THE MASS PSYCHOLOGY OF FASCISM (First UK edition of this new translation)

Wilhelm Reich (newly translated from the German by Vincent R. Carfagno)

ISBN 10: 0285647008 / ISBN 13: 9780285647008

Published by Souvenir Press, London, 1970

About this Item

First British edition - first printing, newly translated from the German by Vincent R. Carfagno. ***Very good in purple cloth-covered boards with gilt titles to the spine. The boards are clean and unmarked. Head and tail of spine slightly creased. Foxing to top edge of page block. Slight abrasion to fore-edge. Spine tight. Interior pages clean - there are some marginal notes in light pencil which could be erased if so wished, otherwise no inscriptions. ***In a very good colour-illustrated dustwrapper that retains the original publisher's price of £3.50 net with an additional (remainder) 80p sticker on the front flap. Some slight creasing to the head and tail of the spine of the dustwrapper. No tears or chips. The white background to the dustwrapper is marked (please see scans). ***210mm x148mm. xxxi prelims pages including glossary plus 400 pages. ***Ch I. Ideology as a Material Force: The cleavage; economic and ideological structure of the German society, 1928-1933; How mass psychology sees the problem; The social function of sexual repression; II. The Authoritarian Ideology of the Family in the Mass Psychology of Fascism: Fuhrer and mass structure; Hitler's background; On the mass psychology of the lower middle class; Family ties and nationalistic feelings; Nationalistic self-confidence; The domestication of the industrial workers; III. The Race Theory: Its contents; The objective and subjective functions of ideology; racial purity, blood poisoning, and mysticism; IV. The Symbolism of the Swastika; V. The Sex-Economic Presupposition of the Authoritarian Family; VI. Organised Mysticism as an International Anti-Sexual Organization: The interest in the Church; The fight against Cultural Bolshevism; The appeal to mystical feelings; The goal of the cultural revolution in the light of fascist reaction; VII. Sex-economy in the Fight Against Mysticism: The three basic elements of religious feeling; Anchoring of religion by means of sexual anxiety; Healthy and neurotic self-confidence; VIII. Some Questions of Sex-Political Practice; IX: The Masses and The State: X. Biological Functions of Work; XI. Give Responsibility to Vitally Necessary Work!: What is "Work-Democracy"; XII The Biologic Miscalculations in the Human Struggle for Freedom; XIII: On Natural Work-Democracy. ***'Reich's classic study of the mass psychology of fascism is presented in a new English translation. This work, written during the years of the German crisis 1930-33 and subsequently banned by the Nazis, is a unique contribution on the understanding of one of the crucial phenomena of our times - Fascism. In it, Reich applies his clinical knowledge of human character structure to the social and apolitical scene. He firmly repudiates the concept that Fascism is the ideology or action of a single individual or nationality, or of any ethnic or political group. He also denies a purely socio-economic explanation as advanced by Marxian ideologists. He understands Fascism as the expression of the irrational character structure of the average human being whose primary, biological needs and impulses have been suppressed for thousands of years. The social function of this suppression and the crucial role played in it by the authoritarian family and the church and are carefully analysed. Reich shows how every form of organized mysticism, including Fascism, relies on the unsatisfactory orgiastic longing of the masses. **The importance of this work today cannot be underestimated. The human character structure that created or organized fascist movements still exists, dominating our present social conflicts. If the chaotic agony of our times is ever to be eliminated, we must turn our attention to the character structure that creates it. We must understand the mass psychology of Fascism.' (Quote taken from the front flap). ***First British edition - hard to find now in the original dustwrapper. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging. Seller Inventory # 7802x

Bibliographic Details

Title: THE MASS PSYCHOLOGY OF FASCISM (First UK ...

Publisher: Souvenir Press, London

Publication Date: 1970

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

Edition: First UK Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

Wilhelm Reich The Mass Psychology Of Fascism Hardback First British Edition 1972 Translated from German by Vincent J. Carfagno First British edition published 1972 by souvenir Press (Educational & Achedemic) Ltd.

About the Author:

Wilhelm Reich was one of the great psychoanalysts of the twentieth-century. He worked as a psychoanalyst in Vienna and became deputy director of Freud s Psychoanalytic Polyclinic. He moved to Berlin in 1930 but left Germany in 1933 when Hitler came to power and in 1939 he moved to the USA. Wilhelm Reich died in 1957.