Subtitle: "On the Sexual Economy of Political Reactionism and on the Sexual Policies of the Proletariat".
Wilhelm Reich[img], being a follower of Freud, practiced psychoanalysis and psychiatry in Vienna, Austria. There, he joined first the Socialist Party in 1928 and, later in 1930, switched to the German Communist Party when he moved to Berlin. He was, of course, as you might have guessed, though purely by cohencidence... a Jew.
In "The Mass Psychology of Fascism", he argues that the reason Fascism succeeded over Communism in Germany is specifically because they were sexually repressed, citing the sexual liberalism in Russia as evidence of a better outcome. He argues that German children being sexually repressed by their parents is what drove them to authoritarian idealism.
His words:
Suppression of the natural sexuality in the child, particularly of its genital sexuality, makes the child apprehensive, shy, obedient, afraid of authority, good and adjusted in the authoritarian sense; it paralyzes the rebellious forces because any rebellion is laden with anxiety; it produces, by inhibiting sexual curiosity and sexual thinking in the child, a general inhibition of thinking and of critical faculties. In brief, the goal of sexual suppression is that of producing an individual who is adjusted to the authoritarian order and who will submit to it in spite of all misery and degradation. Initially, the child has to submit to the structure of the authoritarian miniature state, the family, which process makes it capable of later subordination to the general authoritarian system. The formation of the authoritarian structure takes place through the anchoring of sexual inhibition and anxiety.
The solution, then, is obvious. Spread "sexual liberation" to destroy the authoritarian order. To that end, he published another book in 1936. Sexuality in the Culture War. Subtitle: "Towards Socialistic Restructuring of Humanity".
This book was effectively a manifesto, outlining the steps that needed to be taken so as to destroy the existing order:
To undermine the idea of monogamous marriage, which he called "compulsive marriage"
To cease "suppression" of infantile sexuality, which, paradoxically, he claimed only led to perversion later in life
To push for candid sexual education and sexual freedom for adolescents in school
To end the persecution of unnatural sexualities such as homosexuality
To legalize abortion and make it easily available
To justify divorce for no reason other than "incompatibility", and ultimately abolish marriage as a legal concept
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Glory_Beckons ago
Copy-pasting from my reply to another post, since it is relevant here:
Let me introduce you to The Mass Psychology of Fascism [img] [full pdf]. A book, published in 1933, the year that Hitler was elected, by one Wilhelm Reich.
Subtitle: "On the Sexual Economy of Political Reactionism and on the Sexual Policies of the Proletariat".
Wilhelm Reich [img], being a follower of Freud, practiced psychoanalysis and psychiatry in Vienna, Austria. There, he joined first the Socialist Party in 1928 and, later in 1930, switched to the German Communist Party when he moved to Berlin. He was, of course, as you might have guessed, though purely by cohencidence... a Jew.
In "The Mass Psychology of Fascism", he argues that the reason Fascism succeeded over Communism in Germany is specifically because they were sexually repressed, citing the sexual liberalism in Russia as evidence of a better outcome. He argues that German children being sexually repressed by their parents is what drove them to authoritarian idealism.
His words:
The solution, then, is obvious. Spread "sexual liberation" to destroy the authoritarian order. To that end, he published another book in 1936. Sexuality in the Culture War. Subtitle: "Towards Socialistic Restructuring of Humanity".
This book was effectively a manifesto, outlining the steps that needed to be taken so as to destroy the existing order:
Any of this sound familiar?
dcprisbrey ago
Good find!