Bertrand Russell? Ruth Nanda Anshen? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent thinker said something like the following: the success of fascism is based on fascinating the fools and muzzling the intelligent. Would you please help me to determine the name of the author and the correct phrasing?
Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1940 U.S. philosopher Ruth Nanda Anshen compiled and edited a collection of essays titled “Freedom: Its Meaning”. Within this collection British mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell published an essay titled “Freedom and Government” which contained the following. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
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.
This technique is as old as the hills; it was practiced in almost every Greek city, and the moderns have only enlarged its scale.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order
In 1967 “The Great Quotations” compiled by George Seldes included an entry for the quotation with an accurate citation:2
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.
Bertrand Russell: Freedom, edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen, Harcourt Brace, 1940.
In 1977 “Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time” compiled by Laurence J. Peter printed an entry with a compressed version of the quotation:3
The next step [in a Fascist movement] is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement on the one hand and terrorism on the other. —Bertrand Russell
In 1982 “Crown’s Book of Political Quotations” included the following entry:4
The next step [in a Fascist movement] is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement on one hand and terrorism on the other.
Bertrand Russell
On 2022 an x-tweet from @smalls2672 presented a simplified version of the quotation:5
How do you know when fascism starts
“First, they fascinate the fools. Then, they muzzle the intelligent.”
– Bertrand Russell
In conclusion, Bertrand Russell deserves credit for the statement he wrote in 1940. Over time Russell’s phrasing has been compressed and simplified. Hence, modern instances are sometimes inaccurate.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to James Chesters whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.
Image Notes: Public domain illustration of the Fool from the Rider-Waite tarot deck. The image has been cropped and resized.
- 1940, Freedom: Its Meaning, Edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen, Chapter: Freedom and Government by Bertrand Russell (William James Lecturer, Harvard University), Start Page 249, Quote Page 253, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1967, The Great Quotations, Compiled by George Seldes, Topic: Fascism, Quote Page 352, Pocket Books. New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1977, Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time, Compiled by Laurence J. Peter, Section: Fascism, Quote Page 197, William Morrow and Company, New York. (Verified on with hardcopy) ↩︎
- 1982 Copyright, Crown’s Book of Political Quotations: Over 2500 Lively Quotes from Plato to Reagan, Edited by Michael Jackman, Topic: Fascism, Quote Page 76, Crown Publishers Inc., New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- X-Tweet, Handle: Boston Smalls @smalls2672, Timestamp: 9:27 AM · Oct 24, 2022, Text: How do you know when fascism starts. (Accessed on x.com on February 28, 2024) link ↩︎