The Mass Psychology of Fascism - Anxiety Depression Self-Help

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concentrated in the hands of a few. The development of a world economy was sharply contradicted by the tariff system of national states; capitalist economy attained hardly half of production capacity and it had clearly shown its anarchic character. The majority of the working population of highly industrialized countries lived in misery; about fifty million people were unemployed in Europe alone; hundreds of millions of working individuals lived on a starvation level. But the "expropriation of the expropriators" failed to materialize and, contrary to expectations, at the crossroads between "socialism and barbarism," the development was in the direction of barbarism. That is, there was an international growth of fascism and a corresponding weakening of the workers' movement. Those who still hoped that the coming second world war would, with certainty, have a revolutionary outcome, those who, in other words, depended on the masses to turn the weapons they were going to get against the inner enemy, had not followed the development of the new war techniques. It did not seem unlikely that in the next war an arming of the masses would not take place, and that military measures would be taken against the unarmed masses in the large industrial centers, executed by a few selected and dependable war technicians. Therefore, a re-orientation in thinking was a necessary prerequisite for a new revolutionary practice. The second world war confirmed these expectations. [7] 2. ECONOMIC AND IDEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF GERMAN SOCIETY BETWEEN 1928 AND 1933 From a rational point of view, one would expect the pauperized masses of workers to develop a sharp consciousness of their social situation, to develop a will to eliminate their social misery. Similarly, one should expect the working individual to rebel against his social misery; one would expect him to say to himself: "I am a responsible worker. It is on me and people like myself that the weal and woe of society depend. I assume myself the responsibility for the work." In that case, the thinking (the "consciousness") of the worker would be consistent with his social situation. The Marxists called this "class consciousness." We shall call it "professional consciousness" or "consciousness of social responsibility." The divergence between the social position of the working masses on the one hand and their consciousness of it on the other hand means that the working masses, instead of improving their social situation, worsen it. It was exactly the pauperized masses who carried fascism, the ultimate in political reaction, to power. The problem here is that of the role of ideology, the emotional attitude of the masses as a historical factor, the "retroaction of the ideology on the economic base." If the economic misery of broad masses of people did not lead to revolutionary tendencies in the sense of the social revolution; if, on the contrary, the economic crisis led to ideologies which were contrary to rational revolutionary thinking; then, in Marxist terms, the ideological development of the masses in these critical years inhibited the "unfolding of the forces of production" and blocked the "revolutionary solution of the conflict between the productive forces of monopolistic capitalism and its methods of production." The class structure in Germany reveals the following picture: 1 ________ 1 According to Kunik: "Versuch einer Feststellung der sozialen Gliederung der deutschen Bevölkerung," Die Internationale 1928, compiled by Lenz: "Proletarische Politik," Internationaler Arbeiterverlag, 1931. [8] Earning population (in thousands) With family members (in millions) Industrial workers 2 21,789 40.7 Urban middle classes 6,157 10.7
Small farmers 6,598 9.0 Bourgeoisie (including land owners and large farmers) 718 2.0 34,762 62.4 Strata of the urban middle classes: in thousands Lower strata of persons in small enterprises (home industries, tenant farms, workshops with less than 3 employees) 1,916 Employees in small industries with 3 or more employees 1,403 Higher employees and officials 1,763 Professional people and students 431 Small investors 644 6,157 Workers' strata: Workers in industry, transportation, business, etc. 11,826 Agricultural workers 2,607 Home workers 138 Domestic servants 1,326 Recipients of social security benefits 1,717 Employees (earning less than 250 marks per month) 2,775 Minor officials (including pensioners) 1,400 21,789 Middle strata in agriculture: Small farmers and tenants (with less than 12 acres of land) 2,366 Farmers with 12 to 120 acres 4,232 6,598 These figures are taken from the German census of 1925. It has ________ 2 Called "Proletarians" by the Marxists. [9] to be remembered that they reflect the socio-economic and not the ideological strata, which were quite different. Socio-economically, then, Germany in 1925 comprised: Workers Middle classes Earning With family population 21.789 members millions 12.755 40.7 millions millions 19.7 millions The ideological structure, however, was, according to a rough calculation, the following: Workers (in industry, business, transportation, agriculture, etc.) 14.433 millions
Page 1 and 2: THE MASS PSYCHOLOGY OF FASCISM By W
Page 3 and 4: ORGONE INSTITUTE PRESS NEW YORK . 1
Page 5 and 6: [vii] 1. Theory and practice 145 2.
Page 7 and 8: ealization of their responsibility
Page 9 and 10: the tremendous changes in thought w
Page 11 and 12: new sociological concept. It compri
Page 13 and 14: continue to exist as long as the ma
Page 15: emained entirely in the background.
Page 19 and 20: the metaphysical character of react
Page 21 and 22: and directly express the economic s
Page 23 and 24: themselves be shot, lay down again
Page 25 and 26: [24] of infantile and adolescent se
Page 27 and 28: middle-class economic organizations
Page 29 and 30: German plow and daily bread for the
Page 31 and 32: determines its ideology. While the
Page 33 and 34: This was Hitler's point of view. It
Page 35 and 36: political ideologies. The attitude
Page 37 and 38: [50] himself fully with a personifi
Page 39 and 40: The self-confidence of the worker i
Page 41 and 42: hours. To try to "reach the masses"
Page 43 and 44: ________ 8 The collapse of Norway i
Page 45 and 46: metaphysics. Then we open an avenue
Page 47 and 48: "protectors of the noble and joyful
Page 49 and 50: of patriarchy. Sexology of the patr
Page 51 and 52: mechanical relationship between sex
Page 53 and 54: masses was clearly expressed in the
Page 55 and 56: 2 Herta Heinrich: "Hakenkreuz, Vier
Page 57 and 58: eactionary family politics is the d
Page 59 and 60: antiquity, from which, over a perio
Page 61 and 62: An identification of the Jewish God
Page 63 and 64: Der Verband katholischer Bücherver
Page 65 and 66: mystical feeling of the mass indivi
Page 67 and 68:
marriage, because the institution o
Page 69 and 70:
floating dismembered mankind into a
Page 71 and 72:
eadily the real goal, which is not
Page 73 and 74:
the sexual life of the individual.
Page 75 and 76:
6. The negation of the sexual natur
Page 77 and 78:
is a well-known fact. What is less
Page 79 and 80:
dangerously astray; if he has thoug
Page 81 and 82:
The Virgin Mary cult is used with g
Page 83 and 84:
when technics would be able to repl
Page 85 and 86:
shown to be a simple pump, the fore
Page 87 and 88:
him from the infantile submission t
Page 89 and 90:
the upper hand. How, he will ask, w
Page 91 and 92:
succeeds in rationally guiding this
Page 93 and 94:
children than the antifascist movem
Page 95 and 96:
[173] unpolitical masses. The avera
Page 97 and 98:
When he has found them, he plays th
Page 99 and 100:
The fusion of scientific and social
Page 101 and 102:
practically was remote. There was,
Page 103 and 104:
who were developing. Understandably
Page 105 and 106:
only in the workers' movement but a
Page 107 and 108:
quickly than Christianity had shed
Page 109 and 110:
Let us summarize first the concepts
Page 111 and 112:
the bourgeois state, Lenin said, "d
Page 113 and 114:
now already within the capacity of
Page 115 and 116:
destroying the old bourgeois state
Page 117 and 118:
democracy, nor can there be any "fu
Page 119 and 120:
dear, liberated and new land. The S
Page 121 and 122:
character structure, this attitude
Page 123 and 124:
of people in other communities. Wit
Page 125 and 126:
As a result of the world economic c
Page 127 and 128:
and without bloodshed. This is poss
Page 129 and 130:
foremen, technicians and specialize
Page 131 and 132:
exodus could have been prevented if
Page 133 and 134:
learn to eliminate their own weakne
Page 135 and 136:
[260] the necessity of this process
Page 137 and 138:
irrationalism. The process of socia
Page 139 and 140:
naturally given and which have alwa
Page 141 and 142:
een able to protect work against ex
Page 143 and 144:
idealization as well as the commise
Page 145 and 146:
carry the responsibility for their
Page 147 and 148:
more difficult, more dangerous, mor
Page 149 and 150:
The answer is unequivocal: The lag
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kingdom, clearly represent the act
Page 153 and 154:
dictatorship, may itself undergo a
Page 155 and 156:
evolutionary. But it should be obvi
Page 157 and 158:
article intended to do was to demon
Page 159 and 160:
smuggled into Germany. In the cours
Page 161 and 162:
would grant love, work and knowledg
Page 163 and 164:
eing all bathed in perspiration and
Page 165 and 166:
unnecessary in the factual realm of
Page 167 and 168:
dependent on my own development and
Page 169 and 170:
distinctions," the "establishment o
Page 171 and 172:
self-determination of society is to
Page 173 and 174:
293, 301 Biopathic character struct
Page 175 and 176:
283ff., 298f. "Incest," 66 Internat
Page 177 and 178:
Politician, 175f., 181, 313ff, 323,
Page 179:
18 Swastika, 83ff. Technical progre
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