FASCISM

EVENTUALLY, THE MOMENT WOULD COME WHEN BOTH THE ECONOMIC AND THE POLITICAL SYSTEMS WERE THREATENED BY COMPLETE PARALYSIS. FEAR WOULD GRIP THE PEOPLE, AND LEADERSHIP WOULD BE THRUST UPON THOSE WHO OFFERED AN EASY WAY OUT AT WHATEVER ULTIMATE PRICE. THE TIME WAS RIPE FOR THE FASCIST SOLUTION.

—KARL POLANYI (1944)

THIS COMPILATION OF PASSAGES WAS ASSEMBLED UPON THE ELECTION OF DONALD TRUMP AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ON 5 NOVEMBER 2024.

IT WAS GATHERED FROM MATERIAL CLOSE AT HAND. THE AUTHORS WRITE FROM DIFFERENT TIMES, IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS, AND WITH DIFFERENT CONCERNS. THIS COMPILATION IS NOT MEANT TO SKETCH A COMPREHENSIVE OR AUTHORITATIVE ACCOUNT OF FASCISM. ITS PURPOSE IS NOT TO SUMMARIZE.

THE PASSAGES ARE MEANT TO PROVOKE THOUGHT ABOUT FASCISM AND ITS WORKINGS TODAY. THEIR ANGLES OF ENTRY ARE AFFECT, RESSENTIMENT, AND DEATH. IT IS HOPED THAT THE PASSAGES PLAY OFF EACH ANOTHER, BUILDING PATTERNS OF RESONANCE THAT SET THOUGHT INTO MOTION AT A TIME WHEN IT CAN BE HARD TO THINK.

I

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF LATE MODERN SECULAR SOCIETY, IN WHICH INDIVIDUALS ARE BUFFETED AND CONTROLLED BY GLOBAL CONFIGURATIONS OF DISCIPLINARY AND CAPITALIST POWER OF EXTRAORDINARY PROPORTIONS, AND ARE AT THE SAME TIME NAKEDLY INDIVIDUATED, STRIPPED OF REPRIEVE FROM RELENTLESS EXPOSURE AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THEMSELVES, TOGETHER ADD UP TO AN INCITEMENT TO RESSENTIMENT THAT MIGHT HAVE STUNNED EVEN THE FINEST PHILOSOPHER OF ITS OCCASIONS AND LOGICS. STARKLY ACCOUNTABLE YET DRAMATICALLY IMPOTENT, THE LATE MODERN LIBERAL SUBJECT QUITE LITERALLY SEETHES WITH RESSENTIMENT.

—WENDY BROWN (1993)

SUCH A PERSON WHO IS FUNDAMENTALLY ASHAMED OF HIS EXISTENCE… SUCH A HUMAN BEING WHO HAS BECOME POISONED THROUGH AND THROUGH… EVENTUALLY ENDS UP IN A STATE OF HABITUAL REVENGE, WILL TO REVENGE.

—FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE (1887)

II

WHAT MAKES FASCISM DANGEROUS IS ITS MOLECULAR OR MICROPOLITICAL POWER, FOR IT IS A MASS MOVEMENT: A CANCEROUS BODY RATHER THAN A TOTALITARIAN ORGANISM.

—GILLES DELEUZE AND FÉLIX GUATTARI (1980)

FASCISM WAS AN EVER-GIVEN POLITICAL POSSIBILITY, AN ALMOST INSTANTANEOUS EMOTIONAL REACTION IN EVERY INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITY SINCE THE 1930S. ONE MAY CALL IT A “MOVE” IN PREFERENCE TO A “MOVEMENT,” TO INDICATE THE IMPERSONAL NATURE OF THE CRISIS THE SYMPTOMS OF WHICH WERE FREQUENTLY VAGUE AND AMBIGUOUS. PEOPLE OFTEN DID NOT FEEL SURE WHETHER A POLITICAL SPEECH OR A PLAY, A SERMON OR A PUBLIC PARADE, A METAPHYSICS OR AN ARTISTIC FASHION, A POEM OR A PARTY PROGRAM WAS FASCIST OR NOT. THERE WERE NO ACCEPTED CRITERIA OF FASCISM, NOR DID IT POSSESS CONVENTIONAL TENETS. YET ONE SIGNIFICANT FEATURE OF ALL ITS ORGANIZED FORMS WAS THE ABRUPTNESS WITH WHICH THEY APPEARED AND FADED AWAY AGAIN, ONLY TO BURST FORTH WITH VIOLENCE AFTER AN INDEFINITE PERIOD OF LATENCY.

—KARL POLANYI (1944)

III

MANY OF YOU WOULD SAY THAT DONALD TRUMP WAS EXCLUDED FROM THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION, HAS NO TRACTION AS A POLITICAL CANDIDATE, AND IS GENERALLY VIEWED AS A CLOWN WHOSE SPEWING OCCASIONALLY HITS IN THE VICINITY OF AN OPINION THAT A REASONABLE PERSON COULD DEFEND. BUT I AM HERE TO TELL YOU THAT HE ACTUALLY WON THE REPUBLICAN NOMINATION AND IS DOMINATING THE AIRWAVES THIS ELECTION… HE HAS DONE THIS THE WAY THE FABLED BUTTERFLY DOES IT, AS ITS WING-FLAPPING SETS OFF REVOLUTIONS.

—LAUREN BERLANT (2012)

WHAT IS ASTONISHING IS THAT REAGAN WASN’T LAUGHED AND JEERED OFF THE CAMPAIGN PODIUM, AND WAS SWEPT INTO OFFICE NOT ONCE BUT TWICE. IT WASN’T THAT PEOPLE DIDN’T HEAR HIS VERBAL FUMBLING OR RECOGNIZE THE INCOHERENCE OF HIS THOUGHTS. THEY WERE THE BUTT OF CONSTANT JOKES AND NEWS STORIES. AND IT WASN’T THAT WHAT HE LACKED ON THE LEVEL OF VERBAL COHERENCE WAS GLOSSED OVER BY THE SEDUCTIVE FLUENCY OF HIS BODY IMAGE. REAGAN WAS MORE FAMOUS FOR HIS POLYPS THAN HIS POISE, AND THERE WAS A COLLECTIVE FASCINATION WITH HIS FALTERING HEALTH AND REGULAR SHEDDING OF BITS AND PIECES OF HIMSELF. THE ONLY CONCLUSION IS THAT REAGAN WAS AN EFFECTIVE LEADER NOT IN SPITE OF BUT BECAUSE OF HIS DOUBLE DYSFUNCTION. HE WAS ABLE TO PRODUCE IDEOLOGICAL EFFECTS BY NON-IDEOLOGICAL MEANS, A GLOBAL SHIFT IN THE POLITICAL DIRECTION OF THE UNITED STATES BY FALLING APART. HIS MEANS WERE AFFECTIVE.

—BRIAN MASSUMI (2002)

SOME PUNDITS, ESPECIALLY EARLY IN THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES, MADE FUN OF TRUMP’S SPEAKING STYLE. I HESITATE TO DO SO, AT LEAST IN A DISMISSIVE WAY. HIS STYLE IS NOT DESIGNED FIRST AND FOREMOST TO ARTICULATE A POLICY AGENDA. IT DRAWS ENERGY FROM THE ANGER OF ITS AUDIENCE AS IT CHANNELS IT. IT DRAWS INTO A COLLAGE DISPERSED ANXIETIES AND RESENTMENTS ABOUT DEINDUSTRIALIZATION, RACE, BORDER ISSUES, IMMIGRATION, WORKING-CLASS INSECURITIES, TRADE POLICIES, PLURALIZING DRIVES, THE NEW PLACE OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY, AND TACIT UNCERTAINTY ABOUT THE SHAKY PLACE OF A NEOLIBERAL CULTURE ON THIS PLANET. THE SPEECH MONTAGES THEN TRANSFIGURE THOSE ANXIETIES INTO ANGER AS THEY IDENTIFY CONVENIENT TARGETS OF OUTLET FOR THAT ANGER. TRUMP’S ANIMATED GESTURES, FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, FINGER POINTING, STRUTTING, SIGNATURE PHRASE CLUSTERS, AND RECURRENT TWIRLS AROUND THE STAGE TO CALL OUT THE ROARING ACCLAIM OF THE AUDIENCE AMPLIFY THE WORDS HE RECITES. THEY INCITE AND DIRECT ANXIETY INTO ANGER AS THEY RECALL A TIME IN AMERICA IN WHICH WHITE TRIUMPHALISM FELT SECURE. EACH ELEMENT IN A TRUMP PERFORMANCE FLOWS AND FOLDS INTO THE OTHERS UNTIL AN AGGRESSIVE RESONANCE MACHINE IS FORMED THAT IS MORE INTENSE THAN ITS PARTS.

—WILLIAM E CONNOLY (2017)

IV

ONLY MICROFASCISM PROVIDES AN ANSWER TO THE GLOBAL QUESTION: WHY DOES DESIRE DESIRE ITS OWN REPRESSION, HOW CAN IT DESIRE ITS OWN REPRESSION? THE MASSES CERTAINLY DO NOT PASSIVELY SUBMIT TO POWER; NOR DO THEY “WANT” TO BE REPRESSED, IN A KIND OF MASOCHISTIC HYSTERIA; NOR ARE THEY TRICKED BY AN IDEOLOGICAL LURE. DESIRE IS NEVER SEPARABLE FROM COMPLEX ASSEMBLAGES THAT NECESSARILY TIE INTO MOLECULAR LEVELS, FROM MICROFORMATIONS ALREADY SHAPING POSTURES, ATTITUDES, PERCEPTIONS, EXPECTATIONS, SEMIOTIC SYSTEMS, ETC. DESIRE IS NEVER AN UNDIFFERENTIATED INSTINCTUAL ENERGY, BUT ITSELF RESULTS FROM A HIGHLY DEVELOPED, ENGINEERED SETUP RICH IN INTERACTIONS: A WHOLE SUPPLE SEGMENTARITY THAT PROCESSES MOLECULAR ENERGIES AND POTENTIALLY GIVES DESIRE A FASCIST DETERMINATION.

—GILLES DELEUZE AND FÉLIX GUATTARI (1980)

ALONE, [REAGAN] WAS NOTHING APPROACHING AN IDEOLOGUE… HE WAS AN INCIPIENCE. HE WAS UNQUALIFIED AND WITHOUT CONTENT. BUT, HIS INCIPIENCE WAS PROLONGED BY TECHNOLOGIES OF IMAGE TRANSMISSION AND THEN RELAYED BY APPARATUSES SUCH AS THE FAMILY OR THE CHURCH OR THE SCHOOL OR THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, WHICH IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE MEDIA ACTED AS PART OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM OF A NEW AND FRIGHTENINGLY REACTIVE BODY POLITIC. IT WAS ON THE RECEIVING END THAT THE REAGAN INCIPIENCE WAS QUALIFIED, GIVEN CONTENT… [RECEIVING APPARATUSES] SELECTED ONE LINE OF MOVEMENT, ONE PROGRESSION OF MEANING, TO ACTUALIZE AND IMPLANT LOCALLY. THAT IS WHY REAGAN COULD BE SO MANY THINGS TO SO MANY PEOPLE; THAT IS WHY THE MAJORITY OF THE ELECTORATE COULD DISAGREE WITH HIM ON MAJOR ISSUES BUT STILL VOTE FOR HIM.

—BRIAN MASSUMI (2002)

V

WHAT IN FACT IS RACISM? IT IS PRIMARILY A WAY OF INTRODUCING A BREAK INTO THE DOMAIN OF LIFE THAT IS UNDER POWER’S CONTROL: THE BREAK BETWEEN WHAT MUST LIVE AND WHAT MUST DIE.

—MICHEL FOUCAULT (1976)

ONCE THEIR FUNDAMENTAL REFERENT BECOMES BARE LIFE, TRADITIONAL POLITICAL DISTINCTIONS (SUCH AS THOSE BETWEEN RIGHT AND LEFT, LIBERALISM AND TOTALITARIANISM, PRIVATE AND PUBLIC) LOSE THEIR CLARITY AND INTELLIGIBILITY AND ENTER INTO A ZONE OF INDISTINCTION. THE EX-COMMUNIST RULING CLASSES’ UNEXPECTED FALL INTO THE MOST EXTREME FASCISM (AS IN THE SERBIAN PROGRAM OF ‘ETHNIC CLEANSING’) AND THE REBIRTH OF NEW FORMS OF FASCISM IN EUROPE ALSO HAVE THEIR ROOTS HERE.

—GIORGIO AGAMBEN (1995)

ULTIMATELY, EVERYONE IN THE NAZI STATE HAD THE POWER OF LIFE AND DEATH OVER HIS OR HER NEIGHBORS, IF ONLY BECAUSE OF THE PRACTICE OF INFORMING, WHICH EFFECTIVELY MEANT DOING AWAY WITH THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR, OR HAVING THEM DONE AWAY WITH. SO MURDEROUS POWER AND SOVEREIGN POWER ARE UNLEASHED THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SOCIAL BODY.

—MICHEL FOUCAULT (1976)

VI

“WHAT JUSTICE MEANS TO US IS PRECISELY THAT THE WORLD BE FILLED WITH THE STORMS OF OUR REVENGE”—THUS THEY SPEAK TO EACH OTHER. “WE SHALL WREAK VENGEANCE AND ABUSE ON ALL WHOSE EQUALS WE ARE NOT”—THUS DO THE TARANTULA-HEARTS VOW. “AND ‘WILL TO EQUALITY’ SHALL HENCEFORTH BE THE NAME FOR VIRTUE; AND AGAINST ALL THAT HAS POWER WE WANT TO RAISE OUR CLAMOR!”

—FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE (1892)

IN CRUEL OPTIMISM I SUGGESTED THAT OUR IMPORTANT OBJECTS ARE NOT THINGS BUT CLUSTERS OF PROMISES, PROJECTION, AND SPECULATION THAT HOLD UP A WORLD THAT WE NEED TO SUSTAIN… THAT BOOK FOCUSES ON STUCK OR POISONOUS RELATIONS TO OBJECTS… MY NEXT BOOK, ON HUMORLESSNESS, IS ABOUT HOLDING ON TO THE OBJECT SO TIGHTLY ONE WOULD PREFER TO BRING THE WORLD DOWN AROUND IT.

—LAUREN BERLANT (2022)

A BIZARRE REMARK BY VIRILIO PUTS US ON THE TRAIL: IN FASCISM, THE STATE IS FAR LESS TOTALITARIAN THAN IT IS SUICIDAL. THERE IS IN FASCISM A REALIZED NIHILISM. UNLIKE THE TOTALITARIAN STATE, WHICH DOES ITS UTMOST TO SEAL ALL POSSIBLE LINES OF FLIGHT, FASCISM IS CONSTRUCTED ON AN INTENSE LINE OF FLIGHT, WHICH IT TRANSFORMS INTO A LINE OF PURE DESTRUCTION AND ABOLITION. IT IS CURIOUS THAT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING THE NAZIS ANNOUNCED TO GERMANY WHAT THEY WERE BRINGING: AT ONCE WEDDING BELLS AND DEATH, INCLUDING THEIR OWN DEATH, AND THE DEATH OF THE GERMANS. THEY THOUGHT THEY WOULD PERISH BUT THAT THEIR UNDERTAKING WOULD RESUME, ALL ACROSS EUROPE, ALL OVER THE WORLD, THROUGHOUT THE SOLAR SYSTEM. AND THE PEOPLE CHEERED, NOT BECAUSE THEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND, BUT BECAUSE THEY WANTED THAT DEATH THROUGH THE DEATH OF OTHERS.

—GILLES DELEUZE AND FÉLIX GUATTARI (1980)