Back in Bush W era, knew Nazi comparisons were an immediate conversation killer. So I read everything I could get my hands on about another European country that went fascist at same time, just to understand process 1/
Spain. The Spanish Civil War,
Spain in Their Hearts, Looking for Trouble, Homage to Catalonia (a recollection by George Orwell, who fought on the Republican side--more on that later) are good books to start 2/
Spain in Their Hearts, Looking for Trouble, Homage to Catalonia (a recollection by George Orwell, who fought on the Republican side--more on that later) are good books to start 2/
I chose the Spanish Civil War (1933-1936) because Americans know nothing about it. It is about how Spain was held under fascist dictatorship for four decades. The Bad Guys won 3/
Ferdinand Franco was Spain's Hitler. A potbelly authoritatarian general who hated progressive reforms undertaken by his duly elected govt. (The Spanish Republic overturned misrule by Monarch Carlos. 1% owned 90% of lands, industry) 4/
Spoiler alert--The Republicans lost. It was an amalgam of socialists, small d democrats, progressives.
workers, anarchists (nothing like American version. They organized and ran factories to benefit workers) and communists 5/
workers, anarchists (nothing like American version. They organized and ran factories to benefit workers) and communists 5/
Meanwhile, the usual suspects lined up on Team Fascist--The Rich, Religious Reactionaries, Traditionalists, Nationalists, Authoritarians wanting to Make SpaIn Great Again 6/
The great nations officially took hands-off approach to fascist generalissimo attacking
democratically government. But behind the scenes, Standard Oil, GM and Hitler supported Franco 7/
democratically government. But behind the scenes, Standard Oil, GM and Hitler supported Franco 7/
Okay, Hitler wasn't very opaque about trying out his growing war machine on Spaniards. Picasso's Guernica depicts German bombers massacering innocent civilians 8,/ 
So Franco, w help from American industrialists, RW religionists, cowardly democracies, won. He murders hundreds of thousands and turns Spain into an off-limits backwater Albania for four decades 9/
Addendum: The Spanish Communists, controlled from Moscow, were every bit as responsible for the fall of the Spanish Republic as anyone 10/ end
One more fun fact: Franco offered to join Axis w Germany in WW2. Hitler thought Spain under Franco would be a liability 11/definite end
