Fascist movement – to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent.

The line appears in Bertrand Russell’s 1940 essay “Freedom and Government,” published in the edited collection “Freedom: Its Meaning” (edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen). Russell describes a sequence by which fascist movements consolidate power: first assembling a cadre of men suited to violence and domination, then using mass emotional manipulation to win over the credulous while using intimidation to silence more discerning opponents.

Russell is arguing that authoritarian movements advance through a two-pronged strategy: propaganda and spectacle to attract uncritical supporters, and coercion to suppress critical voices. The pairing of persuasion and fear is presented as a recurring political method rather than something unique to the 20th century.

“The first step in a fascist movement is the combination under an energetic leader of a number of men who possess more than the average share of leisure, brutality, and stupidity. The next step is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement on the one hand and terrorism on the other.”

“First, they fascinate the fools. Then, they muzzle the intelligent.”