Those of you reading this not through some sort of feed will notice some minor changes in Spöknippets layout, most noticeable that (nearly) all post now have tags and that the tags are all available to the right, below the archives. This should improve access to older posts. Additional changes will be made, and possible reverted, over the next few days.
New posts are on their way, although not anywhere near the predicted average of two post per month this year. Those who are patient can look forward to excerpts from René Guénon as well as new ones from Julius Evola and Ernst Jünger.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
[Excerpts, Swedish] Jünger x 2
Vi hade glädjen att alldeles nyligen se inte mindre än tre bloggposter handlandes om Ernst Jünger på en och samma dag. Ir/Rationell postade även en sammanställning av bloggposter behandlandes Jünger.
De Jüngerexcerpter Spöknippet tillhandahåller idag kommer från Der Kampf als inner Erlebnis samt Feuer und Blut. Översättningen är inte Spöknippets utan de är, med något undantag, hämtade från den värsta politiskt korrekta genusideologiska smörja Spöknippet någonsin skådat. Titel och författare förtigs därför med förhoppningen att de snarast skall falla i evig glömska. Det är dock väl notat och originalkälla kan därmed anges för citaten.
Ögonmänniskan ser att ett av excerpterna nedan kommer från kapitlet "Feuer" i Der Kampf als inner Erlebnis. Måhända kan en svensk översättning glädja någon.
Der Kampf als inner Erlebnis (Berlin 1922)
Åsynen av motståndaren skänker förutom den yttersta fasa även en befrielse från tungt, outhärdligt tryck. Detta är blodets vällust, som hänger över kriget som ett rött stormsegel över en svart galär, i sin gränslösa flykt endast besläktad med eros.
s 8 f
När blodet virvlade genom hjärna och ådror som inför en efterlängtad kärleksnatt, bara ännu mycket hetare och vildare. När man ryckte allt närmare det dånande larmet där framme och nedslagen jagade varandra allt våldsammare, allt hastigare, när överflödet av hetsande tankar fick fälten runt omkring att börja glöda, när man var så fylld av känslor att landskap och händelser senare bara dunkelt och drömlikt dök upp ur minnet. Elddopet! Där var luften så laddad av översvämmande manlighet att varje andetag berusade en, att man hade velat gråta utan att veta varför. O mannahjärtan som förmår känna det!
s 12
Dock har vi barn av denna tid blivit så utleda på dessa nakna fakta. Så utleda.
s 18
En förlamande sekunds tystnad, då ögonen möttes, inträdde först. Sedan sköt där upp ett skri, tvärt, vilt, blodrött, som brände sig in i hjärnorna, en glödande oförgätlig stämpel. Detta skri slet slöjor från känslans dunkla, oanade världar, blev för var och en som hörde det ett tvång att kasta sig framåt för att döda eller bli dödad. Vad betydde då lyfta händer, vad pardon eller kamrat. Då fanns bara ett samförstånd: blodets (…)
Korta, rasande febrar var dessa ursinnets orgier; när de gått över, lämnade de skyttegraven efter sig lik en tillstökad bädd där någon dött i kramper. Bleka gestalter med vita bandage stirrade in i den uppgående solens under, ur stånd att begripa att världen och det de upplevt var verklighet.
s 29
Det var en helt ny ras, förkroppsliga energi, laddad med den högsta kraft. Smidiga, magra, seniga kroppar, skarpt tecknade ansikten, under hjälmen ögon förstenade i tusen fasor. De var övervinnare, stålnaturer inställda på kampen i dess ohyggligaste form. Dess anlopp över de söndersplittrade landskapet innebar en yttersta triumf av fantastisk fasa. Bröt deras oförvägna trupper on i sönderslagna ställningar, där bleka gestalter med vansinnig blick stirrade mot ferm, så frigjordes oanade energier. Som dödens jonglörer, sprängämnenas och eldens mästare, som praktfulla rovdjur förflyttade de sig med fjädrande steg genom skyttegravarna. I sammandrabbningens ögonblick förkroppsligade de det mest kampberedda som jorden kunde bära, det mest slagkraftiga koncentrat av kropp, intelligens, vilja och sinnen.
s 32 f
En kultur må stå aldrig så högt – slocknar den manliga nerven, är den en koloss på lerfötter. Ju mäktigare dess byggnad, desto fruktansvärdare dess fall.
Då kanske någon frågar: ”Låt vara att Gud är med de starkaste bataljonerna, men är de starkaste bataljonerna också med den högsta kulturen?” Just därför är det den högsta kulturens heliga plikt att ha de starkaste bataljonerna.
s 37
Förvisso helgas kampen av saken; ännu mer helgas saken av kampen.
s 47
Ännu ett, ett sista: extasen. Detta helgonets den store diktarens och den stora kärlekens tillstånd är även det stora modet förunnat. (…) Detta är ett rus över alla rus, en frigörelse som spränger alla band Det är ett raseri utan hänsyn och gränser, jämförbart endast med naturens våldsamma krafter. där är människan som den vinande stormen, det rytande havet och den dånande åskan. Därpå smälter hon on i alltet, hon rusar mot dödens mörka portar som en projektil mot målet. Och slår vågorna purpurfärgade ihop över henne, så har hon för länge sedan blivit omedveten om övergången. Det är som gled en våg tillbaka ut i det svallande havet.
s 53
De gestalter av stål, som med örnblick rakt över snurrande propellrar genomforskar molnen, som inklämda mellan stridsvagnarnas motorer vågar helvetesfärden genom vrålande kraterfält, som i dagar, med en säker död framför sig, i omringade nästen med högar av lik runt omkring halvt försmäktade sitter hukade bakom glödande kulsprutor. De är det moderna slagfältets bästa, genomströmmade av hänsynslös kämpaanda, av stark vilja som urladdar sig i en hård, koncentrerad, målmedveten stöt.
När jag iakttar hur de ljudlöst klipper vägar i taggtrådshindren, gräver stormtrappor, jämför klockor med lysande urtavla, tar u riktningen mot norr efterstjärnorna, då går det upp för mig: detta är den nya människan. Stormpionjärerna, Mellaneuropas elit. En helt ny ras, klok, stark, och full av vilja. Det som här i kampen uppenbarar sig som fenomen, kommer imorgon att vara den axel kring vilken livet allt fortare snurrar. Över deras stora städer skall tusenfalt brusande dån välva sig, när de går fram över asfalten, smidiga rovdjur, fulla av kraft. De kommer att bli byggmästare på världens krossade fundament.
s 74
Här förbi flyter viljan till liv, viljan till kamp och till makt, om det så vore till priset av livet självt. Gentemot denna nattliga och aldrig upphörande ström till kampen blir alla värden intiga, alla begrepp ihåliga, man förnimmer yttringen av något elementärt, väldigt, som alltid funnits och alltid skall finnas, även när det för länge sedan upphört att finnas människor och krig.
s 116
Feuer und Blut (Berlin 1929)
…säkert står vi en fiende med ras närmare än varje pacifist och internationalist.
s 64
Först vår generation börjar försona sig med maskinen och se inte blott och bart det nyttiga utan även det sköna i den.
s 81
Ja, maskinen är skön, den måste vara skön för den som älskar livet i dess fullhet och våldsamhet. Och i det som Nietzsche, vilken i sitt renässanslandskap inte hade något rum för maskinen, har sagt emot darwinismen, att livet icke endast r en erbarmlig kamp för tillvaron utan en vilja till högre och djupare mål, måste även maskinen inbegripas. Den får inte vara endast ett medel för att producera, för att tillgodose vår knappa nödtorft, utan den skall skänka oss en högre och djupare tillfredställelse. När så sker, är mången fråga löst. Den konstnärliga människan, som i maskinen plötsligt ser en helhet stället för en ändamålsenlig sammansättning av järndelar, strategen som strävar efter att frigöra sig från produktionskrigets band, de arbetar på denna lösning likaväl som teknikern eller socialisten.
s 82
Ibland har vi ju förnummit det, när vi sett ett expresståg blixtrande och dundrande susa genom landskapet, tävlingsförare skjuta in på banan ur den doserade kurvan, när svirrande fåglar kretsat över våra städer, och när vi i stora glastäckta hallar stått mellan kolvar och sprakande svänghjul, medan manometrarnas kvicksilver pelare stigit och fallit och de röda visarna på de i vita marmorplattor infällda kraftmätarna på väggarna darrat, att här måste finnas ett överskott på liv, en lyx, en vilja att helt och hållet förvandla livet till kraft.
s 82 f
Som ett nästan bortglömt minne blixtrar det till och bländar: Där är ju fienden, där har vi ju människan, och strax skall vi vara framme hos honom! Denna insikt fyller oss med en vild, rasande lust, det är som om allt som till bristningsgränsen nu spänts och lagrats plötsligt såg en utväg och som ett dånande vattenfall störtade sig i purpurfärgade och scharlakansröda avgrunder.
Fort, fort bara, nu måste här dödas! Nu finns det bara en förlossning, en uppfyllelse och en lycka: det flytande blodet. Strax skall man kunna hugga in och man känner en demonisk glad förväntan i medvetandet om att man kommer att uppträda som den starkare, den oemotståndlige. Vänta ni bara, strax är vi där! Jag känner hur min högra hand spänner sig som ett skruvstäd kring pistolkolven och den vänstra kring den korta bambukäppen. Jag känner hur blodet sjudande har skjutit upp i ansiktet på mig, hur tänderna pressas mot varandra och hur klara tårar utan hejd rinner över ansiktet.
s 139 f
De Jüngerexcerpter Spöknippet tillhandahåller idag kommer från Der Kampf als inner Erlebnis samt Feuer und Blut. Översättningen är inte Spöknippets utan de är, med något undantag, hämtade från den värsta politiskt korrekta genusideologiska smörja Spöknippet någonsin skådat. Titel och författare förtigs därför med förhoppningen att de snarast skall falla i evig glömska. Det är dock väl notat och originalkälla kan därmed anges för citaten.
Ögonmänniskan ser att ett av excerpterna nedan kommer från kapitlet "Feuer" i Der Kampf als inner Erlebnis. Måhända kan en svensk översättning glädja någon.
Der Kampf als inner Erlebnis (Berlin 1922)
Åsynen av motståndaren skänker förutom den yttersta fasa även en befrielse från tungt, outhärdligt tryck. Detta är blodets vällust, som hänger över kriget som ett rött stormsegel över en svart galär, i sin gränslösa flykt endast besläktad med eros.
s 8 f
När blodet virvlade genom hjärna och ådror som inför en efterlängtad kärleksnatt, bara ännu mycket hetare och vildare. När man ryckte allt närmare det dånande larmet där framme och nedslagen jagade varandra allt våldsammare, allt hastigare, när överflödet av hetsande tankar fick fälten runt omkring att börja glöda, när man var så fylld av känslor att landskap och händelser senare bara dunkelt och drömlikt dök upp ur minnet. Elddopet! Där var luften så laddad av översvämmande manlighet att varje andetag berusade en, att man hade velat gråta utan att veta varför. O mannahjärtan som förmår känna det!
s 12
Dock har vi barn av denna tid blivit så utleda på dessa nakna fakta. Så utleda.
s 18
En förlamande sekunds tystnad, då ögonen möttes, inträdde först. Sedan sköt där upp ett skri, tvärt, vilt, blodrött, som brände sig in i hjärnorna, en glödande oförgätlig stämpel. Detta skri slet slöjor från känslans dunkla, oanade världar, blev för var och en som hörde det ett tvång att kasta sig framåt för att döda eller bli dödad. Vad betydde då lyfta händer, vad pardon eller kamrat. Då fanns bara ett samförstånd: blodets (…)
Korta, rasande febrar var dessa ursinnets orgier; när de gått över, lämnade de skyttegraven efter sig lik en tillstökad bädd där någon dött i kramper. Bleka gestalter med vita bandage stirrade in i den uppgående solens under, ur stånd att begripa att världen och det de upplevt var verklighet.
s 29
Det var en helt ny ras, förkroppsliga energi, laddad med den högsta kraft. Smidiga, magra, seniga kroppar, skarpt tecknade ansikten, under hjälmen ögon förstenade i tusen fasor. De var övervinnare, stålnaturer inställda på kampen i dess ohyggligaste form. Dess anlopp över de söndersplittrade landskapet innebar en yttersta triumf av fantastisk fasa. Bröt deras oförvägna trupper on i sönderslagna ställningar, där bleka gestalter med vansinnig blick stirrade mot ferm, så frigjordes oanade energier. Som dödens jonglörer, sprängämnenas och eldens mästare, som praktfulla rovdjur förflyttade de sig med fjädrande steg genom skyttegravarna. I sammandrabbningens ögonblick förkroppsligade de det mest kampberedda som jorden kunde bära, det mest slagkraftiga koncentrat av kropp, intelligens, vilja och sinnen.
s 32 f
En kultur må stå aldrig så högt – slocknar den manliga nerven, är den en koloss på lerfötter. Ju mäktigare dess byggnad, desto fruktansvärdare dess fall.
Då kanske någon frågar: ”Låt vara att Gud är med de starkaste bataljonerna, men är de starkaste bataljonerna också med den högsta kulturen?” Just därför är det den högsta kulturens heliga plikt att ha de starkaste bataljonerna.
s 37
Förvisso helgas kampen av saken; ännu mer helgas saken av kampen.
s 47
Ännu ett, ett sista: extasen. Detta helgonets den store diktarens och den stora kärlekens tillstånd är även det stora modet förunnat. (…) Detta är ett rus över alla rus, en frigörelse som spränger alla band Det är ett raseri utan hänsyn och gränser, jämförbart endast med naturens våldsamma krafter. där är människan som den vinande stormen, det rytande havet och den dånande åskan. Därpå smälter hon on i alltet, hon rusar mot dödens mörka portar som en projektil mot målet. Och slår vågorna purpurfärgade ihop över henne, så har hon för länge sedan blivit omedveten om övergången. Det är som gled en våg tillbaka ut i det svallande havet.
s 53
De gestalter av stål, som med örnblick rakt över snurrande propellrar genomforskar molnen, som inklämda mellan stridsvagnarnas motorer vågar helvetesfärden genom vrålande kraterfält, som i dagar, med en säker död framför sig, i omringade nästen med högar av lik runt omkring halvt försmäktade sitter hukade bakom glödande kulsprutor. De är det moderna slagfältets bästa, genomströmmade av hänsynslös kämpaanda, av stark vilja som urladdar sig i en hård, koncentrerad, målmedveten stöt.
När jag iakttar hur de ljudlöst klipper vägar i taggtrådshindren, gräver stormtrappor, jämför klockor med lysande urtavla, tar u riktningen mot norr efterstjärnorna, då går det upp för mig: detta är den nya människan. Stormpionjärerna, Mellaneuropas elit. En helt ny ras, klok, stark, och full av vilja. Det som här i kampen uppenbarar sig som fenomen, kommer imorgon att vara den axel kring vilken livet allt fortare snurrar. Över deras stora städer skall tusenfalt brusande dån välva sig, när de går fram över asfalten, smidiga rovdjur, fulla av kraft. De kommer att bli byggmästare på världens krossade fundament.
s 74
Här förbi flyter viljan till liv, viljan till kamp och till makt, om det så vore till priset av livet självt. Gentemot denna nattliga och aldrig upphörande ström till kampen blir alla värden intiga, alla begrepp ihåliga, man förnimmer yttringen av något elementärt, väldigt, som alltid funnits och alltid skall finnas, även när det för länge sedan upphört att finnas människor och krig.
s 116
Feuer und Blut (Berlin 1929)
…säkert står vi en fiende med ras närmare än varje pacifist och internationalist.
s 64
Först vår generation börjar försona sig med maskinen och se inte blott och bart det nyttiga utan även det sköna i den.
s 81
Ja, maskinen är skön, den måste vara skön för den som älskar livet i dess fullhet och våldsamhet. Och i det som Nietzsche, vilken i sitt renässanslandskap inte hade något rum för maskinen, har sagt emot darwinismen, att livet icke endast r en erbarmlig kamp för tillvaron utan en vilja till högre och djupare mål, måste även maskinen inbegripas. Den får inte vara endast ett medel för att producera, för att tillgodose vår knappa nödtorft, utan den skall skänka oss en högre och djupare tillfredställelse. När så sker, är mången fråga löst. Den konstnärliga människan, som i maskinen plötsligt ser en helhet stället för en ändamålsenlig sammansättning av järndelar, strategen som strävar efter att frigöra sig från produktionskrigets band, de arbetar på denna lösning likaväl som teknikern eller socialisten.
s 82
Ibland har vi ju förnummit det, när vi sett ett expresståg blixtrande och dundrande susa genom landskapet, tävlingsförare skjuta in på banan ur den doserade kurvan, när svirrande fåglar kretsat över våra städer, och när vi i stora glastäckta hallar stått mellan kolvar och sprakande svänghjul, medan manometrarnas kvicksilver pelare stigit och fallit och de röda visarna på de i vita marmorplattor infällda kraftmätarna på väggarna darrat, att här måste finnas ett överskott på liv, en lyx, en vilja att helt och hållet förvandla livet till kraft.
s 82 f
Som ett nästan bortglömt minne blixtrar det till och bländar: Där är ju fienden, där har vi ju människan, och strax skall vi vara framme hos honom! Denna insikt fyller oss med en vild, rasande lust, det är som om allt som till bristningsgränsen nu spänts och lagrats plötsligt såg en utväg och som ett dånande vattenfall störtade sig i purpurfärgade och scharlakansröda avgrunder.
Fort, fort bara, nu måste här dödas! Nu finns det bara en förlossning, en uppfyllelse och en lycka: det flytande blodet. Strax skall man kunna hugga in och man känner en demonisk glad förväntan i medvetandet om att man kommer att uppträda som den starkare, den oemotståndlige. Vänta ni bara, strax är vi där! Jag känner hur min högra hand spänner sig som ett skruvstäd kring pistolkolven och den vänstra kring den korta bambukäppen. Jag känner hur blodet sjudande har skjutit upp i ansiktet på mig, hur tänderna pressas mot varandra och hur klara tårar utan hejd rinner över ansiktet.
s 139 f
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Jünger, Feuer
This excerpt is the chapter "Feuer" (p. 72-76) in Ernst Jüngers Der Kampf als inneres Erlebnis (Berlin: Verlag Mittler, 1922). It is taken from The Weimar Republic sourcebook (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), the translator is however unknown to us.
We have known one another for a long time as bold adventurers, have met on many a hot day beneath the smoke-filled sky of a battlefield where it is simply the spirit of the hour that always brings those similar together. We know we are the select embodiments of a powerful masculinity and take pride in this awareness. Just yesterday we sat together following the old tradition of a final drink and felt how the will to battle, that peculiar lust to cross the front again and again, to leap where volunteers are needed, would not have lost its familiar intensity and this time, too, would cast us into danger. Yes, if only it were time; we are a race that rises to the challenge.
Nevertheless, this discontent, this unyielding chill from the inside out, these portentous thoughts tearing across our horizon like vague, tattered traces of clouds, were not to be banished; not even once we had taken a long, slow drink of cognac. It is stronger than we are. A fog that lies within us and, in such hours, spreads its mysterious nature across the troubled waters of the soul. Not fear – fear we can stare sharply, disdainfully in the eye and frighten into its cave – but an unknown realm in which the boundaries of our capacity to feel melt away. That is where one first notices how little one is at home in oneself. From deep within, something slumbering, drowned out by restless dailiness, rises and, before quite taking form, dissolves into a dull sadness.
Of what help is it that for three long weeks a man has steeled himself for this hour, until he believes himself to be hard and free of weaknesses. Of what help is it that he says to himself, “Death? Ha, what’s that? A transition that can’t be avoided anyway.” All that is of no help whatever, for suddenly, from having been a thinking being, he becomes a feeling one, a plaything of phantoms against which even the sharpest reason is a powerless weapon. Those are the factors we take care to deny because they are unreliable. But in the moment of experience all denial is futile; then every unknown is possessed of a higher and more convincing reality than all the familiar phenomena of a midday sun.
We have reached the most advanced line and are seeing the final preparations. We are eager and precise, for we sense a pressure to be active, to fill the time, to escape from ourselves. Time, which had racked us so in the trenches, a concept that comprehends all conceivable torment, a chain that only death can break. Perhaps in the coming minutes. I know it to be a conscious experience, the quiet flow of an ebbing life into the sea of eternity; I have already stood at times on the border. It is a slow, deep sinking with a ringing in the ear, peaceful and familiar like the sound of Easter bells at home. One should avoid such ponderings, such a readiness to pounce upon mysteries that will never be explained. Everything comes in its own time. Head high, let the thoughts scatter to the winds. Die with dignity – that we can do; we can stride into the ominous dark with a warrior’s cunning and bold vitality. Do not be shaken, smile to the last, even if the smile is only a mask to hide from yourself: that itself is something. A human is incapable of anything greater than mastering oneself in death. Even the immortal gods must envy him that.
We are well armed for our journey, loaded with weapons, explosives, and lighting and signalling instruments, a proper, fighting shock troop, up to the supreme challenges of modern warfare. Not only up to it through joyful dare-devilry and brutal force. Seeing the people this way in the twilight, slender, haggard, most of them almost children, one has little inclination to trust them. But their faces in the shadow of their steel helmets are sharp, fearless, and smart. I know, they do not waver from the danger for an instant; they pounce on it, fast, sinewy, and smooth. They combine ardent courage with cool intelligence; they are the men who clear a severely jammed shell with a steady hand amidst a maelstrom of annihilation, who fire a smoking grenade back at the enemy, who, locked in a struggle for life and death, read the intentions in the enemy’s eyes. They are men forged of steel, whose eagle eyes peer straight over the propeller’s whir, studying the clouds ahead, who, captive within the motorized din of the tanks, dare the hellish journey through the roar of shell-pitted fields, who, for days on end, approaching certain death, crouch in encircled nests heaped with corpses, only half alive beneath lowing machine guns. They are the best of the modern battlefield, suffused with the reckless spirit of the warrior, whose iron will discharges in clenched, well-aimed bursts of energy.
When I observe how they silently cut lanes through the tangles of barbed wire, dig stepped assault trenches, compare their luminescent watches, and orient themselves towards north by the stars, then I am overcome with recognitions: this is the new man, the storm pioneer, the elite of Central Europe. A whole new race, smart, strong, and filled with will. What reveals itself here as a vision will tomorrow be the axis around which life revolves still faster and faster. The path will not always, as here, have to be forged through shell craters, fire and, steel; but the double-quick step with which events ate prosecuted here, the tempo accustomed to iron, that will remain the same. The glowing twilight of a declining age is at once a dawn in which one arms oneself for new, harder battles. Far behind, the gigantic cities, the hosts of machines, the empires, whose inner bonds have been rent in the storm, await the new men, the cunning, battle-tested men who are ruthless toward themselves and others. This war is not the end but the prelude to violence. It is the forge in which the new world will be hammered into new borders and new communities. New forms want to be filled with blood, and power will be wielded with a hard fist. The war is a great school, and the new man will bear our stamp.
Yes, it is now in its element, my old shock troop. The deed, the stroke of the fist, has torn away the fog. Already there comes a quiet joke across the shoulder of the trench. It is perhaps not tasteful to ask: “Well, fatso, are you up to your slaughter weight?” Nevertheless – they laugh, and fatso most of all. Just don’t be moved. The festival is about to begin, and we are its princes.
It is a pity nonetheless. If the advance troops fail to penetrate, if just one machine gun remains intact of the other side, these splendid men will be cut down like a herd of deer. That is war. The best and most worthy, the highest embodiment of life, is just good enough to be cast into is insatiable maw. One machine gun, just a second’s gliding of the cartridge belt, and these twenty-five men – one could cultivate a sizeable island with them – will hang in tattered bundles from the wire, left slowly to decompose. They are students, cadets with proud old names, from whose eyes the Sleeping Beauty dream of some kind of ancient nest has not entirely drifted away. Peasant sons, grown up beneath the lonely thatched roofs of Westphalia or the Lünerberger Heide, ringed by the primeval oaks planted by their forebears around the surrounding fence of stone.
In the neighboring regiment of the left there bursts a storm of fire. It is a feinting maneuver, to confuse and split enemy artillery. It is just about time. Now the task is to gather oneself. Yes, it is perhaps a pity. Perhaps as well we are sacrificing ourselves for something inessential. But no one can rob us of our value. Essential is not what we are fighting for, but how we fight. Onward toward the goal, until we triumph or are left behind. The warriors’ spirit, the exposure of oneself to risk, even for the tiniest idea, weighs more heavily in the scale than all the brooding about good and evil. That is what gives even the knight of the rueful countenance his awe-inspiring aura. We want to show what we have in us, then, if we fail, we will truly have lived to the full.
We have known one another for a long time as bold adventurers, have met on many a hot day beneath the smoke-filled sky of a battlefield where it is simply the spirit of the hour that always brings those similar together. We know we are the select embodiments of a powerful masculinity and take pride in this awareness. Just yesterday we sat together following the old tradition of a final drink and felt how the will to battle, that peculiar lust to cross the front again and again, to leap where volunteers are needed, would not have lost its familiar intensity and this time, too, would cast us into danger. Yes, if only it were time; we are a race that rises to the challenge.
Nevertheless, this discontent, this unyielding chill from the inside out, these portentous thoughts tearing across our horizon like vague, tattered traces of clouds, were not to be banished; not even once we had taken a long, slow drink of cognac. It is stronger than we are. A fog that lies within us and, in such hours, spreads its mysterious nature across the troubled waters of the soul. Not fear – fear we can stare sharply, disdainfully in the eye and frighten into its cave – but an unknown realm in which the boundaries of our capacity to feel melt away. That is where one first notices how little one is at home in oneself. From deep within, something slumbering, drowned out by restless dailiness, rises and, before quite taking form, dissolves into a dull sadness.
Of what help is it that for three long weeks a man has steeled himself for this hour, until he believes himself to be hard and free of weaknesses. Of what help is it that he says to himself, “Death? Ha, what’s that? A transition that can’t be avoided anyway.” All that is of no help whatever, for suddenly, from having been a thinking being, he becomes a feeling one, a plaything of phantoms against which even the sharpest reason is a powerless weapon. Those are the factors we take care to deny because they are unreliable. But in the moment of experience all denial is futile; then every unknown is possessed of a higher and more convincing reality than all the familiar phenomena of a midday sun.
We have reached the most advanced line and are seeing the final preparations. We are eager and precise, for we sense a pressure to be active, to fill the time, to escape from ourselves. Time, which had racked us so in the trenches, a concept that comprehends all conceivable torment, a chain that only death can break. Perhaps in the coming minutes. I know it to be a conscious experience, the quiet flow of an ebbing life into the sea of eternity; I have already stood at times on the border. It is a slow, deep sinking with a ringing in the ear, peaceful and familiar like the sound of Easter bells at home. One should avoid such ponderings, such a readiness to pounce upon mysteries that will never be explained. Everything comes in its own time. Head high, let the thoughts scatter to the winds. Die with dignity – that we can do; we can stride into the ominous dark with a warrior’s cunning and bold vitality. Do not be shaken, smile to the last, even if the smile is only a mask to hide from yourself: that itself is something. A human is incapable of anything greater than mastering oneself in death. Even the immortal gods must envy him that.
We are well armed for our journey, loaded with weapons, explosives, and lighting and signalling instruments, a proper, fighting shock troop, up to the supreme challenges of modern warfare. Not only up to it through joyful dare-devilry and brutal force. Seeing the people this way in the twilight, slender, haggard, most of them almost children, one has little inclination to trust them. But their faces in the shadow of their steel helmets are sharp, fearless, and smart. I know, they do not waver from the danger for an instant; they pounce on it, fast, sinewy, and smooth. They combine ardent courage with cool intelligence; they are the men who clear a severely jammed shell with a steady hand amidst a maelstrom of annihilation, who fire a smoking grenade back at the enemy, who, locked in a struggle for life and death, read the intentions in the enemy’s eyes. They are men forged of steel, whose eagle eyes peer straight over the propeller’s whir, studying the clouds ahead, who, captive within the motorized din of the tanks, dare the hellish journey through the roar of shell-pitted fields, who, for days on end, approaching certain death, crouch in encircled nests heaped with corpses, only half alive beneath lowing machine guns. They are the best of the modern battlefield, suffused with the reckless spirit of the warrior, whose iron will discharges in clenched, well-aimed bursts of energy.
When I observe how they silently cut lanes through the tangles of barbed wire, dig stepped assault trenches, compare their luminescent watches, and orient themselves towards north by the stars, then I am overcome with recognitions: this is the new man, the storm pioneer, the elite of Central Europe. A whole new race, smart, strong, and filled with will. What reveals itself here as a vision will tomorrow be the axis around which life revolves still faster and faster. The path will not always, as here, have to be forged through shell craters, fire and, steel; but the double-quick step with which events ate prosecuted here, the tempo accustomed to iron, that will remain the same. The glowing twilight of a declining age is at once a dawn in which one arms oneself for new, harder battles. Far behind, the gigantic cities, the hosts of machines, the empires, whose inner bonds have been rent in the storm, await the new men, the cunning, battle-tested men who are ruthless toward themselves and others. This war is not the end but the prelude to violence. It is the forge in which the new world will be hammered into new borders and new communities. New forms want to be filled with blood, and power will be wielded with a hard fist. The war is a great school, and the new man will bear our stamp.
Yes, it is now in its element, my old shock troop. The deed, the stroke of the fist, has torn away the fog. Already there comes a quiet joke across the shoulder of the trench. It is perhaps not tasteful to ask: “Well, fatso, are you up to your slaughter weight?” Nevertheless – they laugh, and fatso most of all. Just don’t be moved. The festival is about to begin, and we are its princes.
It is a pity nonetheless. If the advance troops fail to penetrate, if just one machine gun remains intact of the other side, these splendid men will be cut down like a herd of deer. That is war. The best and most worthy, the highest embodiment of life, is just good enough to be cast into is insatiable maw. One machine gun, just a second’s gliding of the cartridge belt, and these twenty-five men – one could cultivate a sizeable island with them – will hang in tattered bundles from the wire, left slowly to decompose. They are students, cadets with proud old names, from whose eyes the Sleeping Beauty dream of some kind of ancient nest has not entirely drifted away. Peasant sons, grown up beneath the lonely thatched roofs of Westphalia or the Lünerberger Heide, ringed by the primeval oaks planted by their forebears around the surrounding fence of stone.
In the neighboring regiment of the left there bursts a storm of fire. It is a feinting maneuver, to confuse and split enemy artillery. It is just about time. Now the task is to gather oneself. Yes, it is perhaps a pity. Perhaps as well we are sacrificing ourselves for something inessential. But no one can rob us of our value. Essential is not what we are fighting for, but how we fight. Onward toward the goal, until we triumph or are left behind. The warriors’ spirit, the exposure of oneself to risk, even for the tiniest idea, weighs more heavily in the scale than all the brooding about good and evil. That is what gives even the knight of the rueful countenance his awe-inspiring aura. We want to show what we have in us, then, if we fail, we will truly have lived to the full.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
[Poem] Marinetti, F. T. - To my Pegasus
This poem was first publish 1908 in the volume The Sensual City. It's translated by Elizabeth R. Napier and Barbara R. Studholme and taken from Marinetti, F. T. (2002) Selected Poems and Prose New Haven and London: Yale University Press
To my Pegasus
Vehement god of a race of steel,
space-intoxicated Automobile,
stamping with anguish, champing at the bit!
O formidable Japanese monster with eyes like a forge,
fed on fire and mineral oils,
hungry for horizons and sidereal spoils,
I unleash your heart of diabolic puff-puffs,
and your giant pneumatics, for the dance
that you lead on the white roads of the world.
At last I release your metallic reins…You leap,
with ecstasy, into liberating Infinity!…
At the sound of the pound of your voice…
see how the setting Sun hounds
your bounding steps, accelerating its bleeding
palpitation along the horizon…
It’s galloping there, down in the woods…look!…
What is the matter, handsome demon?…
I’m at your mercy…Take me!
On the ground deafened despite its echoes,
under the sky blinded despite its golden stars,
I go fueling my fever and my desire
with sword blows right in the nose!…
And from moment to moment, I straighten my back
to feel winding round my quivering neck
the cool downy arms of the wind.
It’s your alluring distant arms that draw me!
this wind, it’s your engulfing breath,
fathomless Infinity absorbing me with joy!…
Ah! Ah!…suddenly the gangling black windmills
seem to be running
on their whaleboned canvas wings
as if on gigantic legs…
Now the Mountains get ready to throw
cloaks of drowsy coolness no my flight…
There! There! look! at that sinister curve!…
Mountains, O monstrous Cattle, O Mammoths
trotting heavily along, arching your huge backs,
you are outrun…drowned…
in the maze of mists!…
And dimly I hear
the whirring of your colossal legs
pounding the road in their seven-league boots…
Mountains with cool cloaks of azure!…
Beautiful rivers breathing in the moonlight!…
Shadowy plains! I pass you at full gallop
on this racing monster…Stars, my Stars,
do you hear his bounds, the sound of the pound
of his brazen lungs endlessly exploding?
The bet is on…with You, my Stars!…
Faster!…faster still!…
And no respite, and no rest!
Release the brakes!…You can’t?…
Smash them then!…
Let the engine’s pulse centuple!
Hurrah! No more contact with the filthy earth!…
At last, I break loose and fly freely
over the intoxicating abundance
of Stars streaming in the great bed of the sky!
To my Pegasus
Vehement god of a race of steel,
space-intoxicated Automobile,
stamping with anguish, champing at the bit!
O formidable Japanese monster with eyes like a forge,
fed on fire and mineral oils,
hungry for horizons and sidereal spoils,
I unleash your heart of diabolic puff-puffs,
and your giant pneumatics, for the dance
that you lead on the white roads of the world.
At last I release your metallic reins…You leap,
with ecstasy, into liberating Infinity!…
At the sound of the pound of your voice…
see how the setting Sun hounds
your bounding steps, accelerating its bleeding
palpitation along the horizon…
It’s galloping there, down in the woods…look!…
What is the matter, handsome demon?…
I’m at your mercy…Take me!
On the ground deafened despite its echoes,
under the sky blinded despite its golden stars,
I go fueling my fever and my desire
with sword blows right in the nose!…
And from moment to moment, I straighten my back
to feel winding round my quivering neck
the cool downy arms of the wind.
It’s your alluring distant arms that draw me!
this wind, it’s your engulfing breath,
fathomless Infinity absorbing me with joy!…
Ah! Ah!…suddenly the gangling black windmills
seem to be running
on their whaleboned canvas wings
as if on gigantic legs…
Now the Mountains get ready to throw
cloaks of drowsy coolness no my flight…
There! There! look! at that sinister curve!…
Mountains, O monstrous Cattle, O Mammoths
trotting heavily along, arching your huge backs,
you are outrun…drowned…
in the maze of mists!…
And dimly I hear
the whirring of your colossal legs
pounding the road in their seven-league boots…
Mountains with cool cloaks of azure!…
Beautiful rivers breathing in the moonlight!…
Shadowy plains! I pass you at full gallop
on this racing monster…Stars, my Stars,
do you hear his bounds, the sound of the pound
of his brazen lungs endlessly exploding?
The bet is on…with You, my Stars!…
Faster!…faster still!…
And no respite, and no rest!
Release the brakes!…You can’t?…
Smash them then!…
Let the engine’s pulse centuple!
Hurrah! No more contact with the filthy earth!…
At last, I break loose and fly freely
over the intoxicating abundance
of Stars streaming in the great bed of the sky!
Saturday, January 07, 2006
[Excerpts] Evola, Men Among the Ruins
Excerpts from Evola, Julius (2002) Men Among the Ruins Inner Traditions: Rochester, Vermont
The reason the first excerpt is from page 112 is because most of the previous pages is taken up by an introduction to Evola written by Dr. H. T. Hansen.
Recently, various forces have attempted to set up a defense and a resistance in the sociopolitical domain against the extreme forms in which the disorder of our age manifests itself. It is necessary to realize that this is a useless effort, even for the sake of merely demonstrative purposes, unless the disease is dealt with at its very roots. These roots, as far as the historical dimension is concerned, are to be found in the subversion introduced in Europe by the revolutions of 1789 and 1848. The disease must be recognized in all of its forms and degrees; thus, the main task is to establish if there are still men willing to reject all the ideologies, political movements, and parties that, directly or indirectly, derive from those revolutionary ideas (i.e., everything ranging from liberalism and democracy to Marxism and communism). As a positive counterpart, these men should be given an orientation and a solid foundation consisting of a broad view of life and a stern doctrine of the State.
p. 112
It is curious how words evolve: after all, revolution, according to its original Latin meaning (re-volvere), referred to a notion that led again to the starting point, to the origins. Therefore, the “revolutionary” force of renewal that needs to be employed against the existing situation should be derived from the origins.
p. 113-114
However, if one wants to embrace the idea of “conservatism” (i.e., a “conservative revolution”), it is necessary to proceed with caution. […] Obviously, it is necessary to first establish as exactly as possible what needs to be preserved, especially as far as social structures and political institutions are concerned.
p. 114
What needs to be “preserved” and defended in a “revolutionary fashion” is the general view of life and of the State that, being based if higher values and interests, definitely transcends the economic plane, and thus everything that can be defined in terms of economic classes.
p. 114-115
For the authentic revolutionary conservative, what really counts is to be faithful not to past forms and institutions, but rather to the principles of which such forms and institutions have been particular expressions, adequate for a specific period of time and in a specific geographical area.
p. 115
Tradition, in its essence, is something simultaneously meta-historical and dynamic: it is an overall ordering force, in the service of principles that have the chrism of a superior legitimacy (we may even call them, “principles from above”).
p. 115
[E]very true political unity appears as the embodiment of an idea and a power, thus distinguishing itself from every naturalistic association or “natural right,” and also from every societal aggregation determined by mere social, economic biological, utilitarian, or eudemonistic factors.
In previous eras it was possible to speak of the sacral character of the principle of sovereignty and power, namely of the State. For instance, the ancient Roman notion of imperium essentially belonged to the domain of the sacred. This notion, in its specific meaning, even before expressing a system of territorial, supernational hegemony, designated the pure power of command, the almost mystical power and auctoritas inherent in the one who had the function and quality of Leader: a leader in the religious and warrior order as well as in the order of the patrician family, the gens, and, eminently, of the State, the res publica. In the Roman world, which was intensely realistic (or, I should say, precisely because it was intensely realistic), the notion of this power, which is simultaneously auctoritas, always retained its intrinsic character of bright force from above and of sacred power, beyond the various and often spurious techniques that conditioned its access in different periods.
p. 122
A power and authority that are not absolute, are not real authority or real power […]
p. 123
In particular, the positive essence of the principle of sovereignty has rightfully been recognized in the power of making absolute decisions, in exceptional or emergency situations, beyond any duties and discussions, whenever the existing right and laws are suspended or their suspension is required.
p. 123
In the best period of the Roman civilization, the dictatorship was conceived and allowed as a temporary remedy; far from replacing the existing order, it was its reintegration. In every other regard, dictatorship equals usurpation.
p. 124
The state is under the masculine aegis, while “society” and, by extension, the people, or demos, are under the feminine aegis.
p. 126
Thus, even in the ancient Roman world, the idea of State and imperium (i.e., of the sacred authority) was strictly connected to the symbolic cult of virile deities of heaven, of light and of the super-world in opposition to the dark region of the Mothers and the chthonic deities.
p. 126
The notions of nation, fatherland, and people, despite their romantic and idealistic halo, essentially belong to the naturalistic and biological plane and not the political one; they lead back to the “maternal” and physical dimension of a given collectivity.
p. 127
“[M]en” uphold the idea of State, while feminine natures, which are spiritually matriarchical, side instead with “fatherland,” “nation,” and “people.”
p. 129
In reference to this, we could say that a nation exists and overcomes geographical and even ethical boundaries wherever we find the reproduction of the same “inner form,” namely the consecration or the imprint bestowed by the higher political force and its representatives. Thus it would be absurd, for instance, to call ancient Rome a “nation” in the modern sense of the word: one could refer to it as a “spiritual nation” or as a unity defined by the “Roman man.” The same applies to the creations of the Franks and the Germans, as well as the Arabs who spread Islam, just to cite a few examples. Maybe the most significant case is the Prussian State, which originated from a knightly Order (a classic example of a Männerbund), namely the order of Teutonic Knights, which later became the structure and the “form” of the German Reich,
p. 129-131
[T]he demos, which is feminine by nature, will never have its own, clear will.
p. 130
The Idea, only the Idea, must be the true fatherland for these men: what unites them and sets them apart should consist in adherence to the same idea, rather than to the same land, language, or blood.
p. 131
Just as communists and socialists find it useful and agreeable to brad anybody and anything it does not agree with the label of “fascism,” likewise the confusion about totalitarianism is employed in a tactical fashion by various parties in democratic regimes, and is exploited in order to try to discredit and portray the traditional view of the true State in a heinous way.
p. 148
A State is organic when it has a center, and this center is an idea that shapes the various domains of life in an efficacious way; it is organic when it ignores the division and autonomization of the particular and when, by virtue of a system of hierarchical participation, every part within its relative autonomy performs its own function and enjoys an intimate connection with the whole. In an organic State we can speak of a “whole” – namely, something integral and spiritually unitary that articulates and unfolds itself – rather than a sum of elements within an aggregate, characterized by a disorderly clash of interests. The Stats that developed in the geographical areas of the great civilizations (whether they were empires, monarchies, aristocratic republics, or city-states) at their peak was almost without exception of this type.
p. 149
[O]rganic and traditional are more or less synonymous.
p. 149
However, totalitarianism merely represents the counterfeited image of the organic ideal. It is a system in which the unity is imposed from the outside, not on the basis of the intrinsic force of an common idea and an authority that is naturally acknowledged, but rather through direct forms of intervention and control, exercised by a power that is exclusively and material political, imposing itself as the ultimate reason for the system.
p. 150
Totalitarianism, though it reacts against individualism and social atomism, brings a final end to the devastation of what may still survive in a society from the previous “organic” phase: quality, articulated forms, castes and classes, the values of personality, true freedom, daring and responsible initiative, and heroic feats. An organism of superior type includes multiple functions retaining their specific character and a relative autonomy, all the while mutually coordinating and integrating each other, converging into a superior unity that never ceases to be ideally presupposed. Thus in an organic State we find both unity and multiplicity, gradation and hierarchy; we do not find the dualism of center and formless mass typical of a totalitarian regime. Totalitarianism, in order to assert itself, imposes uniformity. In the final analysis, totalitarianism rests and relies on the inorganic world of quantity to which individualistic disintegration has led, and not on the world of quality and of personality.
p. 151-152
Last but not least I wish to make a few comments about a formula that is often associated with totalitarianism in the polemics of a democracy: the one-party system. Fascism claimed that the State was the only party “governing the country in a totalitarian fashion.” This is an unhappy and hybrid formula, to say the least, and it is a residue of the partisan-parliamentary view, though an instance of a higher order is also present within it.
Strictly speaking, party means faction. In that case, “one party” is either a contradictory or an aberrant notion, almost as if a faction wished to be the whole or dominate the entire system. Practically speaking, the notion of “party” belongs to parliamentary democracies, and it signifies an organization that defends a given ideology against other ideologies upheld by other groups, to which the system recognizes the same right and the same legitimacy. In these terms, the “one-party system” is that which, in one way or another, whether “democratically” or through the use of violence, succeeds in gaining control of the State and, once in a position of power, no longer tolerates other parties, using the State as a tool and imposing its particular ideology on the nation.
p. 155
So we must say that a party that becomes the “one and only party” should cease to be a “party” de facto. Then its representatives, or at least its most qualified ones, should present themselves and the rule as some sort of Order, or as a specifically political class, not creating a State within the State, but rather protecting and strengthening the State’s key positions; not defending their particular ideology but rather embodying in an impersonal manner the very pure idea of the State.
p. 155
Nowadays it is possible to speak of a demonic nature of the economy, because in both individual and collective life the economic factor is the most important, real, and decisive one. Moreover, the tendency to converge every value and interest on the economic and productive plane is not perceived by Western man as an unprecedented aberration, but instead as something normal and natural, and not as an eventual necessity, but as something that must be accepted, willed, developed, and praised.
p. 165
As I have said before, when the right and primacy of interests higher than those of the socioeconomic plane are not upheld, there is no hierarchy, and even if there is one, it is only a counterfeit; this is also true when a higher authority is not accorded to those men, groups and bodies representing and defending these values and interests. In this case, an economic era is already by definition a fundamentally anarchical and antihierarchical era; it represents a subversion of the normal order. The materialization and the soullessness of all the domains of life that characterize it divest of any higher meaning all those problems and conflicts that are regarded as important within it.
p. 166
And as long as we only talk about economic classes, profit, salaries, and production, as long as we believe that real human progress is determined by a particular system of distribution of wealth and goods, and that, generally speaking, human progress is measured by the degree of wealth or indigence – then we are not even close to what is essential, even though new theories, beyond Marxism and capitalism, might be formulated.
p. 166
What must be questioned is not the value of this or that economic system, but the value of the economy itself.
p. 167
It is not entirely correct to say that Marxism arose and took hold because there was a real social question that needed to be addressed (at best this may have been the case during the early stages of the industrial revolution); the opposite is true – to wit, that for the most part the social question gains precedence in today’s world only as a result of the presence of Marxism.
p. 169
In both Marxism and free-market economies we find the same materialistic, antipolitical, and social view detaching the social order and people from any higher order and higher goal, positing what it is “useful” as the only purpose (understood in a physical, vegetative, and earthly sense); by turning the “useful” into a criterion of progress, the values proper to every traditional structure are inverted.
p. 170
The term work has always designated the lowest forms of human activity, those that are merely exclusively conditioned by the economic factor. It is illegitimate to label as “work” anything that is not reduced to these forms; rather, the word to be used is action: action, not work, is what is performed by the leader, the explorer, the ascetic, the pure scientist, the warrior, the artist, the diplomat, the theologian, the one who makes or breaks a law, the one who is motivated by an elementary passion or guided by a principle.
p. 174
After acknowledging the fundamental principle of the primacy and sovereignty of State over economy, the State can then produce an action of limiting and ordering the economic domain; this action will be able to facilitate what derives from the essential and unavoidable factor, that of detoxification, the change of mentality, and the return to normalcy for people who have learned anew what is sensible activity, right effort, values to be upheld, and loyalty to oneself.
p. 176
Given these precedents, we cannot ignore the meaning that fascism had: a break with the past, a different and bold choice of traditions, and the will to undertake a new direction, solely upon which the reference to Rome as a political symbol could be legitimized (“We dream of a Roman Italy,” Mussolini once said).
p. 191
During the first half of this century, so-called Prussian militarism has been a thorn in the side of democracies, since the perceived it as the prototype of the phenomenon they deprecated. What we have here is a characteristic antithesis that does not refer to the relationships between groups of rival nations, but rather two general views of life and of the State, and even to two distinct, irreconcilable forms of civilization and society. Historically speaking, such an antithesis is reflected in the opposition between the view of the Germanic-Prussian tradition and the view that first emerged in England and America, and later in all democratic nations; the latter view is characterized by the predominance of economic and mercantile values and by their development in the context of capitalism. The origins of the former view can be traced to an ascetic warrior organization, the ancient Order of Teutonic Knights.
p. 193
The view of modern democracies that first emerged in England, under the aegis of mercantilism, is that in society the primary element is the bourgeois type and the bourgeois life during times of peace; such a life is dominated by the physical concern for safety, well-being, and material wealth, with the cultivation of letters and the arts serving as a decorative frame. Thus, according to this view, the “civilian” or “bourgeois” element is usually, and as a matter of principle, entrusted with running the State. It is this human type that engages in politics; when politics – that is, international politics – must be continued with other means, to use the famous expression of Clausewitz, the armed forces are then employed. In this view the military and warrior element has the subordinated meaning of mere instrument: it should have no particular influence or exercise any interference whatsoever in daily social life. Even if it is acknowledged that the military element has its own code of ethics, it is not desirable that this code be applied to the normal, overall life of a nation.
p. 193-194
According to the most recent formulation of the corresponding ideology, armies should be used only as an international police force to maintain the “peace”; in most cases, this amounts to allowing wealthy nations to live undisturbed. Otherwise, aside from any pretense, what is repeated is the example of the East India Company and similar enterprises: the armed forces are used by modern democracies to impose or retain an economic hegemony; to gain new markets and to acquire aw materials; and to create new space for capital seeking investment and profit.
p. 194-195
Love for hierarchy; relationships of obedience and command; courage; feelings of honor and loyalty; specific forms of active impersonality capable of producing anonymous sacrifice; frank and open relationships from man to man, from one comrade to another, from leader to follower – all these are the characteristic, living values that are predominant in the afore mentioned view, These are the values found in what I have called the Männerbund.
p. 195-196
There is no antithesis, but rather identity between spirit and superior civilization on the one hand and the world of war and warriors on the other, according to the general sense I have pointed out.
p. 196
Contrary to what the bourgeois and liberal polemics claim, the warrior idea may not be reduced to materialism, nor is it synonymous with the exaltation of the brutal use of strength and destructive violence. Rather, the calm, conscious, and planned development of the inner being and a code of ethics; love of distance; hierarchy; order; the faculty of subordinating the emotional and individualistic element of one’s self to higher goals and principles, especially in the name of honor and duty – these are the elements of the warrior idea, and they act as the foundations of a specific “style” that has largely been lost.
p. 196-197
The Prussian style did not apply only to the military: by defining itself as “Fredrickianism,” it shaped one of the most austere and aristocratic European military traditions, but also manifested its influence in everything that is service to the State, loyalty, and anti-individualism. This style educated a class of government officials according to principles very different from mere bureaucracy, petty clerical spirit, and the irresponsible and lazy administration of the affairs of the state.
p. 197-198
A warrior tradition and a pure military tradition do not have hatred as the basis of war. The need to fight and even to exterminate another people may be acknowledged, but this does not entail hatred, anger, animosity, and contempt for the enemy. All these feelings, for a true soldier, are degrading; in order to fight he need not be motivated by such lowly feelings, nor be energized by propaganda, smoky rhetoric, and lies. All these things have come into play with the plebeianization of war, since men who were shaped by an aristocratic warrior tradition have been collectively replaced by the “nation in arms,” that is, the masses recruited indiscriminately through a mandatory draft. This happened right at the time when the traditional State began to decline and the national State arose, the latter animated by passions, hatred, and pride. In order to mobilize the masses, it is necessary to intoxicate or deceive them, with the consequence of introducing emotional, ideological, and propaganda factors into the war that have conferred and continue to confer on it a most heinous and deprecable character. Traditional States did not need all this. They did not create a chauvinist pathos and near psychosis in order to mobilize their troops and boost their morale. This was obtained by the pure principle of the imperium and by the reference to principles of loyalty and honor. Clearly defined goals were established for a necessary war, which was waged in a detached manner, hence without any room for hatred and contempt among the combatants.
p. 202-203
First of all, the true traditional spirit acknowledges a superior, metaphysical unity beyond the individual religious traditions, a unity of which they represent various historically conditioned expressions, more or less complete and “orthodox” (hence, a higher standard for “orthodoxy”). Despite the fact that every religious form has the right to claim a certain exclusivity in the area of its pertinence, the idea of this higher unity (although it is an “esoteric” truth – that is, not reserved for the ordinary people, to whom it may be confusing) should be acknowledged by its most qualified representatives.
p. 204-205
The occult war is a battle waged imperceptibly by the forces of global subversion, with means and in circumstances ignored by the current historiography. The notion of occult war belongs to a three-dimensional view of history: this view does not regard as essential the two superficial dimension of time and space (which includes causes, facts, and visible leaders) but rather emphasizes the dimension of depth, or the “subterranean” dimension in which the forces and influences often act in a decisive manner, and which, more often not than not, cannot be reduced to what is merely human, whether at an individual or collective level.
p. 235
To the former [the forces of cosmos] corresponds everything that is form, order, law, spiritual hierarchy, and tradition in the higher sense of the word; to the latter [the forces of chaos] correspond every influence that disintegrates, subverts, degrades, and promotes the predominance of the inferior over the superior, matter over spirit, quantity over quality.
p. 236
It would be a real abandonment to fantasy to suppose that the leaders of the great conflicting powers – the United States, the USSR, and the Red China – receive orders from an international center of Jews and Masons (almost nonexistent in China), and act accordingly in view of the same goal.
p. 243
There are actually no civilized peoples or nations composed of pure individuals belonging to the same single race. All peoples are composed of more or less stable racial mixtures. We go from the theoretical domain to the practical one, or to “active racism,” whenever we take a position before the racial components of a given nation, refusing to acknowledge to all of them the same value, the same dignity, and the same right to impart the tone and form to the whole. At that point a choice, an election, and a decision are necessary. One of the components must be given preeminence, by referring to the typical values and the human ideals that correspond to it.
p. 257
In the political domain we need to take a stand against the myth expressed in the formula: “There is power in numbers.” Attempting to base an imperialistic policy on a demographic campaign was one of the serious mistakes of the Fascist ideology that must be denounced without hesitation. The power of numbers is the power of the mere brute masses; this power is in itself very relative, because even herds need to be guided. Every true empire is born from a race of conquerors who conquered lands and peoples, not because they suffered from overpopulation or did not have “a place in the sun,” but on the basis of a higher calling and qualification, which allowed them to rule as a minority in foreign lands.
p. 267-268
The fact is that the inferior races and the lower social strata are the most prolific ones. Thus, we can say that while the number of superior, more differentiated elements grows in arithmetic proportion, the number of inferior elements grows in geometric proportion, the result being a fatal involution of the human race.
p. 268
As far as a revolutionary-conservative movement is concerned, there is a need for men who are free from these bourgeois feelings. These men, by adopting an attitude of militant and absolute commitment, should be ready for anything and almost feel that creating a family is a “betrayal”; these men should live sine impedimentis, without any ties or limits to their freedom.
p. 271
When talking about the great majority of our contemporaries, it is absolutely irresponsible, considering the collective consequences that result from it, to beget other beings who will repeat the same inconsistency, the same vacuity of a life lacking any real meaning; in other words, it is absolutely irresponsible to feed the threatening avalanche of the formless world of quantity only because one is passive toward the natural part of himself and toward the most primitive sexual urge, or because one is enslaved to prejudice.
p. 272
In order to head toward a united Europe, the first step should consist of a concerted exit of all European nations from the United Nations, which is an illegitimate, promiscuous, and hypocritical association. Another obvious imperative should be to become emancipated in every aspect and in equal measure from both the United States and the USSR. However, this would require a very subtle and prudent political art, for which today’s politicians are hardly qualified.
p. 275
In a united Europe, fatherlands and nations may exist (ethnic communities have been partially respected even in the totalitarian Soviet Union). What should be excluded is nationalism (with its monstrous appendix, namely imperialism) and chauvinism – in other words, every fanatical absolutization of a particular unit.
p. 276
The scheme of an empire in a true and organic sense (which must clearly be distinguished from every imperialism, a phenomenon that should be regarded as a deplorable extension of nationalism) was previously displayed in the European medieval world, which safeguarded the principles of both unity and multiplicity.
p. 277
It is possible to enclose that which is “modern” in a well-controlled material and “physical” domain, on the plane of mere means, and to superimpose upon it a higher order adequately upheld, in which revolutionary-conservative values are given unconditional acknowledgement.
p. 282
[F]ascism and National Socialism were movements and regimes in which different and even contrasting tendencies coexisted; their development in the right, positive, conservative-revolutionary sense could have occurred only if circumstances had allowed for an adequate, further development, which was stricken down by the war they ignited and by their ensuing defeat.
p. 283
The reason the first excerpt is from page 112 is because most of the previous pages is taken up by an introduction to Evola written by Dr. H. T. Hansen.
Recently, various forces have attempted to set up a defense and a resistance in the sociopolitical domain against the extreme forms in which the disorder of our age manifests itself. It is necessary to realize that this is a useless effort, even for the sake of merely demonstrative purposes, unless the disease is dealt with at its very roots. These roots, as far as the historical dimension is concerned, are to be found in the subversion introduced in Europe by the revolutions of 1789 and 1848. The disease must be recognized in all of its forms and degrees; thus, the main task is to establish if there are still men willing to reject all the ideologies, political movements, and parties that, directly or indirectly, derive from those revolutionary ideas (i.e., everything ranging from liberalism and democracy to Marxism and communism). As a positive counterpart, these men should be given an orientation and a solid foundation consisting of a broad view of life and a stern doctrine of the State.
p. 112
It is curious how words evolve: after all, revolution, according to its original Latin meaning (re-volvere), referred to a notion that led again to the starting point, to the origins. Therefore, the “revolutionary” force of renewal that needs to be employed against the existing situation should be derived from the origins.
p. 113-114
However, if one wants to embrace the idea of “conservatism” (i.e., a “conservative revolution”), it is necessary to proceed with caution. […] Obviously, it is necessary to first establish as exactly as possible what needs to be preserved, especially as far as social structures and political institutions are concerned.
p. 114
What needs to be “preserved” and defended in a “revolutionary fashion” is the general view of life and of the State that, being based if higher values and interests, definitely transcends the economic plane, and thus everything that can be defined in terms of economic classes.
p. 114-115
For the authentic revolutionary conservative, what really counts is to be faithful not to past forms and institutions, but rather to the principles of which such forms and institutions have been particular expressions, adequate for a specific period of time and in a specific geographical area.
p. 115
Tradition, in its essence, is something simultaneously meta-historical and dynamic: it is an overall ordering force, in the service of principles that have the chrism of a superior legitimacy (we may even call them, “principles from above”).
p. 115
[E]very true political unity appears as the embodiment of an idea and a power, thus distinguishing itself from every naturalistic association or “natural right,” and also from every societal aggregation determined by mere social, economic biological, utilitarian, or eudemonistic factors.
In previous eras it was possible to speak of the sacral character of the principle of sovereignty and power, namely of the State. For instance, the ancient Roman notion of imperium essentially belonged to the domain of the sacred. This notion, in its specific meaning, even before expressing a system of territorial, supernational hegemony, designated the pure power of command, the almost mystical power and auctoritas inherent in the one who had the function and quality of Leader: a leader in the religious and warrior order as well as in the order of the patrician family, the gens, and, eminently, of the State, the res publica. In the Roman world, which was intensely realistic (or, I should say, precisely because it was intensely realistic), the notion of this power, which is simultaneously auctoritas, always retained its intrinsic character of bright force from above and of sacred power, beyond the various and often spurious techniques that conditioned its access in different periods.
p. 122
A power and authority that are not absolute, are not real authority or real power […]
p. 123
In particular, the positive essence of the principle of sovereignty has rightfully been recognized in the power of making absolute decisions, in exceptional or emergency situations, beyond any duties and discussions, whenever the existing right and laws are suspended or their suspension is required.
p. 123
In the best period of the Roman civilization, the dictatorship was conceived and allowed as a temporary remedy; far from replacing the existing order, it was its reintegration. In every other regard, dictatorship equals usurpation.
p. 124
The state is under the masculine aegis, while “society” and, by extension, the people, or demos, are under the feminine aegis.
p. 126
Thus, even in the ancient Roman world, the idea of State and imperium (i.e., of the sacred authority) was strictly connected to the symbolic cult of virile deities of heaven, of light and of the super-world in opposition to the dark region of the Mothers and the chthonic deities.
p. 126
The notions of nation, fatherland, and people, despite their romantic and idealistic halo, essentially belong to the naturalistic and biological plane and not the political one; they lead back to the “maternal” and physical dimension of a given collectivity.
p. 127
“[M]en” uphold the idea of State, while feminine natures, which are spiritually matriarchical, side instead with “fatherland,” “nation,” and “people.”
p. 129
In reference to this, we could say that a nation exists and overcomes geographical and even ethical boundaries wherever we find the reproduction of the same “inner form,” namely the consecration or the imprint bestowed by the higher political force and its representatives. Thus it would be absurd, for instance, to call ancient Rome a “nation” in the modern sense of the word: one could refer to it as a “spiritual nation” or as a unity defined by the “Roman man.” The same applies to the creations of the Franks and the Germans, as well as the Arabs who spread Islam, just to cite a few examples. Maybe the most significant case is the Prussian State, which originated from a knightly Order (a classic example of a Männerbund), namely the order of Teutonic Knights, which later became the structure and the “form” of the German Reich,
p. 129-131
[T]he demos, which is feminine by nature, will never have its own, clear will.
p. 130
The Idea, only the Idea, must be the true fatherland for these men: what unites them and sets them apart should consist in adherence to the same idea, rather than to the same land, language, or blood.
p. 131
Just as communists and socialists find it useful and agreeable to brad anybody and anything it does not agree with the label of “fascism,” likewise the confusion about totalitarianism is employed in a tactical fashion by various parties in democratic regimes, and is exploited in order to try to discredit and portray the traditional view of the true State in a heinous way.
p. 148
A State is organic when it has a center, and this center is an idea that shapes the various domains of life in an efficacious way; it is organic when it ignores the division and autonomization of the particular and when, by virtue of a system of hierarchical participation, every part within its relative autonomy performs its own function and enjoys an intimate connection with the whole. In an organic State we can speak of a “whole” – namely, something integral and spiritually unitary that articulates and unfolds itself – rather than a sum of elements within an aggregate, characterized by a disorderly clash of interests. The Stats that developed in the geographical areas of the great civilizations (whether they were empires, monarchies, aristocratic republics, or city-states) at their peak was almost without exception of this type.
p. 149
[O]rganic and traditional are more or less synonymous.
p. 149
However, totalitarianism merely represents the counterfeited image of the organic ideal. It is a system in which the unity is imposed from the outside, not on the basis of the intrinsic force of an common idea and an authority that is naturally acknowledged, but rather through direct forms of intervention and control, exercised by a power that is exclusively and material political, imposing itself as the ultimate reason for the system.
p. 150
Totalitarianism, though it reacts against individualism and social atomism, brings a final end to the devastation of what may still survive in a society from the previous “organic” phase: quality, articulated forms, castes and classes, the values of personality, true freedom, daring and responsible initiative, and heroic feats. An organism of superior type includes multiple functions retaining their specific character and a relative autonomy, all the while mutually coordinating and integrating each other, converging into a superior unity that never ceases to be ideally presupposed. Thus in an organic State we find both unity and multiplicity, gradation and hierarchy; we do not find the dualism of center and formless mass typical of a totalitarian regime. Totalitarianism, in order to assert itself, imposes uniformity. In the final analysis, totalitarianism rests and relies on the inorganic world of quantity to which individualistic disintegration has led, and not on the world of quality and of personality.
p. 151-152
Last but not least I wish to make a few comments about a formula that is often associated with totalitarianism in the polemics of a democracy: the one-party system. Fascism claimed that the State was the only party “governing the country in a totalitarian fashion.” This is an unhappy and hybrid formula, to say the least, and it is a residue of the partisan-parliamentary view, though an instance of a higher order is also present within it.
Strictly speaking, party means faction. In that case, “one party” is either a contradictory or an aberrant notion, almost as if a faction wished to be the whole or dominate the entire system. Practically speaking, the notion of “party” belongs to parliamentary democracies, and it signifies an organization that defends a given ideology against other ideologies upheld by other groups, to which the system recognizes the same right and the same legitimacy. In these terms, the “one-party system” is that which, in one way or another, whether “democratically” or through the use of violence, succeeds in gaining control of the State and, once in a position of power, no longer tolerates other parties, using the State as a tool and imposing its particular ideology on the nation.
p. 155
So we must say that a party that becomes the “one and only party” should cease to be a “party” de facto. Then its representatives, or at least its most qualified ones, should present themselves and the rule as some sort of Order, or as a specifically political class, not creating a State within the State, but rather protecting and strengthening the State’s key positions; not defending their particular ideology but rather embodying in an impersonal manner the very pure idea of the State.
p. 155
Nowadays it is possible to speak of a demonic nature of the economy, because in both individual and collective life the economic factor is the most important, real, and decisive one. Moreover, the tendency to converge every value and interest on the economic and productive plane is not perceived by Western man as an unprecedented aberration, but instead as something normal and natural, and not as an eventual necessity, but as something that must be accepted, willed, developed, and praised.
p. 165
As I have said before, when the right and primacy of interests higher than those of the socioeconomic plane are not upheld, there is no hierarchy, and even if there is one, it is only a counterfeit; this is also true when a higher authority is not accorded to those men, groups and bodies representing and defending these values and interests. In this case, an economic era is already by definition a fundamentally anarchical and antihierarchical era; it represents a subversion of the normal order. The materialization and the soullessness of all the domains of life that characterize it divest of any higher meaning all those problems and conflicts that are regarded as important within it.
p. 166
And as long as we only talk about economic classes, profit, salaries, and production, as long as we believe that real human progress is determined by a particular system of distribution of wealth and goods, and that, generally speaking, human progress is measured by the degree of wealth or indigence – then we are not even close to what is essential, even though new theories, beyond Marxism and capitalism, might be formulated.
p. 166
What must be questioned is not the value of this or that economic system, but the value of the economy itself.
p. 167
It is not entirely correct to say that Marxism arose and took hold because there was a real social question that needed to be addressed (at best this may have been the case during the early stages of the industrial revolution); the opposite is true – to wit, that for the most part the social question gains precedence in today’s world only as a result of the presence of Marxism.
p. 169
In both Marxism and free-market economies we find the same materialistic, antipolitical, and social view detaching the social order and people from any higher order and higher goal, positing what it is “useful” as the only purpose (understood in a physical, vegetative, and earthly sense); by turning the “useful” into a criterion of progress, the values proper to every traditional structure are inverted.
p. 170
The term work has always designated the lowest forms of human activity, those that are merely exclusively conditioned by the economic factor. It is illegitimate to label as “work” anything that is not reduced to these forms; rather, the word to be used is action: action, not work, is what is performed by the leader, the explorer, the ascetic, the pure scientist, the warrior, the artist, the diplomat, the theologian, the one who makes or breaks a law, the one who is motivated by an elementary passion or guided by a principle.
p. 174
After acknowledging the fundamental principle of the primacy and sovereignty of State over economy, the State can then produce an action of limiting and ordering the economic domain; this action will be able to facilitate what derives from the essential and unavoidable factor, that of detoxification, the change of mentality, and the return to normalcy for people who have learned anew what is sensible activity, right effort, values to be upheld, and loyalty to oneself.
p. 176
Given these precedents, we cannot ignore the meaning that fascism had: a break with the past, a different and bold choice of traditions, and the will to undertake a new direction, solely upon which the reference to Rome as a political symbol could be legitimized (“We dream of a Roman Italy,” Mussolini once said).
p. 191
During the first half of this century, so-called Prussian militarism has been a thorn in the side of democracies, since the perceived it as the prototype of the phenomenon they deprecated. What we have here is a characteristic antithesis that does not refer to the relationships between groups of rival nations, but rather two general views of life and of the State, and even to two distinct, irreconcilable forms of civilization and society. Historically speaking, such an antithesis is reflected in the opposition between the view of the Germanic-Prussian tradition and the view that first emerged in England and America, and later in all democratic nations; the latter view is characterized by the predominance of economic and mercantile values and by their development in the context of capitalism. The origins of the former view can be traced to an ascetic warrior organization, the ancient Order of Teutonic Knights.
p. 193
The view of modern democracies that first emerged in England, under the aegis of mercantilism, is that in society the primary element is the bourgeois type and the bourgeois life during times of peace; such a life is dominated by the physical concern for safety, well-being, and material wealth, with the cultivation of letters and the arts serving as a decorative frame. Thus, according to this view, the “civilian” or “bourgeois” element is usually, and as a matter of principle, entrusted with running the State. It is this human type that engages in politics; when politics – that is, international politics – must be continued with other means, to use the famous expression of Clausewitz, the armed forces are then employed. In this view the military and warrior element has the subordinated meaning of mere instrument: it should have no particular influence or exercise any interference whatsoever in daily social life. Even if it is acknowledged that the military element has its own code of ethics, it is not desirable that this code be applied to the normal, overall life of a nation.
p. 193-194
According to the most recent formulation of the corresponding ideology, armies should be used only as an international police force to maintain the “peace”; in most cases, this amounts to allowing wealthy nations to live undisturbed. Otherwise, aside from any pretense, what is repeated is the example of the East India Company and similar enterprises: the armed forces are used by modern democracies to impose or retain an economic hegemony; to gain new markets and to acquire aw materials; and to create new space for capital seeking investment and profit.
p. 194-195
Love for hierarchy; relationships of obedience and command; courage; feelings of honor and loyalty; specific forms of active impersonality capable of producing anonymous sacrifice; frank and open relationships from man to man, from one comrade to another, from leader to follower – all these are the characteristic, living values that are predominant in the afore mentioned view, These are the values found in what I have called the Männerbund.
p. 195-196
There is no antithesis, but rather identity between spirit and superior civilization on the one hand and the world of war and warriors on the other, according to the general sense I have pointed out.
p. 196
Contrary to what the bourgeois and liberal polemics claim, the warrior idea may not be reduced to materialism, nor is it synonymous with the exaltation of the brutal use of strength and destructive violence. Rather, the calm, conscious, and planned development of the inner being and a code of ethics; love of distance; hierarchy; order; the faculty of subordinating the emotional and individualistic element of one’s self to higher goals and principles, especially in the name of honor and duty – these are the elements of the warrior idea, and they act as the foundations of a specific “style” that has largely been lost.
p. 196-197
The Prussian style did not apply only to the military: by defining itself as “Fredrickianism,” it shaped one of the most austere and aristocratic European military traditions, but also manifested its influence in everything that is service to the State, loyalty, and anti-individualism. This style educated a class of government officials according to principles very different from mere bureaucracy, petty clerical spirit, and the irresponsible and lazy administration of the affairs of the state.
p. 197-198
A warrior tradition and a pure military tradition do not have hatred as the basis of war. The need to fight and even to exterminate another people may be acknowledged, but this does not entail hatred, anger, animosity, and contempt for the enemy. All these feelings, for a true soldier, are degrading; in order to fight he need not be motivated by such lowly feelings, nor be energized by propaganda, smoky rhetoric, and lies. All these things have come into play with the plebeianization of war, since men who were shaped by an aristocratic warrior tradition have been collectively replaced by the “nation in arms,” that is, the masses recruited indiscriminately through a mandatory draft. This happened right at the time when the traditional State began to decline and the national State arose, the latter animated by passions, hatred, and pride. In order to mobilize the masses, it is necessary to intoxicate or deceive them, with the consequence of introducing emotional, ideological, and propaganda factors into the war that have conferred and continue to confer on it a most heinous and deprecable character. Traditional States did not need all this. They did not create a chauvinist pathos and near psychosis in order to mobilize their troops and boost their morale. This was obtained by the pure principle of the imperium and by the reference to principles of loyalty and honor. Clearly defined goals were established for a necessary war, which was waged in a detached manner, hence without any room for hatred and contempt among the combatants.
p. 202-203
First of all, the true traditional spirit acknowledges a superior, metaphysical unity beyond the individual religious traditions, a unity of which they represent various historically conditioned expressions, more or less complete and “orthodox” (hence, a higher standard for “orthodoxy”). Despite the fact that every religious form has the right to claim a certain exclusivity in the area of its pertinence, the idea of this higher unity (although it is an “esoteric” truth – that is, not reserved for the ordinary people, to whom it may be confusing) should be acknowledged by its most qualified representatives.
p. 204-205
The occult war is a battle waged imperceptibly by the forces of global subversion, with means and in circumstances ignored by the current historiography. The notion of occult war belongs to a three-dimensional view of history: this view does not regard as essential the two superficial dimension of time and space (which includes causes, facts, and visible leaders) but rather emphasizes the dimension of depth, or the “subterranean” dimension in which the forces and influences often act in a decisive manner, and which, more often not than not, cannot be reduced to what is merely human, whether at an individual or collective level.
p. 235
To the former [the forces of cosmos] corresponds everything that is form, order, law, spiritual hierarchy, and tradition in the higher sense of the word; to the latter [the forces of chaos] correspond every influence that disintegrates, subverts, degrades, and promotes the predominance of the inferior over the superior, matter over spirit, quantity over quality.
p. 236
It would be a real abandonment to fantasy to suppose that the leaders of the great conflicting powers – the United States, the USSR, and the Red China – receive orders from an international center of Jews and Masons (almost nonexistent in China), and act accordingly in view of the same goal.
p. 243
There are actually no civilized peoples or nations composed of pure individuals belonging to the same single race. All peoples are composed of more or less stable racial mixtures. We go from the theoretical domain to the practical one, or to “active racism,” whenever we take a position before the racial components of a given nation, refusing to acknowledge to all of them the same value, the same dignity, and the same right to impart the tone and form to the whole. At that point a choice, an election, and a decision are necessary. One of the components must be given preeminence, by referring to the typical values and the human ideals that correspond to it.
p. 257
In the political domain we need to take a stand against the myth expressed in the formula: “There is power in numbers.” Attempting to base an imperialistic policy on a demographic campaign was one of the serious mistakes of the Fascist ideology that must be denounced without hesitation. The power of numbers is the power of the mere brute masses; this power is in itself very relative, because even herds need to be guided. Every true empire is born from a race of conquerors who conquered lands and peoples, not because they suffered from overpopulation or did not have “a place in the sun,” but on the basis of a higher calling and qualification, which allowed them to rule as a minority in foreign lands.
p. 267-268
The fact is that the inferior races and the lower social strata are the most prolific ones. Thus, we can say that while the number of superior, more differentiated elements grows in arithmetic proportion, the number of inferior elements grows in geometric proportion, the result being a fatal involution of the human race.
p. 268
As far as a revolutionary-conservative movement is concerned, there is a need for men who are free from these bourgeois feelings. These men, by adopting an attitude of militant and absolute commitment, should be ready for anything and almost feel that creating a family is a “betrayal”; these men should live sine impedimentis, without any ties or limits to their freedom.
p. 271
When talking about the great majority of our contemporaries, it is absolutely irresponsible, considering the collective consequences that result from it, to beget other beings who will repeat the same inconsistency, the same vacuity of a life lacking any real meaning; in other words, it is absolutely irresponsible to feed the threatening avalanche of the formless world of quantity only because one is passive toward the natural part of himself and toward the most primitive sexual urge, or because one is enslaved to prejudice.
p. 272
In order to head toward a united Europe, the first step should consist of a concerted exit of all European nations from the United Nations, which is an illegitimate, promiscuous, and hypocritical association. Another obvious imperative should be to become emancipated in every aspect and in equal measure from both the United States and the USSR. However, this would require a very subtle and prudent political art, for which today’s politicians are hardly qualified.
p. 275
In a united Europe, fatherlands and nations may exist (ethnic communities have been partially respected even in the totalitarian Soviet Union). What should be excluded is nationalism (with its monstrous appendix, namely imperialism) and chauvinism – in other words, every fanatical absolutization of a particular unit.
p. 276
The scheme of an empire in a true and organic sense (which must clearly be distinguished from every imperialism, a phenomenon that should be regarded as a deplorable extension of nationalism) was previously displayed in the European medieval world, which safeguarded the principles of both unity and multiplicity.
p. 277
It is possible to enclose that which is “modern” in a well-controlled material and “physical” domain, on the plane of mere means, and to superimpose upon it a higher order adequately upheld, in which revolutionary-conservative values are given unconditional acknowledgement.
p. 282
[F]ascism and National Socialism were movements and regimes in which different and even contrasting tendencies coexisted; their development in the right, positive, conservative-revolutionary sense could have occurred only if circumstances had allowed for an adequate, further development, which was stricken down by the war they ignited and by their ensuing defeat.
p. 283
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Old year, new year, same Spöknippet
Almost a year and a half has passed since our first post. According to Statcounters not entirely reliable data Spöknippet had almost 5500 unique visitors this far. About one quarter of all visitors have not been from Sweden.
About half of the posts have been written by Spöknippet. Admittedly, a fair number of those have been rather short. If we are to commit self-criticism it must be said that Spöknippet has failed to produce syntheses.
In addition it must also be said that the excerpts has leaned a bit more to the “right” than first intended. Therefore the posts if treated statistically does not reflect Spöknippets standpoint. There is however a very simple explanation to this, the availability of socialist and communist original texts is far better than the availability of “fascist” original texts. When it comes to conservative revolution and third position the situation is even worse. He who on the other hand wishes to read Marx or Lenin need look no further than Marxists.org, Spöknippet has no rôle to play there.
Looking back over the past eighteen months our slogan “Metapolitics, march music and militaria” might be considered false marketing. In fact, only one post has dealt with march music (combined with metapolitics).
The next twelve months will probably look pretty much like those that have passed. So, to the disappointment of Spöknippets friends (and our more self hating enemies) we can only say that the frequency of posting is unlikely to increase. Those who are hoping for more than an average of two posts a month will probably be disappointed.
Other than that, Spöknippet will of course, as always, continue to act as a beacon of Preußentum and as a bulwark against modernity.
Finally it can be mentioned that the CIA graced us with a visit some time ago.
About half of the posts have been written by Spöknippet. Admittedly, a fair number of those have been rather short. If we are to commit self-criticism it must be said that Spöknippet has failed to produce syntheses.
In addition it must also be said that the excerpts has leaned a bit more to the “right” than first intended. Therefore the posts if treated statistically does not reflect Spöknippets standpoint. There is however a very simple explanation to this, the availability of socialist and communist original texts is far better than the availability of “fascist” original texts. When it comes to conservative revolution and third position the situation is even worse. He who on the other hand wishes to read Marx or Lenin need look no further than Marxists.org, Spöknippet has no rôle to play there.
Looking back over the past eighteen months our slogan “Metapolitics, march music and militaria” might be considered false marketing. In fact, only one post has dealt with march music (combined with metapolitics).
The next twelve months will probably look pretty much like those that have passed. So, to the disappointment of Spöknippets friends (and our more self hating enemies) we can only say that the frequency of posting is unlikely to increase. Those who are hoping for more than an average of two posts a month will probably be disappointed.
Other than that, Spöknippet will of course, as always, continue to act as a beacon of Preußentum and as a bulwark against modernity.Finally it can be mentioned that the CIA graced us with a visit some time ago.
Monday, October 24, 2005
[Excerpts] Goodrick-Clarke, Hitler’s priestess
Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas (1998) Hitler’s priestess. Savitri Devi, the Hindu-Aryan myth, and Neo-Nazism. New York and London: New York University Press
Spöknippet is obviously no great admirer of Savitri Devi. Her ideas on Men in Time, Men above Time, and Men against Time is however an exception. Goodrick-Clarke's description of the Hindu doctrine of ages is a good introduction to the Hindu, and indeed Traditional, perception of time in its own right. Also, it should help those less familiar with the Traditional view of time to understand Savitri Devi's thoughts on the three types of Men.
In the Mahabharata these ages are described in some detail. The Krita Yuga is characterized as an age in which righteousness is eternal. In this the most excellent of Yugas everything had been done and nothing remained to be done. Duties did not languish, nor did the people decline. There was no buying and selling, no efforts needed to be made by men, the fruits of the earth were abundant. No disease of decline of the organs of sense arose through age, there was no malice, weeping, pride, or deceit, no contention, lassitude, hatred, cruelty, fear, affliction, jealousy, or envy. All creatures were devoted to their duties, all the castes were alike in their functions, they were devoted to one deity and used one rule and one rite. During the Treta Yuga righteousness declined by a fourth. Men now acted with an object in view, seeking rewards for their rites and gifts, while still being devoted to their duties and ceremonies. The decline became more marked in the Dvapara Yuga, when righteousness was diminished by two quarters. The Veda became fourfold, and with this proliferation of rules, rites, and ceremonies people no longer knew unity. Once men had fallen away from goodness, many diseases, desires, and calamities assailed them and these in turn drove men to practice austerities.
The Kali Yuga, or Iron Age, represented the cosmological and moral nadir in the Hindu cycle of ages. Only a quarter as much righteousness prevailed in comparison with the Krita Yuga. Sacred practices were neglected, calamities, diseases, fatigue, and faults such as anger, distress, anxiety, hunger, and fear became commonplace. Political and social order collapsed, cities became violent, civilization receded. Evil was everywhere evident and triumphant. The Vishnu Purana describes many aspects of this moral and social decay in the Kali Yuga. The observance of caste and order is neglected with promiscuous intermarriage among all classes and peoples; women are unfaithful and consort with worthless men; the family and other blood ties lose their meaning; the acquisition of wealth, commerce, and money govern all men’s actions and aspirations; liberalism and moral relativism prevail so that any idol or authority is revered on the basis of popularity and individual choice. The rulers oppress and plunder the masses, who then dessert the intolerable cities and settle in remote places. There they live in scarcity and want, suffering exposure, and subject to decreasing vigor and longevity. In due course, the entire race is destroyed.
p. 112-3
Armed with the Hindu cyclic theory of time, Savitri Devi believed that “human history, far from being a steady ascension towards the better, is an increasingly hopeless process of bastardisation, emasculation and demoralisation of mankind, an inexorable ‘fall.’” Against the dismal cosmological background of the Kali Yuga, she developed her own doctrine of Men in Time, Men above Time, and Men against Time. These three types of historical actors represented three quite distinct responses to the bondage of time as understood in the cycle of the ages. Of the three types, Men in Time are the essential and most active agents of the Kali Yuga. Their conduct and aims typify the dark age and all its vicissitudes. Men above Time are properly at home in the perfection of the Satya Yuga, or Golden Age, and Men against Time act with ruthless violence in an attempt to restore the conditions of the Satya Yuga, at the end of the Kali Yuga, by violent means, these martial heroes work to redeem the world from the thrall of the dark age and to initiate a new time cycle.
Men in Time, according to Savitri Devi, are those few strong individuals who wholeheartedly accept the iron law of history and act entirely in their own narrow self-interest. Whether in lust for personal enjoyment, in greed for gold, or in the search for honors, position, and power, this selfish drive is shameless and undisguised by such “noble” ends as the ideas of 1789 or the solidarity of the international proletariat. In seeking only their own personal ends with the utmost intelligence, unscrupulousness, and energy, These Men in Time are “the most thorough, the most mercilessly effective agents of the Death-forces on earth … working without hesitation and without remorse in the sense of the downward process of history and, for its logical conclusion: the annihilation of man and all life.”
Men in Time represent the most naked and powerful expression of egoism in the benighted era of the Kali Yuga, an age that is given over to the play of atomistic individual wills striving for their materialistic gratification with no understanding of the wisdom or higher collective goals of happier ages. By seeking their own individual advantage in a constant war of wills, Men in Time drive history along that oppositional path that is the hallmark of the dark age and its decline. Their gains, profits, or victories are entirely personal; even if they bring wider fortune and prosperity, this I quite incidental to their motive of self-gratification. And all the while they are fighting and struggling and winning, the world around them is violated, thereby growing older, wearier, and less abundant until it is exhausted and reaches the end of the time cycle.
p. 115-6
Men above Time are those individuals who have attained the highest enlightenment describe in the Upanishads. In recognizing the fundamental unity of the divine Self (Atman) and the all-pervading God (Brahman), the represent the spiritual authority in the Satya Yuga, or Age of Truth, in which complete perfection and righteousness prevail. In ancient India the Brahmins were the counselors and mentors of kings and warriors who were anxious to act in accordance with the commands of timeless wisdom. However, as the world proceeds through the time cycle with increasing disorder and decay, such Men above Time enjoy less and less authority. During the Kali Yuga they just seem to be unworldly mystics whose entire outlook and conduct barely equips them to survive in a world of struggle and conflict, let alone to act as guides and rulers of men. These lonely ascetics abstain from all violence and cannot change the collective conditions of mankind. At best they can offer personal salvation in breaking the time bondage of individual souls; it is not within their power to re-create the Golden Age before its due time.
p. 116-7
In Hindu chronology the Kali Yuga suddenly and momentously gives way at its lowest point of degradation, suffering, and evil to the opening of a new Satya, or Krita, Yuga, which begins the cycle anew. According to Savitri Devi, Men against Time play a crucial role in the struggle to restore the Golden Age as the Kali Yuga nears the completion of its term. Although possessed of the sunlike qualities and mystical ideals of the Man above Time, the Man against Time employs the practical means, ruthlessness, and violence of the Man in Time for the achievement of collective salvation and the regeneration of the world. In her scheme of things, Men against Time combine the qualities of “Lightning” and “Sun” as the real heroes of history, the builders and defenders of all new churches who devote their whole life and energy to the reshaping of tangible reality on the model of their vision of truth. These divinely inspired militant mystics are rare individuals who suddenly intervene in the downsweep of time with the promise of redemption and the return to the Golden Age. The revolutionary implications of the Man against Time are obvious. Like a fiery comet from the heavens he bursts through the gloomy pall surrounding the earth in the Kali Yuga to herald the spreading sunshine of a new order of perfection, divine justice, and righteousness.
p. 117-8
Spöknippet is obviously no great admirer of Savitri Devi. Her ideas on Men in Time, Men above Time, and Men against Time is however an exception. Goodrick-Clarke's description of the Hindu doctrine of ages is a good introduction to the Hindu, and indeed Traditional, perception of time in its own right. Also, it should help those less familiar with the Traditional view of time to understand Savitri Devi's thoughts on the three types of Men.
In the Mahabharata these ages are described in some detail. The Krita Yuga is characterized as an age in which righteousness is eternal. In this the most excellent of Yugas everything had been done and nothing remained to be done. Duties did not languish, nor did the people decline. There was no buying and selling, no efforts needed to be made by men, the fruits of the earth were abundant. No disease of decline of the organs of sense arose through age, there was no malice, weeping, pride, or deceit, no contention, lassitude, hatred, cruelty, fear, affliction, jealousy, or envy. All creatures were devoted to their duties, all the castes were alike in their functions, they were devoted to one deity and used one rule and one rite. During the Treta Yuga righteousness declined by a fourth. Men now acted with an object in view, seeking rewards for their rites and gifts, while still being devoted to their duties and ceremonies. The decline became more marked in the Dvapara Yuga, when righteousness was diminished by two quarters. The Veda became fourfold, and with this proliferation of rules, rites, and ceremonies people no longer knew unity. Once men had fallen away from goodness, many diseases, desires, and calamities assailed them and these in turn drove men to practice austerities.
The Kali Yuga, or Iron Age, represented the cosmological and moral nadir in the Hindu cycle of ages. Only a quarter as much righteousness prevailed in comparison with the Krita Yuga. Sacred practices were neglected, calamities, diseases, fatigue, and faults such as anger, distress, anxiety, hunger, and fear became commonplace. Political and social order collapsed, cities became violent, civilization receded. Evil was everywhere evident and triumphant. The Vishnu Purana describes many aspects of this moral and social decay in the Kali Yuga. The observance of caste and order is neglected with promiscuous intermarriage among all classes and peoples; women are unfaithful and consort with worthless men; the family and other blood ties lose their meaning; the acquisition of wealth, commerce, and money govern all men’s actions and aspirations; liberalism and moral relativism prevail so that any idol or authority is revered on the basis of popularity and individual choice. The rulers oppress and plunder the masses, who then dessert the intolerable cities and settle in remote places. There they live in scarcity and want, suffering exposure, and subject to decreasing vigor and longevity. In due course, the entire race is destroyed.
p. 112-3
Armed with the Hindu cyclic theory of time, Savitri Devi believed that “human history, far from being a steady ascension towards the better, is an increasingly hopeless process of bastardisation, emasculation and demoralisation of mankind, an inexorable ‘fall.’” Against the dismal cosmological background of the Kali Yuga, she developed her own doctrine of Men in Time, Men above Time, and Men against Time. These three types of historical actors represented three quite distinct responses to the bondage of time as understood in the cycle of the ages. Of the three types, Men in Time are the essential and most active agents of the Kali Yuga. Their conduct and aims typify the dark age and all its vicissitudes. Men above Time are properly at home in the perfection of the Satya Yuga, or Golden Age, and Men against Time act with ruthless violence in an attempt to restore the conditions of the Satya Yuga, at the end of the Kali Yuga, by violent means, these martial heroes work to redeem the world from the thrall of the dark age and to initiate a new time cycle.
Men in Time, according to Savitri Devi, are those few strong individuals who wholeheartedly accept the iron law of history and act entirely in their own narrow self-interest. Whether in lust for personal enjoyment, in greed for gold, or in the search for honors, position, and power, this selfish drive is shameless and undisguised by such “noble” ends as the ideas of 1789 or the solidarity of the international proletariat. In seeking only their own personal ends with the utmost intelligence, unscrupulousness, and energy, These Men in Time are “the most thorough, the most mercilessly effective agents of the Death-forces on earth … working without hesitation and without remorse in the sense of the downward process of history and, for its logical conclusion: the annihilation of man and all life.”
Men in Time represent the most naked and powerful expression of egoism in the benighted era of the Kali Yuga, an age that is given over to the play of atomistic individual wills striving for their materialistic gratification with no understanding of the wisdom or higher collective goals of happier ages. By seeking their own individual advantage in a constant war of wills, Men in Time drive history along that oppositional path that is the hallmark of the dark age and its decline. Their gains, profits, or victories are entirely personal; even if they bring wider fortune and prosperity, this I quite incidental to their motive of self-gratification. And all the while they are fighting and struggling and winning, the world around them is violated, thereby growing older, wearier, and less abundant until it is exhausted and reaches the end of the time cycle.
p. 115-6
Men above Time are those individuals who have attained the highest enlightenment describe in the Upanishads. In recognizing the fundamental unity of the divine Self (Atman) and the all-pervading God (Brahman), the represent the spiritual authority in the Satya Yuga, or Age of Truth, in which complete perfection and righteousness prevail. In ancient India the Brahmins were the counselors and mentors of kings and warriors who were anxious to act in accordance with the commands of timeless wisdom. However, as the world proceeds through the time cycle with increasing disorder and decay, such Men above Time enjoy less and less authority. During the Kali Yuga they just seem to be unworldly mystics whose entire outlook and conduct barely equips them to survive in a world of struggle and conflict, let alone to act as guides and rulers of men. These lonely ascetics abstain from all violence and cannot change the collective conditions of mankind. At best they can offer personal salvation in breaking the time bondage of individual souls; it is not within their power to re-create the Golden Age before its due time.
p. 116-7
In Hindu chronology the Kali Yuga suddenly and momentously gives way at its lowest point of degradation, suffering, and evil to the opening of a new Satya, or Krita, Yuga, which begins the cycle anew. According to Savitri Devi, Men against Time play a crucial role in the struggle to restore the Golden Age as the Kali Yuga nears the completion of its term. Although possessed of the sunlike qualities and mystical ideals of the Man above Time, the Man against Time employs the practical means, ruthlessness, and violence of the Man in Time for the achievement of collective salvation and the regeneration of the world. In her scheme of things, Men against Time combine the qualities of “Lightning” and “Sun” as the real heroes of history, the builders and defenders of all new churches who devote their whole life and energy to the reshaping of tangible reality on the model of their vision of truth. These divinely inspired militant mystics are rare individuals who suddenly intervene in the downsweep of time with the promise of redemption and the return to the Golden Age. The revolutionary implications of the Man against Time are obvious. Like a fiery comet from the heavens he bursts through the gloomy pall surrounding the earth in the Kali Yuga to herald the spreading sunshine of a new order of perfection, divine justice, and righteousness.
p. 117-8
Monday, September 26, 2005
[Excerpts] Woods, The Conservative Revolution in the Weimar republic
Excerpts from Woods, Roger. (1996). The conservative revolution in the Weimar republic. London: Macmillan
Perhaps someday there will be a proper review. Until then it should be enough to look at the last excerpt, the very last words in the book, to see what Woods tries to “prove”. Consequently Woods is unable, or simply does not want, to see, for example, Ernst Jünger’s development during the Weimar years. By 1933 Jünger is no longer a nationalist in any of the meanings normally given to the word.
Ernst Niekisch and other “National Bolsheviks” are given precious little space. All in all, everything that doesn’t help Woods to make Conservative Revolutionaries to look as much as Nazis as possible is left out. To those who are lucky enough to understand Swedish Spöknippet recommends Carl-Göran Heidegren's Preussiska anarkister instead, or at least first.
In common with other Conservative Revolutionaries, Moeller [van den Bruck] then goes on to develop his vision of an alternative socialism for which Nietzsche supposedly provides the model: not ‘that socialism which is a doctrine, but socialism as the vital expression of an emerging humanity with its instincts still strong, healthy and intact’ (p. 175).
p. 37 Quote from Das dritte Reich
The Conservative Revolutionaries projected themselves as the young generation of German nationalists, with their sense of mission and shared identity growing in large part out of the First World War which so many of them had experienced at first hand during their formative years. The First World War had ‘given birth’ to ‘new nationalism’, and, according to its supporters, this new nationalism was fundamentally different from the forms of nationalism which had preceded it.
The difference between old and new nationalism and the difficulty of finding a unique pace for new nationalism in the political landscape of the Weimar period are set out in Deutsches Volkstum in 1929. Here it is argued that after 1919 everyone had assumed that any attempts at a coup d’êtat from the conservative camp would be preoccupied with restoration. But ten years on, the political discussion had transcended such primitive thinking and had left ‘conservative reaction’ behind. On the other hand, the political discussion had still not reached the stage where it could present a clearly formulated alternative.
p. 61
If one branch of the Conservative Revolution was intent on redefining socialism but regularly lapsed into a tradition of right-wing thinking, another branch seemed intent on dragging the right closer to traditional socialism. The main groups involved in this enterprise were Ernst Niekisch’s Widerstand circle and Karl Paetel’s Group of Social Revolutionary Nationalists which in turn had links with the group within the Nazi Party around the Strasser brothers.
These groups generally favoured an alliance between the Soviet Union and Germany against the capitalist West. Whereas the ‘German socialists’ we have looked at so far were unable to state by what method they would achieve the all-embracing social and economic community which they saw as the ultimate goal, Karl Paetel calls upon young nationalists to take a stand with the proletariat. He asks nationalists to say exactly what they will do when proletarian revolution breaks out, for this will be the day of reckoning for the revolutionary nationalist movement.
p. 70
Conservative Revolutionaries in fact go through distinct phases in their attitude towards political programmes. They switch away from a call for clarity over political aims towards anti-programmatic activism and the ideal of the strong leader is one of the major developments in their thought in the Weimar period: Ernst Jünger’s words on self-sacrifice […] have their political parallel in his assertion in 1929 that programmes are not needed and that the young generation of nationalists must learn to march without flags. Ernst Niekisch suggests firstly that the Conservative Revolution failed to overcome the left-versus-right split, and secondly that the result of that failure was a withdrawal from the problem.
p. 74
This call [in the article “Schluss”, Die Standarte, 20/27 December 1925, p. 3] for a clear statement of aims and programmes as the nationalists’ primary task is resumed two weeks later when Jünger writes that nationalists are waiting for the great programmes and the nationalist manifesto. In the coming year the ‘four pillars’ of modern nationalism – the national, the social, the military and the dictatorial – have to be provided with their intellectual foundation. The will to power already exists and it has just to be shown its goals.
The contrast between these thoughts and those expressed some three-and-a-half years later in an article for Widerstand is striking. For the task of working out a programme is no longer of prime importance. Indeed, such a task is now the ‘last stage of nationalism’. The beginning of nationalism, declares Jünger, is not marked by establishing a party or a programme. This retreat from the call for a clarification of nationalist aims is taken one step further in September 1929 when Jünger responds to an invitation from a left-wing journal, Das Tagebuch, to write about his ‘young nationalism’. Jünger begins with a by-now familiar rejection of the traditional tenets of German nationalism and immediately goes on to state:
Part of the explanation for the change of attitude is to be found in a debate on what the contents of a nationalist programme should be – a debate initiated by an article Jünger wrote in June 1926 and in which he calls upon nationalists to form a united front. The new nationalists clearly felt pushed into formulating a political programme in the mid-twenties after the failure of the military assault on the state in the form of the Kapp Putsch of 1920 and the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923.
p. 74-5
In his call for a programme Jünger says that after the war nationalists saw the things the stood for apparently sink to miserable depths. They needed to retain their belief that the sacrifices they had made served some profound purpose. Jünger goes on to say that the resolved to cling to tradition, but now he strikes out in a new direction by asserting that nationalists have found a new meaning to the word ‘tradition’: it is no longer a ‘fixed form’ but the ‘living and eternal spirit’ which each generation must shape anew. The idea of a fixed form seems to hark back to Spengler, for whom it is a feature of a moribund civilisation, and by using it Jünger is pointing out the futility of upholding traditional nationalism in the postwar world. The race that was transformed by the war must fight to establish a new state based on the four pillars of nationalism. This state will be radically different not only from Weimar but also from the old Kaiserreich, for nationalism is not reactionary but revolutionary. Jünger sees the four principles of a future nationalist state becoming a basic feature of all non-parliamentary nationalist groups, and he declares that the finer points f these principles are still being clarified. Individual nationalist movements are not large enough to operate independently and the time is therefore approaching when they must form a nationalist front around a clear and decisive programme.
A social programme must be worked out since its absence is causing concern to nationalist workers’ leaders: Jünger suggests hat nationalist workers should be left to conduct the economic battle while nationalist soldiers lead the struggle for power. The workers will be supported in their battle by nationalists who took leave of ‘bourgeois ideology’ in the war. Former bourgeois and Marxists will thus stand shoulder to shoulder. Finally, in the absence of a single great leader, a central council of leaders should be formed in order to maintain the purity and clarity of the movement.
In short, Jünger is attempting to make the nationalist groups confront what he saw as the crucial problem of cutting loose from traditional nationalism with its monarchist beliefs and founds a new nationalism which would set out to win over the workers.
p. 75-6
In an attempt to take the revolutionary nationalists beyond a purely negative stance, their leaders repeatedly call for the single great personality who can provide the movement with unity and direction. But, in the absence of such a leader, aims remain vague and centre upon Germany recovering its position as a leader in world politics; the frequently invoked terms ‘new beginning’ and ‘turning-point’ merely underline the inability of the writers to generate a positive programme.
p. 81
Moreover his [Jünger’s] original call for a united nationalist front around a clear programme gives way in his concluding article to a nationalism which is a ‘single movement’ but progressing ‘along different routes’. Nationalism is now an aim which cannot be defined in a programme but is ‘engraved in the heart’ of every committed nationalist. Here Jünger is taking a step back from rational debate, and it seems reasonable to conclude that this step reflects his realisation that the nationalist debate has largely failed. Indeed, in his closing article he reaches the point where debate and action are practically alternatives: words and blood, programmes and fighting units are set against each other, and the former lose too the latter. The attempt to evolve a revolutionary programme gives way to a revolutionary stance whose aims are not articulated.
p. 82
In ‘Die zwei Tyrannen’ [Arminius, 13 March 1927] he [Jünger] looks back to the calls for unity of the previous year and says that it was both right and wrong to assume that there was basic agreement about the aims of the nationalist movement. In domestic politics there was certainly no agreement, yet Jünger does see unanimity about the aim of foreign policy: a strong, independent Reich, secure against the outside world. If the threat of an attack from abroad will always be the greatest force for unity within Germany the second greatest force is an outstanding personality.
p. 83
In what can only be a criticism of National Socialism Jünger goes on to state that the present attempts to find new values are welcome but they are not succeeding. One cannot assert superiority by an act of will since superiority is basically existential. Nor can one artificially cultivate or proclaim a heroic philosophy, for what is innate in the hero degenerates when seized upon by the masses. The same is true of race and the “total state”.
p. 120
Regardless of individual Conservative Revolutionary criticism of the Nazis, the deeper commitment to activism, strong leadership, hierarchy and a disregard for political programmes persists. These features suggest that the detail of the responses to National Socialism which we have traced in Jünger and Spengler are significant for the Conservative revolution as a whole. Unresolved political dilemmas result in an activism and in an interest in hierarchy which means that there can be no fundamental objection to the National Socialist assumption of power.
p. 134
Perhaps someday there will be a proper review. Until then it should be enough to look at the last excerpt, the very last words in the book, to see what Woods tries to “prove”. Consequently Woods is unable, or simply does not want, to see, for example, Ernst Jünger’s development during the Weimar years. By 1933 Jünger is no longer a nationalist in any of the meanings normally given to the word.
Ernst Niekisch and other “National Bolsheviks” are given precious little space. All in all, everything that doesn’t help Woods to make Conservative Revolutionaries to look as much as Nazis as possible is left out. To those who are lucky enough to understand Swedish Spöknippet recommends Carl-Göran Heidegren's Preussiska anarkister instead, or at least first.
In common with other Conservative Revolutionaries, Moeller [van den Bruck] then goes on to develop his vision of an alternative socialism for which Nietzsche supposedly provides the model: not ‘that socialism which is a doctrine, but socialism as the vital expression of an emerging humanity with its instincts still strong, healthy and intact’ (p. 175).
p. 37 Quote from Das dritte Reich
The Conservative Revolutionaries projected themselves as the young generation of German nationalists, with their sense of mission and shared identity growing in large part out of the First World War which so many of them had experienced at first hand during their formative years. The First World War had ‘given birth’ to ‘new nationalism’, and, according to its supporters, this new nationalism was fundamentally different from the forms of nationalism which had preceded it.
The difference between old and new nationalism and the difficulty of finding a unique pace for new nationalism in the political landscape of the Weimar period are set out in Deutsches Volkstum in 1929. Here it is argued that after 1919 everyone had assumed that any attempts at a coup d’êtat from the conservative camp would be preoccupied with restoration. But ten years on, the political discussion had transcended such primitive thinking and had left ‘conservative reaction’ behind. On the other hand, the political discussion had still not reached the stage where it could present a clearly formulated alternative.
p. 61
If one branch of the Conservative Revolution was intent on redefining socialism but regularly lapsed into a tradition of right-wing thinking, another branch seemed intent on dragging the right closer to traditional socialism. The main groups involved in this enterprise were Ernst Niekisch’s Widerstand circle and Karl Paetel’s Group of Social Revolutionary Nationalists which in turn had links with the group within the Nazi Party around the Strasser brothers.
These groups generally favoured an alliance between the Soviet Union and Germany against the capitalist West. Whereas the ‘German socialists’ we have looked at so far were unable to state by what method they would achieve the all-embracing social and economic community which they saw as the ultimate goal, Karl Paetel calls upon young nationalists to take a stand with the proletariat. He asks nationalists to say exactly what they will do when proletarian revolution breaks out, for this will be the day of reckoning for the revolutionary nationalist movement.
p. 70
Conservative Revolutionaries in fact go through distinct phases in their attitude towards political programmes. They switch away from a call for clarity over political aims towards anti-programmatic activism and the ideal of the strong leader is one of the major developments in their thought in the Weimar period: Ernst Jünger’s words on self-sacrifice […] have their political parallel in his assertion in 1929 that programmes are not needed and that the young generation of nationalists must learn to march without flags. Ernst Niekisch suggests firstly that the Conservative Revolution failed to overcome the left-versus-right split, and secondly that the result of that failure was a withdrawal from the problem.
p. 74
This call [in the article “Schluss”, Die Standarte, 20/27 December 1925, p. 3] for a clear statement of aims and programmes as the nationalists’ primary task is resumed two weeks later when Jünger writes that nationalists are waiting for the great programmes and the nationalist manifesto. In the coming year the ‘four pillars’ of modern nationalism – the national, the social, the military and the dictatorial – have to be provided with their intellectual foundation. The will to power already exists and it has just to be shown its goals.
The contrast between these thoughts and those expressed some three-and-a-half years later in an article for Widerstand is striking. For the task of working out a programme is no longer of prime importance. Indeed, such a task is now the ‘last stage of nationalism’. The beginning of nationalism, declares Jünger, is not marked by establishing a party or a programme. This retreat from the call for a clarification of nationalist aims is taken one step further in September 1929 when Jünger responds to an invitation from a left-wing journal, Das Tagebuch, to write about his ‘young nationalism’. Jünger begins with a by-now familiar rejection of the traditional tenets of German nationalism and immediately goes on to state:
Let me just say for the benefit if those who cannot do without having it put into words that nationalism, inasmuch as it is a political phenomenon, has as its goal a state which embraces all Germans and which is based on national, social, military and authoritative principles. These are of course words which must be given meaning by life itself, I am convinced that nationalism has enough energy at its disposal to get by without any dogma at all.Jünger thus reaches the point where he feels obliged to suggest that nationalism is in part something other than a political force, and where even the four pillars – the most constant element of his nationalism – are restated only reluctantly and appear to be ranked with the dogma he repudiates. Why should Jünger and his fellow new nationalists change their minds on these central issues between 1925 and 1929?
Part of the explanation for the change of attitude is to be found in a debate on what the contents of a nationalist programme should be – a debate initiated by an article Jünger wrote in June 1926 and in which he calls upon nationalists to form a united front. The new nationalists clearly felt pushed into formulating a political programme in the mid-twenties after the failure of the military assault on the state in the form of the Kapp Putsch of 1920 and the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923.
p. 74-5
In his call for a programme Jünger says that after the war nationalists saw the things the stood for apparently sink to miserable depths. They needed to retain their belief that the sacrifices they had made served some profound purpose. Jünger goes on to say that the resolved to cling to tradition, but now he strikes out in a new direction by asserting that nationalists have found a new meaning to the word ‘tradition’: it is no longer a ‘fixed form’ but the ‘living and eternal spirit’ which each generation must shape anew. The idea of a fixed form seems to hark back to Spengler, for whom it is a feature of a moribund civilisation, and by using it Jünger is pointing out the futility of upholding traditional nationalism in the postwar world. The race that was transformed by the war must fight to establish a new state based on the four pillars of nationalism. This state will be radically different not only from Weimar but also from the old Kaiserreich, for nationalism is not reactionary but revolutionary. Jünger sees the four principles of a future nationalist state becoming a basic feature of all non-parliamentary nationalist groups, and he declares that the finer points f these principles are still being clarified. Individual nationalist movements are not large enough to operate independently and the time is therefore approaching when they must form a nationalist front around a clear and decisive programme.
A social programme must be worked out since its absence is causing concern to nationalist workers’ leaders: Jünger suggests hat nationalist workers should be left to conduct the economic battle while nationalist soldiers lead the struggle for power. The workers will be supported in their battle by nationalists who took leave of ‘bourgeois ideology’ in the war. Former bourgeois and Marxists will thus stand shoulder to shoulder. Finally, in the absence of a single great leader, a central council of leaders should be formed in order to maintain the purity and clarity of the movement.
In short, Jünger is attempting to make the nationalist groups confront what he saw as the crucial problem of cutting loose from traditional nationalism with its monarchist beliefs and founds a new nationalism which would set out to win over the workers.
p. 75-6
In an attempt to take the revolutionary nationalists beyond a purely negative stance, their leaders repeatedly call for the single great personality who can provide the movement with unity and direction. But, in the absence of such a leader, aims remain vague and centre upon Germany recovering its position as a leader in world politics; the frequently invoked terms ‘new beginning’ and ‘turning-point’ merely underline the inability of the writers to generate a positive programme.
p. 81
Moreover his [Jünger’s] original call for a united nationalist front around a clear programme gives way in his concluding article to a nationalism which is a ‘single movement’ but progressing ‘along different routes’. Nationalism is now an aim which cannot be defined in a programme but is ‘engraved in the heart’ of every committed nationalist. Here Jünger is taking a step back from rational debate, and it seems reasonable to conclude that this step reflects his realisation that the nationalist debate has largely failed. Indeed, in his closing article he reaches the point where debate and action are practically alternatives: words and blood, programmes and fighting units are set against each other, and the former lose too the latter. The attempt to evolve a revolutionary programme gives way to a revolutionary stance whose aims are not articulated.
p. 82
In ‘Die zwei Tyrannen’ [Arminius, 13 March 1927] he [Jünger] looks back to the calls for unity of the previous year and says that it was both right and wrong to assume that there was basic agreement about the aims of the nationalist movement. In domestic politics there was certainly no agreement, yet Jünger does see unanimity about the aim of foreign policy: a strong, independent Reich, secure against the outside world. If the threat of an attack from abroad will always be the greatest force for unity within Germany the second greatest force is an outstanding personality.
p. 83
In what can only be a criticism of National Socialism Jünger goes on to state that the present attempts to find new values are welcome but they are not succeeding. One cannot assert superiority by an act of will since superiority is basically existential. Nor can one artificially cultivate or proclaim a heroic philosophy, for what is innate in the hero degenerates when seized upon by the masses. The same is true of race and the “total state”.
p. 120
Regardless of individual Conservative Revolutionary criticism of the Nazis, the deeper commitment to activism, strong leadership, hierarchy and a disregard for political programmes persists. These features suggest that the detail of the responses to National Socialism which we have traced in Jünger and Spengler are significant for the Conservative revolution as a whole. Unresolved political dilemmas result in an activism and in an interest in hierarchy which means that there can be no fundamental objection to the National Socialist assumption of power.
p. 134
Saturday, August 27, 2005
[Excerpts, Swedish] Heidegren, Preussiska anarkister
Excerpter från Heidegren, Carl-Göran. (1997). Preussiska anarkister. Ernst Jünger och hans krets under Weimar-republikens krisår. Stockholm/Stehag: Symposion.
s 140 f
Ett annat kännetecken för tiden är strävan att översätta mänskliga förhållanden till talförhållanden, viljan att kvantifiera, en strävan som har funnit sitt karakteristiska uttryck i statistiken, må det sedan handla om produktionsvolymer eller hastighetsrekord.
s 141 f
En annan följd av individens tendentiella försvinnande är att politiska attentat, om de vill uppnå största möjliga verkan, inte längre bör riktas mot ”statens personliga eller individuella företrädare”, utan snarare mot ”järnvägsbroar, radiomaster eller fabrikslager”.
s 142
Skillnaden mellan borgaren och arbetaren består, enligt Jünger, inte i att den senare besitter ett högre värde utan i att de båda helt enkelt är radikalt olika, och därför kan det inte heller finnas någon gemensam måttstock. Individen och typen talar olika språk och lyder under olika skilda lagar. ”Där ett annat språk talas är debatten avslutad och aktionen börjar.” På samma gång gör sig inom arbetargestalten en ny rangordning alltmera märkbar.
Jüngers lägesbestämning kan sammanfattas på följande sätt. Vi befinner oss i ett interregnum mellan borgarens skenherravälde och arbetargestaltens verkliga herravälde, närmare bestämt i ett skede när det förra definitivt avslöjats som ett sken och det senare börjar göra sig alltmer märkbart. den första fasen av denna övergång kännetecknas av en genomgripande förstörelseprocess riktad mot den bestående ordningen, som underminerar och upplöser dess bindningar och värden. Detta gäller inte minst alla transcendenta, och därför utgör tekniken i Jüngers ögon ”den avgjort mest antikristliga makt som hittills framträtt”. Teknikens segertåg efterlämnar ett ödelagt landskap, ett tillstånd av ”anarki – en anarki som sliter sönder livsenheterna i sina atomer”. Nollpunkten är emellertid redan överskriden. Häremot svarar vad Jünger kallar ”en ny uppspirande känsla för jorden”. Vi befinner oss därmed i den andra fasen ”där tekniken ställer sig till förfogande för stora och djärva planer”, i en fas kännetecknad av att alla medel tas i anspråk för en total mobilisering. Den tredje och avslutande fasen, som vi ännu inte inträtt i, är nådd först när det dynamiskt-explosiva tillståndet har övergått i ett perfektionstillstånd.
Arbetaren vet att handskas och umgås med sina medel – tekniken – på samma sätt som djuren brukar sina organ, med en instinktiv säkerhet. Här ekar Spengler: den moderna tekniken utgör arbetarens specifika sätt att hantera och bemästra livet. Man kan med avseende på förhållandet mellan människa och teknik tala om en organisk konstruktion när detta förhållande blivit otvunget eller ”när tekniken uppnått den högsta graden av självklarhet som utmärker djur- och växtlemmar”.
s 146
Generellt gäller att ”tekniken till sin natur inte utgör ett medel som är anpassat och inrättat för nationen”. Arbetargestalten tenderar såtillvida att expandera utöver nationalstatens gränser och begränsningar, och därmed kan inte heller nationen längre komma i fråga som något högsta värde. Jüngers konception – eller kanske snarare vision – spränger nationalismen så att säga inifrån, och arbetsstaten kan därför inte utgöra med än ett övergångstillstånd.
s 146 f
Nationen kan inte längre aspirera på att utgöra ett högsta värde emedan världen förändras i riktning mot arbetargestaltens gränslösa – planetariska – herravälde. Arbetargestalten utgör överhuvudtaget inte något värde utan representerar den punkt där varje diskussion om önskvärt eller icke önskvärt med nödvändighet upphör: varat. ”Denna utgör i sin mest betydande innebörd ett vara, och detta innebär i förhållande till den enskilda individen att denna antingen är arbetare eller inte är det – fullständigt utan betydelse är däremot det blotta anspråket på att vara det.”
s 147
[D]en från sitt första besök i Sovjetunionen just hemkomne Niekisch skriver [i sin recension av der Arbeiter]: ”Ingenstans har ’arbetargestalten’ gjort sig så definitivtgällande som i det bolsjevistiska Ryssland. (…) Understundom ter sig Jüngers framställning som en tankemässig abstraktion, ja som ett förhärligande av den ryska erfarenhetsvärlden.” Niekisch är medveten om att det gnisslar, men han övervinner detta med hjälp av sin högst egna dialektik. ”Förvisso är det en bok som helt och hållet andas storstadsatmosfär. Men den är på samma gång ända ut i sina yttersta förgreningar protestantisk. (…) När allt kommer omkring är bolsjevismen inget annat än Luther i Ryssland.”
s 148 [Uteslutningarna i Niekisch text är Heidegrens.]
Jünger nämner [i sin replik på Albrecht Erich Günters recension av der Arbeiter] tre förutsättningar för att man skall kunna tala om en ny ordning: förekomsten av en ny princip, av en ny människa och av nya former för livet. Är dessa tre förutsättningar uppfyllda så föreligger åtminstone möjligheten att förverkliga en ny ordning. Den fråga som inställer sig är om detta är fallet när det gäller den genomgripande omvälvningsprocess som vi just nu befinner oss i. Jüngers svar lyder att de båda första förutsättningarna tvivelsutan är uppfyllda: den nya principen är arbetet, den nya människan är arbetaren. På den tredje frågan är svaret däremot mindre entydigt.
s 150
”Det system av krafter som hotar vårt liv och vår frihet är och förblir Versailles-systemet, och av detta skäl är observationen och kännedomen om alla makter som befinner sig utanför detta system för oss av största vikt.”
s 162 Jünger i Widerstand september 1933.
”Den ’Totala mobiliseringen’ skildrar den stora processen, ’Arbetaren’ den gestalt vars historiska uppgift består i genomförandet av processen. Den föreliggande betraktelsen driver undersökningen ett steg vidare; den påvisar att prövostenen för detta förlopp inte till äventyrs står att finna i värdet, utan i smärtan.
s 163
Det är det föreliggande arbetets huvudtes att Jüngers strävan att häva det ontologiska undantagstillståndet, en strävan som utgör det ömsom explicita, ömsom fördolda ledmotivet i hans skriftställarskap under åren 1929-1934, kulminerar i tanken att den högsta och oföränderliga måttstock gentemot vilken varje företeelse i samtiden har att mäta sig står att finna i smärtan. När tron på traderade värdehierarkier gått förlorad blir i stället hjärtat absolut. Hjärtat klappar för nationen, men nationens tröja har visat sig vara för trång och sprängs av arbetargestalten som reser anspråk på ett planetariskt herravälde. Då återstår endast smärtan som en evig och omutlig måttstock.
s 163
Ledmotivet i essän om smärtan utgör ”livets tilltagande förstening” och människans övervinnande av smärtan genom ”försakligandet och objektiveringen av livet”. Tekniken för detta förtingligande av livet heter disciplinering, en process vilken i sin tur en ”böjelse för disciplin” i tiden kommer till mötes. Smärta, disciplin och förtingligande: ”Med den fortskridande objektiveringen ökar det mått smärta som kan uthärdas.” Att disciplinera sig själv, att göra sig till ett ting, att rusta sig in för mötet med smärtan innebär att degradera den egna kroppen från ett högsta värde, som till varje pris skall bevaras, till en ”förpost” som man är beredd att uppoffra, att bringa till insats i namn av något högre.
s 164 f
Det [sporten] handlar således i grund och botten mindre om en tävlan mellan individer och mera om ”en exakt mätprocedur”, där det andra medvetande ständigt är närvarande i form av måttband, stoppur, fotolinser etc. Som sådan är sporten ett uttryck för vårt sätt att vara där kroppen genom en utdragen disciplineringsprocess formats till ett lydigt verktyg. Tendensen att objektivera den mänskliga kroppen gör sig även märkbar genom en ökad närvaro av den obeklädda kroppen inom områden som sport, dans ock reklam. Likaså inom medicinen där användande av narkos å ena sidan befria från smärta, å andra sidan ”förvandlar kroppen till ett objekt som står öppet för mekaniska ingrepp på samma sätt som ett livlöst stoff”.
s 166
Från de stora skogarna där överjägmästaren härskar oinskränkt utgår ett hot som underminerar den redan bräckliga ordningen. I några avsnitt ger Jünger en subtil skildring av de mekanismer varigenom giftet tränger in i en redan försvagad samhällskropp: förbrytarband tillåts husera fritt, uppenbara rättsövergrepp beivras inte längre, skumma sakförare uppträder som orättens försvarare i domstolarna, språket förråas, förstörelsens krafter tränger in i ämbeten och magistrat. ”Överjägmästaren liknade en ond läkare som först befordrar sjukdomen för att sedan kunna göra de ingrepp han har i sinnet.” Att på samma gång underblåsa anarkin och uppträda som ordningens försvarare är överjägmästarens sataniska och högst verkningsfulla strategi.
s 174 [Stycket refererar På marmorklipporna.]
Noter
Så sent som i en intervju från mitten av 1980-talet besvarade Jünger frågan hur han definierade den preussiska andan i ordalag som starkt erinrar om Spengler: ”Hos preussarna har av allt att döma de österländska och västerländska influenserna uppnått en sådan balans att ett system av befäl och lydnad, av lustfylld tjänstvillighet kan fungera i harmoni.”
s 182 Jünger i Entretiens avec Ernst Jünger av Julien Hervier, Paris 1986.
”Den som fruktar klara förhållanden och den totala mobiliseringen är ingen socialist. […] Generalstab, produktionsarméer, planer, gemensamt arbete. Fullständig insats och ansvar till det yttersta - det är socialism.”
s 188 Harro Schulze-Boysen i Gegner von Heute utgiven 1932.
”Demokrati och kapitalism är ett och samma ont: man måste bekämpa dem på en och samma gång.”
s 189 Thierry Maulnier i den franska tidskriften Combat från 1936
”Ett folk förväntas flera gånger om året välja mellan fem organiserade system, av vilka vart och ett inom sig är totalt och vart och ett, i sina yttersta konsekvenser, upphäver och förintar de andra, välja till exempel mellan ateism och kristendom, samtidigt mellan socialism och kapitalism, samtidigt mellan monarki och republik, mellan Moskva, Rom, Wittenberg, Genevé och Bruna Huset, och mellan liknande oförenliga vän-fiende-alternativ, bakom vilka finns starka organisationer!”
s 192 Schmitt i Positionen und Begrife, s 189
Den [heroiska realismen] söker inte upp lösningarna utan konflikterna - i dessas skärpa och obeveklighet tycks den för livet eviga mening vara inbäddad.” Bakgrunden till Jüngers hållning utgör vissheten om att leva i en tid ”som ifrågasätter all”. Den heroiska realismen är kompromisslös, emedan varje kompromiss för den som strävar efter något absolut blir ett uttryck för svaghet, för en brist på övertygelse och vilja.
s 198
Uppenbarligen betraktade Jünger vi denna tidpunkt ett framtida krig som mer eller mindre oundvikligt. ”Som vi ser det är ryssarna helt i sin rätt när de strävar efter att förskaffa sig en rustning, som det inte bara är av avgörande betydelse för ryssland att vara i besittning av, utan överhuvudtaget för varje stormakt med avseende på framtida konflikter. (…) Att människan blir lidande under sådana jättelika ansträngningar utgör ingen invändning, utan det är snarare en självklarhet.”
s 203 Jünger, källa ej angiven.
Spöknippets mest omfattande excerper hittills och ändock allt för kort.
Jünger betonar med eftertryck att den nationalism som han och hans vänner företräder inte har det minsta att göra med ”monarkismen, konservatismen, den borgerliga reaktionen eller den vilhelminska erans patriotism”. I stället bestämmer han nationalismen som ”den rena och obetvingade viljan till insats för den som centralt värde upplevda och förstådda nationen, med alla krafter och alla medel som står till förfogande”. Med provocerande uppriktighet skriver han vidare: ”Nationalismen, i den mån den är en politisk företeelse, eftersträvar alla tyskars nationella, sociala, vapenföra och auktoritativt organiserade stat.” Det kan inte råda minsta tvekan: Jüngers målsättning i politiskt avseende är att försätta den parlamentariska demokratin ur spel.
s 31
”Emedan vi är borgarens oförfalskade, uppriktiga och obönhörliga fiender så bereder oss dennes förruttnelse ett nöje. Vi däremot är inga borgare, utan söner av krig och inbördeskrig, och först när allt detta, denna cirkelrörelse i det tomma, sopats undan kommer det att kunna utveckla sig som ännu ryms inom oss av natur, elementär kraft, äkta vildhet, urspråk, förmåga till verklig alstring med blod och säd. Först då föreligger möjligheten av nya former.”
s 32
Jünger är överhuvudtaget angelägen om att betona att den hållning han skisserar inte låter sig företrädas genom organisationer eller partier. I stället appellerar han till ungdomen, ”dagens okända soldater”, som slagits till marken av ”gemenhetens, rutinens och korruptionens giftgaser”. Dessa slagna måste resa sig och lära sig att man ”I en tid som denna kan marschera även utan fana”.
s 32
Den preussiska anarkistens livselement och livselixir är undantagstillståndet, ingenmanslandet mellan sammanstörtande och ännu inte upprättade nya ordningar. Inom nationalrevolutionära kretsar var detta liktydigt med ett tvåfaldigt nej: ingen fortsättning av Weimar-republiken, men inte heller någon restauration av den vilhelminska staten.
s 36
Spenglers märkliga tankegång är att Preußentum och Sozialismus i grund och botten är en och samma sak, och att vad det närmast kommer an på är att befria den tyska socialismen från Marx.
s 37
Att tjäna med stolthet och befalla med ödmjukhet, kort sagt, frihet i lydnad – så lyder trollformeln! Denna preussiska habitus har enligt Spengler sina rötter hos den tyska riddarorden, som under medeltiden koloniserade östersjökusten. Preußentum är tjänstemannaanda, viljan att på grundval av duglighet inta en bestämd plats i en rangordning, där den högsta rangen består i att vara statens förste tjänare.
s 37
Inte heller för Jüngers gode vän Friedrich Hielscher råder någon tvekan om vad som utgör en preussisk hållning. ”Gestaltandet av det gestaltlösa, begränsande av det gränslösa, tyglande av viljan som vill det hela till att tjäna delen för det helas skull, överhuvudtaget tjänst utifrån frihet, tuktan utifrån fullhet, lydnad utifrån makt.”
s 37 Citatet från Hielscher, Das Reich s 152
[D]en preussiska hållningen är primär i förhållande till den politisk-rättsliga storhet som bär namnet Preussen. ”Den stat som kallar sig Preussen är endast preussisk om den verkligen brukas som redskap för den preussiska hållningen”.
s 37
”Preussen” var inom nationalrevolutionära kretsar tvivelsutan i första hand ett polemiskt begrepp. Dess udd var riktad mot ”Väst” och allt som detta begrepp stod för: Versailles, Rom, parlamentarisk demokrati, liberalism, amerikanism, komfort och så vidare. Weimar-republiken var ”Väst” på tysk botten.
s 37 f
Förknippar man vanligtvis anarkismen med strävan efter att upphäva staten, så syftar Jüngers preussiska anarkism omvänt till att tillintetgöra samhället till förmån för den starka staten.
Kommunismen - den samhälleliga ordningens ”sista och långtråkigaste triumf” - är hänvisad till att företrädas av ett politiskt parti. Den preussiska anarkismens utgångspunkt är däremot: ”Man kan inte verka för Tyskland i sällskap.”
s 41
För Simmel är Nietzsche inte den store immoralisten, utan tvärtom den konsekvente förkunnaren av en ny moral, en moral utan inslag av transcendens: ett jordiskt förnämhetsideal. Detta ideal är förankrat i den mänskliga karaktären, i själsgemenskaper som en människa antingen besitter eller inte besitter. Denna karaktär och dessa egenskaper utgör självändamål i en objektiv betydelse. ”Den förnäma människan”, skriver Simmel, ”frågar inte efter ’vad det kostar’.” Priset må vara hur högt som helst med avseende på umbäranden och prövningar, på subjektivt lidande. De värden den förnäme hyllar står över alla kostnadskalkyler, eller denne nedlåter sig inte till några sådana.
s 42 f
”Inom det parlamentariska demokratier avlöser majoriteter varandra. Den empiriska karaktären växlar, den intelligibla består. Från det ögonblick då den högsta makten överlåts på en enskild individ avlöser män varandra.”
s 44 citatet från Jüngers ”Nationalisums” und Nationalismus, september 1929
”Det är inte vår uppgift att fundera över åtgärder som får det utrikespolitiska trycket att framstå som lindrigare, som kunde mildra de inrikespolitiska spänningarna, och inte heller deltaga i val, att påverka konferenser och omröstningar, att engagera oss i så kallade folkomröstningar. Det är inte vår uppgift att dra i fält med långa triader mot den politiska och sociala moralens allmänna förfall, mot fosterfördrivning, mot strejker, mot utspärrningar, mot minskningen av polis och armé.”
s 45 Citatet från Jüngers ”Nationalisums” und Nationalismus, september 1929
”Därför förhåller det sig så att denna tid kräver en dygd framför alla andra: beslutsamhet. Vad det kommer an på är förmågan att vilja och tro, alldeles oavsett de innehåll som denna vilja och tro ger sig själv.”
s 49, från Das abenteuerliche Herz, s 110
”Ingen fråntar den ansvaret som avfordrar sitt eget samvete räkenskap. Ingen får tiga som ser avgrunder medan andra ännu är blinda.”
s 50 Citatet från förordet till Niekisch, Hitler - ein deutsches Verthängnis, 1932
Vad Niekisch förebrår Hitler är att denne är på väg att förråda Tyskland: hitlerismen är västerländsk demagogi på tysk mark. Att så är fallet avslöjar sig omedelbart genom hållningen till det bolsjevistiska Ryssland. ”Mot bakgrund av det aktuella världsläget kan man endast ifrågasätta endera Versilles-ordningen eller den bolsjevistiska ordningen; den som slår mot den ena försvarar därigenom redan den andra.”
s 55 Citatet från Niekisch, Hitler - ein deutsches Verthängnis, s 16
”Det existerar ingen legal revolution och ingen revolutionär legalitet; där legaliteten börjar upphör revolutionen.”
s 55 Niekisch i Hitler - ein deutsches Verthängnis
Därför är det utlovade Tredje riket snarare en religiös förhoppning än en politisk möjlighet. ”Nationalsocialismen är en form av nationell messianism; Hitler är Messias.” Niekisch drar sig inte för att utdela en dolkstöt i ryggen som rimligen måste ha försatt der Führer i raseri: ”Den nationella messianismen är av judiskt ursprung”. Summa summarum, nationalsocialismen är ingen revolutionär rörelse, den utgör inget hot mot Versailles-systemet, utan är tvärtom dettas förlängda arm i Tyskland.
s 56
”När jag var färdig med min skrift Hitler - ein deutsches Verthängnis, och Webers utkast till teckningarna förelåg, bjöd jag hem Jünger, Schmitt och Bronnen till mig. Jag visade dem utkasten.[…] Jünger avstod från omdöme. Han visste väl, menade han, hur jag tänkt igenom allt och kalkylerat med följderna. Han fann teckningarna bra och verkningsfulla, och säkert skulle skriften göra ett starkt intryck.”
s 56 Niekisch i Gewagtes Leben, s 188-189
”Just den säkerhet varmed typiskt framåtsträvande rörelser leder till resultat som är motsatta sin egen tendens låter förmoda att det här - liksom överallt i livet - inte är tendenserna, utan andra, fördolda drivkrafter som är avgörande.”
s 77 Från Die totale Mobilmachung
Framåtskridande - 1800-talets stora folkkyrka - har allt mer kastat av sig masken av förnuft och humanitet, och framskrider alltmer oförhöljd som ”en halvt grotesk, halvt barbarisk maskinfetischism, en naiv teknikkult”. Detta är framåtskridandets dolda innebörd. Jüngers behandlar temat upplysningens dialektik genom att tala om en grundläggande och genomgripande mobilisering ”som tiden fullbordar med oss”. Sedan första världskriget står det klart att det inte är en partiell mobilisering, som den gamla furstemakten kunde inskränka sig till och inte heller en allmän mobilisering, som var utmärkande för den konstitutionella monarkin under den borgerliga tidsåldern, utan en total mobilisering som står på dagordningen. Man kan bejaka eller avvisa denna process, men undandra sig den kan ingen. ”Den totala mobiliseringen fullbordas i långt mindre utsträckning än den fullbordar sig själv, den är i krigs- och fredstid uttrycket för det hemlighetsfulla och tvingande anspråk som detta liv underkastar oss i massornas och maskinernas tidsålder.”
s 77 f
Redan i de gamla frivilligas jubel vid krigsutbrottet förenade sig ”vämjelsen inför de gamla värdena ned den omedvetna längtan efter ett nytt liv”. Snart stod det emellertid klart att detta krig inte skulle likna andra krig, emedan fronten snabbt kom att utsträckas ända till hemarbeterskan vid symaskinen, samtidigt som skillnaden mellan soldat och civilist allt mer kom att bli överspelad. Det sätt på varpå kriget efter hand allt mer antog formen av en ”gigantisk arbetsprocess” som försatte varje atom i rörelse kungjorde att en ny tidsålder hade tagit sin början, ett förhållande som gör detta krig till en historisk händelse ”som till sin betydelse är vida överlägsen den franska revolutionen”.
s 78
Framtiden kommer att tillhöra dem - stater, nationer, folk - som är i stånd att genomföra en total mobilisering, som är i stånd att kanalisera all frigjord energi i en riktning.
s 78
Carl Schmitt diagnostiserar i sin skrift Der Hüter der Verfassung från 1931 en vändning mot den totala staten, varmed han avser upphävandet av skillnaden mellan stat och samhälle och som en följd därav politiseringen av potentiellt sett alla samhällsområden. I direkt anslutning härtill skriver han: ”En framstående representant för de tyska frontsoldaterna, Ernst Jünger, har för denna häpnadsväckande process infört den högst pregnanta formeln: den totala mobiliseringen.” I den totala staten finns det inte längre något neutralt - i betydelsen opolitiskt - område där staten inte äger rätt att intervenera. Detta förhållande är allra mest påtagligt på ekonomins område. Schmitt förklarar denna rörelse mot den totala staten som en motrörelse till den neutralisering och avpolitisering av staten som varit utmärkande för liberalismens tidsålder. s 79 f
För ett realistiskt tankesätt gäller att sanning och verklighet är identiska och att lögnen så till vida utgör det icke-varande. Idealismen är ett ”oförnämt tankesätt”* just emedan det nedvärderar verkligheten till förmån för något föregivet högre och sannare.
s 87 * Friedrich Georg Jünger i Wiederstand nr 5 1934
"Det är inte heller något huvudsakligt kännetecken för nationalisten att han redan till frukost slukar tre judar - antisemitismen är för honom inte någon väsentlig fråga.”
s 89 Jünger i ”’Nationalismus’ und Nationalismus”, publ. i Das Tagebuch sep 1929
”Vi debatterar inte med renegater som utsätter oss för oförskämdheter i smutsblad utgivna av judiska landsförrädare. Herr Jünger är därmed för oss ett avslutat kapitel.”
s 89 Goebbels svar till Jüngers ovan nämnda artikel i Der Angriff 27 oktober 1929
Det är inte den assimilerade juden han [Jünger] välkomnar, utan den som är sin religion och kultur trogen, det vill säga de vid denna tid i så hög grad föraktade östjudarna som präglade delar av statsbilden i Berlin, framförallt den så kallade Scheunenviertel strax norr om Alexanderplatz.
s 89
Så vitt jag kan se grundar sig för honom [Jünger] ett folks särart inte på en naturbestämning, inte på ”ras” i biologisk bemärkelse, utan snarare på gemensamma erfarenheter och habitus.
s 92
”Bakom formeln om den totala staten finner man den riktiga insikten att dagens stat besitter nya maktmedel och möjligheter av en oerhörd intensitet, vars yttersta räckvidd och följdverkningar vi knappt anar, emedan vårt ordförråd och vår fantasi fortfarande är djupt rotade idet nittonde århundradet. (...) En sådan stat låter inte några statsfientliga, statshämmande, statssplittrande krafter uppkomma i sitt inre. Den har inte en tanke på att lämna ut de nya maktmedlen till sina fiender och förstörare eller på att förankra sin makt i stickord som liberalism, rättsstat eller vad man vill. En sådan stat vet att skilja mellan vän och fiende.”
s 101, Schmitt i Weiterentwicklung des totales Staats in Deutschland, februari 1933
”Från senare tid vill jag här nämna den storartade diskussionen mellan Ernst Jünger och Paul Adams (Deutschland-Sender, 1 februari 1933) som snart kommer att föreligga i tryck. Ernst Jünger företrädde vid detta tillfälle den agonala principen (’människan är inte ägnad för fred’), medan Paul Adams såg krigets mening i frambringandet av herravälde, ordning och fred.”
s 103 f, Schmitt i Der Begriff des Politischen, 3 uppl. s 10n
”De vars själ blivit till ädelsten, kall och gnistrande av tämjd eld, bär framtiden inom sig.”
”De utvaldas skara är liten”
s 112 Hielscher, Das Reich
Utgångspunkt för Hielschers överläggningar bildar tanken att Tyskland sedan Bismarcks avskedande 1890 alltmer kommit att hamna under ett västeuropeiskt-amerikanskt inflytande och därigenom blivit främmande för sig självt. ”Övervinnandet av denna motsägelse”, heter det kort och koncist, ”leder till vänskap med Asien.
s 114
I centrum för Hielschers bok Das Reich, som publicerades våren 1931 på eget förlag, står en egensinnig konception om riket som befinner sig i vardande i den tyska folksjälen. Därvidlag är det emellertid inte tyskheten som avgör om man är tillhörig detta vardande rike, utan det är tvärt om tillhörigheten till riket som avgör om man är att betrakta som tysk. Tysk är helt enkelt Hielschers namn på ”rikets människoslag”. Tillhörigheten till riket är i sin tur en fråga om hållning och tro. Kort sagt, riket och tyskheten är själarnas gemenskap i tron: ”Att vara tysk betyder att göra en sak utan biavsikter. Det är inget rums- och tidsbundet, inte företeelsernas yta, utan väsendet självt, tron, positionen i Gud, närmare bestämt avgör en enda tro tillhörigheten till riket.” Endast den tillhör riket som bekänner sig till riket.
s 115
Den förhandlande borgaren står i färd med att förpassas till historiens skräphög av den kämpande arbetaren. En ny vokabulär gör sig allt mer gällande som livets växelmynt: frihet, bindning, ansvar, ordning, stat etc. ”Den som i dagens Tyskland traktar efter ett nytt herrvälde bör vända blicken dithän där han ser ett nytt medvetande och ansvar i verket.” Den som blickar i denna riktning stöter på arbetargestalten. Följer man Jüngers argumentation så långt är slutsatsen näraliggande, ja närmast tvingande: arbetare måste uppnå ett gestaltmedveteande snarare än ett klassmedvetande - med förbehållet att termen ”arbetare” här inte får uppfattas i en snävt marxistisk betydelse. Jag tolkar vidare att det faller på de preussiska anarkisternas lott att utgöra arbetarens avantgarde.
s 135
”Man skall veta ett i arbetarens tidsålder, när denna bär sitt namn med rätta och inte på så sätt som till exempel idag alla partier kallar sig arbetarpartier, kan det inte finnas något som inte förstås som arbete. Arbete är tempot hos näven, tanken, hjärtat, livet under dag och natt, vetenskapen, kärleken, konsten, tron, kulturen, kriget; arbete är atomens svängningar och kraften som försätter stjärnor och solsystem i rörelse.”
s 137 Från Der Arbeiter
Arbetaren är ingalunda identisk med industriarbetaren; den senare utgör endast en av arbetargestaltens framträdande former - varken mer eller mindre. Sinnebilden för arbetaren är snarare människan som excellerar i umgänget med den modernaste tekniken.
s 137
Jünger talar upprepade gånger om den specifika hållning som utmärker arbetargestalten. Med ett uttryck som ligger vår tids teoretiska diskurs närmare skulle man kunna tala om arbetarens specifika habitus.
s 138
”Det enda möjliga arvet av preusseriet, arbetarskapet, utesluter inte det elementära utan tvärtom innesluter det; det har gått genom anarkins skola, förstörelsen av de gamla bindningarna, därför har det att verkställa ett frihetsanspråk i en ny tid, i ett nytt rum och genom en ny aristokrati.”
s 138 Från Der arbeiter
Arbetaren har gått igenom anarkins skola, men får för den skull inte förväxlas med anarkisten. Det finns all anledning att vara uppmärksam på den tyngdpunktsförskjutning som skett mellan Das abenteuerliche Herz och Der Arbeiter. I arbetsvärlden finns i princip inte längre något utrymme för individuella initiativ, utan varje individ är underkastad en genomgripande förändringsprocess. Tyngdpunkten har förskjutits från Tat till Prozeß, från handlingen som förändrande ingriper i världen till den process som under alla omständigheter - med eller mot den enskilde individens vilja - fullbordar sig. Tiden själv är det som bär upp den anarkistiska kvaliteten, inte den enskilde som sådan. Var Jüngers anarkism en preussisk anarkism, så är hans arbetare förvisso en preussisk arbetare: denne har gått igenom förstörelsens stålbad ur vilket en ny ordning och en ny hierarki är på väg att resa sig. I en våldsamt överspänd formulering, som emellertid samtidigt innehåller en signifikativ sammanställning, heter det: ”Ju mera cyniskt, spartanskt, preussiskt eller bolsjevistiskt som livet låter sig levas, desto bättre kommer det att vara.” Den nya ordningen ger sig inte till känna som rörelsens avstannande utan snarare som ett mönster som uppenbarar sig och blir synligt i rörelsen. ”Härav framgår möjligheten av en munter anarki, som tillika sammanfaller med den strängaste ordning - ett skådespel som redan är förebådat i de stora fältslagen och de jättelika städerna, vars bild återfinns vid vårt århundrades början” Här blir Jüngers inspirationskällor än en gång tydliga: det första världskrigets materialslag och Berlin som fortsättningen på kriget med andra medel.
s 138 f
Det bestående intryck som möter främlingens öga är att en våldsamt accelererad rörelse har bemäktigat sig allt och alla. Det förhåller sig med denna rörelse som med arbetar gestalten: har man väl en gång fått upp ögonen för den så återfinner man den överallt.
Den kan iakttas på fälten där det sås ock skördas, i schakten ur vilka man hämtar malm och kol och vid dammarna där flodernas och sjöarnas vatten däms upp. Tusenfalt varierad verkar den såväl vid minsta arbetsbänk som inom stora produktions områden. Den saknas varken i vetenskapliga laboratorier eller på handelns kontor, i privata eller offentliga lokaler. Det finns inga ställen så avlägsna att den där inte driver, hamrar på, ger sina signaler – det må sedan gälla ett sjunkande skepp ute på nattsvarta havet eller en expedition djupt inne i polarisens kyla. Den är lika mycket där man handlar och tänker som där man kämpar eller roar sig.För individens del har det märkliga förhållandet inträtt att det kräver en särskild ansträngning för att överhuvudtaget se denne. Som sinnebilden för individens undergång framstår för Jünger den tyska krigskatastrofen vid Langemarck i Belgien den första krigshösten, då tusentals unga frivilliga i en klassisk angreppsformation rusade rakt mot en vägg av maskingevärseld och mejades ner. ”Den fria viljan, bildning, begeistring och dödsföraktets rus” – 1800-talets alla dygder – räckte inte till för att övervinna det fåtal hundra meter där den mekaniska döden regerade. Detta var långt mer än en militär katastrof, det var en antydan om ett förestående epokskifte. Efterkrigstiden utgör såtillvida fortsättningen av den borgerliga individens upplösning och undergång med ”fredliga” medel. Detta är märkbart redan med avseende på de individuella fysionomierna: ansiktena har förlorat allt mer av sin individualitet till förmån för en enhetlig prägel. ”Blicken är lugn och skarp, skolad i att betrakta föremål som rör sig med hög hastighet.” Borta är den oroligt flackande och distraherade blick som kännetecknar borgaren, för vilken redan en starkt trafikerad gatukorsning framkallar en svindelupplevelse. Överhuvudtaget kommer i dagens ansikten alltmer av maskliknande drag till uttryck som hos männen bär en metallisk karaktär, hos kvinnorna en kosmetisk. Dessa ansikten bär enhetlighetens och entydighetens prägel på bekostnad av det säregna och individuella – kort sagt, på den borgerliga individens bekostnad.
s 140 f
Ett annat kännetecken för tiden är strävan att översätta mänskliga förhållanden till talförhållanden, viljan att kvantifiera, en strävan som har funnit sitt karakteristiska uttryck i statistiken, må det sedan handla om produktionsvolymer eller hastighetsrekord.
s 141 f
En annan följd av individens tendentiella försvinnande är att politiska attentat, om de vill uppnå största möjliga verkan, inte längre bör riktas mot ”statens personliga eller individuella företrädare”, utan snarare mot ”järnvägsbroar, radiomaster eller fabrikslager”.
s 142
Skillnaden mellan borgaren och arbetaren består, enligt Jünger, inte i att den senare besitter ett högre värde utan i att de båda helt enkelt är radikalt olika, och därför kan det inte heller finnas någon gemensam måttstock. Individen och typen talar olika språk och lyder under olika skilda lagar. ”Där ett annat språk talas är debatten avslutad och aktionen börjar.” På samma gång gör sig inom arbetargestalten en ny rangordning alltmera märkbar.
Medan arbetargestalten på det nedersta stadiet av rangordningen såsom blind vilja eller planetarisk funktion infångar och underordnar sig den enskilde, installerar den på det andra stadiet denne som bärare av den speciella arbetskaraktären i en mångfald av planenliga konstruktioner. På det sista och hösta stadiet framträder emellertid den enskilde såtillvida som denne omedelbart relaterar sig till den totala arbetargestalten.s 142
Jüngers lägesbestämning kan sammanfattas på följande sätt. Vi befinner oss i ett interregnum mellan borgarens skenherravälde och arbetargestaltens verkliga herravälde, närmare bestämt i ett skede när det förra definitivt avslöjats som ett sken och det senare börjar göra sig alltmer märkbart. den första fasen av denna övergång kännetecknas av en genomgripande förstörelseprocess riktad mot den bestående ordningen, som underminerar och upplöser dess bindningar och värden. Detta gäller inte minst alla transcendenta, och därför utgör tekniken i Jüngers ögon ”den avgjort mest antikristliga makt som hittills framträtt”. Teknikens segertåg efterlämnar ett ödelagt landskap, ett tillstånd av ”anarki – en anarki som sliter sönder livsenheterna i sina atomer”. Nollpunkten är emellertid redan överskriden. Häremot svarar vad Jünger kallar ”en ny uppspirande känsla för jorden”. Vi befinner oss därmed i den andra fasen ”där tekniken ställer sig till förfogande för stora och djärva planer”, i en fas kännetecknad av att alla medel tas i anspråk för en total mobilisering. Den tredje och avslutande fasen, som vi ännu inte inträtt i, är nådd först när det dynamiskt-explosiva tillståndet har övergått i ett perfektionstillstånd.
Teknikens perfektion är ett av kännetecknen på fullbordan av den totala mobilisering vi är inbegripna i. Denna förmår därför förvisso höja livet till en högre organisationsnivå, men inte, som framstegstanken trodde, till en högre värdenivå. I denna perfektion är det dynamiska och revolutionära rummets avlösning av ett statiskt och mycket ordnat rum antydd.s 144 f
Arbetaren vet att handskas och umgås med sina medel – tekniken – på samma sätt som djuren brukar sina organ, med en instinktiv säkerhet. Här ekar Spengler: den moderna tekniken utgör arbetarens specifika sätt att hantera och bemästra livet. Man kan med avseende på förhållandet mellan människa och teknik tala om en organisk konstruktion när detta förhållande blivit otvunget eller ”när tekniken uppnått den högsta graden av självklarhet som utmärker djur- och växtlemmar”.
s 146
Generellt gäller att ”tekniken till sin natur inte utgör ett medel som är anpassat och inrättat för nationen”. Arbetargestalten tenderar såtillvida att expandera utöver nationalstatens gränser och begränsningar, och därmed kan inte heller nationen längre komma i fråga som något högsta värde. Jüngers konception – eller kanske snarare vision – spränger nationalismen så att säga inifrån, och arbetsstaten kan därför inte utgöra med än ett övergångstillstånd.
s 146 f
Nationen kan inte längre aspirera på att utgöra ett högsta värde emedan världen förändras i riktning mot arbetargestaltens gränslösa – planetariska – herravälde. Arbetargestalten utgör överhuvudtaget inte något värde utan representerar den punkt där varje diskussion om önskvärt eller icke önskvärt med nödvändighet upphör: varat. ”Denna utgör i sin mest betydande innebörd ett vara, och detta innebär i förhållande till den enskilda individen att denna antingen är arbetare eller inte är det – fullständigt utan betydelse är däremot det blotta anspråket på att vara det.”
s 147
[D]en från sitt första besök i Sovjetunionen just hemkomne Niekisch skriver [i sin recension av der Arbeiter]: ”Ingenstans har ’arbetargestalten’ gjort sig så definitivtgällande som i det bolsjevistiska Ryssland. (…) Understundom ter sig Jüngers framställning som en tankemässig abstraktion, ja som ett förhärligande av den ryska erfarenhetsvärlden.” Niekisch är medveten om att det gnisslar, men han övervinner detta med hjälp av sin högst egna dialektik. ”Förvisso är det en bok som helt och hållet andas storstadsatmosfär. Men den är på samma gång ända ut i sina yttersta förgreningar protestantisk. (…) När allt kommer omkring är bolsjevismen inget annat än Luther i Ryssland.”
s 148 [Uteslutningarna i Niekisch text är Heidegrens.]
Jünger nämner [i sin replik på Albrecht Erich Günters recension av der Arbeiter] tre förutsättningar för att man skall kunna tala om en ny ordning: förekomsten av en ny princip, av en ny människa och av nya former för livet. Är dessa tre förutsättningar uppfyllda så föreligger åtminstone möjligheten att förverkliga en ny ordning. Den fråga som inställer sig är om detta är fallet när det gäller den genomgripande omvälvningsprocess som vi just nu befinner oss i. Jüngers svar lyder att de båda första förutsättningarna tvivelsutan är uppfyllda: den nya principen är arbetet, den nya människan är arbetaren. På den tredje frågan är svaret däremot mindre entydigt.
s 150
”Det system av krafter som hotar vårt liv och vår frihet är och förblir Versailles-systemet, och av detta skäl är observationen och kännedomen om alla makter som befinner sig utanför detta system för oss av största vikt.”
s 162 Jünger i Widerstand september 1933.
”Den ’Totala mobiliseringen’ skildrar den stora processen, ’Arbetaren’ den gestalt vars historiska uppgift består i genomförandet av processen. Den föreliggande betraktelsen driver undersökningen ett steg vidare; den påvisar att prövostenen för detta förlopp inte till äventyrs står att finna i värdet, utan i smärtan.
s 163
Det är det föreliggande arbetets huvudtes att Jüngers strävan att häva det ontologiska undantagstillståndet, en strävan som utgör det ömsom explicita, ömsom fördolda ledmotivet i hans skriftställarskap under åren 1929-1934, kulminerar i tanken att den högsta och oföränderliga måttstock gentemot vilken varje företeelse i samtiden har att mäta sig står att finna i smärtan. När tron på traderade värdehierarkier gått förlorad blir i stället hjärtat absolut. Hjärtat klappar för nationen, men nationens tröja har visat sig vara för trång och sprängs av arbetargestalten som reser anspråk på ett planetariskt herravälde. Då återstår endast smärtan som en evig och omutlig måttstock.
s 163
Ledmotivet i essän om smärtan utgör ”livets tilltagande förstening” och människans övervinnande av smärtan genom ”försakligandet och objektiveringen av livet”. Tekniken för detta förtingligande av livet heter disciplinering, en process vilken i sin tur en ”böjelse för disciplin” i tiden kommer till mötes. Smärta, disciplin och förtingligande: ”Med den fortskridande objektiveringen ökar det mått smärta som kan uthärdas.” Att disciplinera sig själv, att göra sig till ett ting, att rusta sig in för mötet med smärtan innebär att degradera den egna kroppen från ett högsta värde, som till varje pris skall bevaras, till en ”förpost” som man är beredd att uppoffra, att bringa till insats i namn av något högre.
s 164 f
Det [sporten] handlar således i grund och botten mindre om en tävlan mellan individer och mera om ”en exakt mätprocedur”, där det andra medvetande ständigt är närvarande i form av måttband, stoppur, fotolinser etc. Som sådan är sporten ett uttryck för vårt sätt att vara där kroppen genom en utdragen disciplineringsprocess formats till ett lydigt verktyg. Tendensen att objektivera den mänskliga kroppen gör sig även märkbar genom en ökad närvaro av den obeklädda kroppen inom områden som sport, dans ock reklam. Likaså inom medicinen där användande av narkos å ena sidan befria från smärta, å andra sidan ”förvandlar kroppen till ett objekt som står öppet för mekaniska ingrepp på samma sätt som ett livlöst stoff”.
s 166
Från de stora skogarna där överjägmästaren härskar oinskränkt utgår ett hot som underminerar den redan bräckliga ordningen. I några avsnitt ger Jünger en subtil skildring av de mekanismer varigenom giftet tränger in i en redan försvagad samhällskropp: förbrytarband tillåts husera fritt, uppenbara rättsövergrepp beivras inte längre, skumma sakförare uppträder som orättens försvarare i domstolarna, språket förråas, förstörelsens krafter tränger in i ämbeten och magistrat. ”Överjägmästaren liknade en ond läkare som först befordrar sjukdomen för att sedan kunna göra de ingrepp han har i sinnet.” Att på samma gång underblåsa anarkin och uppträda som ordningens försvarare är överjägmästarens sataniska och högst verkningsfulla strategi.
s 174 [Stycket refererar På marmorklipporna.]
Noter
Så sent som i en intervju från mitten av 1980-talet besvarade Jünger frågan hur han definierade den preussiska andan i ordalag som starkt erinrar om Spengler: ”Hos preussarna har av allt att döma de österländska och västerländska influenserna uppnått en sådan balans att ett system av befäl och lydnad, av lustfylld tjänstvillighet kan fungera i harmoni.”
s 182 Jünger i Entretiens avec Ernst Jünger av Julien Hervier, Paris 1986.
”Den som fruktar klara förhållanden och den totala mobiliseringen är ingen socialist. […] Generalstab, produktionsarméer, planer, gemensamt arbete. Fullständig insats och ansvar till det yttersta - det är socialism.”
s 188 Harro Schulze-Boysen i Gegner von Heute utgiven 1932.
”Demokrati och kapitalism är ett och samma ont: man måste bekämpa dem på en och samma gång.”
s 189 Thierry Maulnier i den franska tidskriften Combat från 1936
”Ett folk förväntas flera gånger om året välja mellan fem organiserade system, av vilka vart och ett inom sig är totalt och vart och ett, i sina yttersta konsekvenser, upphäver och förintar de andra, välja till exempel mellan ateism och kristendom, samtidigt mellan socialism och kapitalism, samtidigt mellan monarki och republik, mellan Moskva, Rom, Wittenberg, Genevé och Bruna Huset, och mellan liknande oförenliga vän-fiende-alternativ, bakom vilka finns starka organisationer!”
s 192 Schmitt i Positionen und Begrife, s 189
Den [heroiska realismen] söker inte upp lösningarna utan konflikterna - i dessas skärpa och obeveklighet tycks den för livet eviga mening vara inbäddad.” Bakgrunden till Jüngers hållning utgör vissheten om att leva i en tid ”som ifrågasätter all”. Den heroiska realismen är kompromisslös, emedan varje kompromiss för den som strävar efter något absolut blir ett uttryck för svaghet, för en brist på övertygelse och vilja.
s 198
Uppenbarligen betraktade Jünger vi denna tidpunkt ett framtida krig som mer eller mindre oundvikligt. ”Som vi ser det är ryssarna helt i sin rätt när de strävar efter att förskaffa sig en rustning, som det inte bara är av avgörande betydelse för ryssland att vara i besittning av, utan överhuvudtaget för varje stormakt med avseende på framtida konflikter. (…) Att människan blir lidande under sådana jättelika ansträngningar utgör ingen invändning, utan det är snarare en självklarhet.”
s 203 Jünger, källa ej angiven.
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