'F-Word' Questions

Review by Bill Doughty

Our answers to ten questions can provide "reassurance or a warning we dare not ignore," says Madeleine Albright, author of "Fascism: A Warning" (Harper Collins, 2018).

Albright tracks the ebb and flow of fascism, "the F-word" she says, through history – taking root in modern times in the fertile period of discontent and upheaval between the two World Wars in the 1920s and 30s. 

Italian Mussolini arose in the Fasces movement, born nearly 100 years ago and modeled after concepts from the Roman Empire. Their symbol was a "fasces," a tight bundle of sticks with an eagle-headed scepter tied with an axe, an implement carried by Roman consuls. Germany's Hitler and Mussolini, at first, marched in lockstep.

Albright, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia who became U.S. Secretary of State, shows that fascism can come from either the right or the left. She identifies North Korea as an completely outright-fascist nation.

Another F-word: Fear

Fear is fascism's oxygen. "Fear is why fascism's emotional reach can extend to all levels of society," Albright says.

The America First movement in the late 1930s, founded in fear, culminated with the formation of the America First Committee in 1940. AFC "brought together pacifists, isolationists and Nazi sympathizers to fight against the country's prospective entry into World War II," she writes. "Four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Hitler declared war on the United States the AFC soon disbanded."

Chaplin as Hitler; Oakie as Mussolini in "The Dictator."

Albright gives poignant history of modern fascism, largely but not exclusively from a European perspective. We "meet" Mussolini and Hitler, and we come face to face with Venezuela's Chavez, North Korea's Kim Jong-il (who Albright met 20 years ago), Hungary's Orbán, Turkey's Erdogan, Duterte of the Philippines, and Russia's Putin, a man she describes as "small and pale, so cold as to be almost reptilian."

One way to fight fear and fascism is with fun, making fun of falsehoods by a cult of personality. That's what Charlie Chaplain did in the 1930s, helping Americans understand the flaws in Hitler's and Mussolini's vision and resulting idolatry of their followers.

Fight for Freedom

She also introduces us to heroes of freedom and true representational government who were willing to fight racism and fascism.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Mandela

Consider South Africa's Nelson Mandela.

"(In 1962) Nelson Mandela began serving twenty-seven years, the prime of his life, in prison. His crime was to oppose the racist oppressors who had secured a monopoly on power and privilege in his country. The courageous dissident had a profound cause for grievance, a legitimate reason for bitterness, and thousands of days behind bars to cultivate hate. Instead he chose to spend time learning about the people who had put him in jail – the Afrikaners. He studied their language, history, resentments and fears. When the long-awaited day came and he was finally released, Mandela not only understood those who had thrown him into prison; he was able to communicate with them, find common ground with them, and – most astonishingly – lead them. As president, Mandela pushed back against the many in his party to wanted immediate justice for the multitude of wrongs done to members of the anti-apartheid movement. He appointed a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that received testimony from all sides. Unlike so many, he found the trappings of high office eminently resistible and refused to stand for a second term."

We also meet a founder of an independent Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, a believer in constitutional democracy 100 years ago. Albright writes:

"In 1918, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was sworn in as president of an independent Czechoslovakia. With his erect bearing, old-world manners, modern outlook, and fearless commitment to democratic principles – including feminism and pluralism – Masaryk commanded a global reputation, despite the modest dimensions of the nation he led. Due to his age, his health declined even as the threat from the Third Reich grew – in the 1930s, no fully democratic nation was more endangered. His response, when asked to explain what was at stake: 'Democracy is not a form of state, it is not just something that is embodied in a constitution; democracy is a view of life, it requires a belief in human beings, in humanity ... I have already said that democracy is a discussion. But the real discussion is possible only if people trust each other and if they try fairly to find the truth.'" For all its shortcomings, there is no other form of government to which such words apply. It is up to us to remedy democracy's faults when and wherever we can, but never to forget the underlying strengths. Up to us, as well, to realize that democracy has enemies who do not advertise that fact."

Above all, Albright warns against complacency and taking our democracy for granted.

She notes the watershed event for Americans in the previous century as the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941 forcing the United States into a two-front war. That war ultimately defeated fascism in Imperial Japan and in Germany and Italy. In 2018 all three of these former enemies of liberty are free, prosperous and democratic societies.

Albright provides decades of examples of the rise of despotism that seem to chip away at democratic nations – away from, in her words, "the wisdom of Lincoln or Mandela's largeness of soul." "Lincoln and Mandela fought with monsters; neither became one."

Ten F-word Warnings + Five More

Her ten "right questions" to us are directed to current and potential leaders to identify and fend off fascism as it develops:

• Do they cater to our prejudices by suggesting that we treat people outside our ethnicity, race, creed, or party as unworthy of dignity or respect?
• Do they want us to nurture our anger toward those who we believe have done us wrong, rub raw our grievances, and set our sights on revenge?
• Do they encourage us to have contempt for our governing institutions and the electoral process?
• Do they seek to destroy our faith in essential contributors to democracy such as an independent press and a professional judiciary?
• Do they exploit the symbols of patriotism – the flag, the pledge – in a conscious effort to turn us against one another?
• If defeated at the polls, will they accept the verdict or insist without evidence that they have won?
• Do they go beyond asking for our votes to brag about their ability to solve all problems, put to rest all anxieties, and satisfy every desire?
• Do they solicit our cheers by speaking casually and with pumped up machismo about using violence to blow enemies away?
• Do they echo the attitude of Mussolini: 'The crowd doesn't have to know,' all it has to do is believe and 'submit to being shaped'?
• Or do they invite us to join with them in building and maintaining a healthy center for our societies, a place where rights and duties are apportioned fairly, the social contract is honored, and all have room to dream and grow?

She praises George W. Bush for his even-keeled rejection of fear and hate in the wake of 9/11. We are reminded of the late Sen. John McCain's honorable stance against racist hatred when he politely but firmly corrected a supporter who attempted to slander his opponent, Barack Obama. McCain's concession speech is a much-cited example of grace, humility, honor, courage and commitment to the Constitution.

Albright and McCain discuss the legacy of Czechoslovakia's late President Václev Havel at the Library of Congress in 2014.

Albright said this about McCain in a tribute published by BBC: "I will remember him as one of the most valiant, patriotic and dedicated public servants I've ever met, somebody who understood the honor of serving his country and who served his country with honor." Albright and McCain traveled to her country of birth, Czechoslovakia, in 1990 to monitor fair elections.

Former U.S. Navy POW John McCain; Sen. McCain's strategist Steve Schmidt

McCain's former Republican campaign strategist was Steve Schmidt.

Schmidt sees a simple formula that explains the rise of fascism wherever it occurs, threatening and sometimes ending democracies. 

Would-be strongmen, he says: (1) incite "fervor in a base through constant lying" + (2) scapegoat "minority populations" + (3) allege "conspiracies" + (4) spread "a sense of victimizations among those fervent supporters" + (5) assert "the need to exert heretofore unprecedented power" to protect the victim class from the scapegoated minority.

"Through all of history," Schmidt says, when totalitarianism rises and democracies fall, "you will find those five behaviors." Schmidt warns of leaders who use fear, falsehoods and fake pronouncements that they are above the law. He also warns of attacks on a free press and the rule of law.

Attacks on truth, justice, accountability and the free press are steps on the road to an acceptance of fascism.

How can we fend off fundamental attacks on freedom? By recognizing attempts to influence us with Orwellian attempts at creating hyper-nationalism through fear and feelings over critical thinking and reason.

A Final Word

Scholar and modern philosopher Yuval Noah Harari, author of "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind," "Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow" and "21 Lessons for the 21st Century," gives compelling advice for the Information Age in this TED talk: "Why fascism is so tempting -- and how your data could power it."

From TED Talks: 

"In a profound talk about technology and power, author and historian Yuval Noah Harari explains the important difference between fascism and nationalism – and what the consolidation of our data means for the future of democracy. Appearing as a hologram live from Tel Aviv, Harari warns that the greatest danger that now faces liberal democracy is that the revolution in information technology will make dictatorships more efficient and capable of control. 'The enemies of liberal democracy hack our feelings of fear and hate and vanity, and then use these feelings to polarize and destroy,' Harari says. 'It is the responsibility of all of us to get to know our weaknesses and make sure they don't become weapons.'"