Fascism, Castration and Nietzsche

Fascism is a defensive ideology, its power is within fear: the fear of castration.

In Freudian psychoanalysis castration anxiety is a fear of emasculation and of losing the penis which is the very symbolizer of masculinity. In this case the penis symbolizes the ideological structures that compromise superiority, race, domination and heritage which are all structures that support fascism and are all rooted in the violent hyper-masculinity of fascist ideology.

Fascism finds its potency with a perceived threat; an outside force that wishes to destroy it. The threat propels the passions of hatred and ignites prejudice. The attack is towards a way of life and an established identity. The foreign intruder is perceived as wishing to destroy the establishment and dethrone (castrate) the ones who are in power. At all costs the fascists way of life must be preserved because it includes the very means of power that gives that life meaning and purpose. Fascism finds its meaning and purpose in dominance. The subjugation of all life for one ruling group is the sadistic purpose of all fascist ideology, and fascists will fight for this “right to power” because without it they are castrated and left with humiliation and loss.

There exists a position within some misinterpretations of Nietzschean thought that states fascism is a master morality, this is completely false, fascism is probably the highest form of slave morality that can exist. Fascism in appearance seems to be an affirmation but affirmation is not its source, the source is in fear. In religion, there exists a life-threatening fear of God, this fear stops man from what can affirm his life and enables him to thwart the life within him to achieve eternity in the afterlife. Fascism works similarly by replacing the threat of God with the threat of the outside world. Christianity seeks paradise in the afterlife, fascism seeks paradise within life in the form of a dominant utopian ethno-state. The way to reach this paradise is through violence and control which are part of weak and life-limiting forces.

The Nietzschean ‘will to power’ is a becoming of power in the form of a will. The becoming is between two forces, reactive (negating) and active (affirmative), the one that rules over the other has the highest will to power. The qualities of weak and strong does not determine the strong (active) force prevailing over the weaker (reactive) one, what matters for the success of the forces is the power of the will.

The difference between active and reactive forces can be elucidated with the ‘eternal return’: if you will something, will it as if it would return in life eternally. Active forces always make a successful return because they bring with them life-affirmation while reactive ones die because they eventually destroy themselves.

Fascism is a reactive force because it cuts life off from what it can do (active forces affirm life to its full potential). The fascists are not just dominating everyone else, their ideology is also dominating them. In this way fascism becomes sadomasochistic, the members extend control towards others and their values extend control towards themselves. The worship of ideological principles constrain members to a mould that they can’t escape from. They are in a cycle of domination and submission. The bondage of fascism limits the life-potential of its members by subjugating them to ideals and convictions that negate life-affirming wills for a will that is contrived through the power of fear.

Fascism is wholly a negation, its power is in destruction, it has no positivity which life-affirmative creation can come from because it is a philosophy of death that creates perpetual tension and violence. Fascism replaces the slave morality of Christianity for a new one that is not (entirely) based on the worship of a God but the worship of land, race and history that completely dominate an individuals life and fixates it on abstractions that manifest ideological slavery. The property of Fascism then becomes the violent residue of the worst aspects of a slave morality and the worst aspects of mankind as a whole.

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The problem with Marxism

Marxism is set in theory by a dialectic, namely the historical dialectic, which is a becoming of change and progress through history by the means of contradictions solving themselves through time. The marxist system uses the dialectic (not to be confused with Hegelian dialectic/Marx broke away from Hegelian conception) to understand the world in a scientific observation that would give light to the darkness of idealistic thought posited by Hegel. Marxism accepts that history is dialectic but marxism is situated within history and does not consider itself also as being dialectic. Marxists treat marxism as an ‘immortal’ science, like it’s above history and is a divine interpreter of events but they do not realize marxism is situated within its history and part of the dialectic of its own conception. Marxists hold marxism constrained, they keep it dogmatic, the ideals become stale, the principles don’t work because history is dialectic and marxism is not, the world changes and it can’t accommodate itself towards this change, it’s viewing the world in a way that contradicts it for itself.

Marxism needs to be revived, it’s dead because it falls under the trap of transcendence (transcending history) that places it (a materialist theory) in a world of idealism. The very proponents of the materialism in Marxism is held captive by the idealistic dogmas of its followers and system.

The reason for the Marxian break away from Hegel’s dialectic is because Marx viewed it as being “mystical” and too subjective yet Marxism is falling right into the trap of itself being “mystical” and too subjective by alienating the dialectic within itself and creating an “absolute” philosophy (the very type of philosophy Marx criticized Hegel for). As history changes, marxism needs to change or else it becomes idealism (in Marxian thought- isolating subjective reality) devoid of any dialect and impotent to cause change in a world it holds so dearly to the fluxes of change.