Elfriede Jelinek Quotes

We have plenty of examples from twentieth-century history where, out of fear of liberalism or Communism, religious conservatives made alliances with secular populists and nationalists, and it ended up going pretty badly for everybody.

Authoritarians have always been here. But the features of a given moment make that way of thinking more or less appealing. Germany in the 1920s, when people are starving, suddenly makes 'populist' answers and scapegoating different groups as the source of the problem much more appealing.

History shows that populism polarizes society, weakens economies, and undermined representative democracy.

Nationalism has nothing to do with democratic values: Authoritarians can be nationalists; indeed, most are.

Left-wingers and right-wingers come together when they become extreme enough. The Nazi Party was called National Socialism, very similar to Stalin's Communism, with the addition of 'the Fatherland.'

No matter what Donald Trump says, he has deep socialist leanings. He's a nationalist and a populist. And throughout history, whenever you combine those three things it never ends well.

Speaking of Germany in 1933, I don't think you can remove yourself from politics when, in so many countries - the United States, Poland, Hungary, and many others - you've got politicians in power or vying for power who are taking tactics and elements of their appeal from the playbook of fascism.

There are historical analogs, which are not exact, of course, but are close enough to be worrisome. This is a whiff of early Nazi Germany. [Adolf] Hitler was appealing to groups with similar grievances, and giving them crazy answers, but at least they were answers; these groups weren't getting them anywhere else. It was the Jews and the Bolsheviks [that were the problem].

Fascism is more of a natural state than democracy. To assume blithely that we can export democracy into any country we choose can serve paradoxically to encourage more fascism at home and abroad. Democracy is a state of grace that is attained only by those countries who have a host of individuals not only ready to enjoy freedom but to undergo the heavy labor of maintaining it.

If we define an American fascist as one who in case of conflict puts money and power ahead of human beings, then there are undoubtedly several million fascists in the United States.

I've always been very interested in political violence. When I finished high school, I did a small dissertation about political violence and fascism in Italy.

I have never written that there is a threat of fascism in America. I always considered the idea overwrought. But now I believe there really is such a threat - and it will come draped not in an American flag, but in the name of tolerance and health.

Fascism is a worldwide disease. Its greatest threat to the United States will come after the war, either via Latin America or within the United States itself.

We have an extreme rightwing government in this country, although it's called the Labour government.

The one thing with writing stories about the rise of fascism is that if you wait long enough, you'll almost certainly be proved right. Fascism is like a hydra - you can cut off its head in the Germany of the '30s and '40s, but it'll still turn up on your back doorstep in a slightly altered guise.

We may repeat the awful revolutionary history of the 20th century because of the vulnerability of social movements to demagoguery.

I'm a great aficionado of history. I was deeply affected by seeing the disintegration of any chance of democracy coping with fascism in the Weimar republic, where woolly-minded, well-meaning liberalism actually allowed the forces of darkness to use democracy, to exploit democracy, to overturn democracy.

Moderates behind whom Red Fascism spreads.

We are recruiting for a ‘British Fascistic’ to act as an organized force to combat Red Revolution.

In community people remain essentially united in spite of all separating factors, while in society they are essentially separated in spite of all uniting factors.

Fascism without shirts

A fascist helping defeatism

Fascism in America will attempt to advance under the banner of Americanism and anti-Fascism.

For traditional societies … the collective, the group, is more important than the individual, and empowering the individual is equated with dividing the society.

As a matter of fact, it is the fascist minded men of America who are the real enemies of our institutions.... It is these men who, pretending that they would save us from communism, would superimpose upon America an equally dreaded fascism.