Crypto-fascism is the secret support for, or admiration of,

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

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, organization 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 The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held August 26–29 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Earlier that year incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, thus making ...

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...

described William F. Buckley, Jr. as a "sort of pro or crypto-

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

". Buckley responded, "Now listen you

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in the goddamn face, and you'll stay plastered." 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". In later reporting on this event, the term Vidal used to describe Buckley was sometimes misquoted as "crypto-fascist". The term "crypto-fascist" had first appeared five years earlier in a German-language book by the sociologist

Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( ; ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, musicologist, and social theorist. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, whose work has com ...

, . Adorno used "crypto-fascism" as early as 1937 in a letter written to

Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin ( ; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German-Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Jewish mysticism, Western M ...

. 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.

Usage

The term was used by German Nobel laureate Heinrich Böll in a 1972 essay titled " Will Ulrike Gnade oder freies Geleit?" ("Does Ulrike want mercy or safe passage?") that was sharply critical of the tabloid newspaper 's coverage of the Baader-Meinhof Gang left-wing terrorist organization. In the essay, Böll stated that what does "is no longer crypto-fascist, no longer fascistoid, that is naked fascism. Incitement, lies, filth." In the 1989 ''

Red Dwarf A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are ...

'' episode "

Timeslides "Timeslides" is the fifth episode of science fiction sit-com ''Red Dwarf'' Series III, and the seventeenth in the series run. It premiered on the British television channel BBC2 on 12 December 1989. Written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, and dir ...

", 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 ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 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 Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

must prevail." 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 A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...

by overt fascists and the association of cryptocurrency with its use by the

far right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...

References

{{Fascism Fascism Neo-fascism Political pejoratives

Origin

Usage

See also

References