Fascist mass mobilization is repressive equality, not a reversion to barbarism.

Evidence

This is the line pursued by the agitators’ standard ‘unity trick’. They emphasize their being different from the outsider but play down such differences within their own group and tend to level out distinctive qualities among themselves with the exception of the hierarchical one. ‘We are all in the same boat’; nobody should be better off - the snob, the intellectual, the pleasure seeker are always attacked. The undercurrent of malicious egalitarianism, of the brotherhood of allcompromising humiliation, is a component of fascist propaganda and fascism itself. It found its symbol in Hitler’s notorious command of the Eintopfgericht. The less they want the inherent social structure changed, the more they prate about social justice, meaning that no member of the ‘community of the people’ should indulge in individual pleasures. Repressive egalitarianism instead of realization of true equality through the abolition of repression is part and parcel of the fascist mentality and reflected in the agitators’ ‘if-you-only-knew’ device which promises the vindictive revelation of all sorts of forbidden pleasures enjoyed by others. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 199 (#expands, via linked claim)

The so-called psychology of fascism is largely engendered by manipulation. Rationally calculated techniques bring about what is naively regarded as the ‘natural’ irrationality of masses. This insight may help us to solve the problem of whether fascism as a mass phenomenon can be explained at all in psychological terms. While there certainly exists potential susceptibility for fascism among the masses, it is equally certain that the manipulation of the unconscious, the kind of suggestion explained by Freud in genetic terms, is indispensable for actualization of this potential. This, however, corroborates the assumption that fascism as such is not a psychological issue and that any attempt to understand its roots and its historical role in psychological terms still remains on the level of ideologies such as the one of ‘irrational forces’ promoted by fascism itself. Although the fascist agitator doubtlessly takes up certain tendencies within those he addresses, he does so as the mandatory of powerful economic and political interests. Psychological dispositions do not actually cause fascism; rather, fascism defines a psychological area which can be successfully exploited by the forces which promote it for entirely non-psychological reasons of self-interest. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 206 (#expands, via linked claim)

Since the Greeks, we have known that highly developed political life breeds a deep-rooted suspicion of this private sphere, a deep resentment against the disturbing miracle contained in the fact that each of us is made as he is—single, unique, unchangeable. This whole sphere of the merely given, relegated to private life in civilized society, is a permanent threat to the public sphere, because the public sphere is as consistently based on the law of equality as the private sphere is based on the law of universal difference and differentiation. Equality, in contrast to all that is involved in mere existence, is not given us, but is the result of human organization insofar as it is guided by the principle of justice. We are not bom equal; we become equal as members of a group on the strength of our decision to guarantee ourselves mutually equal rights. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 736 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Fascist egalitarianism is repressive, not liberating — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 199; Fascist propaganda succeeds by reproducing rather than challenging the existing mentality. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 218; Equality is produced by political organization, not given by nature — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 736 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Fascist egalitarianism is repressive, not liberating #expands (0.95) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 199
• Equality is produced by political organization, not given by nature #expands (0.80) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 736
• Fascism exploits psychological tendencies rather than being caused by them. #expands (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 206
• Fascist propaganda succeeds by reproducing rather than challenging the existing mentality. #expands (0.75) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 218
• Totalitarian mass support comes neither from ignorance nor from brainwashing. #expands (0.70) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1944