Writing in the years 1930-33, Reich applies his theories of human character-structure to dissecting and analysing what he realised was the menacing social situation. Fascism, he argues, does not spring exclusively either from the economic factors, or from the activities of political leaders. Much rather, it is the collective expression of average human beings, whose primary biological needs have been ruthlessly crushed by an authoritarian and sexually inhibited society. Any form of organised mysticism, such as the authoritarian family or church, feeds on the longings of the masses, he concludes, and we must be forced to realise its potential destructiveness.
Banned by the Nazis The Mass Psychology of Fascism is a brilliant and prophetic document which reveals Reich at his penetrating best.
In the first English-language edition of The Mass Psychology of Fascism, which appeared in 1946, Reich stated that his sex-economic theory, applied to the study of fascism, had 'stood the test of time'. Now, almost forty years after the publication of the first edition in German, this new, more exact, translation is being presented with every indication that it is not merely a work of historical interest but that it continues to ' stand the test of time'. Actually, in the violent struggle that is taking place today between the forces of repression and natural self-regulation, there is clear evidence that the validity of Reich's concepts is more firmly rooted than ever before.
An attempt at a refutation of their essential correctness must now contend with the knowledge of the physical orgone energy, the common functioning principle applicable to all biological and social phenomena. As extravagant as that may sound, and as fanciful as the discovery itself may appear, it can be predicted that it will continue to resist irrational rejection derived from rumouring, disinterest and mechanistic misinterpretation, as well as equally irrational mystical acceptance or fragmentary selection, which arbitrarily draws the line between what is or is not desirable.
The latter problem is particularly troublesome because of the rampant tendency to judge Reich's work on the basis of one's own narrow interests and prejudices, without any capacity to follow into unknown realms of knowledge. For example, there is much evidence that the dissident young, despite Reich's warning not to use his discoveries politically, are eager to grasp certain portions of his early work for their own purposes, while simultaneously discounting its logical development into the biological and physical realm. It is no more possible to separate Reich's early work in the mental hygiene movement and his study of human character structure from his later, crucial discovery of the Life Energy than it is to separate the animal man from life itself.
If The Mass Psychology of Fascism is ever to be understood and utilized in a practical way, if 'thwarted' life is ever to free itself and peace and love to become more than empty slogans, the existence and functioning of the Life Energy must be acknowledged and understood. No matter how much it is ridiculed and ailed at, it cannot be ignored if man is ever to come to grips with the hitherto mysterious forces within himself.
In this particular work Reich has applied his clinical knowledge of human character structure to the social and political scene. He firmly repudiates the notion 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 are carefully analysed. Reich shows how every form of organized mysticism, including fascism, relies on the unsatisfied orgastic longing of the masses.
The importance of this work today cannot be underestimated. The human character structure that created organized fascist movements still exists, dominating our present social conflicts. If the chaos and agony of our time are ever to be eliminated, we must turn our attention to the character structure that creates them; we must understand the mass psychology of fascism.
New York, 1970
Mary Higgins, Trustee The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust Fund