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Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America

Bertram M. Gross

3.99 · Rating details · 174 ratings · 23 reviews

This provocative and original look at current trends in the United States presents a grim forecast of a possible totalitarian future. The author shows how the chronic problems faced by the U.S. in the late twentieth century require increasing collusions between Big Business and Big Government in order to 'manage' society in the interests of the rich and powerful.

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Paperback, 410 pages

Published July 1st 1999 by South End Press (first published January 25th 1980)

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Jan 12, 2013 sologdin rated it it was ok

Shelves: leftwing-polemical, fascists-wtf, us-empire

I would've loved this when I was at university. Now, however, it comes across as a bit too speculative, somewhat less rigorous than necessary, substituting inference for analysis of actual statutes and history. It advances a general thesis similar to Understanding the F-Word--that the US is ripe for fascist domination under the cover of democratic veneer. Whereas McGowan regards the US as presently fascistic, Gross considers fascism to be a possible future.

The text is broadly leftwing, though it I would've loved this when I was at university. Now, however, it comes across as a bit too speculative, somewhat less rigorous than necessary, substituting inference for analysis of actual statutes and history. It advances a general thesis similar to Understanding the F-Word--that the US is ripe for fascist domination under the cover of democratic veneer. Whereas McGowan regards the US as presently fascistic, Gross considers fascism to be a possible future.

The text is broadly leftwing, though it engages in sectarian bickering with "dogmatic marxists" on numerous occasions. Cites often to London's The Iron Heel, Huxley's Brave New World, Lewis' It Can't Happen Here, and, of course, Orwell's 1984. These texts are mentioned for comparative or speculative purposes--which makes for lively writing, but not convincing historical or economic argument.

Some inconsistent oddities, such as the call to "true patriotism" in the conclusion (383 ff) and the admission that the author is "afraid of blind anti-fascism" in the introduction (4). Both are WTF moments for me.

Begins with a schematic account of "classical fascism" (11-31), followed by a discussion of corporate power and the ultrarich in the US. Sure, these are summaries, but one might get a better appreciation of classical fascist doctrine from any number of other places; and something like Wealth and Democracy is far superior at tracking the US upper-upper class.

Reveals its age in considering how the capitalist world, at the time of composition, was shrinking (119 ff), which might've been true then, but is manifestly dated now. Not a large problem, as the relative success of communist geopolitics at the time is presented as a factor in the conduct of the US and its ultrarich beneficiaries. Thereafter follows a number of chapters that rehearse, in somewhat speculative form, the now-standard critiques of trilateralism, corporate media, CIA thuggery, workplace exploitation techniques, sexual repression, and other elements of domination that the leftwing has been challenging for decades. Perhaps at the time this text brought it all together in a new synthesis, but 30 years later, it's not wrong, just not news. I suggest Manufacturing Consent as to media politics, Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II as to CIA thuggery, Trilateralism: The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management, and so on.

Text excels at organizing its ideas in handy charts--there are many of them, and they kick ass.

Author is quick to note at many instances that "fascism" should not be equated, as it is colloquially, with mere violence or caprice. That fails to distinguish it from most historical regimes. Fascism proper is defined: "Unlike the communists, the fascists were not out to destroy the old power structure or to create an entirely new one. Rather, they were heretics seeking to revive the old faith by concentating on the fundamentals of imperial expansion, militarism, repression, and racism" (17). I suppose that's alright, as far as it goes. Friendly fascism, by contrast, ultimately involves an integrated business-government complex used to maintain a world empire, which is militarist, technocratic, with extended stagflation, democratic form without democratic substance, low violence internally, and so on (344). Thinking through it, it's almost as though the main distinction is that there is no fuhrerprinzip as the actual political leaders are mostly irrelevant in friendly fascism--so the electorate mignt vote all they want on politicians who aren't in control of anything important. The levels of violence externally are basically the same in the world empire, though, when compared to classical fascism; there'd just be no holocausts--just bombings, police actions, and whatnot. He paraphrases these ideas by suggesting that "neofascism will have arrived in America whenever most white people are subjected to the kind of treatment to which most black people have long become accustomed" (342).

None of this is to say that I disagree with the conclusions, but rather that this is not the best argument to get there. ...more

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Nov 01, 2019 Rebecca rated it it was ok

Shelves: academic-challenge-2019, anti-fascism-book-project

You won't learn anything about fascism if you read this book, but you will learn about a very popular analysis of emerging neoliberalism from 1979. What the author is really explaining is the reduction of democracy as a result of corporate-friendly govt. policies and increasing economic inequality at the end of the 70s. The process he's describing also fits what some political scientists in later years aptly describe as a "hollowing out" of democratic institutions. The general drive of the book You won't learn anything about fascism if you read this book, but you will learn about a very popular analysis of emerging neoliberalism from 1979. What the author is really explaining is the reduction of democracy as a result of corporate-friendly govt. policies and increasing economic inequality at the end of the 70s. The process he's describing also fits what some political scientists in later years aptly describe as a "hollowing out" of democratic institutions. The general drive of the book is toward increased democracy, and many of the predictions he makes about things like surveillance and media seem prescient when read in retrospect. However, the book also redefines both fascism and corporatism in ways that are not helpful for anyone who seriously wants to understand what either of these things mean. "Corporatism" in the sense that Mussolini meant is not simply corporate friendly govt. friendly policy, which is how it is often colloquially used by Americans today. It means the actual replacement of existing govt. bodies, independent labor unions and political parties, with industrial councils. In other words, corporatism in the fascist sense is a kind of ultra-nationalist syndicalism. This matters because fascism is a form of right wing populism, and while this book argues that this "classic' version of fascism will never return, we can see around the world today that fascist movements can indeed spring up to oppose what they call "corporatism" by which they often mean 'big business"which they perceive in conspiratorial terms. In libertarian lingo today "corporatism" often means "govt. regulation of business, and in this case, they are simply repeating incorrect arguments associating welfare-state policies and social democracy with fascism in the way that many right-wing activists did in the 1930s during the New Deal. In order to effectively combat fascism it is important to be able to address how and why right wing ultra-nationalists are able to effectively win people over with what often seem like left wing and anti-establishment sentiments against capitalism, that simultaneously turn these arguments toward authoritarian, radically anti-regulatory capitalism, and/or even genocidal remedies. ...more

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Feb 11, 2008 Chani rated it it was amazing

Excellent presentation of the "marriage" between corporations, the US government and its foreign policy.

...more

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Sep 01, 2017 Kent Winward rated it really liked it

Gross in his review of fascistic tendencies in American Politics from the early 80s was on the "right" track and the book is valuable for giving a 30-40 year old perspective on right wing political thought and how it has developed to influence today's current environment. The countervailing forces that altered Gross' future vision are still with us, however and the more important question doesn't seem to be political fascism, but rather a type of corporate fascism which is sold to us in bouncing ...more

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Dec 02, 2016 Olivia "So many books--so little time."" rated it it was amazing

This book was very informative (even though, because it was published in 1980, too soon to discuss it specifically) about the Reagan regime which was in power at the time I read it.

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Jan 12, 2017 Juneko Robinson rated it liked it

Shelves: politics, history

Filmmaker Michael Moore referred to this book on the Morning Joe the morning after the 2016 presidential elections. The late Bertram Gross was a professor of political science as well as the author of the Roosevelt-Truman-Full Employment bills of 1945 & 1946, and served on the president's Council of Economic Advisors. He offers a fascinating analysis of what he views as the slow and steady move toward fascism in the U.S. as it stood back in 1980, the time of the book's publication. According to Filmmaker Michael Moore referred to this book on the Morning Joe the morning after the 2016 presidential elections. The late Bertram Gross was a professor of political science as well as the author of the Roosevelt-Truman-Full Employment bills of 1945 & 1946, and served on the president's Council of Economic Advisors. He offers a fascinating analysis of what he views as the slow and steady move toward fascism in the U.S. as it stood back in 1980, the time of the book's publication. According to Gross, the move toward fascism is characterized by the unprecedented consolidation of capital with political and military power in manner akin to, but much broader and deeper than, the Military Industrial Complex that President Eisenhower warned the country about in his farewell address. His strength lies with the degree to which he makes his case with a fascinating historical analysis of the marriage between German, Italian, and Japanese fascism with capital and big industry. However, his analysis often gets bogged down in an impressive, but tangential, amount of social detail. As a career federal bureaucrat, his knowledge of the workings of federal government is impressive, but it often gets in the way of his basic argument. In addition, there is much that is dated about this book (his concentration on the 2nd world communism, which made sense in his time, but has declined in relevance, with the marked exception of China) and a few remarks are questionable and irrelevant e.g., the "observation" that "blacks fight harder" against the police during demonstrations than do members of the white counterculture. Nonetheless, there is much here that is insightful and refreshing. Unfortunately, although Professor Gross died in 1997 long after the break up and fall of much of the communist world, and the absorption of certain elements of capitalism within communist China, I do wish that he had published his thoughts on this new world order of the new millennium. Although aspects of his book are now dated, his warnings are, nonetheless, still trenchant and are thus worth reading as we look forward to a new presidency and much global unrest. ...more

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Feb 19, 2017 Nolan Edrik rated it really liked it

This book provides an interesting thought experiment into how fascism might look were it to take root in America today. The main point is that it would be very different from the fascism that overtook the world in the early 20th Century, with a variety of stakeholders holding power over citizens, rather than one all-encompassing, violent government. I read about two-thirds of it and skimmed the other third since it was slightly out of date. The writing also is a little academic, which slows it d ...more

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Dec 28, 2016 Christy marked it as to-read

Predicted Reagan "power elite" politics, and helps explain Trump. ...more

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Dec 26, 2015 Joel Ontiveros rated it really liked it

Shelves: political-philosophy

Gross demonstrates the differences between classical fascism and contemporary fascism. This book along with my philosophy professor helped me understand the difference between an economic movement versus a political movement.

I think there is ambiguity in the term fascism, and hopefully one day it will be properly defined.

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Jan 20, 2020 Octavia Cade rated it liked it

Shelves: business, politics

Interesting if sometimes over-thorough explanation of one possible future of fascism. Instead of the jackbooted versions of WW2, for example, Gross argues that future iterations of fascism will be more palatable, more friendly in their presentation, and that they will come about due to an unholy alliance between Big Business and Big Politics. Well, we can see today how often business seems to pay off government in order to get their own way, and how some businesses have grown to have an economic ...more

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May 06, 2016 Celia rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: history-biography

I wish I could give this book a higher rating because I agree with many of the ideas in the book. I give kudos to the idea of the series the Forbidden Bookshelf because sometimes I do feel that corporate America is controlling the information we receive.

However, I found huge sections of the book unreadable and outdated. Large sections of the book deal with stagflation and the cold war which are no longer problems. The book appears to be written for academics which always are hard reading for lay ...more

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Jun 19, 2018 Fate's Lady rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

As old as this book is, it's remarkably prescient. It foretells the trump era with a frightening amount of specificity and if anything makes me more worried about what comes next. The advice against fascism is pretty simple: organize locally and don't get complacent. It lost some stars for being horribly dry and thus difficult to engage with. ...more

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Nov 13, 2019 Aaron rated it it was amazing

Shelves: culture-studies, literary-criticism, non-fiction, philosophy-and-logic, social-commentary, textbook, war, favs

The thin gray line separating private enrichment and the slow-turning efficacy of democracy's swollen gears grows thinner and grayer with each generation of doctrinal capitalists and each iteration of nation-state narcissists. There is nothing one can do. But in Gross's assessment, FRIENDLY FASCISM: THE NEW FACE OF POWER IN AMERICA, western civilization — that is to say, conceitedly, the United States of America — one can nonetheless hold a mirror to the miserly divination of a country's future The thin gray line separating private enrichment and the slow-turning efficacy of democracy's swollen gears grows thinner and grayer with each generation of doctrinal capitalists and each iteration of nation-state narcissists. There is nothing one can do. But in Gross's assessment, FRIENDLY FASCISM: THE NEW FACE OF POWER IN AMERICA, western civilization — that is to say, conceitedly, the United States of America — one can nonetheless hold a mirror to the miserly divination of a country's future that has thus far pursued greatness in spite or because of its many social and political misgivings.

FRIENDLY FASCISM is a monumental effort whose contemporary lessons-learned twist and fidget with more curiosity than pretentiousness. In many ways, the book is a product of its time (late 1970s): documenting the causes and consequences of stagnant economic growth and uncontrolled inflation for a populace ill at ease and increasingly exhausted by war, corruption, and bigotry in local, national, and international settings.

Many criticisms have weathered frighteningly well: observing the familiarity with which citizens ally with despotism, both actual and ornamental; documenting the profiteering of the sinfully wealthy; detailing the increased likelihood of a technocratic or garrison state; and deconstructing the culpability of triple-speaking specialists at the head (or anus) of modern industry and economic development.

Unfortunately for Americans, their arrogance runs deeper than any newfound disposition for the aspirational remaking of a nation-state worthy of having its arms of power meaningfully separated and distributed among the lower and middle classes. Gross does a tremendous job articulating the flaws most fundamental to crafting egalitarian democracy in a nation-state so large and diverse (and so very capitalist), but to his credit, he never gives up. The narrowing and limiting of professional authority means multi-class support is absolutely necessary to ensure market sustainability.

The author also focuses on how the levers of domestic human activity, cultural and economic, may be manipulated so as to purchase more reliable or more efficient tools for ideological mythmaking and abuse of privilege. However, FRIENDLY FASCISM also spends important time on the Faustian bargains of domestic politicians who squeal and snarl and cheat to benefit from a system that benefits from their anxieties — too bad exploitative abundance is a trap. The benevolence of nation-state authority is on borrowed time.

Militarism, too, is of substantive emphasis in this book. It is unfortunate that political science literature observing the thin, gray intersection of military idolatry and domestic fascism is limited to very specific keyholes in foreign engagement (e.g., conclusion of the war in Vietnam), but Gross assails the military industrial complex with a feverish if oftentimes inconsistent tenacity. At the top level, Gross highlights the reckless profiteering and feral groupthink native to warmongering, while at much lower tiers, debates how legal violence and ritualistic favoritism (nationalism) each contributes to and resolves social fragmentation on a daily basis.

As for how and from where a turning of the page might reckon, the author posits, unequivocally, that social responsibility must rise from the individual — communal — level. The working individual must not be contented with conditional satisfactions. Organizations beholden to collective productivity must yield to a broadening of their power to those whose lives are most directly affected or at risk. Civility is not determined by the domestic benefits conferred as a test of loyalty to a system of stratified productivity — Nietzsche's bureaucratic labyrinths; rather, civility is a measure of integrated skepticism, of information, of rewards, of punishments, of opportunities, of all manners of systemic, professional complexity. ...more

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Apr 02, 2020 Chris Ramirez rated it really liked it

Probably the best understanding of how the world works that i have ever read. That being said, it is still a tough read but if you’re willing to hang on through occasional valleys of boredom and getting lost in the writing, there are amazing bits of information and prophecy. Hard to believe this guy had this sort of understanding in 1980. It could have been written tomorrow.

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Sep 05, 2019 Ghislain rated it liked it

Shelves: politique

L'ouvrage est intéressant avec des idées lumineuses. Toutefois, je trouve que le sujet induit par le titre n'est pas assez creusé. Mes attentes étaient certainement liées à notre époque alors que l'ouvrage a été composé au début des années 80. ...more

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Oct 20, 2019 vincent m maysee rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

excellent and eye opening

Mr. Gross has illuminated my suspicions regarding the current political climate in America today. We, as a nation, are headed toward irrevocable disaster and the only hope is the dissenters who say enough is enough!

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Jun 06, 2017 Darrell Johns rated it liked it

It is a little out of date.

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Aug 14, 2020 Ietrio rated it did not like it

Shelves: junk

1950s Socialist dogma from Europe rehashed to make the mold less obvious.

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Aug 10, 2019 John Manning rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I didn't get too far before I could see it was too dated to seem relevant today (at least to me). ...more

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Sep 04, 2016 JG rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: eco-fin-business, historical, non-fiction

This book is a little dense in some parts and even though the editor did a good job I think he could've done better. Still, it's an interesting read, especially because of the corporate Propaganda themes, its lobbies and strong ties with the government.

The book is a great source to feel and understand the zeitgeist due to it was first published almost 30 years ago. The author was an insider in the government during those days, so thanks to that, we also get a pretty good context and descriptions ...more

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Jan 27, 2008 Jay added it

I'd have thought it was fiction. My first bite of the forbidden fruit. ...more

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Dec 26, 2016 Ralphe Wiggins rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: economics

Couldn't get into it. ...more

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About Bertram M. Gross

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“We, like the natural world, have become mere commodities in the hands of corporations to exploit until exhaustion or collapse. Elected officials are manufactured personalities and celebrities. We vote based on how we are made to feel about corporate political puppets. The puppets, Democrat and Republican, engage in hollow acts of political theater keep the fiction of the democratic state alive. There is, however, no national institution left that can accurately be described as democratic. Citizens, rather than participate in power, are permitted virtual opinions to preordained questions, a kind of participatory fascism as meaningless as voting on “American Idol.” Mass” — 5 likes

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