October 2022 GG Report (3): Gleichschaltung | John Robb on Patreon

The term fascism is being thrown around with abandon today, mainly as an epithet for denigrating political enemies as supporters of political strongmen, intolerance, and white supremacy.  However, fascism is more than the petty authoritarianism of the popular narratives.  It s one of the three great systems of governance that battled for supremacy during the 20th Century (along with democratic capitalism and communism).  We all know how that contest played out, but few truly understand why fascism was a great system and why it took a world war to eliminate it.

Fascism became a great system and a threat to the world because of a Gleichschaltung.  When the Nazis seized power in a state of emergency, the first thing they did was pass three laws instituting Gleichschaltung.  Nominally, those laws focused on getting the entire population into alignment (coordination/facing the same direction) with Nazi ideology.  In practice, it found more purchase in focusing people on existential threats to the nation, both internal and external.

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