The symbolism of the swastika

We have satisfied ourselves that fascism is to be regarded as a problem of the masses and not as a problem of Hitler as a person or the politics of the National Socialist party. We have demonstrated how it is possible for an impoverished mass of people to turn to an arch reactionary party in such a tumultuous way. In order now to proceed step by step to the practical consequences that derive from this investigation for sexual political work, it is first of all necessary to turn our attention to the symbolism that the fascists made use of to put the comparatively uninhibited structures of the masses into reactionary fetters. The fascists were not conscious of their technique.

It did not take National Socialism long to rally workers, most of whom were either unemployed or still very young, into the S A. To a large extent, however, these workers were revolutionary in a dull sort of way and still maintained an authoritarian attitude. For this reason National Socialist propaganda was contradictory; its content was determined by the class for which it was intended. Only in its manipulation of the mystical feelings of the masses was it clear and consistent.

In talks with followers of the National Socialist party and especially with members of the SA, it was clearly brought out that the revolutionary phraseology of National Socialism was the decisive factor in the winning over of these masses. One heard National Socialists deny that Hitler represented capital. One heard SA men warn Hitler that he must not betray the cause of the ‘revolution’. One heard SA men say that Hitler was the German Lenin. Those who went over to National Socialism from Social Democracy and the liberal central parties were, without exception, revolutionary-minded masses who were either non-political or politically undecided prior to this. Those who went over from the Communist party were often revolutionary elements who simply could not make any sense of many of the German Communist party’s contradictory political slogans. In part they were men upon whom the external features of Hitler’s party, its military character, its assertiveness, etc., made a big impression.

To begin with, it is the symbol of the flag that stands out among the symbols used for purposes of propaganda.

Wir sind das Heer vom Hakenkreuz Hebt hoch die roten Fahnen,

Der deutschen Arbeit wollen wir Den Weg zur Freiheit bahnen

With respect to its emotional content, this text is clearly revolutionary. National Socialists made conscious use of revolutionary melodies, to which they sang reactionary lyrics. The hundreds of political formulations appearing in Hitler’s newspapers were also constructed along these lines. For example:

The political bourgeoisie is about to make its exit from the stage of historical dramatization. It is the hitherto suppressed class, the producing people of fist and brow, the working class, which now enters upon the stage to fulfil its historical mission.

This is a clear echo of communist propaganda. The revolutionary character of the National Socialist masses clearly stands out in the clever design of the flag, about which Hitler wrote:

... As National Socialists, we see our programme in our flag. In red we see the social idea of the movement, in white the nationalistic idea, in the swastika the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of the idea of creative work, which as such always has been and always will be anti-Semitic.

[Mein Kampf, p. 496f.]

The red and the white are suggestive of man’s contradictory structure. What is still not clear is the role played by the swastika in the emotional life. Why is this symbol so suitable to evoke mystical feelings? Hitler contended that it was a symbol of anti-Semitism. But the swastika took on this meaning only much later. And, as far as that

goes, the question as to the irrational content of anti-Semitism is still open. It is the misrepresentation of natural sexuality as something which is ‘dirty and sensual’ that explains the irrational content of the race theory. In this regard the Jew and the black man are not differentiated in the mind of the fascist. This holds true for the American fascist also. In America the racial fight against the black man takes place predominantly in the sphere of sexual defence. The black man is thought of as a sensuous pig who rapes white women. With reference to the occupation of the Rheinland by black troops, Hitler wrote:

Only in France does there exist today more than ever an inner unanimity between the intentions of the Jew-controlled stock exchange and the desire of the chauvinist-minded national statesmen. But in this very identity there lies an immense danger for Germany. For this very reason, France is and remains by far the most terrible enemy. This people, which is basically becoming more and more negrified, constitutes in its tie with the aims of Jewish world domination an enduring danger for the existence of the white race in Europe. For the contamination by Negro blood on the Rhine in the heart of Europe is just as much in keeping with the perverted sadistic thirst for vengeance of this hereditary enemy of our people as the ice-cold calculation of the Jew thus to begin bastardizing the European continent at its core and to deprive the white race of the foundations for a sovereign existence through infection with lower humanity.

[op. cit. p. 624]

We must get into the habit of paying strict attention to precisely what the fascist has to say and not to dismiss it as nonsense or hogwash. Now we have a better understanding of the emotional content of this theory, which sounds like a persecution mania when it is considered together with the theory of the poisoning of the nation. The swastika also has content capable of stirring the deepest reaches of one’s emotions, but in a way completely different from what Hitler could ever have dreamed.

To begin with, the swastika was also found among the Semites, namely, in the Myrtle court of the Alhambra at Granada. Herta Heinrich found it in the synagogue ruins of Edd-Dikke in East Jordania on the Lake of Gennesaret. Here it had the following form:

The swastika is often found together with a facet, the former being the symbol of the male principle, the latter of the female principle. Percy Gardner found it in Greece, where it was called Hemera and was the symbol of the sun, again representing the male principle. Lowenthal describes a fourteenth-century swastika, which he discovered in the altar cloth of Maria zur Wiese in Soest; here the swastika is embellished with vulva and a double cross. In this instance the swastika appears as the symbol of a stormy sky, the facet as the symbol of the fertile earth. Smigorski discovered a swastika in the form of the Indian swastika-cross, a four-pronged lightning with three dots at the end of each prong:

Lichtenberg found swastikas with a skull in place of the three dots. Thus the swastika was originally a sexual symbol. In the course of time it assumed various meanings including that of a millwheel, the symbol of work. From an emotional point of view, work and sexuality were originally the same. This explains the inscription on the swastika discovered by Bilmans and Pengerots on the mitre of St Thomas a Becket, dating back to Indo-Germanic times:

‘Hail to thee earth, O mother of man. May you thrive in God’s embrace? Overflow with fruit for man’s benefit.’

Here fertility is sexually represented as the sexual act of Mother-Earth with God-Father. According to Zelenin, old Indian lexicographers referred to both the cock and the voluptuary as swastikas, i.e. the hooked cross as the symbol of sexual instinct.

If we now have another look at the swastikas on the preceding page, we see that they are the schematic but nonetheless clearly recognizable representations of two interlocked human figures. The swastika on the left represents a sexual act lying down; the one of the right, a sexual act in standing position. Thus, the swastika represents a basic living function.

The effect of the swastika on one’s unconscious emotionality does not account for the success of fascism’s mass propaganda, but it certainly contributes to it. Random tests with men and women of different ages and social positions show that very few people fail to recognize the meaning of the swastika; most people divine its meaning sooner or later if they look at it for a while. Thus we can assume that this symbol depicting two interlocked figures acts as a powerful stimulus on deep layers of the organism, a stimulus that proves to be that much more powerful, the more dissatisfied, the more burning with sexual desire, a person is. If, in addition, the symbol is presented as the emblem of honourableness and faithfulness, it can be accepted more readily. In this way allowances are made for the defensive strivings of the moralistic ego. Let it not be assumed, however, that by exposing its sexual meaning we want to depreciate the .effect of this symbol. First, we certainly do not want to depreciate the sexual act; and second, we would meet with strong opposition, for the moralistic disguise would operate as a resistance to the acceptance of our attempts. Sex-economic mental hygiene has something else in mind.