Conversation Pushers #3: On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
Snyder's "20 lessons from the 20th century" are just as timely today as they were four years ago.
Hi, book friends.
In the wake of Election Day, I started this column as a way to use the time I spend reading and writing this newsletter as a force for change. Each month, I’m publishing in-depth coverage of a book that arms us for critical real-life political conversations. This month, that’s On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder.
Believe it or not, I didn’t actually pick this book specifically for inauguration month — it’s just when my library hold came in. But let’s call that fate.
What is On Tyranny about?
Snyder is a historian who studies fascism. He’s a highly decorated author of many books and a professor of history and global affairs at Yale. On Tyranny is a pocket-sized book that offers, as it says, 20 lessons from the rise of fascism in the 20th century, applied to the current political moment of the US. It was published in February 2017, one month after Donald Trump’s first inauguration, but of course, its lessons are just as relevant as we face another (even more emboldened) Trump administration.
Here are the 20 lessons. I highly recommend picking up the book for more context on how each of them is derived from real patterns and behaviors that led to the rise of Naziism and fascism in the 20th century. As I mentioned, the book is small and short; Snyder does an incredible job of boiling his arguments down to their essence and getting his point across in very few words.
Do not obey in advance. If we change our behavior before we are asked to in the hopes that it will save us down the line, this will teach those in power what they can get away with and embolden them to even worse ends.
Defend institutions. It’s a mistake to assume that rulers who came to power via institutions can’t change or destroy those institutions.
Beware the one-party state. When you’re voting for the last time, you don’t know you’re voting for the last time. Defend the rules of democratic elections. Vote in local and state elections while you can. Run for office.
Take responsibility for the face of the world. Don’t look on or leave symbols of hate for everyone to see. Reject and remove them — publicly.
I had my own opportunity to put this lesson into practice when I noticed that someone had written “And Black Lives Matter signs” in the margin of the page. Don’t worry; I grabbed a bottle of Wite-Out and fixed it. Publicly!
Remember professional ethics. Lawyers, doctors, and others who swear oaths must not bend or reinterpret the ethics of their profession to suit an autocrat’s agenda.
Be wary of paramilitaries. When private guards or other groups outside the government have permission to use violence, they go from challenging the police to penetrating the police to transforming the police.
Be reflective if you must be armed. Without the assistance and conformance of regular police forces and soldiers, authoritarian regimes could not have killed on such a large scale. If this is you, be ready to say no.
Stand out. When you break the spell of the status quo, others will follow.
Be kind to our language. Put things in your own words and read widely. Don’t allow the words and phrases that appear in the daily media to exist in the absence of a larger framework.
Believe in truth. You submit to tyranny when you disregard the difference between what you want to hear and what’s actually true.
Investigate. Figure things out for yourself, financially support investigative journalism, verify things, and be sure before you say something.
Make eye contact and small talk. Stay in touch with your surroundings and the people you’re talking to. Build connections.
Practice corporeal politics. “Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen.” Get out into your community. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Stand alongside them.
Establish a private life. Reduce your digital footprint and follow privacy best practices, and support organizations concerned with human rights.
Contribute to good causes. Contribute to a charity or two regularly, whether politically focused or not. This is a free choice that supports civil society.
Learn from peers in other countries. Keep your friendship abroad. Make sure you and your family have passports.
Listen for dangerous words. Watch for and call out the manipulative use of patriotic words like extremism, terrorism, emergency, and exception.
Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. Authoritarians exploit terror to consolidate power. Using (or manufacturing) a moment as an excuse to end checks and balances, or opposition parties, or the right to prayer, a trial, etc., — it’s the oldest trick in Hitler’s book.
Be a patriot. A nationalist encourages us to be our worst and then says that we are the best. A patriot wants the nation to live up to its ideals. Generations to come will need us to set a good example of what America means.
Be as courageous as you can. This chapter contains one sentence: “If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die under tyranny.”
What are the key conversation points?
The talking points of this book are harder to apply to everyday conversations across party lines than those of a book like Abortion was, but there are definitely ways in. Some examples that stood out to me include:
It’s deeply American to look back at history in order to safeguard our democracy. When the founding fathers studied the collapse of ancient historical civilizations so they could build a more durable government, tyranny is the word they used to describe what they wanted to avoid. Their whole goal was to prevent a single person or group from usurping power or circumventing the law for their own benefit — that’s why they founded the United States on law and established checks and balances.
Fascism and communism in the 20th century were responses to globalization, a pandemic, rising inflation, and changes in technology. Sound familiar? That’s a larger trend, independent from Trump and those who voted for him. The 20th century showed us that democracy can fall, and it could absolutely happen again today.
American institutions are under immense pressure, and they won’t bend — they’ll break. We cannot sit by and let anyone change the rules or make exceptions, regardless of their political party. As much as my heart wishes that Biden had gone a bit rogue to just get some stuff done, I respect his respect for the intended limitations of the presidency’s power. Checks and balances are not ironclad. Institutional changes and circumvention are a slippery slope.
Challenging and rejecting symbols of hate doesn’t make you a “snowflake,” it keeps humanity’s darkest impulses in check. Would you have called those who tore down antisemitic propaganda in Germany “snowflakes”? Did it make people “tougher” or “thicker skinned” when they looked away from Jews being forced to wear the Star of David? This is what we are doing when we insist on empathy and respect.
People are raising red flags about Trump’s behavior not (just) because they reject his politics, but because his techniques are grounded in devastating history. For example:
Truth dies in four modes: 1) presenting inventions and lies as if they were facts, 2) endless repetition of those lies, which makes the fictional feel more plausible, 3) magical thinking, aka the open embrace of contradiction, 4) self-deifying claims like “I alone can solve it.”
“A leader defeats his opponents by manufacturing a general conviction that the present moment is exceptional, and then transforming that state of exception into a permanent emergency.”
Sound familiar?
What can we do right now?
Buy the book and read it. If you buy through my Bookshop.org link, I will donate the commissions to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and also MATCH that amount with a donation of my own. The ACLU was founded during the rise of fascism following WWI and continues to defend what’s promised in the Constitution today.
Commit to the lessons laid out in this book and repeat its main points in conversation whenever they’re relevant.
Support independent journalism — with your subscriptions and/or donations.
Start now with the little things: get a passport, vote in local elections, publicly reject hate speech, contribute to good causes, get active in your local community, set up privacy controls online.
Further reading
“Fascism shattered Europe a century ago — and historians hear echoes today in the U.S.” — UC Berkeley
Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, featuring literally all your favorite writers
On my TBR: Democracy in Retrograde: How to Make Changes Big and Small in Our Country and in Our Lives by Sami Sage and Emily Amick
Take care of yourself this week, my friends.
If there are any particular books you’d like me to cover here in the future, let me know in the comments.
Until next time,
– Deedi (she/her)