Umberto Eco on the 14 signs of fascism

I don’t like bandying words like “fascist” about. It’s mostly lazy thinking — short-hand for “I am left-wing, you are right-wing, and I disagree with your politics”.

But at the same time, the lessons of the 20th century are that fascism has to be confronted early and hard, because fascism didn’t rise to dominate several European countries for decades without having strong popular appeal.

Fasicst is a dirty word, even for those whose politics lean towards fascism. So let’s get the terminology right. Let’s be sure not to over-use — especially at this time of heightened emotion and shock — lest the power of an accusation of fascism loses its impact.

Sadly, though, look to definitions and there are all too many signs that true fascism is on the rise. Umberto Eco’s classic 1995 essay Ur-Fascism (well worth reading in full) remains an excellent — and increasingly worrying — guide.

1. The cult of tradition
2. The rejection of modernism — “The rejection of the modern world was disguised as a rebuttal of the capitalistic way of life, but it mainly concerned the rejection of the Spirit of 1789 (and of 1776, of course). The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.”
3. The cult of action for action’s sake — “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation… The official Fascist intellectuals were mainly engaged in attacking modern culture and the liberal intelligentsia for having betrayed traditional values.”
4. Rejection of analytical criticism — “The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge. For Ur-Fascism, disagreement is treason.”
5. Rejection of diversity — “Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks for consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.”
6. Appeal to individual or social frustration— “One of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups. In our time, when the old ‘proletarians’ are becoming petty bourgeois (and the lumpen are largely excluded from the political scene), the fascism of tomorrow will find its audience in this new majority.”
7. Obsession with a plot — “To people who feel deprived of a clear social identity, Ur-Fascism says that their only privilege is the most common one, to be born in the same country. This is the origin of nationalism… the only ones who can provide an identity to the nation are its enemies… The followers must feel besieged. The easiest way to solve the plot is the appeal to xenophobia. But the plot must also come from the inside”
8. Self-humiliation — “The followers must feel humiliated by the ostentatious wealth and force of their enemies… However, the followers must be convinced that they can overwhelm the enemies. Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.”
9. Life is lived for struggle — “pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. It is bad because life is permanent warfare. This, however, brings about an Armageddon complex. Since enemies have to be defeated, there must be a final battle, after which the movement will have control of the world.
10. Popular elitism — “Every citizen belongs to the best people of the world, the members of the party are the best among the citizens… But there cannot be patricians without plebeians. In fact, the Leader… knows that his force is based upon the weakness of the masses… every subordinate leader despises his own underlings, and each of them despises his inferiors.”
11. Encouragement of individual action / heroism — “In every mythology the hero is an exceptional being, but in Ur-Fascist ideology, heroism is the norm.”
12. Disdain for women and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits
13. Selective populism via the concept of “the People” — “the People is conceived as a quality, a monolithic entity expressing the Common Will. Since no large quantity of human beings can have a common will, the Leader pretends to be their interpreter. Having lost their power of delegation, citizens do not act; they are only called on to play the role of the People. Thus the People is only a theatrical fiction… Wherever a politician casts doubt on the legitimacy of a parliament because it no longer represents the Voice of the People, we can smell Ur-Fascism.”
14. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak — “we must be ready to identify other kinds of Newspeak, even if they take [an] apparently innocent form.”

In both Brexit Britain and Trump’s America, I see elements of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, and 14. Trump’s encouragement of violence against protesters at his rallies brings in 11. The only one missing is 9.

So how do we respond? Eco has advice:

“We must keep alert, so that the sense of these words will not be forgotten again. Ur-Fascism is still around us, sometimes in plainclothes. It would be so much easier, for us, if there appeared on the world scene somebody saying, ‘I want to reopen Auschwitz, I want the Black Shirts to parade again in the Italian squares.’ Life is not that simple. Ur-Fascism can come back under the most innocent of disguises. Our duty is to uncover it and to point our finger at any of its new instances — every day, in every part of the world. Franklin Roosevelt’s words of November 4, 1938, are worth recalling: ‘I venture the challenging statement that if American democracy ceases to move forward as a living force, seeking day and night by peaceful means to better the lot of our citizens, fascism will grow in strength in our land.’ Freedom and liberation are an unending task.”