Fascist regimes have historically sought to control information and limit access to books and libraries in order to manipulate and shape public opinion in their favor. It’s like Incipient Fascism 101. Controlling the source of in formation— ala Orwell’s Ministry of Truth in 1984— is a must for all fascists. Take Hitler’s Germany, where books deemed "un-German" or critical of the government were burned in a massive public book burning in 1933. The Nazi party heavily censored and controlled the media and any forms of artistic expression that were considered subversive (critical of the regime). Similarly, in fascist Italy, Mussolini banned and censored books that were considered critical of his government or of fascist ideology. Libraries were heavily monitored and controlled to ensure that only approved materials were available for public consumption. Starting in 1936 and going right up to 1975, Spain under Franco had pervasive censorship. All books that were considered to be subversive or critical of the regime were banned. Libraries were also monitored, and books that were considered unacceptable were removed including anything in the Catalan language, in a mad rush to suppress Catalan culture.
More recently, in Pol Pot's Cambodia (1975-1979) the Khmer Rouge sought to create a "communist utopia" by destroying traditional Cambodian society. As part of this effort, they closed down libraries and banned books, considering them to be a threat to their ideology. Intellectuals and educated people-- as in anyone with eye glasses, for example-- were targeted for extermination, and the regime sought to eliminate all forms of intellectual and artistic expression.
During China's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) Mao sought to eliminate capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society, and books that were considered to be counterrevolutionary or bourgeois were banned. Many libraries were closed down, and books were burned. Intellectuals were persecuted, and many were imprisoned or executed. During Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq (1979-2003), censorship was pervasive, and books that were considered to be critical of the government or the Ba'athist ideology were banned. Books that were considered unacceptable were removed from libraries. And again, intellectuals and artists were targeted for persecution, and many were executed or imprisoned. North Korea's totalitarian regime has been notorious for its strict control of information and media censorship, including the banning of books and the complete control of libraries. Only government-approved literature is allowed, and access to the internet and foreign media is severely limited. Ditto for modern day Hungary, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
And poor Russia... they just can’t catch a break. Under Stalin, Russia was known for its extensive censorship of books, films, and other forms of media. The government maintained a list of banned books, known as the "List of Prohibited Books," which was constantly updated and expanded to include works that were seen as threatening to the regime or its ideology. Some of the most notable works of literature that were banned in Stalinist Russia include Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and War and Peace, Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, Gorky's Mother and The Lower Depths, Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya, Nabokov's Lolita, Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, and Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich— in other words, all the literary masterpieces in the Russian language. These books were seen as threatening to the regime because of their themes of individual freedom and their critiques of Soviet society. In addition to censorship, Stalinist Russia also used propaganda as a tool for controlling information. The government controlled all forms of media, including newspapers, radio, and television, and used them to disseminate a carefully crafted narrative that supported the regime and its policies. The government also controlled education, with schools and universities being used to indoctrinate students with the government's ideology. And, of course, Putin’s government has increasingly sought to control the media and limit access to information that is critical of the government. The government has banned books and censored media outlets that are critical of the regime. For example, the government has banned books by authors such as Boris Akunin and Eduard Limonov, who are critical of Putin's policies.
There is no question that fascist regimes have sought to control information and shape public opinion by banning books and closing down libraries. By limiting access to information and suppressing dissenting voices, these regimes have sought to maintain their grip on power and control the thoughts and beliefs of their citizens.
Authors have pushed back against this kind of thing with their own writing and fascist censorship has figured heavily in many of the greatest dystopian novels of all times, from Huxley’s Brave New World and, as I mentioned, Orwell’s 1984 to Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, in which the government of the Republic of Gilead censors books and other forms of information and subjugates women by limiting their access to education and literature.
Thank God we have a First Amendment here in the U.S. to protect us from this kind of tyranny, right? Sure, tell it to Ron DeSantis and the Florida and Tennessee legislatures. Tell in to the Missouri legislature. Tell it to the MAGA movement in general. And, alas, there is a rich history of fascist tendencies in the U.S. going in this direction. When I was growing up there were parts of the country where books like Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, both mandatory reading in Brooklyn public schools, were being banned in the Old Confederacy.
During the McCarthy era there was intense political pressure and censorship, particularly in regards to materials that were perceived to be sympathetic to left-wing ideologies. During this period, many books and other materials were banned or censored, and individuals were blacklisted and persecuted for their political beliefs, including Langston Hughes, Arthur Miller, and Dashiell Hammett. I recall my grandfather giving me a copy of The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer and telling me to read it because the NY State Board of Regents had banned it from high school libraries. My grandfather’s library was a sanctuary for me because he had all the banned books and he would encourage me to read them, including banned books by Hemingway, Arthur Miller, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Norman Mailer, William Faulkner, Theodore Dreiser, Lillian Hellman, Upton Sinclair, John Steinbeck… My grandfather is the reason I am the way I am.
On Saturday, The Guardian published a disturbing essay by Robert Reich, The modern Republican party is hurtling towards fascism, which he asserts is the logical culmination of the win-at-any-cost politics pushed by Trump and “scorched-earth tactics used by Republicans to entrench their power, with no justification other than that they can.”
“Democracy,” he wrote, "is about means. Under it, citizens don’t have to agree on ends (abortion, healthcare, guns or whatever else we disagree about) as long as we agree on democratic means for handling our disagreements. But for Trump Republicans, the ends justify whatever means they choose– including expelling lawmakers, rigging elections through gerrymandering, refusing to raise the debt ceiling and denying the outcome of a legitimate presidential election.”
Without two parties committed to democratic means to resolve differences in ends, the party committed to democracy is at a tactical disadvantage. If it is to survive, eventually it, too, will sacrifice democratic means to its own ends.
In these circumstances, partisanship turns to enmity and political divisions morph into hatred. In warfare there are no principles, only wins and losses. America experienced this 160 years ago, when the civil war tore us apart.
Donald Trump is not singularly responsible for this dangerous trend, but he has legitimized and encouraged the ends-justify-the-means viciousness now pushing the GOP toward becoming the American fascist party.
If signed by Tennessee’s reactionary governor, HB 1376, the Orwellian-named Tennessee Higher Education Freedom of Expression Act will limit what can be taught on Tennessee college campuses, preventing professors and students on the state’s college and university campuses from discussing topics that the bill calls divisive, under threat of penalties. “The bill lists 17 different divisive topics not to be discussed such as whether one race or sex is inherently superior or inferior to another race or sex. It also bans teaching an individual by virtue of the individual’s race or sex is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously… The bill would create a transparent system to allow students or faculty to report any violations and require education institutions to maintain a list of violators.”
Just re-sworn in by the KKK legislature, the 2 Justins were already at odds with their home state neo-Nazis trying to pass the bill. Justin Jones: “This sounds like fascism, this sounds like authoritarianism, this doesn’t sound like democracy or freedom and so again this bill is very troubling.” Justin Pearson pointed out that the bill would eliminate discussion of items such as white privilege or unconscious biases.
bass ackwards. first fascism. the fascism enables book banning; then burning; then the nazi reich.
it really helps the process if there is absolutely nothing and nobody standing in the way, as anyone with eyes and ears and a lick of common sense knows.