The Anatomy of Fascism

By: Robert O. Paxton

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

What is fascism? By focusing on the concrete, what the fascists did rather than what they said, the esteemed historian Robert O. Paxton answers this question for the first time. From the first violent uniformed bands beating up "enemies of the state", through Mussolini's rise to power, to Germany's fascist radicalization in World War II, Paxton shows clearly why fascists came to power in some countries and not others, and he explores whether fascism could exist outside the early-20th-century European setting in which it emerged.

The Anatomy of Fascism will have a lasting impact on our understanding of modern European history, just as Paxton's classic Vichy France redefined our vision of World War II. Based on a lifetime of research, this compelling and important book transforms our knowledge of fascism.

©2007 Robert O. Paxton (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Over my head

This author is writing for a PhD level audience and I feel like an eighth grader. He writes a very, very deep and nuanced analysis of fascism focusing on German Nazism and Mussolini’s Italy and he also covers other fascist movements, military dictatorships, authoritarian regimes, etc. Its a very interesting subject and his exhaustive research and knowledge on the subject is incredible. The last 10 minutes of the reading are a concise and prescient definition of fascism and it is chilling to see how closely it aligns with current US political, social, and economic conditions that would be moving us toward a fascist state.

Very Informative

Very thorough and informative. The author went into great detail and provided a lot of very accessible framing and content. This is a good read if you hear people using "Fascist" to refer to things that you don't think fit that term, or if you see someone who is acting like a fascist but is trying to hide it. Performance was very good. Just soft enough so he doesn't put you to sleep but that you can listen to for a long stretch of time if you wish.

Fascism has come to America

I read this book in 2020 and no irony is lost on how much of “Anatomy of Fascism,” published in 2004, has now come home to roost. I could feel it’s beginnings during the bloodlust era of Bush and Trump has fully unleashed the ecstatic spectacle. Let it be a warning.

Essential!

A great analitical work to help understand and identify fascist movements. A must read to prevent ourselves to be fooled.

One of the most important books on the topic

Outstanding piece of scholarship. Fair and nuanced. But also chilling in its implications for the current moment.

Comprehensive, meticulously researched, insightful and timely

The book explores the structure and functionality of various 20th century fascist movements to try to distill their essence and ascertain possible warning signs of developing fascist movements that might threaten democratic countries now and in the future. Written before the rise of Trump and warning of the dangers of repackaged fascist movements in Europe as well as the gathering currents of fascism in the developing world, it is worryingly prescient as to the present but also offers the hope of tamping them down by understanding them better. If your crazy cousin’s new motto is “own the libs,” you need to read this book.

An incredibly informative read

Occasional skipping in the audio, but fantastic insights throughout. A must read for anybody interested in the topic. If you end up enjoying this, I would also suggest reading Sebastian Haffner's "Defying Hitler", for a more firsthand account of many of the phenomena discussed herein.

Cogent and convincing

A deeply thought out book about an elusive and odious ideology. This is a must read.

Just outstanding!

I loved this audiobook. Recommended for anyone interested in understanding the workings of fascism.

2004 Gold

It's nice to read a book actually about fascism. This was a great read. The only other book I've read that actually tried to categorize fascism was the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises' book "Omnipotent Government", in which he analyzed in great detail the economic policies of fascism and communism, and concluded that they were not very different-- thd only disputes were about who would be in charge.

I'll give some quotes from this audiobook below that I thought were worth taking note of.

Introduction
"Fascist movements varied so conspicuously from one national setting to another that some even doubt that the term 'Fascism' has any meaning other than as a smear word. The epithet has been so loosely used that practically everyone who either holds or shakes authority has been someone's fascist. 'Perhaps', the doubters suggest, 'it would be better just to scrap the term'."

Chapter 1. Strategies
"The classical 'isms' rested upon coherent philosophical systems laid out in the works of systematic thinkers. It seems only natural to explain them by examining their programs and the philosophy that underpinned them. Fascism, by contrast, was a new invention created afresh for the era of mass politics. It sought to appeal mainly to the emotions by the use of ritual, carefully stage-managed ceremonies, and intensely charged rhetoric. The role programs and doctrine play in it is, on closer inspection, fundamentally unlike the role they play in conservatism, liberalism, and socialism. Fascism does not rest explicity upon an elaborated philosophical system, but rather upon popular feelings about master races, their unjust lot, and their rightful predominance over inferior peoples. It has not been given intellectual underpinnings by any system-builder like Marx, or by any major critical intelligence like Mill, Burke, or Toqueville."

"Mussolini liked to declare that he himself was the definition of fascism. The will and leadership of a duce was what a modern people needed, not a doctrine. Only in 1932, after he had been in power for 10 years, and when he wanted to normalize his regime, did Mussolini expound fascist doctrine in an article partly ghostwritten by the philosopher Giovanni Gentile for the new Encyclodepia Italiana, 'Power came first, then doctrine.'"

"Hitler did present a program, 'The 25 points of February 1920', but he pronounced it immutable while ignoring many of its provisions. Though its anniversaries were celebrated, it was less a guide to action than a signal that debate had ceased within the party. In his first public address as chancellor, Hitler ridiculed those who say 'Show us the details of your program'. 'I have refused ever to step before this folk and make cheap promises."

Where do we go from here?
"The term fascism needs to be rescued from sloppy usage, not thrown out because of it. It remains indispensible. We need a generic term for what is a general phenomenon, indeed, the most political novelty of the twentieth century, a popular movement against the left and against liberal individualism."

Chapter 5.
Nazis were pro-natalism, pro-scientific research, and pro-eugenics. The medical powers loved the Nazi party.

Accomodation, Enthusiasm, Terror
"The Italian fascist pattern of violence was the opposite of the Nazi way. Mussolini spilled more blood coming to power than Hitler did, but his dictatorship was relatively mild after that. The main form of punishment for political dissidence was forced residence in remote southern hill villages. About 10,000 serious opponents of the regime were imprisoned in camps or on off-shore islands. The regime sentenced to death a mere nine opponents between 1926 and 1940."

The concentration camps of Nazi Germany were first made for the communists and socialists, not the Jews.

6. The long term: Radicalization or entropy?
"Virulently hostile to democracy, liberalism, secularism, Marxism, and especially Freemasonry, Franco joined Hitler and Mussolini in April 1939 as a signatory of the anti-commenturn(?) pact."

Trying to account for the holocaust
The original plan was expulsion, but leighway was given to the directors of the expulsions of the German Jews into Poland.

Chapter 8. What is Fascism?
"...which are the real fascisms?"
"An influential current considers fascism a developmental dictatorship established for the purpose of hastening industrial growth through forced savings and a regimented workforce. Proponents of this interpretation have looked primarily at the Italian case.
It could well be argued that Germany too, although already an industrial giant, needed urgently to discipline its people for the immense task of rebuilding after the defeat of 1918. This interpretation goes seriously wrong, however, in supposing that fascism pursued any rational economic goal whatever."

What is Fascism? (The final five minutes of the book.)
"The moment has come to give fascism a useable short handle, even though we know that it encompasses its subject no better than a snapshot encompasses a person. Fascism may be defined as a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood, and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints, goals of internal cleansing and external expansion."

Written in 2004, made an audiobook in 2017. I highly recommend, along with the Mises book "Omnipotent Government".