Brian J Griffith
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brianjgriffith.bsky.social
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
They absolutely do, Paul. Nice to hear from you! Hoping you and yours are well down in LA.
October 30, 2025 at 12:05 AM
For additional resources on parallels between the past and the present, with respect to the questione of neo-fascism, see the @newfascismsyllabus.bsky.social (I am one of the editors).
The New Fascism Syllabus
The New Fascism Syllabus is a crowd-sourced collection of scholarly writings on the history of fascist, populist, and authoritarian movements and governments.
www.newfascismsyllabus.com
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
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
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
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
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
October 28, 2025 at 5:50 PM
✅ The crushing of Italy’s labor-union movement.

Fascist squads violently broke strikes & destroyed unions during the Biennio Rosso (1919–20), paving the way for total state control of labor.

#Workers #Fascism

2/7
October 28, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Democracies are fragile. They easily give in to the entropy of authoritarianism when corrupted by power. I’d like to think we’re stronger than this — but my confidence in the U.S. emerging from this long night of Trumpism unscathed is very low. 11/11
October 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
We’re letting them tear our democratic republic apart in broad daylight — and they’re tightening their grip on power with every passing day. 10/11
October 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
But those solutions are being sidelined by the wealthy and powerful, who have their own agendas. 9/11
October 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
We know what we need to do to preserve the planet’s climate health, just as we know what’s needed to save democracy in the U.S. 8/11
October 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Watching this constitutional crisis unfold in slow motion — a crisis that’s completely avoidable — runs in parallel with the global climate crisis. 7/11
October 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
There are remarkable — indeed frightening — parallels here that every Constitution-loving American should be deeply concerned about. 6/11
October 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
In the latter image, a blond-haired American worker — white skin, strong build, blue-collar uniform — stands proudly with cranes and an American flag behind him, above the caption “Americans First.” 5/11
October 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Now compare this propaganda strategy to the one being used by Donald Trump’s Department of Labor (see Image 1). 4/11
October 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
In Nazi propaganda from the 1930s, Aryan workers are often shown as strong, blond-haired German men — willing to do the work required for “making Germany great again” (see Image 2). 3/11
October 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
The Nazis wanted to both CONTROL labor, as a national resource, while also elevating labor’s significance to national economic strength. 2/11
October 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM