Yesterday I was having a coffee with a friend.

I told him about the recent lynchings in India, the violence against authors and books, and the ghettoisation of Muslims. I pointed out that these events closely parallel what happened in 1930's Nazi Germany.

He, however, dismissed my concerns with an airy statement: "It can't happen here."

Well, apparently, he was wrong. The situation in India is becoming increasingly concerning. The lynchings are a form of mob justice that is completely unacceptable. The violence against authors and books is a threat to freedom of speech and expression. And the ghettoisation of Muslims is a form of discrimination that is unjust and immoral.

We need to be vigilant and speak out against these injustices. We cannot allow history to repeat itself. We must work together to create a more just and equal society.

EDIT due to current events: It seems that warning people about how these things occur no longer holds much sway. Once again, a significant number of voters have chosen to actively back a demagogue and an enemy of democracy, despite being fully aware that all this could happen. Perhaps they even desire it to happen because they believe they might gain from it (in most cases, they won't).

Original review from 2017: Reading this novel in the context of the current political situation in the States (while also considering the rise of some right-wing parties in the EU) has a peculiar effect. When the novel was published in 1935, Lewis cautioned people not to be complacent in the face of authoritarian threats, as there would be very real consequences if dictators managed to seize power. Lewis anticipated what might happen and what was already partly happening in Europe, and he was convinced that something similar could occur in the States if people did not critically question politics and actively oppose any authoritarian tendencies.

Lewis wrote his book partly as a cautionary tale because he was worried that Louisiana governor and populist Huey Long would run in the 1936 election (which did not happen as Long was assassinated in 1935, just before the book's publication). Long was apparently the inspiration for one of the novel's main characters, President Buzz Windrip. Windrip's appeal is described by his antagonist, newspaper editor Doremus Jessup, as follows: "(He) was vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily detected, and in his ‘ideas’ almost idiotic." Sounds familiar? Jessup goes on to say that Windrip wins over his audience by convincing them that "he was telling them the truths, the imperious and dangerous facts, that had been hidden from them." Oh yeah, and Windrip has written a book that he constantly refers to, he shuts down the press, shames, ridicules, and finally detains dissidents, and he is, of course, a racist.

All this leads us to the truly shocking fact here: While reading "It Can't Happen Here", I constantly thought: "Of course all this can happen, it partly already did happen, it reflects the classic mechanisms of fascism and right-wing nationalism enabled by just as classic human traits like cowardice and complacency." In 2017, Lewis tells us nothing new, as his predictions in 1935 were quite accurate. This sad realization lies at the heart of reading "It Can't Happen Here" today. Add Roth's "The Plot Against America" (which, in my opinion, is a far better and more complex book), and welcome to the eye of our tornado.

I am not a pessimist, and I firmly believe that the States are far better than Trump, France is far better than Le Pen, and Germany is far better than Petry. However, reading this book is frustrating because today, its insights seem so unoriginal, and yet, some people still fall for right-wing nationalism, racism, and Ayn Rand's philosophy of self-serving BS. Maybe this is what today's reader should take away from this. I was not particularly intrigued, though.

In 1936, the populist Buzz Winthrip manages to become the president. His platform is centered around taking over the banks and distributing money to the working class. However, it doesn't take long for him to establish himself as a fascist dictator.

Soon, there are political prisoners, death squads, rampant anti-Semitism, and long bread lines. The hero of the story, Doremus Jessup, is an old and progressive Vermont newspaper editor. He realizes, unfortunately too late, that no one is safe anymore.

The book is a combination of chilling prescience and satire of the contemporary political scene. To be honest, most of it went over my head. There are one or two passages that don't quite fit well. For example, there is a long one where Jessup quizzes his daughter about her love life, even as people are being herded into camps! But aside from those, the book is quite tight and brutal.

While reading it, I couldn't help but wonder how likely such a scenario was in the 1930s. Certainly, no one could come to power by oppressing Jews or championing the poor today. But current events have made it abundantly clear that it can happen here, albeit in a more subtle guise. Without a doubt, Lewis has accurately captured the flag-waving and the empty affirmation of values.

Totalitarianism in Mid-20th Century America.

Lewis has witnessed Hitler's history before it was fully played out and presents it as a drama on the stage of American politics (economic, social, etc.).

Accurate and, fortunately, not prophetic (as far as the American side is concerned, because Germany followed exactly this path), this book deals with the rise to power of the classic demagogue of the mid-20th century with indirect blows to democracy. What follows is what Europe experienced at its heart with Hitler's rise to power.

The parallels are clear and the harsh irony -bordering on sarcasm- of Lewis is enjoyable. The crowd that follows the populist demagogue who promises high incomes for all, the gradual, obvious (perhaps for readers who know what happened in Germany after 1934) but also simultaneously subtle transformation, the abandonment of any democratic pretense from a certain point on and the subsequent abandonment of logic itself.

As always, there are a few who resist (and there will always be those who resist), others with greater and others with lesser success, others are arrested and others lose their lives after mock trials, up to the tragic finale that deprives the work of its fifth star.

Overall excellent, especially when one considers exactly when it was written (first edition in 1935, if I remember correctly).

Published in 1935, this book holds great significance.

At that time, Hitler and Mussolini were actively promoting their Fascist agendas in Europe, while the US was deeply affected by the Great Depression.

The prose style and some of the terminology in the book may seem old-fashioned, but it serves as a crucial warning.

It highlights the ways a demagogue could potentially get elected in the United States and the disastrous consequences that would follow.

Moreover, it even foresees the rise of McCarthyism.

Candidate Berzelius (Buzz) Windrip employs numerous typical demagogic tactics, including fear-mongering, undermining the media, scapegoating racial and ethnic groups, making promises without considering feasibility or long-term impact, using religion as a shield, and outright lying.

The book also points out the complacency of many Americans and how democracy is often taken for granted.

This theme remains highly relevant today,提醒人们要时刻警惕民主面临的威胁.

It *can* happen here, in the United States of America – and it very nearly *did* happen on January 6, 2021. Who can say what might have happened if the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol that day had seized members of the United States Congress? A gallows had been erected on the lawn outside the Capitol. Avid supporters of then-president Donald Trump had been whipped into a frenzy by Trump’s false claims that the election he lost had been “stolen” from him. The Capitol was actually breached by the rioters, and members of Congress were frantically attempting to find their way to safety.

What might we have seen, if the rioters had been more successful in their attempt to keep the results of the 2020 presidential election from being certified? Hangings of U.S. senators and representatives on the Capitol lawn? A declaration of martial law? A “do-over” of election results in states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, closely overseen by Trump and his allies? A re-installation of Trump as president on January 20th? We might have seen all the rituals of a peaceful, democratic transition of power that day – the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court reading the prescribed oath of office, the President-Elect promising to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States” – but with the realities of democracy quashed, perhaps permanently.

It all seemed all too possible on that grim January 6th – and while none of those things actually came to pass, American democracy certainly seemed, and seems, weaker than it was before. And it was amidst those reflections that I returned to Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel It Can’t Happen Here. I first read this novel decades ago, as a college undergraduate in Tidewater Virginia – and at that time, I read it as an interesting historical document, an illustration of American anxieties about pro-fascist sentiment in the United States in the 1930’s. This time, to my dismay, I found myself reading it as a possible illustration of the shape of things to come.

By the time he wrote It Can’t Happen Here, Sinclair Lewis was already a leading light among American writers of the early 20th century. A perceptive and merciless social satirist of the U.S. scene, Lewis lampooned small-town closed-mindedness in Main Street (1920), civic boosterism in Babbitt (1922), empty public religiosity in Elmer Gantry (1927). He won a Pulitzer Prize (though he turned it down), and was the first American author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Accordingly, when he dedicated an entire novel to his concerns about a rising tide of fascism in America, large numbers of readers would be apt to listen.

It Can’t Happen Here begins in the year 1936, and the novel’s protagonist is one Doremus Jessup, editor of the local newspaper in the small town of Fort Beulah, Vermont. Doremus, a formidably literate man, sets forth eloquently many of the things that were no doubt on Lewis’s own mind as he saw the growth of an anti-democratic far-right political fringe in the United States in the 1930’s. Doremus speaks for the believer in democracy generally – and his words and thoughts reflect what the reader is likely to be thinking, as the U.S.A. of this novel slides steadily down into fascist tyranny.

Doremus's status as both protagonist and choral figure is emphasized in a scene set during a social gathering at the home of leading businessman Francis Tasbrough. Tasbrough, who casually tosses off anti-Semitic and anti-unionist talk in a way that makes his political sympathies quite clear, nonetheless tries to dismiss Doremus’s concerns about the trajectory of American society by stating that a fascist dictatorship “couldn’t happen here in America, not possibly! We’re a country of freemen!” (p. 32)

In response to Tasbrough’s facile patriotic pieties, Doremus asks if Tasbrough can state where in all history has there ever been a people so ripe for a dictatorship as ours!” (p. 33) In the process, Doremus brings up Father Charles Coughlin’s fascist and anti-Semitic radio broadcasts; the political corruption of Tammany Hall in New York City, and of Warren G. Harding's presidential administration in Washington, D.C.; organized-crime gang wars in Chicago; Ku Klux Klan night rides and lynchings across the South; and also Red scares, Prohibitionists, anti-Catholic agitation, and state laws against the teaching of evolutionary theory. The message is more than sufficiently clear: Tasbrough can insist as much as he likes that “it just can’t happen here in America” (p. 35) but indeed it can.

The dictator-in-the-wings of It Can’t Happen Here is one Berzelius Windrip (quite a name, that). A rabble-rousing blowhard, Windrip has issued his own Mein Kampf – a book called Zero Hour that sets forth a frankly unachievable program of lower taxes, a strengthened military, and improved services, all of it dripping with contempt for democratic norms, dollops of “good-old-days” nationalism, and double helpings of racism and anti-Semitism. Excerpts from Zero Hour introduce many of the chapters of It Can’t Happen Here, and a characteristic passage from Windrip’s book is one in which he calls for enhanced presidential powers: “The Executive has got to have a freer hand and be able to move quick in an emergency, and not be tied down by a lot of dumb shyster-lawyer congressmen taking months to shoot off their mouths in debates” (p. 45).

A description of Windrip from Doremus’ perspective is illuminating: “The Senator was vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily detected, and in his ‘ideas’ almost idiotic, while his celebrated piety was that of a traveling salesman for church furniture, and his yet more celebrated humor the sly cynicism of a country store” (p. 85). The immediate real-life inspiration for Windrip seems to have been the populist Louisiana governor Huey Long; and you can decide for yourself regarding the extent to which Lewis’s description of Windrip could also be applied to the man who called for the January 6th rally that morphed into an assault on the U.S. Capitol more than 80 years later.

Lewis takes pains to make clear that he is not accusing either of the major U.S. political parties of being more ripe for a fascist takeover than the other. The Republican Party candidate, Senator Trowbridge, is a respectable mainstream candidate – who, “suffering from the deficiency of being honest and disinclined to promise that he could work miracles, was insisting that we live in the United States of America and not on a golden highway to Utopia” (p. 48). Meanwhile, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (one of a number of real-life historical figures in the book) responds to Windrip’s takeover of the Democratic Party by forming his own third party, the Jeffersonian Party. But these attempts at preventing Windrip’s rise to power are unavailing: “The conspicuous fault of the Jeffersonian Party, like the personal fault of Senator Trowbridge, was that it represented integrity and reason, in a year when the electorate hungered for frisky emotions” (p. 99) -- an election year, in other words, much like 2016.

After a raucous campaign characterized by adept use of the latest communications media, constant deployment of American patriotic imagery, denunciation of racial and cultural minority groups, and violence against protesters at his rallies, all while his supporters loudly sing “God bless the U.S.A.” (sound familiar?), Windrip wins the 1936 election. The supporters of his movement are known as Corporatists, shortened to “Corpos,” as “National Socialists” in Germany quickly came to be known as Nazis. And Windrip has developed his own private army of “Minute Men”; dressed in blue uniforms rather like those of U.S. cavalrymen from the 1870’s, the “M.M.’s” (a clear enough allusion to Hitler’s SS) beat or kill anyone who expresses public opposition to Windrip or Corpoism. The horrific passages detailing the specifics of M.M. violence against anti-Corpo resisters are no doubt based upon real-life Nazi atrocities.

In short order, Windrip abolishes the states, forms a series of military districts run by his cronies, imprisons thousands of people in his concentration camps, and rents camp inmates out to industrialists as slave labor – a practice that throws more people out of work and in turn increases the population of the concentration camps! And yet, as the novel’s narrator glumly notes, millions of Americans made poor by Windrip and thrown into labor camps “took it, too, like Napoleon’s soldiers. And they had the Jews and the Negroes to look down on, more and more. The M.M.’s saw to that. Every man is a king so long as he has someone to look down on” (p. 170). The allusion to Huey Long’s campaign slogan of “Every Man a King” is no doubt deliberate.

Doremus joins the “New Underground” of anti-Corpo resistance, and is eventually arrested and imprisoned in a concentration camp. While there, Doremus observes how his fellow inmate and former friend Karl Pascal – a committed Communist, but nonetheless a man whose life-loving humanism and good humor Doremus has always appreciated – has become more doctrinaire and closed-minded during his confinement, like a Corpo in reverse. Observing how Corpo intolerance has made Karl Pascal a more intolerant Communist, Doremus reflects upon the importance of holding on to the liberal spirit of free thought and free inquiry:

“More and more, as I think about history,” he pondered, “I am convinced that every thing that is worth while in the world has been accomplished by the free, inquiring, critical spirit, and that the preservation of this spirit is more important than any social system whatsoever. But the men of ritual and the men of barbarism are capable of shutting up the men of science and of silencing them forever.” (p. 368)

And as signs emerge of internal turmoil within the Corpo leadership, Doremus prepares for a decisive step that may give him new opportunities to resist Corpoism – if he survives.

It Can’t Happen Here, which seems to have been written in some haste, does not always rise to the same artistic heights as Main Street or Babbitt. The characters are not always drawn as memorably as they are in other Lewis novels, and it is not until late in the novel that Lewis begins giving readers more of a look inside the rotten inner circles of Windrip’s Corpo regime – a missed storytelling opportunity, I think. Yet as a novel of ideas, It Can’t Happen Here works beautifully, reminding the reader of dangers to democracy in Lewis’s time, and in ours.

It does happen here!

This simple statement holds a world of meaning. It implies that something unexpected, perhaps even extraordinary, takes place in this particular location.

It could be a random act of kindness, a rare event, or a moment of inspiration.

When we say "It does happen here," we are acknowledging that our lives are full of surprises and that we should always be open to the possibilities that come our way.

It reminds us to pay attention to the present moment and to appreciate the beauty and wonder that surrounds us.

Whether it's a beautiful sunset, a chance encounter with a stranger, or a personal achievement, these are the moments that make life worth living.

So the next time you find yourself in a situation where something unexpected occurs, remember that "It does happen here" and embrace the moment.

Doremus Jessup, a newspaper editor in Vermont, witnesses and becomes a victim of the unprecedented political ascent of Buzz Windrip, an ambitious advocate for the average citizen running for President. Buzz scorns liberal elites and makes outlandish promises that his electoral base eagerly accepts, as they have long felt ignored and underserved.

Thus, Buzz Windrip becomes the President of the USA. He promptly and strategically takes steps to undermine the other two branches of government, which would normally provide checks and balances to his executive power. He establishes a loyal private militia, the Minute Men, and gives his goon squad powers over the citizenry to fulfill his vision of building an Aryan Nation within the USA.

Buzz also gerrymanders the states into districts to minimize the individual powers of states' rights. He orders the imposition of martial law, during which his powers as (Commander-in-)Chief go unchecked, and he is eager to start a needless war with Mexico, under the pretext of necessary emergency measures. He proclaims himself the supreme leader of the nation and eliminates all dissidents and rivals one by one.

Buzz uses Orwellian techniques to communicate his plans to raise the quality of life by giving each citizen a gift of $5,000, despite having no budgetary funding for such a promise. He stages elaborate shows of power, especially among military groups, to keep adversaries at bay. Minorities are brutally persecuted and made scapegoats to ensure that the American Way remains the Aryan Way.

Unchallenged patriotism, or chauvinism, prevails as a national sentiment, even as democratic institutions are harmed by those in power. The intelligentsia flees to other democratic nations like Canada. The rise of Buzz Windrip's totalitarian regime in the USA parallels Hitler's ascent in Nazi Germany, and the history of Nazi Germany offers a valuable lesson.

In 2007, the author wrote a novel and stage play titled "AmericA, Inc." as a satire of the rise of a corporate, totalitarian state based on the policies of the Bush administration. The play reinforces the dystopian visions of Sinclair Lewis and Philip Roth. The question remains: is the execution of these fearful visions underway in the USA today?

To assume that it can't happen here is a dangerous premise for anyone who loves freedom and democracy. It is essential to understand the playbook and proactively block the power plays that are replacing American democracy with American oligarchy. The evidence of this progress includes the persecution of minorities and immigrants, voter suppression measures, Citizens United, and more.

Trump's campaign promises and the lies of his administration have gone largely unchallenged by his supporters. The Electoral College majority he gained, despite losing the popular vote, raises questions about the integrity of the 2016 election. The power ploy used to achieve this majority is similar to those employed by Hitler in Nazi Germany.

The book title "It Can't Happen Here" is answered by Sinclair Lewis: "It already has." Americans who value real democracy must recognize and accept that oligarchy is happening here and now and take action to stop it.

Sinclair Lewis's polemic novel, "It Can't Happen Here," published in 1935, painted a vivid and disturbing picture of a dystopian 1936. In it, a demagogic New England politician named Berzelius ("Buzz") Windrip seizes control of the United States and imposes a fascist-style dictatorship.

To create this 350-page exploration of the theme "Yes, it CAN happen here," Lewis set aside the fast-paced, satirical style that made his novels of the 1920s so successful, such as "Babbitt," "Elmer Gantry," "Arrowsmith," and "Dodsworth." Instead, he opted for a more traditional, but sometimes ponderous, approach to character exposition and development.

The first third of the book can be a bit of a slog, with some readers feeling bored or disillusioned. However, as the story progresses, it becomes more engaging and relevant, especially in light of recent events. The book's sudden popularity, with an 82-year-old work of fiction triggering an extra printing based on consumer demand, is a testament to its timeliness.

As a polemic, the book works quite well. It anticipates many of the tactics and strategies used by demagogues today, such as appealing to the fears and prejudices of the electorate, using propaganda and misinformation to sway public opinion, and surrounding oneself with a loyal and fanatical following.

The character of Windrip is a complex and multi-faceted one, based in part on the real-life demagogue Huey Long. He understands the power of persuasion and knows how to manipulate the masses to his advantage. His promises of prosperity and security are appealing to many, but his methods are ultimately dangerous and authoritarian.

The novel also explores the role of the media and the importance of a free and independent press in a democratic society. The character of Doremus Jessup, a small-town liberal humanist and newspaper editor, is a voice of reason and dissent in a world gone mad. His attempts to expose Windrip's lies and corruption are heroic, but ultimately futile.

Overall, "It Can't Happen Here" is a thought-provoking and timely novel that offers valuable insights into the nature of power, politics, and democracy. While it may not be a perfect work of literature, it is well worth reading and discussing, especially in these uncertain times.

There are some truly remarkable novels that depict America being seized by fascists either before or during World War II. Philip Roth's "The Plot Against America" readily springs to mind as an outstanding example.

However, this particular one, penned by the renowned novelist Sinclair Lewis in 1935, in my view, fails to make the cut. I'm well aware that there are numerous intelligent individuals who firmly believe this to be a significant work.

Yet, I found it to be an excruciatingly tedious, utterly ludicrous, and mind-numbingly boring piece of literature. It seemed to lack the engaging narrative and thought-provoking depth that I had expected from such a renowned author.

Perhaps my expectations were too high, or maybe my personal taste simply doesn't align with the style and themes presented in this novel. Nevertheless, I cannot help but feel disappointed by what I had hoped would be a captivating exploration of a potentially terrifying historical scenario.

**"It Can't Happen Here": A Timely and Thought-Provoking Novel**

The CCLaP 100 essay series on literary classics has its share of frustrations. Only books the author hasn't read before are chosen, and only one title per author is covered. This leads to the omission of many important literary works. For example, Sinclair Lewis, an early Modernist, is rapidly gaining the author's admiration. While the masterpiece "Babbitt" is the official selection for the CCLaP 100, "It Can't Happen Here" also caught the author's attention.

This 1935 speculative novel shows how easily a fascist takeover could have happened in the US during the 1930s, when similar takeovers occurred in other countries. It served as a comeback for Lewis, who had fallen out of favor with the Great Depression. Lewis, often compared to Jonathan Franzen or Tom Perrotta, was known for his satirical novels about the middle class. But after the Depression, the audience for such parodies dried up.

During the Great Depression, fascism looked appealing to many Americans. Lewis' book was a response to both those who supported fascism and those who thought it could never happen in the US. It was anticipated and became a hit due to its accurate portrayal of the issues of the time. The book can also be directly compared to the events of the Bush administration after 9/11, showing its prescience.

However, the book has its critics. After the halfway point, it becomes like a cheesy action movie, with extreme events happening quickly. This is why it is now largely forgotten and considered a minor work by Lewis fans. But perhaps this just shows how polarizing the subject of fascism is. In any case, "It Can't Happen Here" is a fascinating book that deserves to be better known. The author believes that Lewis' oeuvre will soon be reassessed, and he has much to tell us about modern society. The book should be read with an open mind to understand the universal fear of hypocrisy throughout history.

Written and set in the 1930s, this piece was truly a brilliant satire, terrifying in its remarkable accuracy.

A dictator manages to get elected by the gullible people, basing his campaign on false promises of upholding the good old American values, such as liberty and strength, protecting US interests, and giving everyone (excluding negroes, of course) a whopping $5000. During his campaign, he would "coldly and almost contemptuously jab his audience with figures and facts, figures and facts that were inescapable even when, as often happened, they were entirely incorrect."

After the despot's election, his cabinet is filled with his rich cronies. The government then proceeds to set up work camps and jail newspaper reporters and anyone else who is deemed a threat to the regime. However, the promised $5000 never materializes. There is even a plot to start a war with Mexico in an attempt to distract the masses and provide medals for the soldiers supporting the regime.

I had been hoping that the author, who was so prescient in predicting these problems, would also have a solution. Unfortunately, getting rid of a dictator is not as simple as one might think. I'm also afraid that this book could potentially provide some handy hints for those who are seeking to consolidate their power (assuming that they bother to read it).

I would have found this book much more amusing if I had read it a few years ago.