Anatomy of Fascism
Robert Paxton
In his book, the Anatomy of Fascism, Paxton discusses a particular brand of authoritarianism known as Fascism. Fascism is similar to mainstream authoritarianism to the extent that they both oppress people, but differs in the intensity with which it approaches rule.
Fascist leaders are very energetic in their way of ruling. Rather than oppressing the people until they don’t want to fight anymore, fascist leaders try to convince the people into helping them. The main way they do this is by getting the people very angry at some enemy. From there, the fascist leader can use this enemy as an excuse to control the people. One method for getting people angry is using propaganda, which is when a group uses a bunch of media to convince people they are right. Another method through which Fascist leaders enrage their people is through rallies. These rallies are very big events in which the fascist leader speaks and convinces the people that there is a big problem.
Once fascist leaders have made everybody afraid of something, they use that fear as a way to control everybody. Generally, fascist leaders will choose one group of people to be the most important, and then convince those people to help the fascist regime control everybody else. That one chosen group will be awarded special privileges in exchange for helping to control the others. However, by pretending that they are protecting the chosen group, the government is able to take away many rights from that group.
Paxton names 5 stages that fascist regimes have. The first stage of a fascist movement is the creation of a movement. This movement can generally be very small, but movements like these are present in nearly every country around the world. The second stage is when this movement becomes a political party, and starts to become impactful on the political stage of a country. The third stage is when the party moves into power and rules the country. The fourth stage is when the fascist state is steadily ruling the country. The fifth stage of fascism is when the fascist country either begins to lose its momentum and decline or radicalizes to keep going.
It is very important to note that all fascist regimes come to an end. Fascism is built on a shared purpose and fear and eventually that fizzles out and fascism either comes to an abrupt end, or settles into a steady authoritarian state. Once a fascist movement comes into power and after it exercises its agenda for a few years, it will have either failed and been replaced or will have succeeded in its goals. After it has succeeded in its goals, it struggles to keep momentum going. At this point, it will either become a “regular” authoritarian state, or it will embark on a series of increasingly difficult tasks in order to maintain its momentum. For example, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia because he wanted to give Italy a national purpose. As such, democracy is clearly better than Fascism because it doesn’t lead to pointless conflicts or to authoritarianism.