I just succumbed to subscribing to John Ganz’ Unpopular Front, and was rewarded with a post offering a sharp critique of left anti-antifascism which named some things which have been bothering me. (In short, a certain school of left antifascism which sees sees “liberalism” as nothing other than a defense of capitalism, sees fascism as the instrument which capitalism creates to suppress the left, and therefore regards liberals as at least as great a threat as actual fascists, if not an even greater threat. Someday I need to write about this perverse misunderstanding of fascism at length.)
The post contains long quotes from Prophets of Deceit: A Study of the Techniques of the American Agitator, a 1949 book by “two nearly forgotten Frankfurt School sociologists, Leo Löwenthal and Norbert Guterman” which already have me glad I subscribed. It would be dishonorable to share the subscriber-only post, but I think it is fair to share a key bit of his quotation from the book which summarizes of the far right appeal:
My friends, we live in a world of inequality and injustice. But whoever believes that this state of affairs will ever be or can ever be changed is a fool or a liar.
[⋯]
Not utopia but a realistic struggle to grab the bone from the other dog — that is our program. Not peace but incessant struggle for survival; not abundance but the lion’s share of scarcity. Can you realistically expect more? To win this much you will have to follow me. We will form an iron-bound movement of terror. We will ally ourselves with the powerful in order to gain part of their privilege. We will be the policemen rather than the prisoners. And I will be the leader. I will think for you, I will tell you what to do and when to do it. I will act out your lives for you in my public role as leader. But I will also protect you. In the shadow of my venom you will find a home.
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