Contemporary right-wing populist followings lack the mass organization fascism required

Evidence

Rather, the 2010s brought forth a new politics of the swarm, with movements headed not by party tribunes, but by what the sociologist Paolo Gerbaudo has called “hyperleaders”—figures whose media presence imparted coherence to a coalition where otherwise there would be none. None of these leaders preside over a society riven by pitched battles and organized class conflict of the kind last seen in the first half of the twentieth century. As Adam Tooze notes, with no world wars the “missing ingredient in the classic fascist equation … is social antagonism, a threat, whether imagined or real, to the social and economic status quo.” Fascism is here best seen as a civil war waged on the labor movement, itself only a minor presence in the age of the digital swarm. — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 32

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the ‘politics of the swarm’ and ‘hyperleaders’ as tools for characterizing post-mass political movements.
• SEED: Angle: a piece challenging fascism-resurgence framing by contrasting 1930s mass party politics with today’s leader-centered digital swarms.
• XREF: connects to: Mass demobilization, not elite capture alone, defines twenty-first century politics — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 17; Populism proved a transient politics because its age runs on short-term exit options — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 345; Fascism emerges organically from liberalism within a single capitalist social order — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 403 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Right-wing populists continue rather than challenge capitalist austerity. #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 43
• Right-wing populism is a struggle between rival elite factions #expands (0.80) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2040
• Typical populist movements blend egalitarian and authoritarian elements #qualifies (0.75) — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 7
• Populism is social democracy in times of group disorganization #qualifies (0.75) — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 297
• Fascism emerges organically from liberalism within a single capitalist social order #qualifies (0.72) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 403
• Working-class authoritarianism conflicts with fascism’s lower-middle-class narrative #expands (0.72) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 640
• Left-originated syndicalism became a powerful organizing tool of the fascist right #contradicts (0.70) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 262