The Mass Psychology of Fascism - Anxiety Depression Self-Help

marriage, because the institution of marriage in the sense of the authoritarian and mystical concept had indeed
been abolished. Until about 1928 there was in the Soviet Union, legally and practically, pairing marriage. Russian
Communism, then, did loosen the structure of compulsive marriage and of the compulsive family and it did away
with moralism. 4 What should have been done, in addition, was to make the mass individuals conscious of their
conflict: of the fact that they longed very strongly for that which the social revolution attempted to bring about,
while at the same time they were moralistic. To do this, however, presupposes clarity about the connections
between compulsive family, mysticism and sexuality.
We have shown that the nationalistic feeling is a direct continuation of the authoritarian family feeling. But
mystical feeling, also, is a source of nationalistic ideology. That is, both patriarchal family attitudes and mystical
attitudes are the basic mass-psychological elements of fascist and imperialist nationalism. Thus the fact that
mystical education prepares the soil for fascism is dem-
________
4 [1945]: In the meantime, compulsive marriage has been reintroduced in the Soviet Union. Sexual legislation there is now far more reactionary than in other
countries. This is only the consequence of the general authoritarian development of Russian sex politics since about 1934. Cf. THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION,
Orgone Institute Press, 1945.
[112]onstrated on a mass-psychological scale when a social crisis sets the masses in motion.
In the New York Times of August 14, 1942, Otto D. Tolischus wrote on the imperialistic ideology of the
Japanese as follows:
A startling revelation of the Japanese war mind, as well as the ambitions prevalent not only in the military and ultra-nationalist
cliques now dominating the Japanese Government but also among the intelligentsia, is contained in a booklet issued in Tokyo in
February of this year by Professor Chikao Fujisawa, one of the leading exponents of Japan's political thought and philosophy.
According to this booklet, which was made up for widest distribution, Japan, as the original motherland of the human race and
world civilization, is fighting a holy war to reunite warring mankind into one universal family household in which each nation will
take its proper place under the divine sovereignty of the Japanese Emperor, who is a direct descendant of the Sun Goddess in the
"absolute cosmic life-center," from which the nations have strayed and to which they must return.
In its general argument the booklet merely summarizes, systematizes and applies to the present war the ideas derived from Shinto
mythology that Japanese politicians under the leadership of Yosuke Matsuoka developed into an imperialistic dogma to justify
Japan's expansion policy. But for that very reason it appeals to all the religious, racial and national ideas and emotions most deeply
ingrained in the Japanese nature. In that sense Professor Fujisawa is a sort of Japanese Nietzsche and Wagner and his pamphlet
becomes the Japanese equivalent of Adolf Hitler's MEIN KAMPF.
As was the case with MEIN KAMPF, the outside world has paid little attention to this trend in Japanese thought, which is either
regarded as pure phantasy or relegated to the field of theology. But for years it has furnished the ideological background for Japan's
expansion policy, which led to the present war, and the last Japanese notes to the United States cannot be understood without
reference to it.
The authoritative nature of the booklet is indicated by the fact Professor Fujisawa has been a permanent Japanese representative in
the secretariat of the League of Nations and professor of political science in Kyushu Imperial University and has published
numerous works in various languages on Japanese political science. He is now director of [113] the research department of the
Imperial Rule Assistance Association, created to organize the Japanese people for war, and is charged with making such ideas
effective throughout the world.
The flavor of the booklet is amply illustrated by the first few paragraphs, which read:
"Japan is often called in our poetic language 'Sumera Mikuni,' which conveys somewhat the meaning of divine clime, allintegrating
and all-embracing. By keeping in mind its philosophic implications one will be able to grasp the keynote of the imperial
rescript issued September 27, 1939, at the time of the conclusion of the Tripartite pact. Therein our gracious Tenno proclaimed
solemnly that the cause of great justice should be extended to the far ends of the earth so as to turn the world into one household and
thus enable all nations to secure their due places. This significant passage in the rescript will clarify the very character of our august
sovereign, ever anxious to act as head of an all-embracing universal family, in the bosom of which to all nations shall be allotted
their respective posts in a dynamic order of harmony and cooperation.
"It is incumbent upon our Tenno to do his best to restore the 'absolute cosmic life-center' and reconstruct the fundamental vertical
order once prevalent among nations in remote antiquity; by so doing he wishes to transform the present-day lawless and chaotic
world, where the weak are left to fall prey to the strong, into one large family community in which perfect concord and consummate