What I’m Reading: The Anatomy of Fascism – 33 in a series – “…style that would attract voters who had concluded that “politics” had become dirty and futile.”

 

“Hitler and Mussolini, by contrast, not only felt destined to rule but shared none of the purists’ qualms about competing in bourgeois elections. Both set out—with impressive tactical skill and by rather different routes, which they discovered by trial and error—to make themselves indispensable participants in the competition for political power within their nations.

Becoming a successful contender in the political arena required more than clarifying priorities and knitting alliances. It meant offering a new political style that would attract voters who had concluded that “politics” had become dirty and futile. Posing as an “antipolitics” was often effective with people whose main political motivation was scorn for politics.”

 

From The Anatomy of Fascism by Robert O. Paxton

Anatomy fascism

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