Book Description: How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them

Jason Stanley describes his specific interest in this book as “…fascist tactics as a mechanism to achieve power.” Published in 2020, he wrote much of it in the years of the Trump Administration. His concerns reflect the period. The worry that Trump was leading America toward a fascist state weighed heavily in the public sphere and academia. Indeed, the problems have not gone away with the end of the Trump presidency. As of this writing (August/September 2022), President Biden recently attacked the current Trumpian iteration of the Republican Party using the term “semi-fascism.” An examination of fascist political tactics seems timely.

Prof. Stanley did a fine job preparing this book. His research is comprehensive. His discussion of the problem enlightens and informs, even as it frightens. This book will help teach about antisemitism, mainly as a resource for enhancing students’ understanding of the background against which right-wing antisemitism can infest a society.

While the book is highly praiseworthy, it suffers a few flaws. First, framing the issue as a problem on the right, a framing inherent in using the term “fascism,” may forestall discussion of when these despicable tactics find employment on the left. If so, this book may fail to achieve the understanding-based strengthening of hearts and minds that underlies Professor Stanley’s purpose in writing it. The 20th Century’s experience of Fascist and Communist dictatorship teaches us that tactics that work for one side often find use on the other. Stanley offers a list of fascist strategies: “… the mythic past, propaganda, anti-intellectualism, unreality, hierarchy, victimhood, law and order, sexual anxiety, appeals to the heartland, and a dismantling of public welfare and unity .” As a generalization, we can say that these found expression in the USSR or the People’s Republic of China, as they did in Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy. Stanley had an opportunity to show how these manipulations of the public that he labels “fascist” are shabby, dishonorable tactics adopted by dictators of all stripes.

Another blind spot lies in Stanley’s discussion of the flaws he sees with the “marketplace of ideas” concept. He points out that the notion, taken to an extreme, is as specious as the idea of a harsh unregulated economic marketplace. On this, most reasonable people would agree. However, his presentation fails to discuss who decides how to limit access to the marketplace of ideas. Instead, he suggests that “responsible media” will do the job. However, that is all too often an oxymoron. Media is a human institution. Media is notoriously afflicted with selfish agendas and economic incentives to promote false representations. Even in good faith, media often exhibits error, unconscious prejudice, ignorance, and ideological framing. It can warp the picture away from the truth or sabotage sober problem-resolution-oriented discussion. One of the significant justifications for opening the marketplace of ideas wide is that the answer to these flaws is the expression of why they are wrong. As a guideline for intervention in the marketplace of ideas, and despite current research on the importance of emotions in generating our responses to ideas, the best answer to the inherent difficulties in the marketplace of ideas is better ideas expressed in more effective ways. With all its flaws, the “marketplace of ideas” is a better guiding metaphor than having media controlled by ideology. Unfortunately, Stanley seems open to discussing ideological control, so long as he is comfortable with the underlying ideology.

Finally, Professor Stanley has a tin ear at times. A son of Holocaust refugees, who cites their experience as a motivation for the direction his career has taken, his missteps can be surprising. An example: “…when white men rise up against oppression, they are heroes: when black men rise, they have reverted to their native savagery. The uprising in the Warsaw ghetto was not described as a riot, nor were the participants maligned as hoodlums: the boys and girls in Watts and Harlem are thoroughly aware of this. “The quote is from James Baldwin. Baldwin’s was a failure of shallow knowledge of a piece of history. Specifically, Baldwin was unaware of how the Nazis used that kind of deprecatory language to describe Warsaw Ghetto fighters. In the infamous Stroop Report produced by the SS commander of the assault on the Warsaw Ghetto, Jewish freedom fighters are described as “hoodlums” or, to be precise, “bandits.” Baldwin may also have failed empathy in the heat of his response to America’s resurgence of expressions of racism following the Watts and Harlem violence in the mid-1960s. However, Stanley, who was not under that sort of emotional pressure, should have avoided adopting Baldwin’s error.

Professor Stanley writes with elegance and clarity. While his topic makes for depressing reading, his writing is accessible. This book is helpful for older and advanced high school, college, and graduate students.

“How Fascism Works” is a valuable book. Teachers should present it critically, taking advantage of its many insights and achievements while discussing its weaker points.

Bibliographic Information: 
Stanley, Jason, How Fascism Works: The Politics of US and Them, Random House trade paperback edition (New York: Random House, 2020)
ISBN-13: 9780525511854