The Apprentice's Sorcerer: Liberal Tradition and Fascism

381 Pages·2009·2.05 MB·English

by  Ishay Landa

The Apprentice’s Sorcerer
Studies in
Critical Social Sciences
Series Editor
David Fasenfest
Wayne State University
Editorial Board
Chris Chase-Dunn, University of California-Riverside
G. William Domhoff, University of California-Santa Cruz
Colette Fagan, Manchester University
Martha Gimenez, University of Colorado, Boulder
Heidi Gottfried, Wayne State University
Karin Gottschall, University of Bremen
Bob Jessop, Lancaster University
Rhonda Levine, Colgate University
Jacqueline O’Reilly, University of Brighton
Mary Romero, Arizona State University
Chizuko Ueno, University of Tokyo
VOLUME 18
The Apprentice’s Sorcerer
Liberal Tradition and Fascism
By
Ishay Landa
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2010
On the cover: Max Ernst, L’ange du foyer, 1937 © VBK, Vienna, 2009.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The apprentice’s sorcerer : liberal tradition and fascism / by Ishay Landa.
p. cm. — (Studies in critical social sciences ; 18)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-17951-6 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Landa, Ishay, 1969– 2. Liberalism—
Europe—History—20th century. 3. Fascism—Europe—History—20th century. I. Title.
II. Series.
JC574.2.E85 L36 2009
320.51094—dc22
2009030367
ISSN 1573-4234
ISBN 978 9004 17951 6
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Und nun komm, du alter Besen! Come on now, old broom, get dressed,
Nimm die schlechten Lumpenhüllen these old rags will do just fine!
Bist schon lange Knecht gewesen: You’re a slave in any case,
nun erfülle meinen Willen! and today you will be mine!
Auf zwei Beinen stehe, May you have two legs,
oben sei der Kopf, and a head on top,
eile nun, und gehe take the bucket, quick
mit dem Wassertopf! hurry, do not stop!
Walle, walle, Go, I say,
manche Strecke, Go on your way,
dass zum Zwecke do not tarry,
Wasser fliesse, water carry,
und mit reichem, vollem Schwalle let it flow abundantly,
zu dem Bade sich ergiesse. . . . and prepare a bath for me. . . .
Stehe! Stehe! Stop! Stand still!
Denn wir haben Heed my will!
deiner Gaben I’ve enough
Vollgemessen! of the stuff!
Ach, ich merk’ es! Wehe! Wehe! I’ve forgotten—woe is me!
Hab’ ich doch das Wortvergessen! what the magic word may be.
Ach, das Wort, worauf am Ende Oh, the word to change him back
er das wird, was er gewesen! into what he was before!
Ach, er läuft und bringt behende! Oh, he runs, and keeps on going!
Wärst du doch der alte Besen! Wish you’d be a broom once more!
Immer neue Güsse He keeps bringing water
bringt er schnell herein, quickly as can be,
Ach, und hundert Flüsse and a hundred rivers
stürzen auf mich ein! he pours down on me!
. . . Nass und nässer . . . Wet and wetter
wird‘s im Saal und auf den Stufen, get the stairs, the rooms, the hall!
Welch entsetzliches Gewässer! What a deluge! What a flood!
Herr und Meister, hör’ mich rufen! Lord and master, hear my call!
Ach, da kommt der Meister! Ah, here comes the master!
Herr, die Not ist groß! I have need of Thee!
Die ich rief, die Geister, from the spirits that I called
wird’ ich nun nicht los. Sir, deliver me!
‚In die Ecke ‘Back now, broom,
Besen, Besen! into the closet!
Seids gewesen, Be thou as thou
denn als Geister wert before!
ruft euch nur zu seinem Zwecke Until I, the real master
erst hervor der alte Meister!‘ call thee forth to serve once more!’
From Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Der Zauberlehrling/The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.1
1 I am grateful to Brigitte S. Dubiel, for kindly permitting me to quote from her
poetic translation.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ............................................................................ xi
Introduction
What Do Words Matter? Preliminary Reflections on Fascism,
Socialism, Liberalism and Semantics ......................................... 1
Chapter One
The Liberal Split: Divorcing the Economic from
the Political ..................................................................................... 21
Liberalism and Democracy in the Longue Durée .................... 21
Putting Property under Locke and Key ..................................... 22
From Constant to Donoso Cortés .............................................. 30
Pareto: on Foxes and Musso-Lions ............................................. 44
Engels and Gumplowicz Outlining the Overthrow from
Above .......................................................................................... 54
Chapter Two
Liberal Economics, Fascist Politics: “A Wonderful
Wedlock” ........................................................................................ 59
Spengler: The “Will to Property” .................................................. 60
Hitler and Liberalism: a “Wonderful Harmony” of Politics
and Economics .......................................................................... 75
Spengler and Hitler: the Bookworm Mistakes His Place ....... 98
After Fascism: J. S. Schapiro and the Illusive Death of the
Dismal Science ........................................................................... 108
Chapter Three
Anti-Liberal Liberals—I (Moeller van den Bruck, Proudhon,
Carlyle) ............................................................................................ 115
The Bourgeois Spirit of the Germanic Ideology ...................... 115
Moeller van den Bruck: A Socialist Champion of
Capitalism .............................................................................. 119
The Fascist Failure to Emulate the West .............................. 136
Outsiders-Insiders: Proudhon and Carlyle ............................... 140
Proudhon: An Anarchist of the Market ............................... 141
Carlyle’s Critique of Capitalism: from the Cash Nexus to
the Lash Nexus ...................................................................... 153
vviiiiii cont ents
Chapter Four
Anti-Liberal Liberals—II (Schmitt, Sorel) ..................................... 165
Carl Schmitt: A Democratic Anti-Liberal? ............................... 165
Schmitt’s Adaptation of Classical Liberalism ....................... 166
The Hyper-Politics of Weimar ............................................... 172
From Donoso to Schmitt: the Introduction of
Demagoguery ........................................................................ 175
Fascism: Cui Bono? ................................................................... 179
Repelling the Democratic Pickpocket ................................... 184
The Strange Case of Georges Sorel ............................................ 187
The Crisis of Socialism? ........................................................... 188
Painting the Roses Red: Sorel’s Post-Liberalism ................. 193
Sorel’s Campaign against the Bourgeoisie . . . and the
Polynesian Savages ............................................................... 206
Strikers or Strikebreakers? ....................................................... 215
Chapter Five
Liberalism and Fascism between Myths and Reality—I ............. 221
Liberal Myth No. 1: Fascism as Tyranny of the Majority ...... 221
Tocqueville’s Predictions: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy? ....... 222
From Malthus to Mises: Dictatorship as a Necessary Evil 234
Croce: the Paradoxes of the Fascist Diet .............................. 239
Liberal Myth No. 2: Collectivist Liberalism, Individualist
Fascism? ...................................................................................... 247
Liberal Individualism against Mass Democracy .................. 259
Protecting the Individuality . . . of the Nation ....................... 265
The Führerprinzip or Self-Glorification? ............................... 268
Chapter Six
Liberalism and Fascism between Myths and Reality—II ............ 273
Liberal Myth No. 3: The Origins of the Fascist “Big Lie”:
Totalitarian or Liberal? ............................................................ 273
King Demos and his Enemies ................................................. 274
Esotericism, Old and New ....................................................... 277
The Bid for Apparent Democracy .......................................... 288
Liberal Myth No. 4: Fascism as a Nationalistic Attack on
Liberal Cosmopolitanism ......................................................... 291
Liberalism, Nationalism, Imperialism ................................... 291
“A Farm is a Fatherland in Miniature” ................................. 297
the cloibnetreanlt ssp lit iixx
Fascism: Patriotism as the Last Refuge of the Liberal ........ 301
A Return to “Grand Politics” .................................................. 308
Nationalism and its Vicissitudes ............................................ 314
Germany Above All? ................................................................ 317
Epilogue
Sub-Man, Underman, Untermensch:
Fascism as an International Co-production ................................. 321
The Liberal Northwest: Immune to Fascism? .......................... 322
British Interwar Fascism beyond Mosley .................................. 328
Crypto-Fascism .............................................................................. 331
An International Co-production ................................................ 339
References ........................................................................................... 349
Index .................................................................................................... 359