September 10, 2020

By Chuck Ardo

Americans pride themselves on helping defeat European fascism in WW II. But, few remember that a significant pro-fascist movement blossomed here at home.

According to the National World War II Museum “The American fascist movement in the 1930s and early 1940s, until recently, was arguably the most organized attempt to bring Nazism to the forefront of American society.” The goal of the German-American Bund, the most effective fascist organization in the United States at the time, was to create an American counterpart to the German Nazi Party. Although that effort failed the hateful ideology it represented never faded.

Celebrated journalist Dorothy Thompson once wrote that she was reminded of what Huey Long, who FDR regarded as “one of the two most dangerous men in America”, once explained to her: “American Fascism would never emerge as a Fascist but as a 100 percent American movement; it would not duplicate the German method of coming to power but would only have to get the right President and Cabinet.” Those words should chill anyone concerned about the cult of personality surrounding Donald Trump and emergence of the MAGA movement that in many ways parallels the rise of German fascism. It’s important to note, contrary to popular belief, Adolf Hitler did not “seize power.” Germans voters elected him as Führer in a referendum and chose to support the party he championed.

In an essay in the New York Review of Books author Sarah Churchwell, a professor of American Literature and Public Understanding of the Humanities at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, lays out the case. “American fascist energies today are different from 1930s European fascism, but that doesn’t mean they’re not fascist; it means they’re not European and it’s not the 1930s. They remain organized around classic fascist tropes of nostalgic regeneration, fantasies of racial purity, celebration of an authentic folk and nullification of others, scapegoating groups for economic instability or inequality, rejecting the legitimacy of political opponents, the demonization of critics, attacks on a free press, and claims that the will of the people justifies violent imposition of military force. Vestiges of interwar fascism have been dredged up, dressed up, and repurposed for modern times. Colored shirts might not sell anymore, but colored hats are doing great.”

Those who say it can’t happen here ignore the fact that it has happened here. ““I come from a land whose democracy from the very beginning has been tainted with race prejudice born of slavery, and whose richness has been poured through the narrow channels of greed into the hands of the few” Langston Hughes told the International Writers Conference. “We are the people who have long known in actual practice the meaning of the word Fascism…... We know. Its theories of Nordic supremacy and economic suppression have long been realities to us.”

Martin Niemöller’s words should serve as warning: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Follow BuzzFlash on @twitter

Continue the conversation at the BuzzFlash Nation group on Facebook

No paywall or advertisements here! Keep BuzzFlash independent and free from the influence of Corporate Interests – Make A Donation Now.