The Economist February 20th 2021 United States 25The ideas of the far rightDeadly inspirations
P
andemics canhave unexpected side-
effects. One of them, according to a re-
port last year by the New York Federal Re-
serve, may be a surge in support for extre-
mist ideas. It observed how cities in Ger-
many that suffered the most deaths from
influenza by 1920 then voted in unusually
large numbers for extreme-right parties,
such as the Nazis, by the early 1930s. In the
past year, too, according to studies in Bri-
tain and America, there has been a spurt in
online searches for extremist content. An-
ger over lockdowns or loss of trust in gov-
ernment could be driving new interest.
What texts might people be turning to?
Researchers study literary habits of the far-
right by monitoring reading lists traded on
social media, texts promoted on podcasts
or recited by enthusiasts as audiobooks on
YouTube, output from right-fringe pub-
lishing houses and, most extreme, the dia-
tribes that serve as manifestos of those
who commit atrocities. Together they sug-
gest several strands of hateful writing.
Brian Hughes of American University in
Washington, dc says that the sheer availa-
bility of online extremist ideology is, in
part, “responsible for the elevated rates of
extremist mobilisation”.
French writers have been strikingly in-
fluential, including those in the “Nouvelle
Droit” movement. Alain de Benoist, an il-
liberal thinker, inspired members of Amer-
ica’s alt right such as Richard Spencer, a
white supremacist. The works of a philoso-
pher, Jean Renaud Gabriel Camus, alsostand out. Ideas drawn from his book “The
Great Replacement” (2011), are often re-
peated by those who say non-white immi-
gration threatens Western countries. The
book has been cited by mass shooters.
The work of another French writer, Jean
Raspail, is championed by anti-immigrant
activists in America. His dystopian novel
from 1973, “The Camp of the Saints”, imag-
ines the violent overrun of France by
brown-skinned migrants. It is a “weapon-
ised retelling” of an apocalyptic biblical
parable, says Chelsea Stieber of Catholic
University. “The French understand it as
literature,” she says, whereas in America “it
gets to be this reality that could happen.”
Leading Republicans have promoted it, she
points out, including Steve Bannon and
Stephen Miller, both erstwhile close advis-
ers of Donald Trump, as well as Steve King,
a noxious ex-congressman from Iowa.
Apocalyptic writing is especially pop-
ular among a strand of the far-right known
as “accelerationists”, meaning those who
believe civilisation (or at least liberal de-
mocracy) will soon collapse. They hope the
end can be hastened by violent acts or even
civil war. In this vein an Italian fascist writ-
er, Julius Evola, is also cited by Mr Bannon
and Mr Spencer and lauded in far-right cir-
cles, along with his call for “blowing every-
thing up”. He promoted an idea of heroic
men who “rise above” history (Mussolini
was a fan). Memes of him in his monocle
are shared online by adoring followers.
Extremists turn to such writers becausethey justify using violence to clear the way
for a supposed new golden age to begin.
Others tell them how to achieve that.
“Siege”, a book by James Mason of the
American Nazi party, purports to be a guide
to violent revolution. It had little impact
when it was published in 1992, notes Gra-
ham Macklin of the Centre for Research on
Extremism, in Oslo. But its rediscovery by
neo-Nazis roughly five years ago has led to
a surge of interest. pdfs of it are now
shared widely online; the hashtag “read-
Siege” spreads periodically on social
media. “Now, it’s everywhere,” he says.
The study of such writing matters, even
if one researcher admits he feels like “pro-
jectile vomiting” while tackling some es-
pecially violent or cruel texts. Ideas can
have deadly consequences, says Joanna
Mendelson of the Anti-Defamation
League. “People are quoting and referenc-
ing books as a kind of reassurance that they
are validated in their extremist views,” she
says. Many of the same ones reappear re-
peatedly among anti-Semitic and other ex-
tremist factions. A few, such as the “Proto-
cols of the Elders of Zion” (an anti-Semitic
conspiracy originating from Russia in
1903), or the racist, eugenics-based writing
of Lothrop Stoddard in the 1920s, are re-
peatedly rediscovered or reinterpreted by
new writers. What used to be called eugen-
ics, for example, is today dressed up as
“race realism”.
One book is still considered the “bible”
of the far right. The “Turner Diaries”, a
barely readable novel from the 1970s by
William Pierce, another American Nazi,
imagines an insurrection by a group called
“Order” against a government that pro-
motes egalitarian values and gun control.
It has supposedly sold 500,000 copies. One
avid reader was Timothy McVeigh, who
bombed a federal building in Oklahoma
City in 1995, killing 168 people. (He used a
lorry full of fertiliser and explosives, a
method depicted in the novel.) Others
were inspired to form a real-world para-
military group, also called the “Order”.
Jared Holt, who researches domestic ex-
tremism at the Atlantic Council in Wash-
ington, says such books are still powerful.
Veteran members of groups pass them on
to younger ones. They are used to build ties
between adherents, to test new initiates
and ease the “anxiety” of some by giving a
sense of purpose to their lives. He notes,
too, how younger readers are finding new
writing. One rambling, self-published
book called “Bronze Age Mindset”, for ex-
ample, has won a cult following, reported-
ly including staffers at Mr Trump’s White
House. It draws on ideas from Nietzsche
and tells readers to prepare for the military
rule that will soon begin in America. For
some readers such bilious writing is ap-
pealing. Finding out why is a first step to-
wards confronting it.CHICAGO
What their chosen reading says about America’s far-rightWhen they’re not at home with a book