What I’m Reading: The Anatomy of Fascism – 8 in a series – “…to participation in mass ceremonies of affirmation and conformity.”

“At its fullest development, fascism redrew the frontiers between private and public, sharply diminishing what had once been untouchably private. It changed the practice of citizenship from the enjoyment of constitutional rights and duties to participation in mass ceremonies of affirmation and conformity. It reconfigured relations between the individual and the collectivity, so that an individual had no rights outside community interest. It expanded the powers of the executive—party and state—in a bid for total control. Finally, it unleashed aggressive emotions hitherto known in Europe only during war or social revolution.“

From The Anatomy of Fascism by Robert O. Paxton

Anatomy fascism

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