Yes, perfect! Thank you, sorry for making you cover for my own misunderstanding like that.

I would tend to agree with you. There are plenty of examples in history (many of which you've already drawn upon) of a political leader using a given group as a scapegoat to unify a population--which is why I think the mechanism we're talking about (which I don't have a word for) must extend beyond generally-accepted virtues. It seems easier to manipulate people to hate something they already dislike, which is why I think it'd be easier to pull from already existing cultural opinions. To that extent, I think that you're both right, partially. Anti-intellectualism, when institutionalized, is something inflicted on people, but it can't come from nowhere.

Even in your examples, Mao was leading a political party that relied on guerrilla warfare and the proliferation of soviets among the poor agricultural classes, many of which resented upper classes. Franco was coming out of the Second Republic and a civil war, and wanted to get rid of political dissidents; the Leftist/Rightist governments and the Popular Front had left plenty of people disillusioned with intellectuals, as far as I remember. Nevertheless, we both know that the simple act of a charismatic and trusted leader assigning blame to a given out-group is effective at this unification. Not sure if you agree with my breakdown, but c'est la vie.

Anyways, this was interesting discussion, thanks! Again, sorry if I was frustrating at any point.