Throwback fascism: Accelerationist fascination with the faux 50s

Abstract

The modern far-right, including its vast digital communities, draws from an overlapping yet diverse array of subcultures, sectarian ideologies, and political tendencies. Included among these traditions are accelerationist neo-Nazis who aim to capitalize on social and political divisiveness, economic precarity, and other frictions to foster widespread conflict, socio-political collapse, armed civil conflict, and revolutionary change—often embracing National Socialism and other intersecting fascist frameworks. Fascist accelerationists have rapidly metastasized into global cell-based networks and have been central in establishing a distinct visual aesthetic and linguistic markers. While their rhetoric is broad—ranging from calls for violence and sarcastic mockery of liberalism to disgust with efforts to empower marginalized communities—this article focuses on their use of restorative rhetoric, especially as offered online. Though this community exhibits several unique rhetorical and aesthetic features, one cannot help but notice the frequency of images reflecting the American 1950s. In this study, we ask: What visual aesthetics do accelerationist fascists employ in digital spaces to uphold normative ideals and why? This pursuit is situated within Visual, Discourse, and Content Analysis through the lens of visual culture. In our analysis of 115 unique images displaying representations of the “faux 50s,” two key themes emerged: (1) opposition to progressive politics and (2) emphasis on the preservation of the white nuclear family. We argue that restorative rhetoric employed by this group promotes a return to a prior social order while simultaneously accepting that state as ideal, devoid of contradiction and critique. Ultimately, this approach aims to isolate, identify, and interpret the values, reference points, and ideological positions constructed by the author and communicated in their images. We begin from the presumption that visual culture—specifically that of fascist communities on Telegram—relates to the social processes of inclusion and exclusion that sustain subtle yet dangerous inequalities.