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A detail of a page from Dictatorship: It's Easier Than You Think! Photograph:
Andrea Chalupa, Sarah Kendzior, Kasia Babis/First Second
A detail of a page from Dictatorship: It's Easier Than You Think! Photograph:
Andrea Chalupa, Sarah Kendzior, Kasia Babis/First Second
Books



DICTATORSHIP? HOW HITLER, STALIN AND TRUMP SHOW IT’S EASIER THAN YOU THINK

Andrea Chalupa discusses her graphic novel, co-authored with Sarah Kendzior,
about authoritarianism and its dangers


Rich Tenorio
Sat 17 Jun 2023 17.00 AESTLast modified on Sat 17 Jun 2023 23.03 AEST
 * 
 * 
 * 



Three zombies lurching your way is scary enough. Now imagine they’re Lenin,
Stalin and Putin. This scene isn’t from a Kremlin-themed horror film, but rather
a new graphic novel, Dictatorship: It’s Easier Than You Think! by Sarah Kendzior
and Andrea Chalupa.

Across Europe, the far right is rising. That it seems normal is all the more
terrifying
Owen Jones

Read more


Through their day job, as co-hosts of the Gaslit Nation podcast, the authors
have long warned about the dangers of authoritarianism, whether discussing
January 6 or the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Now they are releasing a book,
illustrated by the Polish artist Kasia Babis.

It’s a tongue-in-cheek look at dictatorship, a how-to manual with lessons from
Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Putin, Kim Jong-un and many others whose stories
offer time-tested tips on how to seize and consolidate power.



“We wanted to do a book on the dictator playbook to show people how unoriginal
dictators are,” Chalupa says, “so they can better predict the next moves of an
aspiring authoritarian.”

Some such moves, such as stigmatizing minority groups or employing propaganda,
are well-known from history class. Others may seem counterintuitive. According
to Chalupa and Kendzior, dictators are fond of both elections and constitutions.
It helps, of course, if they win the popular vote by an overwhelming margin and
if constitutional rights are guaranteed on paper but not in real life.

On the page, these tips and more are shared by an omniscient narrator who
Chalupa says has Cary Grant’s looks and verve, Stephen Colbert’s snark and the
devil’s ability to tempt.

One relatively new development for dictators is the increasing usefulness of
technology when it comes to keeping civilians under surveillance. Chalupa notes
that when her Ukrainian grandfather was in one of Stalin’s prison camps, inmates
were allowed to speak to each other relatively freely. Today, China uses
technology to keep a constant eye on Uyghurs in its own camps. Chalupa and
Kendzior fault companies like Apple, Facebook and Google for doing business with
China.


Dictatorship: It’s Easier Than You Think! Photograph: First Second

“When you have innovations in AI driven by companies in the west, it’s going to
be used for authoritarian control,” Chalupa says.

“It’s only a matter of time before it starts spreading everywhere. You think you
live in a democracy? Every single democracy is vulnerable. Nobody is immune to
the authoritarian virus. If all the surveillance technology tools go
unregulated, if there’s no vocal outcry against them from the public or elected
officials in the EU, North America and elsewhere, if there’s no pushback against
them, it’s going to be game over.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



When Chalupa and Kendzior conceived their book, they outlined it as if it were
an infomercial, wondering what a Trump University course on dictatorship would
look like, and proceeded accordingly. They also thought about Oscars-style
awards for despots.

In one sequence, the narrator becomes an Academy Awards host. He dons a tuxedo,
strolls the red carpet and presents the Oscar for Best Purge to Kim Il-sung,
founder of the dynasty that rules North Korea. According to the book, nowadays
Kim Jong-un not only continues the tradition of purges, he has extended it to
canine pets of the ruling class.

As Chalupa points out, dictators can’t achieve power on their own. They require
the help of “useful idiots”.

“In terms of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, all the sort of people we highlight
throughout the project, the larger theme of the book is useful idiots. People
helped Hitler have power. Why? What did they get out of it, or think they were
getting out of it?”

The book looks at a Weimar Republic media baron, Alfred Hugenberg, who thought
he could control Hitler and limit his danger to Germany: a fateful
miscalculation. Meanwhile, Stalin’s brutality was whitewashed in the west thanks
to figures including the celebrated playwright George Bernard Shaw and the New
York Times journalist Walter Duranty, whose fawning coverage won a Pulitzer
prize. One of Duranty’s contemporaries, the Welsh journalist Gareth Jones, who
sought to expose Stalin’s atrocities, was the subject of Chalupa’s 2019 feature
film, Mr Jones. Another voice of conscience spotlighted in Chalupa and
Kendzior’s book is George Orwell, for his courageous opposition to Stalin and to
authoritarianism in general.

“I think Orwell wasn’t alone,” Chalupa says. “He had a community working with
him side-by-side” including “his wife Eileen, a remarkable poet in her own
right”.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rogues’ gallery wouldn’t be complete without Donald Trump. Recently indicted
a second time, the 45th president plays a prominent role in the book. One aspect
the authors emphasize is Trump’s dictatorial skill when it comes to inflaming
supporters.

They highlight his tweets on the campaign trail in 2016: “If you see somebody
getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of ’em would you? Seriously.
OK? Just knock the hell – I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I
promise. I promise.”



Another sequence depicts Trump supporters drinking conspiracist Kool-Aid on
January 6. A man wearing a red Maga cap downs a shot which makes his muscles
expand and brain shrink. “Stop the steal!” he exclaims. Others, similarly
addled, start threatening Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence. Egged on by Trump, the
mob attacks the Capitol. With the seat of government burning, Trump feigns
innocence.

The book also examines US support for dictatorships abroad. In the 1970s, such
support often came about through the then secretary of state, Henry Kissinger.
Whether it was the coup against Salvador Allende that brought Augusto Pinochet
to power in Chile or coziness toward dirty war dictators in Argentina, Kissinger
was key to the embrace of despots worldwide.


A detail from Dictatorship: It’s Easier Than You Think! Photograph: Andrea
Chalupa, Sarah Kendzior, Kasia Babis/First Second

“He was like a ‘Where’s Waldo?’ during our research,” Chalupa recalls, noting
“all the times he kept popping up – ‘there’s Kissinger again.’”

With so much material to work with, the authors had to make decisions about what
to include. Their treatment of Hitler spotlights Mein Kampf and his brief
alliance with Stalin, but there is not much mention of his antisemitism and the
Holocaust.

“We sort of focused on the dictators themselves versus their atrocities,” says
Chalupa, whose next project is a Holocaust-themed work about the American second
world war reporter Dorothy Thompson. “It’s sort of like the Hitchcock method.”

Moms for Liberty, meet John Birch: the roots of US rightwing book bans
Read more

She adds that “the focus is so much on useful idiots. It’s really the theme of
the book. We’re not trying to minimize any atrocities” or “eclipse the victims”.

Chalupa noted that the book is geared toward younger readers, aiming to
encourage them to learn more. Sadly, with things the way they are, it seems
there will be no shortage of material should a sequel ever be planned. But
Chalupa maintains a sense of hope.

“We’ve got to keep fighting,” she says. “We have no choice. Every single one of
us, wherever [we are], should not check out, should not say, ‘OK, it’s out of my
hands.’ It’s not up to you alone to fix it, but what we have the power to do,
the bandwidth to do, is incredibly powerful.”

 * Dictatorship: It’s Easier Than You Think! is published in the US by First
   Second

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