Notes from the Shelf

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On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder serves as a concise guide on resisting authoritarianism. At only 128 pages, it’s a quick read and easily digestible. It draws on lessons from the rise of fascism and communism in the 20^th century to offer practical steps people can take to protect democracy and personal freedoms. The book emphasizes civic engagement, critical thinking, and the dangers of political complacency.

On Tyranny provides a timely, accessible roadmap for recognizing and resisting early signs of authoritarianism. In an era of political instability and disinformation, Snyder’s insights serve as a crucial reminder of how democracies can erode, and how citizens can actively defend them. Below is a summary of each lesson.

1. Do not obey in advance

Often power is given to authoritarianism freely. People think ahead of what this power will ask of them and give it to them in advance, often allowing authoritarians to take more power more quickly. Milgram’s shock experiment is used as an example, where subjects were quick to obey a new authority even when the receiver of the shocks seemed to be in great pain or even close to death.  

2. Defend institutions

Institutions help preserve decency, but they cannot protect themselves. The biggest mistake is to believe rulers who came to power through institutions won’t change or destroy those very institutions. This can happen very quickly; it took Nazi Germany less than one year in power to consolidate into a one-party state. Find an institution you care about and help defend it.

3. Beware the one-party state

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” -Wendell Phillips. Democracy must be protected from the inside as well because there will be people who exploit the freedoms of democracy to bring about its end. Support the multi-party system and defend the rules of democratic elections. Vote in local and state elections while you can.

4. Take responsibility for the face of the world

Life is political because the world reacts to what you do. The minor choices you make everyday are like a vote, a vote for what you will or will not tolerate. The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow, so do not look away from hateful symbols like the swastika and do not get used to them. Remove these symbols when you see them and set the example for others to do the same. One day you may be offered to place a symbol of loyalty in your home or on your person. Make sure this symbol includes your fellow citizens, not excludes them, and if it does exclude your fellow citizens, think twice about displaying the symbol. Allowing these symbols to take over the public sphere makes resistance seem unthinkable.

5. Remember professional ethics

When political leaders set a negative example, it’s important to remember professional ethics. It’s hard to subvert the rule of law without lawyers or to hold trials for show without judges. Authoritarians need obedient civil servants. Concentration camp directors find businessmen who are interested in cheap labor. Have higher standards for yourself and your profession.

6. Be wary of paramilitaries

Governments seek to monopolize violence and do not tolerate violence outside of the government’s force. Because of this, people who want to undermine democracy create and fund violent organizations that then involve themselves in politics. This could take the form of a paramilitary wing of a political party or a personal bodyguard of a politician. Armed groups first degrade a political order and then take it over, first by challenging the police and military, then penetrating into these groups, and finally totally transforming these groups. When the armed people who have always claimed to be against the system start to wear uniforms and march with torches with a picture of their leader, the end is soon, and when those people co-mingle with the police and military, the end is here.

7. Be reflective if you must be armed

The evils of the past used police officers and soldiers to do irregular things. If you are armed in public service, be ready to say no. During the Holocaust, regular policemen murdered more Jews than the Einsatzgruppen, the special German task forces. Many of them did not want to look weak and were afraid to stand out, even though they were not punished in the rare events they did say no.

8. Stand out

It’s easy to follow along; it’s difficult and uncomfortable to do or say something different, but there is no freedom without that unease. The moment you set an example, the spell will be broken and others will follow your lead. It’s like the bystander effect; everyone thinks someone else will be the first, but don’t wait for someone else, be the change you want to see.

9. Be kind to our language

Think up your own way of speaking, even if it’s just rephrasing what you think everyone else is saying. Make an effort to separate yourself from the internet and read books instead. Everything is happening fast on TV, where we are constantly bombarded by wave after wave of breaking news story. It’s difficult to catch your breath and think for yourself under this onslaught. Politicians feed their clichés to the TV, where even people who disagree with them will repeat them. When we repeat them, we accept that there is no larger framework. To have a larger framework, you have to have many concepts at your disposal, which reading enables you to do. Reading can broaden our worldview and allows us to think about various situations and the intentions of others.

10. Believe in truth

If you abandon facts, you abandon freedom. Power cannot be criticized if nothing is true. When you renounce the difference between what you want to hear and what is actually true, you submit yourself to tyranny. Truth dies in four modes. First, there is open hostility to verifiable truth, which takes the form of presenting lies and inventions as facts. Second is the shamanistic repeating of phrases to make them become true in your mind. As you continuously hear these phrases, they begin to sound like the truth. Third is the open embrace of contradiction, such as the vote is always rigged but you should vote for me anyway. Fourth is misplaced faith. Believing the politician when they say they alone can solve the problem.

11. Investigate

Figure out things for yourself and do your research with longer, accredited articles. Consider subscribing to print media to support the institution of investigative journalism. Understand that some things on the internet are there to harm you. Take responsibility for what you forward to others, ensuring to the best of your ability that whatever you share is valid.

12. Make eye contact and small talk

This is a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down social barriers, and understand who you can and cannot trust. If you ever become entrapped in a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life. When people live in fear of repression, they remember how their neighbors treated them. The smallest gesture such as a smile or a handshake can make a world of difference. Many people who made it out of Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union had people in their lives they could trust, so make friends and have each other’s backs.

13. Practice corporeal politics

Power wants you to be complacent sitting at home, distracted by the bread and circuses. Go outside and put yourself in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them. If tyrants don’t feel any negative consequences in the real world, nothing will change. Protests can be organized online, but if they don’t end up in the streets, they will not be successful.

14. Establish a private life

We are only free if we choose for ourselves when we are seen and when we are not. Tyrants seek hooks to hang you. Try not to have any. Whoever can pierce your privacy can humiliate you and disrupt your relationships, making you more likely to fall in line. Have personal exchanges in person. Try to limit your internet use because anything on the internet is there forever.

15. Contribute to good causes

Be active in organizations. They don’t have to be political, just choose organizations that express your own view of life. Consider setting up autopay on a charity or two. We create civil society when we take pride in these activities and meet others who do the same, and it teaches us we can trust more than just our inner circle of family and friends.

16. Learn from peers in other countries

Keep up your friendships abroad, or consider making new friends in other countries if you do not currently have any. No country is going to find a solution to authoritarianism on its own, so it’s important to find global perspective to help each other. Make sure you and your loved ones have passports.

17. Listen for dangerous words

Listen for words like extremism, terrorism, emergency, and exception. Be angry when patriotic vocabulary is used to further the authoritarian agenda. Don’t trade real freedom for fake security. Be wary of the unprecedented exception turning into a perpetual emergency. There is no doctrine called extremism. Extremism to an authoritarian power is just anything that disagrees with them or is not in the mainstream. Today’s authoritarian regimes use extremism laws to punish anyone who criticizes them, effectively making extremism mean anything and everything.

18. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives

Modern tyranny is terror management. Authoritarians exploit terrorist attacks to consolidate power. Do not fall for the sudden disaster that requires the end to checks and balances or the right to a fair trial, etc. These are straight from the playbook of authoritarians. One moment of shock can enable an eternity of submission. Do not let your grief and fear enable the destruction of our institutions. Terror management must be recognized and resisted right away.

19. Be a patriot

Set a good example of what your country means for the generations to come because they will need it. A nationalist is not a patriot. A nationalist will encourage you to be your worst while telling you you’re the best. Nationalism is relativist; it has no universal values or ethics. By contrast, a patriot wants its country to live up to its ideals, which means we must be our best selves.

20. Be as courageous as you can

If no one is prepared to die for freedom, then everyone will die under tyranny.

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