Picture the scene. Skinheads march through Trafalgar Square wearing SS uniforms and holding aloft portraits of the Fuhrer. They bring along a few right-wing Members of parliament who deliver comradely speeches and swear, arms raised in a sieg heil, to stay faithful to the party and the ‘race’.
Thankfully, there would be universal outrage at such a spectacle. Having gone through the bloody 20th century to reach a point where even a nod towards fascism is political and social suicide, we don’t need a debate on the nature of Hitlerism nor to ‘put it into context’, as the effete academics like to say. The stench around racial theory and Nazism is visceral; we have been educated politically to smell it, and only the diseased individual ever comes close to apologising for or promoting Nazi-generated race murder.
But a great deal of the ocean of blood that was spilled during the last century wasn’t spilled in the name of fascism at all, but rather in the name of an ideology which, although its followers will never admit it, bears a striking resemblance to the creed of the far-right.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in