Bertrand Russell on How Fascism Starts

kottke.org May 08, 2025 By Jason Kottke

From a 1940 collection of essays called Freedom: Its Meaning, here’s Bertrand Russell on how fascism begins:

The first step in a fascist movement is the combination under an energetic leader of a number of men who possess more than the average share of leisure, brutality, and stupidity. The next step is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement on the one hand and terrorism on the other.

This technique is as old as the hills; it was practiced in almost every Greek city, and the moderns have only enlarged its scale.

Tags: Bertrand Russell · politics

From a 1940 collection of essays called Freedom: Its Meaning, here’s Bertrand Russell on how fascism begins:

The first step in a fascist movement is the combination under an energetic leader of a number of men who possess more than the average share of leisure, brutality, and stupidity. The next step is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement on the one hand and terrorism on the other.

This technique is as old as the hills; it was practiced in almost every Greek city, and the moderns have only enlarged its scale.

Tags: Bertrand Russell · politics

Comments 0

Log in to post a comment.

No comments yet. Be the first to comment!

Source Information
kottke.org
Web Publication

Published on May 08, 2025 by Jason Kottke

Visit Original Article
Advertise with Us

Reach our audience with your ads