Fascism: Why Not Here?

2 Cause and Culture

11 CAUSE AND CULTURE ——2—— NINETEEN THIRTY-SIX WAS A GOOD YEAR to be a German. The economy had improved; at least what money the Germans had was worth something. The Treaty of Versailles had become an irrelevance as Germany chipped away at its restrictions. The 1936 Nazi Party rally was the best ever, even grander than the one immortalized in Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will, which had been released to international acclaim the previous year. Germany was regaining its standing among nations, symbolized by its hosting of both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games. A German sitting in the Olympic Stadium that summer would have had reason to feel relief and pride. Still, there were worries. Progress had been made, but at what cost? Political and social discord had been quelled, but that had largely been accomplished by harassing or jailing opponents of the government, which now was synonymous with the party. The world was again paying attention to Germany, but it was not always the best sort of attention. The moral license and decadent entertainments of the past were rolled back, but it all seemed to put Germany out of step with the rest of the world. More thoughtful Germans were concerned. The betterment of Germany had come with an increasingly overbearing political regime. The rule of law had been largely suspended, and people were looking over their shoulders and casting a wary eye on their neighbors. And the constant propaganda made it seem as if Germany was in an unending, shrill election campaign but with only one party contending. Still, if harsh measures had been taken, most seemed to agree that it was a fair price to pay for a better 12 ❙ FASCISM: WHY NOT HERE? society. The world had again begun to make sense, and the Germans were enormously relieved. Even those who did not admire the führer had to give him credit as the architect of Germany’s rebirth. If nothing else, he was a bold, audacious leader who inspired confidence, and that was worth a great deal. Did those Germans seated in the Olympic Stadium know they were about to become part of the greatest evil of the twentieth century? Were they aware of the threat that Hitler and his party posed to their families, their neighbors, their country, their world? Could the Berliners, Nurembergers, Leipzigers, and the citizens of the other German cities and villages have foreseen their social, political, and moral destruction at the hands of the Nazis? Of course not. Had they been able to see the future, even the most fanatical among them would have sent Hitler packing. But if the future that came to pass was unimaginable at the time, many in the crowd foresaw the possibility of increased political repression, expanded racist policies, war, and widespread suffering. Still, what could they do about it? How could they stop the political juggernaut they saw before them, powered by the upraised voices and raised right arms of so many of their fellow citizens? Better to bide their time, wait for the political winds to change, and hope for the best meanwhile. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. None of us can see the future, especially the unimaginable sort. Yet Americans have now and then had cause to worry just as those Germans did in the 1930s. Consider the U.S. anti-immigration laws of the early twentieth century, fueled by a vigorous eugenics movement; the militarist hysteria of the Spanish-American War, reprised by Woodrow Wilson during World War I; the Prohibition movement, which was at least partly aimed at controlling foreign elements like the Irish and the Germans; populist heroes like Father Charles Coughlin, Joseph McCarthy, and countless smaller fry who mixed jingoism and racism with their assaults on one “elite” or another; the fundamentalist fervor of the Scopes trial and a hundred prayer-in-the-schools battles; and the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II. And these examples are but momentary excesses compared to the destruction of native cultures and peoples and the long-lived institution of slavery. At times we Americans have been capable of the most egregious departures from our own ideals. Nor can we ignore the recent outrages of the post-9/11 era, only now starting to be undone: imprisonment without charge of enemy combatants CAUSE AND CULTURE ❙ 13 caged at Guant...