Crypto-fascism

Crypto-fascism is the secret support for, or admiration of, fascism or trends very closely related to the ideology. The term is used to imply that an individual or group keeps this support or admiration hidden to avoid political persecution or political suicide. The common usage is "crypto-fascist", one who practices this support.

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Etymology

In an ABC television debate during the chaos of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, after William F. Buckley, Jr. mentions fascism thrice and totalitarianism once in a way that makes it clear that he opposes fascism and totalitarianism and after he mentions Nazism in the same oppositional manner multiple times,[1] Gore Vidal described William F. Buckley, Jr. as a "sort of pro or crypto-Nazi",[2][3] and would write in an essay published in Esquire in 1969, "I had not intended to use the phrase "pro crypto Nazi." "Fascist-minded" was more my intended meaning".[4] In 2015, NPR misreported that in the debate, Vidal called Buckley Jr. a "crypto-fascist".[5] This may be why Gore Vidal is sometimes cited as using the term "crypto-Fascism".

The term had, in fact, appeared five years earlier in a German-language book by the sociologist Theodor W. Adorno, German: Der getreue Korrepetitor, lit. 'The Faithful Répétiteur'.[6] Adorno used "crypto-fascism" as early as 1937 in a letter written to Walter Benjamin. In this document, the term is not linked to secret support or admiration of fascism but it is used to refer to someone who is insufficiently conscious when displaying such regressive tendencies.[7]: 212 

Usage

The term was used by German Nobel laureate Heinrich Böll in a 1972 essay (titled Will Ulrike Gnade oder freies Geleit?)[8] that was sharply critical of the tabloid newspaper Bild's coverage of the Baader-Meinhof Gang left-wing terrorist organization. In the essay, Böll stated that what Bild does "is no longer crypto-fascist, no longer fascistoid, that is naked fascism. Incitement, lies, filth."[8]

In an other example, in 2011, writing for the Guardian, Roy Moody suggests that "mainstream Hollywood cinema" and Frank Miller are "crypto-fascist" because they promote the view that "war against a ruthless enemy is good, and military service is good, that killing makes you a man, that capitalism must prevail." He adds that because American films "are more polite about it, lest they should offend," they are "crypto-fascist" as opposed to just fascist. He then adds that according to his feelings, Frank Miller is "somewhere between "propagandistic" and "cryptofascist"" because he is not as secretive about his fascism as the rest of mainstream Hollywood cinema. Earlier in the piece, he writes that Miller had recently published a "diatribe against the Occupy Wall Street movement ("A pack of louts, thieves, and rapists [...] Wake up, pond scum, America is at war against a ruthless enemy")." He adds, "whatever mainstream Hollywood cinema is now, Frank Miller is part of it. And Frank Miller has done Occupy Wall Street a service by reminding us that our allegedly democratic political system, which increases inequality and decreases class mobility, which is mostly interested in keeping the disenfranchised where they are, requires a mindless, propagandistic (or "cryptofascist") storytelling medium to distract its citizenry."[9]

See also

References
  1. "Gore Vidal vs William Buckley Democratic Convention Debate 3 Archived 2022-08-09 at the Wayback Machine"
  2. Buckley Jr., William F.; Vidal, Gore (2 October 2016). ""Crypto-Nazi" and Other Insults". Independent Lens. Season 18. Episode 1. 1:16 minutes in. PBS. Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  3. Grynbaum, Michael M. (24 July 2015). "Buckley vs. Vidal: When Debate Became Bloodsport". The New York Times (New York ed.). p. 12. eISSN 1553-8095. ISSN 0362-4331. OCLC 1645522. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021. On a night of riots at the Democratic convention in Chicago, Buckley and Vidal had their own climactic on-air clash. Vidal called Buckley a "crypto-Nazi," prompting a reaction that still stuns. "Now listen, you queer," Buckley replied, "stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I'll sock you in the goddamn face and you'll stay plastered."
  4. Vidal, Gore, "A Distasteful Encounter with William F. Buckley Jr.", originally published in Esquire, September 1969
  5. Taylor, Ella, "In 1968, The 'Best Of Enemies' Faced Off In A Brutal, Televised Feud", NPR, July 31, 2015
  6. Adorno, Theodor W. (30 May 1976). Gesammelte Schriften in zwanzig Bänden: Band 15: Komposition für den Film. Der getreue Korrepetitor [Collected writings in twenty volumes: Volume 15: Composition for the film. The faithful répétiteur] (in German). Vol. 15 (2nd ed.). Suhrkamp. p. 191. ISBN 978-3518572184. OCLC 832981112. OL 12762704M.
  7. Adorno, Theodor W.; Benjamin, Walter (10 December 1999) [1994]. "#88, Wiesengrund-Adorno to Benjamin, London, 22 September 1937". In Lonitz, Henri (ed.). The complete correspondence, 1928-1940. Translated by Walker, Nicholas (1st ed.). Harvard University Press. pp. 211–214. ISBN 978-0674154278. LCCN 99010988. OCLC 473903058. OL 7692255M. Retrieved 14 December 2021. p. 212: Namely, that the anti-historical, and indeed crypto-fascistic, faith in nature which is hostile to all social analysis, which eventually leads him towards a kind of 'national community' [Volksgemeinschaft] based on biology and imagination.
  8. Böll, Heinrich (9 January 1972). "Will Ulrike Gnade oder freies Geleit? Schriftsteller Heinrich Böll über die Baader-Meinhof-Gruppe und "Bild"" [Does Ulrike want mercy or safe conduct? Writer Heinrich Böll on the Baader Meinhof Group and "Bild"]. Der Spiegel (in German). No. 3. pp. 54–57. eISSN 2195-1349. ISSN 0038-7452. Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021. Das ist nicht mehr kryptofaschistisch. nicht mehr faschistoid, das ist nackter Faschismus. Verhetzung, Lüge, Dreck. [That is no longer crypto-fascist. no longer fascistoid, that is naked fascism. Incitement, lies, filth.]
  9. Moody, Roy, "Frank Miller and the rise of cryptofascist Hollywood", The Guardian, November 24, 2011
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