On Feb 4, 2008, at 7:19 AM, Tahir Wood wrote:
>
> >[The Mass]Psychology of Fascism... a book which I think dazzles
> with its >moments of extreme clarity:
>
> I haven't read this particular book of Reich's, although I think I
> understand the extract that was posted, having read some of his other
> works. I doubt whether this can really be an explanation of fascism
> all
> in itself. It might be a valid partial explanation insofar as it
> describes certain preconditions for the emergence of fascism: i.e.
> sexual repression. But this does not explain why x becomes a fascist
> and
> y doesn't, if both x and y are repressed. One would have to claim that
> ALL of those people who are sexually repressed become fascists and
> NONE
> of those who are not sexually repressed become fascists...
This is clearly wrong. What Reich claims is that sexual repression is strongly positively correlated with vulnerability to fascist seduction-- that among fascists the x/y ratio is much higher than among antifascists. His discussion of the Stalinist promotion of sexual repression (in The Sexual Revolution) and of the psychodynamics of repression (in The Function of the Orgasm) show a deeply dialectical grasp of the interrelation between repression and social reaction. The fascistic persecution to which he was subjected by the repressive apparatus of the US Government was a confirmation, as strong as it was unwelcome, of the basic truth of his analysis.
Shane Mage
"Thunderbolt steers all things...it consents and does not consent to be called Zeus."
Herakleitos of Ephesos