The Mass Psychology of Fascism - Anxiety Depression Self-Help

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What is the sex life of the adolescents in the camps like? The labor service youths are at the age of flourishing sexuality. Most of them previously had been maintaining a satisfactory love relationship. True, their love life was even then impeded by the lack of rooms which would make a healthy love life possible, by the lack of money for proper contraceptives, by the enmity of the state authorities and the reactionaries. But this situation has been made ever so much worse by the labor service. There are all of the following things, and others: No chance of getting together with girls, of maintaining the old love relationships; Being forced into abstinence or masturbation; This leads to a disintegration and brutalization of sexuality, the weedlike growth of dirty jokes and talk, the cancer-like growth of unhealthy, paralyzing phantasies (of rape, beating and all kinds of perversions); Nocturnal emissions which undermine health and give no satisfaction; Development of homosexual tendencies and of homosexual relations between fellows who previously had never thought of such things; being pestered by homosexuals; Increased nervousness, irritability, neurotic states and physical complaints. [167] Dangers for the future. Every adolescent, particularly at this age of between seventeen and twenty-five, who lacks a satisfactory sex life is threatened with a later disturbance of potency which always leads to depression and a reduction of the ability to work. If an organ or a natural function is not used for a long time, it will refuse to function later on. The usual results are nervous and mental disease, and perversions. What should our attitude be toward the measures and decrees of the administration in these matters? The leadership keeps talking in general terms of "moral strengthening of youth." We don't understand what that means. In the course of the years, German youth, in a hard struggle against the parental home and the bosses of the system, have begun to establish their right to a healthy sex life. True, under present social conditions they succeeded only partially. But their idea was clear: Youth has to fight, will all possible means, against the sexual hypocrisy, intolerance and indecency which result from the sexual oppression of youth. Their idea was that girls and boys are to live in good intellectual and sexual companionship, and that it is the duty of society to help them to do so. What is the attitude of the new German Reich? Its decrees, thus far, are at strict variance with the concepts worked out by youth. The prohibition of the public sale of contraceptives has made it impossible to get them. Measures such as that of the Hamburg police against sport people, their threatening them with the concentration camp for "offending public morals" is at variance with our rights. Is it "offending public morals" when a boy sleeps with his girl? We ask the Reich Administration for German Youth: What kind of a sexual life is youth to lead? There are only four possibilities: 1. Abstinence. Is youth supposed to live in abstinence, that is, to abstain from any sexual activity until marriage? 2. Masturbation. Is youth supposed to indulge in self-gratification? 3. Homosexuality. Is German youth supposed to engage in homosexual activity? If so, what kind? Mutual masturbation? Pederasty? 4. Natural love life. Should there be natural sexual relationships between German boys and girls? Should they affirm and further natural sexuality? If so, we ask the following questions: Where shall this love life take place (problem of housing)? [168] When is it to take place? What is to be done about contraceptives? Is the adolescent allowed to do the same thing as the leader? Similar questions apply to the work with children. It may sound strange, and incomprehensible to many, but it is a fact: Revolutionary work with children can be essentially only sex-economic work. Why are children of preadolescent age most easily guided by sexual education? 1. In all social strata, including those in which material needs play an outstanding role, the period of childhood more than any other is filled with sexual interests. While dire material need and hunger are acute problems for only a part of the children, sexual suppression affects every single child of every social stratum. This makes the social sphere of attack enormous. 2. The usual methods of the freedom movements in organizing children are the reactionary methods of work with children: group plays, singing, marching, uniforms, bands, etc. The average child makes no distinction in content between the reactionary and the revolutionary forms of propaganda. One should have no illusions: children and adolescents will march as readily to the sound of a fascist band tomorrow as they march today to the sound of a democratic band. In addition, political reaction is much better at organizing group propaganda among
children than the antifascist movement ever was. This was shown in the fact that the Socialist movement in Germany was always very weak as compared with the reactionaries in their work with children. 3. Although the reactionary work with children may be more efficient in everything else, there is one thing it cannot do under any circumstances: Give the children true sexual knowledge, free them from sexual confusion. This only the revolutionary movement can do. First, because it has no interest in the sexual suppression of children, it has only the opposite interest; second, because the revolutionary movement was always the advocate of a consistent natural upbringing. This mighty weapon, however, [169] remained unused; more than that, the children's organizations in Germany showed a definite aversion to changing the customary individual sexual enlightenment into a mass measure. In a tragicomic manner, these opponents of sex-economic work among children pointed to Marx and Lenin. True, their writings contained nothing about sex-economy. But there was the fact that the children, en masse, fell victim to the influence of political reaction. In spite of great difficulties, the possibilities of sex-economic work with children are enormous because the children will show a burning interest. Once children and adolescents are reached on a mass basis through their sexual interests, there will be a powerful counterweight against the reactionary forces: political reaction will be powerless. For the doubters and those who are moralistically concerned about the "purity" of the children, one need cite only two practical experiences out of many: First: the church is not so scrupulous. A boy of fifteen, who had left a fascist organization to join the Communist youth, reported that in the former organization a priest would have a private talk with every individual boy once a week in which he would question him about his sexual behavior. Regularly, he asked them whether they had masturbated, which, of course, was the case and guiltily admitted. The priest then would say: "This is a great sin, indeed, my boy. But you can atone for it by working for the church industriously. Go and distribute these pamphlets tomorrow." Such is the sex-political practice of mysticism. We, on the other hand, are "inhibited," "pure," do not want to have anything to do with "such things." And then we are surprised that mysticism gets hold of the majority of adolescents. Second: the sex-economic work group in Berlin had collectively outlined a booklet to be used in the work with children, entitled, DAS KREIDEDREIECK. VEREIN ZUR ERFORSCHUNG DER GEHEIMNISSE DER ERWACHSENEN (The chalk triangle. Association for the discovery of the adults' secrets). Before going to press with it, it was decided to read it to a group of children to study their reaction. One could have wished that all those who turn up [170] their noses in contempt at the mention of social sex-economy had been present. To begin with, there were seventy children present, instead of the usual twenty. While ordinarily it was difficult to get the children's attention, now they were all ears, their faces expressed rapt attention. At many points, the reading was interrupted by loud applause. At the end, the children were asked for their criticism and suggestions. A great many responded. One had good reason to be ashamed of one's prudishness and hesitation. The teachers who were among the authors had decided to omit the topics of contraception and infantile masturbation. Promptly there were questions like, "Why don't you say anything about how one avoids getting children?" while a boy laughingly interjected, "That we know anyhow." "What's that, a harlot? Nothing was said about that." "Tomorrow we'll go to the Christians," they said enthusiastically, "they always talk about such things. We'll show them." "When is the book going to come out? How much will it be? Will it be cheap enough so we can buy it and also distribute it?" The part which had been read dealt mostly with sex information; the children were told that a second part was planned which would deal with social problems. The immediate reaction was, "When will the second volume come out? Will that also be so entertaining?" When did a group of children ever ask so enthusiastically for social literature? Should this not teach us something? Yes, there is no doubt: By the affirmation of their sexual interests and the gratification of their urge for knowledge, the children must be educated to social responsibility. They must get the conviction that that is something which political reaction cannot give them. In this way, one will win them on a mass basis, will immunize them, in all countries, against reactionary influences, and will make them part of the revolutionary freedom movement. For the time being, however, this task is impeded not only by political reaction but also by the moralists in the freedom movement.
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THE MASS PSYCHOLOGY OF FASCISM By W
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ORGONE INSTITUTE PRESS NEW YORK . 1
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[vii] 1. Theory and practice 145 2.
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ealization of their responsibility
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the tremendous changes in thought w
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new sociological concept. It compri
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continue to exist as long as the ma
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emained entirely in the background.
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Small farmers 6,598 9.0 Bourgeoisie
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the metaphysical character of react
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and directly express the economic s
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themselves be shot, lay down again
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[24] of infantile and adolescent se
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middle-class economic organizations
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German plow and daily bread for the
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determines its ideology. While the
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This was Hitler's point of view. It
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political ideologies. The attitude
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[50] himself fully with a personifi
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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: succeeds in rationally guiding this
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
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idealization as well as the commise
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carry the responsibility for their
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more difficult, more dangerous, mor
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The answer is unequivocal: The lag
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kingdom, clearly represent the act
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dictatorship, may itself undergo a
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evolutionary. But it should be obvi
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article intended to do was to demon
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smuggled into Germany. In the cours
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would grant love, work and knowledg
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eing all bathed in perspiration and
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unnecessary in the factual realm of
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dependent on my own development and
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distinctions," the "establishment o
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self-determination of society is to
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293, 301 Biopathic character struct
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283ff., 298f. "Incest," 66 Internat
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Politician, 175f., 181, 313ff, 323,
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18 Swastika, 83ff. Technical progre
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