Crypto-fascism

Last updated

Crypto-fascism is the secret support for, or admiration of, fascism or trends close to the ideology. The term is used to imply that an individual or group keeps this support or admiration hidden to avoid political persecution or political suicide. A person, organisation or idea possessing this tendency would be described by the adjective "crypto-fascist".

Contents

Origin

In an ABC television debate during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Gore Vidal described William F. Buckley, Jr. as a "sort of pro or crypto-Nazi". [1] [2] [3] Buckley responded, "Now listen you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in the goddamn face, and you'll stay plastered." [4] Vidal later clarified in an essay published in Esquire in 1969, "I had not intended to use the phrase 'pro crypto Nazi.' 'Fascist-minded' was more my intended meaning". [5] In later reporting on this event, the term Vidal used to describe Buckley was sometimes misquoted as "crypto-fascist". [6]

The term "crypto-fascist" had first appeared five years earlier in a German-language book by the sociologist Theodor W. Adorno, German : Der getreue Korrepetitor, lit. 'The Faithful Répétiteur'. [7] Adorno used "crypto-fascism" as early as 1937 in a letter written to Walter Benjamin. In this document, the term is not linked to secret support or admiration of fascism but it is used to refer to someone who is insufficiently conscious when displaying such regressive tendencies. [8] : 212

Usage

The term was used by German Nobel laureate Heinrich Böll in a 1972 essay titled Will Ulrike Gnade oder freies Geleit? [9] ("Does Ulrike want mercy or safe passage?") that was sharply critical of the tabloid newspaper Bild 's coverage of the Baader-Meinhof Gang left-wing terrorist organization. In the essay, Böll stated that what Bild does "is no longer crypto-fascist, no longer fascistoid, that is naked fascism. Incitement, lies, filth." [9]

In an episode of Red Dwarf, Season 3 Ep 5 "Time Slides" aired on 12 December 1989, the lead character Lister goes back in time to meet up with his younger self in order to make himself rich. His younger self calls his older self a Crypto-Fascist.

In a 2011 article for the Guardian, Rick Moody suggested that "mainstream Hollywood cinema" and specifically comic book artist and film director Frank Miller are "crypto-fascist" because they promote the view that "war against a ruthless enemy is good, and military service is good, that killing makes you a man, that capitalism must prevail." [10]

With alternative meaning of the prefix "crypto", similar to its use in "crypto-anarchy", the term "crypto-fascism" has also been used to refer to the embracing of cryptocurrency by overt fascists and the association of cryptocurrency with its use by the far right. [11] [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fascism</span> Far-right, authoritarian ultranationalistic political ideology

Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy. Opposed to anarchism, democracy, pluralism, egalitarianism, liberalism, socialism, and Marxism, fascism is placed on the far-right wing within the traditional left–right spectrum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Army Faction</span> Far-left wing militant organization from West Germany

The Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang, was a West German far-left militant group founded in 1970 and active until 1998. The RAF described itself as a communist and anti-imperialist urban guerrilla group. It was engaged in armed resistance against what it considered a fascist state. Members of the RAF generally used the Marxist–Leninist term "faction" when they wrote in English. Early leadership included Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin, and Horst Mahler. The West German government considered the RAF a terrorist organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodor W. Adorno</span> German philosopher, sociologist, and theorist (1903–1969)

Theodor W. Adorno was a German philosopher, musicologist, and social theorist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulrike Meinhof</span> German left-wing journalist and militant (1934–1976)

Ulrike Marie Meinhof was a German left-wing journalist and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) in West Germany, commonly referred to in the press as the "Baader-Meinhof gang". She is the reputed author of The Urban Guerilla Concept (1971). The manifesto acknowledges the RAF's "roots in the history of the student movement"; condemns "reformism" as "a brake on the anti-capitalist struggle"; and invokes Mao Zedong to define "armed struggle" as "the highest form of Marxism-Leninism".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gore Vidal</span> American writer (1925–2012)

Eugene Luther Gore Vidal was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the social and sexual norms he perceived as driving American life. Vidal was heavily involved in politics, and unsuccessfully sought office twice as a Democratic Party candidate, first in 1960 to the United States House of Representatives, and later in 1982 to the United States Senate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heinrich Böll</span> German writer (1917–1985)

Heinrich Theodor Böll was a German writer. Considered one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers, Böll received the Georg Büchner Prize (1967) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1972).

<i>Bild</i> German tabloid published by Axel Springer AG

Bild or Bild-Zeitung is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper Bild am Sonntag is published instead, which has a different style and its own editors. Bild is tabloid in style but broadsheet in size. It is the best-selling European newspaper and has the sixteenth-largest circulation worldwide. Bild has been described as "notorious for its mix of gossip, inflammatory language, and sensationalism" and as having a huge influence on German politicians. Its nearest English-language stylistic and journalistic equivalent is often considered to be the British national newspaper The Sun, the second-highest-selling European tabloid newspaper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William F. Buckley Jr.</span> American conservative author and commentator (1925–2008)

William Frank Buckley Jr. was an American conservative writer, public intellectual, and political commentator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudi Dutschke</span> German student activist (1940–1979)

Alfred Willi Rudolf "Rudi" Dutschke was a German sociologist and political activist who, until severely injured by an assassin in 1968, was a leading charismatic figure within the Socialist Students Union (SDS) in West Germany, and that country's broader "extra-parliamentary opposition" (APO).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axel Springer</span> German publisher (1912–1985)

Axel Cäsar Springer was a German publisher and founder of what is now Axel Springer SE, the largest media publishing firm in Europe. By the early 1960s his print titles dominated the West German daily press market. His Bild Zeitung became the nation's tabloid.

<i>Vergangenheitsbewältigung</i> Societal activities for coping with the past

Vergangenheitsbewältigung is a German compound noun describing processes that since the later 20th century have become key in the study of post-1945 German literature, society, and culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sebastian Haffner</span> German journalist and author (1907–1999)

Raimund Pretzel, better known by his pseudonym Sebastian Haffner, was a German journalist and historian. As an émigré in Britain during World War II, Haffner argued that accommodation was impossible not only with Adolf Hitler but also with the German Reich with which Hitler had gambled. Peace could be secured only by rolling back "seventy-five years of German history" and restoring Germany to a network of smaller states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West German student movement</span> 1968 anti-government mass protests by West German students

The West German student movement, sometimes called the 1968 movement in West Germany, was a social movement that consisted of mass student protests in West Germany in 1968. Participants in the movement later came to be known as 68ers. The movement was characterized by the protesting students' rejection of traditionalism and of German political authority which included many former Nazi officials. Student unrest had started in 1967 when student Benno Ohnesorg was shot by a policeman during a protest against the visit of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. The movement is considered to have formally started after the attempted assassination of student activist leader Rudi Dutschke, which sparked various protests across West Germany and gave rise to public opposition. The movement created lasting changes in German culture.

"Islamofascism", first coined as "Islamic fascism" in 1933, is a term popularized in the 1990s drawing an analogical comparison between the ideological characteristics of specific Islamist or Islamic fundamentalist movements and short-lived European fascist movements of the early 20th century, neo-fascist movements, or totalitarianism.

The Außerparlamentarische Opposition, was a political protest movement in West Germany during the latter half of the 1960s and early 1970s, forming a central part of the German student movement. Its membership consisted mostly of young people disillusioned with the grand coalition of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Since the coalition controlled 95 percent of the Bundestag, the APO provided a more effective outlet for student dissent. Its most prominent member and unofficial spokesman was Rudi Dutschke.

<i>The Baader Meinhof Complex</i> 2008 German drama film

The Baader Meinhof Complex is a 2008 German drama film directed by Uli Edel. Written and produced by Bernd Eichinger, it stars Moritz Bleibtreu, Martina Gedeck, and Johanna Wokalek. The film is based on the 1985 German best selling non-fiction book of the same name by Stefan Aust. It retells the story of the early years of the West German far-left terrorist organisation the Rote Armee Fraktion from 1967 to 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-fascism</span> Opposition to fascism

Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were opposed by many countries forming the Allies of World War II and dozens of resistance movements worldwide. Anti-fascism has been an element of movements across the political spectrum and holding many different political positions such as anarchism, communism, pacifism, republicanism, social democracy, socialism and syndicalism as well as centrist, conservative, liberal and nationalist viewpoints.

"Cultural Marxism" refers to a far-right antisemitic conspiracy theory that misrepresents the Frankfurt School as being responsible for modern progressive movements, identity politics, and political correctness. The conspiracy theory posits that there is an ongoing and intentional academic and intellectual effort to subvert Western society via a planned culture war that undermines the supposed Christian values of traditionalist conservatism and seeks to replace them with culturally liberal values.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bettina Röhl</span> German journalist and author (born 1962)

Bettina Röhl is a German journalist and author. She is best known for her writings about student radicalism of the 1960s and the terrorist kidnappings that it spawned in West Germany during the early 1970s. Röhl has written extensively about the former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer's time as a left-wing militant leader. She has also researched and written at length about her own mother, journalist and Red Army Faction terrorist Ulrike Meinhof. Her assessments of the violence associated with the Red Army Faction in the 1970s are at times intensely critical.

References

  1. "Gore Vidal vs William Buckley Democratic Convention Debate 3 Archived 2022-08-09 at the Wayback Machine "
  2. Buckley Jr., William F.; Vidal, Gore (2 October 2016). ""Crypto-Nazi" and Other Insults". Independent Lens. Season 18. Episode 1. 1:16 minutes in. PBS. Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  3. Grynbaum, Michael M. (24 July 2015). "Buckley vs. Vidal: When Debate Became Bloodsport". The New York Times (New York ed.). p. 12. eISSN   1553-8095. ISSN   0362-4331. OCLC   1645522. Archived from the original on 5 September 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021. On a night of riots at the Democratic convention in Chicago, Buckley and Vidal had their own climactic on-air clash. Vidal called Buckley a "crypto-Nazi," prompting a reaction that still stuns. "Now listen, you queer," Buckley replied, "stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I'll sock you in the goddamn face and you'll stay plastered."
  4. Vulliamy, Ed (1 August 2015). "'Don't call me a crypto-Nazi!' The lost heart of political debate". The Guardian.
  5. Vidal, Gore, "A Distasteful Encounter with William F. Buckley Jr.", originally published in Esquire, September 1969
  6. Connor, Simpson (1 August 2012). "Corrections on The New York Times' Gore Vidal Obituary Are Amazing". The Atlantic.
  7. Adorno, Theodor W. (30 May 1976). Gesammelte Schriften in zwanzig Bänden: Band 15: Komposition für den Film. Der getreue Korrepetitor[Collected writings in twenty volumes: Volume 15: Composition for the film. The faithful répétiteur] (in German). Vol. 15 (2nd ed.). Suhrkamp. p. 191. ISBN   978-3518572184. OCLC   832981112. OL   12762704M.
  8. Adorno, Theodor W.; Benjamin, Walter (10 December 1999) [1994]. "#88, Wiesengrund-Adorno to Benjamin, London, 22 September 1937" . In Lonitz, Henri (ed.). The complete correspondence, 1928-1940 . Translated by Walker, Nicholas (1st ed.). Harvard University Press. pp. 211–214. ISBN   978-0674154278. LCCN   99010988. OCLC   473903058. OL   7692255M . Retrieved 14 December 2021. p. 212: Namely, that the anti-historical, and indeed crypto-fascistic, faith in nature which is hostile to all social analysis, which eventually leads him towards a kind of 'national community' [Volksgemeinschaft] based on biology and imagination.
  9. 1 2 Böll, Heinrich (9 January 1972). "Will Ulrike Gnade oder freies Geleit? Schriftsteller Heinrich Böll über die Baader-Meinhof-Gruppe und "Bild"" [Does Ulrike want mercy or safe conduct? Writer Heinrich Böll on the Baader Meinhof Group and "Bild"]. Der Spiegel (in German). No. 3. pp. 54–57. eISSN   2195-1349. ISSN   0038-7452. Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021. Das ist nicht mehr kryptofaschistisch. nicht mehr faschistoid, das ist nackter Faschismus. Verhetzung, Lüge, Dreck.[That is no longer crypto-fascist. no longer fascistoid, that is naked fascism. Incitement, lies, filth.]
  10. Moody, Rick, "Frank Miller and the rise of cryptofascist Hollywood", The Guardian, November 24, 2011
  11. Ackerman, Daniel (2022-03-15). "Crypto-Fascists". FDD. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
  12. "The Ticking Bomb of Crypto Fascism". In These Times. 2022-01-04. Retrieved 2024-08-21.