Crypto-fascism is the secret support for , or admiration of , fascism . The term is used to imply that an individual or group keeps this support or admiration hidden to avoid political persecution or political suicide . The common usage is " crypto-fascist " , one who practices this support . In some circumstances , it may also be a cognate for " quasi-fascist " and refer to a person who is viewed as holding fascistic beliefs which stop short of conscious support for the ideology of fascism . The Oxford English Dictionary cites several early uses , including '' The Guardian '' using the term more than once in the 1920s . In an ABC television debate during the chaos of the 1968 Democratic National Convention , Gore Vidal described William F. Buckley , Jr. as a " crypto-Nazi " , later correcting himself as meaning to say " crypto-fascist " . However , the term had appeared five years earlier in a German-language book by the sociologist Theodor W. Adorno , '' Der getreue Korrepetitor '' ( The Faithful Répétiteur )
1968 Democratic National Convention
1968 Democratic National Convention
Crypto-fascism