Before the fash wore black shirts, they wore Buffalo Bill dusters and cowboy hats. This is the absurd story of Marquis de Morès, a 19th century French aristocrat and degenerate gambler whose ridiculous misadventures and financial flops in the American West, combined with his modern "social Catholic" variety of antisemitism, made him not only Europe's first fascist, but more specifically its first Nazi.
Note: Fritz probably paywalled this episode solely to prevent the general public from hearing his horrible French pronunciation...Photo from Luzzatto, Sergio. The First Fascist: The Sensational Life and Dark Legacy of the Marquis de Morès. Harvard University Press, 2026.
A Bad Lands Cowboy and Fancy French Fella
References from the episode: Luzzatto, Sergio. The First Fascist: The Sensational Life and Dark Legacy of the Marquis de Morès. Harvard University Press, 2026. Paxton, Robert O. The Anatomy of Fascism. Random House, 2004.
#history #fascism #france #USA #West #podcast
What is The State Between Us?
My name is Fritz McAlinden and this is The State Between Us, the anti-fascist podcast for dark dives into the ruling class insanity and fashy political cultures as well as our defenses against them through mutual aid and building each other up, sharing knowledge, and connecting the disparate voices in our overlapping struggles. Also TTRPGs, Sci-Fi, and other nerd shit. Let's get weird with it!
