“On Tyranny” - Chapter 1: “Do not obey in advance”
Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny” should be required reading for every person of voting age in the United States, at the very least. In his prologue, he sets out the historical context of the rise of Fascism and later Communism in the twentieth century and how these movements gained traction and took hold.
Note: all quotes are from “On Tyranny” by Timothy Snyder. See bibliography for publishing and copyright information. Also, if you don’t have it, it is strongly recommended for reading along with these posts, but also, just for one’s own edification.
“Both fascism and communism were responses to globalization: to the real and perceived inequalities it created, and the apparent helplessness of the democracies in addressing them.” In each case, there were fatal flaws. “Fascists rejected reason in the name of will, denying objective truth in favor of a glorious myth articulated by leaders who claimed to give voice to the people.” Communists “proposed rule by a disciplined party elite with a monopoly on reason that would guide society toward a certain future according to supposedly fixed laws of history.”
In each case, reason is given short shrift. Fascism disregards it entirely and communism refashions it so that the State decides what reason is. Once a population cedes its ability and agency to address issues rationally to the State, reality can easily be refashioned to suit the desires of the rulers.
Snyder’s book is a treatise imploring us to learn from the twentieth century’s lessons and take action. “We might be tempted to think that our democratic heritage automatically protects us from such threats, This is a misguided reflex.” Snyder reminds us that the Founders of this republic demand “that we examine history to understand the deep sources ofI tyranny and to consider the proper responses to it.”
I recognize that many of us are apprehensive of the present, let alone the future. So much is happening on a daily, if not more rapid, basis, that there is little sense off proportion or even the ability to frame responses to the moment. However, I believe it is within our individual capacities to mitigate the damage being done.
I also find much in Snyder’s book worth considering as laying out actions to take and organizational strategies that can see us through. A last caveat from his prologue:
“Americans today are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism in the twentieth century. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so.”
To be sure, this book was originally published in 2017. As we go through it now, the message is more urgent and we should make haste. There’s work to be done.
Let’s begin.
Chapter 1: “Do not obey in advance.”
We’ve heard this a lot lately. We’ve also seen examples of advanced obedience by the legacy media, by Democrats, by entertainment figures, by corporations.
Appeasement is not a strategy. Ground given is ground lost. As Snyder points out: “Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given.” People will try to second guess (or just guess) at what the regime wants and offer themselves up without being asked. “A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”
Snyder uses the example of the 1932 elections in Germany and the Czechoslovakian elections of 1946 as instances where people “voluntarily extended their services to the new leaders.” When they did, “Nazis and communists alike realized that they could move quickly toward a full regime change.”
Further, Snyder reminds us of the move to marginalize the Jewish population and the apathy with which the pogroms were met by non-Jews (if not antipathy). We see the escalation in Kristallnacht and eventually, the mass exterminations by the SS on their own initiative. “They guessed what their superiors wanted and demonstrated what was possible. It was far more than Hitler had thought.”
Snyder points out that “anticipatory obedience means adapting instinctively, without reflecting, to a new situation.” He asks somewhat rhetorically, “do only Germans do such things?”, and then gives the example of the Milgram experiments at Yale to show not only how easily accustomed people can surrender their empathy and ethics and under the guise of following orders, visit (admittedly, dramatized) pain on total strangers to the point where the subjects suffer greatly to the point of death (again, these were performances on the subjects’ parts, but the experiment called into question how far people are willing to comply to authority.)
Chillingly, even those whose actions didn’t result in (performed) fatality, “left without inquiring about the health of the other participants.”
Given the extent to which citizens are willing to surrender their rights to the State without questioning, what are seeing already?
As I mentioned above, we are seeing capitulation to a regime bent on building up governmental opacity, the firing of career employees to be replaced by loyalists to the regime, many who are ill-qualified for their positions.
The capitulation began prior to the election with legacy news outlets quashing support of presidential candidate Kamala Harris. My point is not to relitigate the whys and results of press manipulation and “bending the knee” across the legacy press, but to ask what now.
If we are not going to “obey in advance”, and my sense of it is that many of us are not, then what are we doing right now to build up a resistance to the current regime?
What can we do?
My suggestions are to continue writing/calling your representatives. Even if they support the regime, do so both to let them know that you oppose them and if you can, get friends, family, and colleagues to follow suit; these calls are listed and the numbers will tell your reps that there is a vocal opposition that they cannot ignore indefinitely.
Write. Have a blog? I do. Write and report what you read, see, and hear. As long as we have some guaranteed forms of free expression, take full advantage of them.
Talk to folks. Keep a sense of aliveness to the moment. Don’t become numb and don’t bury your head in the sand; don’t let others do so, either. I’ve heard too much the refrain that “I don’t want to think about it” or the hopelessness of “well, what can we do” or “it’s not going to be that bad, right? Somebody will step up.”
No. That’s a hard “No.” Don’t wait for someone else to step up; don’t quit thinking about what’s happening because, frankly, it is. To “not think about it” is to fall into the same patterns of denial that led us to the place the first time. This time around, the regime is better organized, better prepared.
“Better organized? Why, they’re making a mess of everything.” That’s the point and we’ll be coming back to it repeatedly. Distraction is a sound strategy in so many ways. Wrecking things to “fix” them later is both performative and useful. As more and more government services fail, in equal proportion the regime can seize the moment and claim that it is improving governmental functionality.
We know this is not true. Forget for a moment about the promises made that aren’t happening or going to and look at the ones that are being kept, principally mass detention and the establishment of loyalists at all levels of governance.
We will also address organizing over ensuing chapters, and again and again, we should look at what we can do, each in out own way.
The suggestions i just put out there will likely be repeated, but to start with, I’d like to hear from everyone else about what they’re doing, who they’re aligning with and are they engaging with former supporters of the regime? On this last note, I have not. I’m in a “red state” and so far, I haven’t encountered anyone who regrets their vote or support.
How about you? Have you had any fruitful discussions with supporters? And if so, how’d that go? Also, what are people’s thoughts about engaging with people with regrets?
Even in Germany in the thirties, there were likely some who saw what was happening and regretted helping Hitler into power. We know there were Germans who resisted. We aren’t quite at the point where we’re invading another country and mass detentions haven’t gotten under way - yet - as robustly as the regime wants. That gives people time to think more about what exactly they’ve done; my fears, however, follow.
Many of those who regret their vote will be turned away for having done so. They will be reviled and ridiculed for what they’ve done. While that might feel emotionally cathartic, righteous indignation should be held in check. If people who regret what they’ve done want to make it right, then they should be accepted as having recognized their error and invited to do what they can to redress that error.
Again, we can discuss this further in the days to come.
Share your thoughts, reactions, ideas for steps to take to confront the moment, either on Bluesky or here on the blog.
Coming up is Chapter 2: Defending institutions. See you in a day or two.
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