one of these tactics is being used by right-wing media and Republican politicians in the United States today. The fascist threat is not limited to Trumpists — though they are providing the grassroots energy behind the movement.

It is important to remember that fascist dictators are controlled and supported by wealthy business leaders who profit from oppressing a subdued and fearful working class.

To the powerful, it is the same old game of maximizing power and gain. The dissatisfied underclass that is currently rebelling against the “liberal elites” and giving power to the new order will eventually be its greatest victim.

Sources

Jason Stanley, “America is Now in the Fascism’s Legal Phase,” The Guardian, December 22, 2021.
Jason Stanley, “The Ten Tactics of Fascism,” YouTube, October 24, 2021.
Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works, Random House, September 4, 2018.
Lewis Lapham, “Can America Survive the Rule of a “Stupefied Plutocracy”?“, YouTube, October 24, 2018.
Lewis Lapham, Money and Class in America, Reprint edition, OR Books, October 2, 2018.
Rob Rieman, ““Never Again?” How Fascism Hijacks Democracies Over and Over,” YouTube, February 4, 2018.
Rob Rieman, To Fight Against This Age: On Fascism and Humanism, W. W. Norton and Company, January 23, 2018
Brian Ferguson, “14 Signs of Fascism,” Insight, September 28, 2020.