Crypto-fascism

Crypto-fascism is the secret support for, or admiration of, fascism or trends close 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. A person, organisation or idea possessing this tendency would be described by the adjective "crypto-fascist".

Origin

In an ABC television debate during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Gore Vidal described William F. Buckley, Jr. as a "sort of pro or crypto-Nazi".^[1][2][3] Buckley responded, "Now listen you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in the goddamn face, and you'll stay plastered."^[4] Vidal later clarified 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".^[5] In later reporting on this event, the term Vidal used to describe Buckley was sometimes misquoted as "crypto-fascist".^[6]

The term "crypto-fascist" had first appeared five years earlier in a German-language book by the sociologist Theodor W. Adorno, German: Der getreue Korrepetitor, lit. 'The Faithful Répétiteur'.^[7] 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.^[8]: 212

Usage

The term was used by German Nobel laureate Heinrich Böll in a 1972 essay titled Will Ulrike Gnade oder freies Geleit?^[9] ("Does Ulrike want mercy or safe passage?") 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."^[9]

In an episode of Red Dwarf, Season 3 Ep 5 "Timeslides" aired on 12 December 1989, the lead character Lister goes back in time to meet up with his younger self in order to make himself rich. His younger self calls his older self a Crypto-Fascist.

In a 2011 article for the Guardian, Rick Moody suggested that "mainstream Hollywood cinema" and specifically comic book artist and film director 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."^[10]

With alternative meaning of the prefix "crypto", similar to its use in "crypto-anarchy", the term "crypto-fascism" has also been used to refer to the embracing of cryptocurrency by overt fascists and the association of cryptocurrency with its use by the far right.^[11][12]

See also

• Post-fascism
• Clerical fascism
• Neo-fascism
• Crypto-communism
• Fellow traveller
• Nippon Kaigi
• Ecofascism
• Ghost skin

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 September 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. Vulliamy, Ed (1 August 2015). "'Don't call me a crypto-Nazi!' The lost heart of political debate". The Guardian.
5. Vidal, Gore, "A Distasteful Encounter with William F. Buckley Jr.", originally published in Esquire, September 1969
6. Connor, Simpson (1 August 2012). "Corrections on The New York Times' Gore Vidal Obituary Are Amazing". The Atlantic.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.]
10. Moody, Rick, "Frank Miller and the rise of cryptofascist Hollywood", The Guardian, November 24, 2011
11. Ackerman, Daniel (2022-03-15). "Crypto-Fascists". FDD. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
12. "The Ticking Bomb of Crypto Fascism". In These Times. 2022-01-04. Retrieved 2024-08-21.