[lbo-talk] O-bomb-a's economic advisers

B. docile_body at yahoo.com
Mon Feb 4 08:59:19 PST 2008


Shane Mage wrote:

"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."

Shane & others:--

Yes, my Reich quote was necessarily brief, not the sum total of his thoughts on fascism, and what you say is correct. Reich does link repressed sexuality with fascistic impulses. It's fertile ground for exploration, and Reich was onto the right idea.

This is echoed in one of my favorite statements from George Orwell: "The interconnexion between sadism, masochism, success-worship, power-worship, nationalism, and totalitarianism is a huge subject whose edges have barely been scratched, and even to mention it is considered somewhat indelicate." I'm sure you've all seen me quote this before.

Orwell says the interconnexion [sic] had barely been probed (or "scratched"), but Reich's _Mass Psychology of Fascism_ was a "scratching" at the surface.

-B.



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