“Ur-Fascism” (1995) is an essay by Umberto Eco about the warning signs that fascism might be taking root. He grew up in Italy under Mussolini and wrote the essay well before the rise of Trump in the US.
Fascism is different according to place and time – Italy under Mussolini, Germany under Hitler, Spain under Franco, etc. And yet there are certain common features that keep coming up despite time or place. Not every time or every place, but often enough to take note of. This is Ur-Fascism.
Common features (or red flags):
- Cult of tradition – the great truths are found in the past, even the pagan past, even if hidden or not fully understood. There is no need for the advancement of learning or new ideas. Therefore:
- Rejection of modern ideas. And by modern we mean anything since the Age of Reason in the 1700s. It may accept new inventions like the atom bomb, but not “new” ideas like democracy, equality and liberty. See #1.
- Action for action’s sake. Action is beautiful! Thinking is sissified and suspect – and so therefore are “goddamn intellectuals” and “eggheads”. The universities have been taken over by the left and the liberal intelligentsia have deserted traditional values.
- Dissent is betrayal. Science depends on critical thought while Ur-Fascism sees it as a threat.
- Fear of difference. This is how it gets everyone to fall in line. And why Ur-Fascism is racist by nature.
- The appeal to the frustrated middle classes. This is its audience, its target demographic. They must be made to feel fearful and under siege (if they are not already) by:
- Obsession with conspiracy theories. This provides enemies. Foreigners make good enemies, but Jews are even better because they live both inside and outside the nation.
- The enemy is at once too strong and too weak. They must be rich and powerful, and yet possible to defeat.
- Life is a permanent war. Talking peace only helps the enemy. The enemy can and must be defeated, in a final showdown that leads to a Golden Age of peace – even though life is a permanent war!
- Scorn for the weak. The nation or party is made up of the best people. The leader looks down on his underlings, who in turn look down on their underlings, and so on, making the party feel like an elite even if it is made up of millions.
- Cult of death. Heroes are rewarded by death. But, in their impatience to die, they usually manage to make others die in their place.
- Machismo. Plays with weapons as stand-in penises. Machismo means that misogyny and homophobia are also common features of Ur-Fascism.
- The Leader is the voice of the people. Not parliament or congress. With such a wonderful leader, citizens do not need rights.
- Newspeak. Simple words and grammar are used: it limits critical thought.
In short, Ur-Fascism is bullying in political form. It tends to be against democracy, science, universities and anyone who is not a straight White Gentile male.
– Abagond, 2020.
See also:
- Umberto Eco
- conspiracy theory
- racism
- Orwell
- Hitler
- Donald Trump
- Trumpspeak
- tribal epistemology
- alternative facts
- The Trumpification of the US – wherein climate change is removed from a US government website
- Hurricane Dorian – Sharpiegate
- Republicans are going over a cliff
- Autocracy: Rules for Survival
569
Abagond 
Well at least we know you love Jews and Democrats. Bernie Sanders is a old fake Jew.
Bernie “WHAT DOES Repatrations mean” Sanders.
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Don’t worry , Democrats have black people backs LMFBAO! They love helping you people stay in the ghettos while helping illegals,homosexuals and Feminist , ask the Democrats if they have a black agenda .
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Keep covering this subject. It would be nice if you could index your contribution so we could find it all together like a book with the comments also indexed. .
I believe this is a very important conversation at this time because of the power of the “Trumpist” (Christians and White separates) . They are a combination of different power groups which would not under most circumstances be working together.
More of this at this time! Thank you!
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Don’t forget the Socialist Democrats and their anti America rhetoric. Only if we had an American Adolf Hitler the possibilities would be endless.
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Begone, Sergei you Russian troll you!
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Big boy, that is.
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I would rather be a Russian that a dress wearing Socialist homosexual or a moderated word for black people.
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Does the book discuss how it is applied to India, in the PRC (or previously to Japan) or any other non-European or non-white majority country?
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Ok, closet case Sergei.
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“Does the book discuss how it is applied to India, in the PRC (or previously to Japan) or any other non-European or non-white majority country?”
How’s the “bromance” between you, Abagond and “sloppy Steve” Bannon coming along?
You were full of praise for Bannon not so long ago: ”
By the way, what’s ‘thuggish’ about outing a spy? Why have you not told us what you make of the remarkable election victory of you friends at the last HK election? ‘Democrats’ winning elections in a ‘police state’ require an explanation, don’t you think?
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@ jefe
Eco is mainly just thinking of Europe in the early 1900s, in particular Italy, Spain, Portugal and Germany and the fascist movement in Britain.
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Oh lord my friend on fb whom i accused of being a chinese asset goes on about nato and the us’ criminal behavior…
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and around and around she goes…
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I wrote this post on February 4th, never imagining what these words would come to mean:
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