"A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends"
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Wallace’s definition is less a dictionary entry than a warning flare from inside the American state. Writing in the shadow of World War II and the early Cold War jostle, he treats fascism not as a foreign costume but as a portable method: greed plus grievance, welded into a politics that licenses cruelty. The opening move is tactical. By pairing “lust for money or power” with “intensity of intolerance,” Wallace refuses the comforting story that fascism is merely an ideology of hate. It’s also a business model and a career ladder. Bigotry becomes the accelerant; profit and domination are the engine.
The long inventory - “races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations” - isn’t clumsy; it’s prosecutorial. Wallace is closing loopholes. He anticipates the American habit of narrowing fascism to one target (race, usually) or one aesthetic (salutes, uniforms), then declaring the problem solved. By widening the list, he suggests fascism will happily recruit any boundary line that can be politicized, and will swap enemies as needed.
Most pointed is the moral escalation at the end: intolerance at “such an intensity” that “deceit or violence” becomes not an aberration but an instrument. That’s the contextual sting coming from a vice president: he’s describing how democracies rot from the inside, when institutions normalize lying, coercion, and scapegoating in service of concentrated power. The subtext is American, not abstract: beware the respectable operator who talks like a patriot and governs like an enforcer.
The long inventory - “races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations” - isn’t clumsy; it’s prosecutorial. Wallace is closing loopholes. He anticipates the American habit of narrowing fascism to one target (race, usually) or one aesthetic (salutes, uniforms), then declaring the problem solved. By widening the list, he suggests fascism will happily recruit any boundary line that can be politicized, and will swap enemies as needed.
Most pointed is the moral escalation at the end: intolerance at “such an intensity” that “deceit or violence” becomes not an aberration but an instrument. That’s the contextual sting coming from a vice president: he’s describing how democracies rot from the inside, when institutions normalize lying, coercion, and scapegoating in service of concentrated power. The subtext is American, not abstract: beware the respectable operator who talks like a patriot and governs like an enforcer.
Quote Details
| Topic | Human Rights |
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