Brian J Griffith
@brianjgriffith.bsky.social
Modern European historian. Writing book on 🍷 in Fascist Italy.
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Projects:
@NewFascismSyllabus.bsky.social
@WMAB-2018-2019.bsky.social
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Websites:
https://www.brianjgriffith.com
https://www.newfascismsyllabus.com
https://www.wheremonstersareborn.com
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.
Projects:
@NewFascismSyllabus.bsky.social
@WMAB-2018-2019.bsky.social
.
.
Websites:
https://www.brianjgriffith.com
https://www.newfascismsyllabus.com
https://www.wheremonstersareborn.com
Just getting ready for my "Europe after Hitler" course next semester ...
November 3, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Just getting ready for my "Europe after Hitler" course next semester ...
Beware — these aren’t just historical curiosities. They’re blueprints for authoritarianism. When democracy weakens & misinformation replaces participation, history begins to rhyme.
#Democracy #Fascism
7/7
#Democracy #Fascism
7/7
October 28, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Beware — these aren’t just historical curiosities. They’re blueprints for authoritarianism. When democracy weakens & misinformation replaces participation, history begins to rhyme.
#Democracy #Fascism
7/7
#Democracy #Fascism
7/7
✅ The quasi-religious worship of the national community & military prowess.
Fascist parades, youth camps & ritual spectacles turned nationalism into a civic religion.
#Militarism #Propaganda
6/7
Fascist parades, youth camps & ritual spectacles turned nationalism into a civic religion.
#Militarism #Propaganda
6/7
October 28, 2025 at 5:50 PM
✅ The quasi-religious worship of the national community & military prowess.
Fascist parades, youth camps & ritual spectacles turned nationalism into a civic religion.
#Militarism #Propaganda
6/7
Fascist parades, youth camps & ritual spectacles turned nationalism into a civic religion.
#Militarism #Propaganda
6/7
✅ The transformation of Italy’s political system into a single-party dictatorship.
By 1925, Mussolini ruled with an iron fist — “Everything in the State, nothing outside it.”
#Dictatorship #History
5/7
By 1925, Mussolini ruled with an iron fist — “Everything in the State, nothing outside it.”
#Dictatorship #History
5/7
October 28, 2025 at 5:50 PM
✅ The transformation of Italy’s political system into a single-party dictatorship.
By 1925, Mussolini ruled with an iron fist — “Everything in the State, nothing outside it.”
#Dictatorship #History
5/7
By 1925, Mussolini ruled with an iron fist — “Everything in the State, nothing outside it.”
#Dictatorship #History
5/7
✅ The harsh censorship of the press.
Independent newspapers were shut down or absorbed into regime control. By the late 1920s, Italy spoke with one voice: the Duce’s.
#PressFreedom #Fascism
4/7
Independent newspapers were shut down or absorbed into regime control. By the late 1920s, Italy spoke with one voice: the Duce’s.
#PressFreedom #Fascism
4/7
October 28, 2025 at 5:50 PM
✅ The harsh censorship of the press.
Independent newspapers were shut down or absorbed into regime control. By the late 1920s, Italy spoke with one voice: the Duce’s.
#PressFreedom #Fascism
4/7
Independent newspapers were shut down or absorbed into regime control. By the late 1920s, Italy spoke with one voice: the Duce’s.
#PressFreedom #Fascism
4/7
✅ The dismantling of anarchist, socialist & communist parties.
By the mid-1920s, fascist violence & censorship erased Italy’s left. Political pluralism died under Mussolini's dictatorship.
#Democracy #Authoritarianism
3/7
By the mid-1920s, fascist violence & censorship erased Italy’s left. Political pluralism died under Mussolini's dictatorship.
#Democracy #Authoritarianism
3/7
October 28, 2025 at 5:50 PM
✅ The dismantling of anarchist, socialist & communist parties.
By the mid-1920s, fascist violence & censorship erased Italy’s left. Political pluralism died under Mussolini's dictatorship.
#Democracy #Authoritarianism
3/7
By the mid-1920s, fascist violence & censorship erased Italy’s left. Political pluralism died under Mussolini's dictatorship.
#Democracy #Authoritarianism
3/7
In Nazi Germany — much like in Fascist Italy — Hitler's regime banned independent (that is, left-wing) labor unions and replaced them with the German Labor Front, which was controlled by the Nazi Party. 1/11
October 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
In Nazi Germany — much like in Fascist Italy — Hitler's regime banned independent (that is, left-wing) labor unions and replaced them with the German Labor Front, which was controlled by the Nazi Party. 1/11
This reminds me of one of Jesus' beatitudes: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall turn the Department of Defense into the Department of War.”
October 9, 2025 at 7:40 PM
This reminds me of one of Jesus' beatitudes: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall turn the Department of Defense into the Department of War.”
In his 1925 political manifesto, Mein Kampf (My Struggle), Adolf Hitler wrote openly about how to "professionally" lie to the masses for political objectives. "The task of propaganda," he writes, "does not lie in the scientific training of individuals, but in directing... 1/8
October 8, 2025 at 9:01 PM
In his 1925 political manifesto, Mein Kampf (My Struggle), Adolf Hitler wrote openly about how to "professionally" lie to the masses for political objectives. "The task of propaganda," he writes, "does not lie in the scientific training of individuals, but in directing... 1/8
"Fascism is a form of programmatic modernism that seeks to conquer political power in order to realize its totalizing vision of national or ethnic rebirth. Its ultimate end is to overcome the decadence that has destroyed ..." 1/2
October 5, 2025 at 5:12 PM
"Fascism is a form of programmatic modernism that seeks to conquer political power in order to realize its totalizing vision of national or ethnic rebirth. Its ultimate end is to overcome the decadence that has destroyed ..." 1/2
SCREENSHOT 3: A 20th century German cartoon depicting a Jewish "puppet master" controlling politicians on the stage below.
October 2, 2025 at 5:42 PM
SCREENSHOT 3: A 20th century German cartoon depicting a Jewish "puppet master" controlling politicians on the stage below.
SCREENSHOT 2: A graphic sent out in one of Donald Trump's 2023 newsletters depicting George Soros -- a Jewish billionaire and liberal philanthropist -- as a "puppet master" looming ominously over the White House.
October 2, 2025 at 5:42 PM
SCREENSHOT 2: A graphic sent out in one of Donald Trump's 2023 newsletters depicting George Soros -- a Jewish billionaire and liberal philanthropist -- as a "puppet master" looming ominously over the White House.
Something for everyone to consider:
SCREENSHOT 1: An announcement by the CFA explaining that the Trump administration's USEEO Commission has filed an "antisemitism complaint" against the CSU system for systemic discrimination against Jewish applicants/faculty members.
SCREENSHOT 1: An announcement by the CFA explaining that the Trump administration's USEEO Commission has filed an "antisemitism complaint" against the CSU system for systemic discrimination against Jewish applicants/faculty members.
October 2, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Something for everyone to consider:
SCREENSHOT 1: An announcement by the CFA explaining that the Trump administration's USEEO Commission has filed an "antisemitism complaint" against the CSU system for systemic discrimination against Jewish applicants/faculty members.
SCREENSHOT 1: An announcement by the CFA explaining that the Trump administration's USEEO Commission has filed an "antisemitism complaint" against the CSU system for systemic discrimination against Jewish applicants/faculty members.
Screenshot 2: Italo Balbo -- one of four "quadrumviri" or fascist hierarchs -- on his time as a Blackshirt terrorist in Benito Mussolini's early Italian Fighting Squads movement, targeting leftists for organizing working people in post-WWI Italy. 3/3
September 30, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Screenshot 2: Italo Balbo -- one of four "quadrumviri" or fascist hierarchs -- on his time as a Blackshirt terrorist in Benito Mussolini's early Italian Fighting Squads movement, targeting leftists for organizing working people in post-WWI Italy. 3/3
Screenshot 1: An Alternative Press headline quoting Trump proclaiming his intentions to combat the "enemy from within." 2/3
September 30, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Screenshot 1: An Alternative Press headline quoting Trump proclaiming his intentions to combat the "enemy from within." 2/3
No mention of the assassinations of Democrats in MN. No mention of the anti-democratic violence on January 6, 2021 at the Capitol Building. No mention of the attempted kidnapping of a Democratic governor in MI or an arson at the Governor's Mansion in PA. THIS IS A PARTISAN ATTACK ON OUR DEMOCRACY.
September 26, 2025 at 3:02 AM
No mention of the assassinations of Democrats in MN. No mention of the anti-democratic violence on January 6, 2021 at the Capitol Building. No mention of the attempted kidnapping of a Democratic governor in MI or an arson at the Governor's Mansion in PA. THIS IS A PARTISAN ATTACK ON OUR DEMOCRACY.
When the anti-fascist historian Gaetano Salvemini returned to the University of Florence in 1949, following a long exile from Italy during the years of Fascism (1922-1945), he is alleged to have begun his first lecture with: "Come stavamo dicendo l’ultima volta…" (As I was saying...). 1/
September 24, 2025 at 5:30 AM
When the anti-fascist historian Gaetano Salvemini returned to the University of Florence in 1949, following a long exile from Italy during the years of Fascism (1922-1945), he is alleged to have begun his first lecture with: "Come stavamo dicendo l’ultima volta…" (As I was saying...). 1/
One of the most insidious (and frankly successful) things that fascists do is manipulate language and perceptions of reality/truth in order to attract followers to their movements.
September 16, 2025 at 5:55 PM
One of the most insidious (and frankly successful) things that fascists do is manipulate language and perceptions of reality/truth in order to attract followers to their movements.
To learn more about how the far right deploys this concept of "martyr," see the "Making Martyrs" lesson plan on the Where Monsters Are Born website: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/lesson-1-mak...
September 11, 2025 at 12:26 AM
To learn more about how the far right deploys this concept of "martyr," see the "Making Martyrs" lesson plan on the Where Monsters Are Born website: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/lesson-1-mak...