The 14 Characteristics of Fascism

[lunadelcorvo]

by Lawrence Britt
Free Inquiry magazine, Spring 2003

Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt recently wrote an article about fascism ("Fascism Anyone?," Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20). Studying the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), Dr. Britt found they all had 14 elements in common. He calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism. The excerpt is in accordance with the magazine's policy.

(I read this article some time ago and have been looking for it for some time. My thanks to nebris for posting it earlier.)

The 14 characteristics are:

Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

Supremacy of the Military
Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

Rampant Sexism
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.

Controlled Mass Media
Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

Obsession with National Security
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

Religion and Government are Intertwined
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

Corporate Power is Protected
The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

Labor Power is Suppressed
Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed .

Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

Obsession with Crime and Punishment
Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

Fraudulent Elections
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

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I only wish this didn't sound just like home....

Comments

[ahrensm.livejournal.com]

Naomi Wolfe recently wroe a book on this very subject, but I can't remember the name of the book right now. Just go to Amazon and look for recent books by Naomi Wolf. Scary stuff.

[miss-manners.livejournal.com]

I only wish this didn't sound just like home....

Ah, yes...Bush is Hitler.

Let's examine, shall we:

Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

Oh no, all those fascists with their flags. Why can't we live in a nation where the burning of its own flag (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_v._Johnson) is legally protected (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Eichman) as an expression of its commitment to freedom while those who burn the flag of a bordering nation face arrest. (http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/124317.php)

the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected

By the two most common comparative measures of military spending: percentage of GDP or percentage of discretionary budget the current administration has maintain the lowest percentages since the mid-70s. In the former category it is still lower than any year since 1948 (thus the lowest percentage of GDP in our lifetime) and in the later the lower than half of the prior administration's budget. Prior to the late 90s one must go all the way back to the Carter administration.

Then again, I spent most of the 1980s listening to the same complaints about the Reagan Administration

Religion and Government are Intertwined

Hmmm, assigning this to a study of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile) has just lost extensive credibility. Hitler's Germany worked to actively suppress and replace the native Christianity with pre-Christian symbolicly with later stages beginning to cast Christianity as a Jewish plot. Suharto's government explicitly placed Islamists in a separate political party (admittedly one of the few allowed under his reign).

Then again, I have yet to be shown a single law enacted by the current administration which can be justified only by specific theology. Yes, large numbers of people vote and advocate based on their religious beliefs. Many do so based on the kind of fidley bits they like to play with. Many do so based on their ability to get government benefits. Many do so based on a commitment to life free of habits leading to bad health. Over my lifetime the last group has done more to restrict my freedoms that the first two combined you'll forgive me if I have a hard time believing the government is religiously dominated. Abortion is legal and protected but at least one township has made smoking inside one's own home. Homosexual activity is a constitutional right but the ability to buy fried chicken cooked in transfat is banned in multiple locations.

In fact, one could draw better parallels between the proto-religion the Nazis were developing and the US health movement and environmentalism than the modern Christian right.

Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts

Need I point out the very fascists government you see funds "art" in a manner not much different than that of a decade ago. In light of the continuation of grants such as those that lead to Piss Christ in the 1980s and the dung covered Madonna's of the 1990s I must hear you say "disdain for arts" and "support of religion" and have a Princess Bride moment.

As for disdain of intellectuals and the arts, many of us do...in large part because they deserve it. The Stuckists are far from fascists yet stand before the Anglo-American art community and yet stop. Even some who have been in the artistic community itself have become disgusted with the lack of beauty or talent in much of the formal art world. If anything the object politicalization of art in the late 20th century would have served a fascist regime than fought against it as long as it happily kept the government cash flowing.

Fraudulent Elections

Ah, but then why did 2006 occur? Of course, it was all a plot to make it appear they weren't manipulating elections so they can elect Chenney in 2008.

[miss-manners.livejournal.com]

It is easy to claim an administration you highly dislike is fascists, just as the right found it easy to call the left communist. It is easier to claim someone is "evil" than to try and understand why people support it. It certainly feeds the ego and sates feelings of loss, but it does nothing to either change administrations or rally people when true tyranny threatens.


An interesting point is much that I counter your feelings is simple history. The most common failing of people of any political stripe seeing gloom and doom is the lack of historical view. History did not begin the day we were born. Once you realize that you tend to see just how drastic fascists regimes were.

For my money the closest flirtation with something resembling fascism in the US in my lifetime wasn't the religious right but the Perot phenomena. Not that Perot himself was fascists (or maybe he was...I mean I voted for him and by many people's definitions I'm clearly a Nazi) but that his following could have been easily taken that way (when he said get "under the hood and fix things" I couldn't help but wonder if the trains would run on time). The natural American safeguard against that, the blatant stealing of passions by the major parties, functioned normally.

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

Look, I know you don't agree with my viws on this; I think that much has been shown. That's fine, I have no problem with that. However, though I agree with this in most respects, what I posted here is not my work, so it is somewhat beside the point for me to agrue the fine points of how these defiitions were arrived at. However, I too, have studied facsism, and these basic points ring true, in large part, if not in every instance. I don't think even the author would try to claim that - the intent here is to sketch a very simplistic framework showing some salients phenomena associated with facsist powers.

And many of these things are very much at work on the US political scene today. I wouldn't think of asking you to take my word for it; there is plenty of reading material out there. I am far from the 'tin hat' fringe in holding this opinion. This is a wake-up call, not a historical treatise, and is not intended to be such. However, I think there is a tendency among all but the most ambitious and watchful (paranoid perhaps - a little paranoia can at time be a healthy thing, in dangerous times) to simply not take a threat seriously. "It can never happen here." "It's not that bad." "It's just gloom and doom." Honestly, I would be only too happy to be proved wrong here.

History did not begin the day we were born. Once you realize that you tend to see just how drastic fascists regimes were.

As much as I would like to thank you graciously for this not-so-subtle comment, I find myself unable to see it as anything other than snark. I am quite well aware of history, in a great many senses of the word, and I am quite aware of how drastic fascisms were. That awareness included an understanding of how they take hold to begin with. That is precisely the source of my concern. However, I am not here to get into a 'political awareness' contest here.

I have no desire to be endlessly bickering, and I find it unlikely we will come to agree. Since it is clear that we differ greatly in regards to political matters, perhaps it would be the 'mannerly' thing to agree to simply differ?