Imagine if the fascists, whom we believed we had defeated forever in the mid-20th century, had left a blueprint in a safe deposit box in the form of a bequest to spiritual heirs determined to make fascism great again. What would it say?
The plan would start with a strategy of plagiarizing the left. Start with a critique of crony capitalism, he would recommend. Copy the leftist arguments against the corrupt financial sector and the support it receives from central banks. Then criticize the electoral system that relies on two factions of the same oligarchic regime, or “all-is-the-same-party.”
Then, target the state for serving the interests of big business. At the same time, repeat the neoliberal mantra and present yourself as a bigger neoliberal than Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan combined. Decry civil servants as lazy scumbags who suck the blood of the working class, thus creating a divide between public and private sector employees.
To shape the movement, unite the victims of neoliberalism with those who cherish fond memories of Thatcher or Reagan. To turn them against neoliberal centrists, portray those who have forged their political careers by fighting and neutralizing the left - leaders like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US President Bill Clinton, and the parties they reshaped while leading them - as Marxists. To cement that alliance, promise a return to some fictitious Golden Age. Talk about a national revival that requires defeating both the decadent bourgeoisie and the treacherous left.
Above all, never underestimate the power of the cult of racial purity. No one, of course, is “pure” in that sense. We are all mixed-race. But it is possible to drive people to a frenzied level of enthusiasm if you portray the cities they inhabit as places full of foreign, dangerous influences (US President Donald Trump prefers the term “vermin”) and promise them a cleansing from the filth that spreads like a virus through the communities in which they live.
The “unclean” to be targeted could be Jews, Muslims, trans people—anyone who can be easily stigmatized. This requires infecting the souls of the disenfranchised sections of society with a kind of moral panic, convincing them that they will be replaced by someone even more unfortunate than them. Then—but only then—promise them that you will make them “great” again.
As your new fascist coalition takes shape, animate it with misogyny and promises that the Great Leader - the wise "Daddy" - will put your country in order. While you do this, be sure to allude to the current inability of white men to put their own homes in order, but make sure to blame it on "wok" feminism, and never mention the real reasons that led to it (drastic government austerity, the securitization of housing, and the savage cuts to public education and healthcare).
Instead, offer a simple social contract: we will take care of you, and make you proud again. In return, you must cede absolute power to us so that, free from the constraints imposed by the liberal state, we can purify the soul of the nation, restore the idyllic past, and restore your sense of power and superiority.
Make sure you show people that this is not a one-time, temporary hiatus. Show your nation as a battalion at war, where non-subordination and opposition pose an existential threat to the collective body of the people. Make it known that your movement plans a non-stop process of militarization of society, and immediately start advocating for massive budget allocations for defense.
At the same time, condemn the left-liberal clique's fixation on the global governance system. Make it clear that your approach is deterrence, but also make it clear that your military will be equally prepared to control external threats, to protect the nation from domestic "terrorists," and to defend the state border, along which a freshly erected barbed wire fence has been erected.
To join or lead the government, exploit the fact that conservatives and centrists fear the left more than they fear you. Embrace ultra-Zionism to follow your Nazi legacy and make yourself more acceptable to them. Form an alliance with them, exploit their delusion that they can beat you in the fight for broad support by advocating fascism light, and when you feel safe, throw them out, take full control, and put them in the same concentration camp (only perhaps in more luxurious cells) where you put the leftist mob that they feared more than you.
Once you are in power, first ban all immigrants (except white supremacists from failed apartheid states). To show that you mean business when you promise to hunt down the most impure, the marginalized, make it clear that there are only two genders. Form a Praetorian Guard whose masked members will chase these people off the streets and into concentration camps within the country, and into colonies or occupied territories. To demonstrate unlimited power, send stormtroopers into the streets of important cities to shoot and terrorize people.
When it all blows up, make sure you save the updated version of the blueprint for future generations of fascists. After all, as long as the wealth of the few depends on the poverty of the many, there will be a need for fascism.
Behind the scenes, get close to the financial and technological oligarchs you criticized when you were in opposition. Send a tech lord and his henchmen into state institutions to implement gleichschaltung - the Nazi policy of firing civil servants and replacing them with henchmen who will collect citizens' digitized personal data for future surveillance and control. Pardon your previously convicted allies, raid universities, take over cultural centers, and use the courts to persecute those who oppose you.
Most importantly, prepare for the moment when your base will grow impatient as they realize that your promises to take care of them have come to nothing, while the ruling class you were supposed to bring to order is getting richer than ever. That is the moment when you will have to resort to a geopolitical version of the “flood the zone” strategy. Withdraw from multilateral organizations. Withdraw from international treaties. Destroy what is left of international law. Call wars of regime change by their rightful name: imperial usurpation. Show off your vulgar displays of unchecked power. Above all, continue to escalate the situation.
And when it all blows up, make sure you save the updated version of the blueprint for future generations of fascists. After all, as long as the wealth of the few depends on the poverty of the many, there will be a need for fascism.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2026. (prevod: radar.rs)
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