Gatekeepers of Fascism

Gatekeepers of Fascism: How Liberals Enabled Authoritarian Regimes

Why did liberals support fascists? The answer may change how you see politics today.

We hear it repeatedly, especially in left-wing circles, sometimes as an accusation, sometimes as a historical diagnosis: that liberalism is the antechamber of fascism. A provocation, certainly. But is it also true?

This essay investigates a disturbing pattern that recurs throughout the twentieth century—and resurfaces in the present. From Mussolini to Hitler, from Pinochet to Bolsonaro, a certain liberal tradition did not prevent the rise of authoritarian regimes: it enabled them. Sometimes through omission, sometimes through active support, sometimes through that fatal underestimation born of ideological blindness.

What you will find in this book:

•Ludwig von Mises's explicit defense of fascism in 1927
•How Italian liberals handed power to Mussolini
•The German liberals' vote for the Enabling Act that gave Hitler dictatorial powers
•Hayek and Friedman's legitimization of Pinochet's dictatorship
•The Spanish "pact of forgetting" during the transition
•The patterns repeating today: Trump, Bolsonaro, Orbán, Milei

The central thesis:

It is not that liberalism necessarily leads to fascism—that would be historical determinism of the worst kind. But a certain liberal tradition, under certain circumstances, tends to open the door to authoritarian movements. When forced to choose between a left-wing democracy and a right-wing dictatorship, these liberals chose dictatorship with alarming frequency.

Why this book matters now:

The same patterns are repeating. Economic elites supporting authoritarian populists. The hope of "taming" radicals. Anti-communism (today disguised as anti-wokism) outweighing the defense of democracy.

Based on primary sources and rigorous academic research, this essay provides the vocabulary to name what we are seeing—and the tools to resist.

About the author:

Henry Bugalho is a Brazilian philosopher, writer, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He holds a Master's in Rhetoric and Oratory, with a thesis on dehumanization strategies in Nazi propaganda. Author of more than thirty books, including Manufacturing an Enemy and Killing Is My Expertise.