A Brief History of Fascist Lying

The prominence of lies, both in the fascisms of the past and in the right-wing populisms of the present, analyzed in detail and with historical perspective in times of post-truth.

When explaining why his predecessor lied so much, US President Joe Biden stated that “Trump lies like Goebbels.” Was the comparison appropriate? A Brief History of Fascist Lies shows that it was, because, in effect, today we are witnessing a remarkable and sustained wave of new right-wing populist leaders around the world who, like the fascist leaders of the past, derive much of their political power from questioning reality, endorsing myths, promoting anger and paranoia, and spreading lies.

Federico Finchelstein explains why fascists considered their lies — “simple truths” full of hatred — to be true and why, throughout the 20th century, many followers of their tenets, seeing them embodied in those very leaders, accepted them as truth. If, from Hitler to Mussolini, the leaders of fascism capitalized on falsehood as the basis of their power, that history continues in the present: now true news is presented as fake news and false news becomes government actions. Post-truth, as demonstrated in this essay, has a long history among politicians and a precise intellectual lineage.

A vital compendium on the bleak moment contemporary politics is going through, this is not only a lucid intellectual history of fascism, but an urgent reminder of the powerful source of hatred that underlies our era of reality denial.

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