Fascist Voices Essays From The 'Fascist Quarterly'

World Philosophy and Foreign Politics by Alfred Rosenberg

In every-day life the average man rarely realizes that political and social life are ultimatelyshaped by philosophical motives. The conception of the bourgeois moral code, the conceptionof law and all else in daily life which is connected with it are always somehow determined bythe inner attitude of man towards them; but it is only on the occasion of great revolutionaryevents, which affect the life of a nation as a whole, that people become clearly conscious of thisfact. It can be said that this is what is happening today throughout the world. No matter whatmay be the immediate effect of the conflict of 1914-1918 upon the political events of the variousnations and states, there is one fact which impresses itself in an ever increasing measure upon allminds whose thoughts are not merely superficial, and that is, that after such a tremendousupheaval men cannot simply return to their previous daily existence just as if nothing at all hadhappened. Practically every nation in the world has been affected by the great struggles of theWorld War, or has at least suffered in some measure from its consequences. Millions andmillions of men are faced by a fate which overwhelmed them with apparent suddenness andwhich gave rise to questions vastly differing from those which had mattered for many decades.Before 1914 the world lived in an atmosphere of optimism. It is true that those in responsiblepositions in the various countries saw that clouds were gathering again and again on the politicalhorizon, but even among statesmen there were many who believed that, just as on previoussimilar occasions, the political system of daily compromise would be victorious. Economistscalculated with mathematical precision that any conflict between great nations would have suchdisastrous economic and social results, that a collapse of the world economic structure would bebound to occur and bring about the end of the war within a few months. Intellectual optimistsbased their hopes on the belief that "world common sense" would carry the day and agreed withthe leading economists in saying that the nations would never tolerate the madness of a worldwar.But, like nature itself, the life of the people and races did not progress on the straight path oflogic, but on the tortuous by-paths of excited feelings and wild passions. It is these incalculableelements which finally unchained the world catastrophe. It is important, I think, that we shouldrecognize today that the year 1914 did not only mark the beginning of a great military struggle,but that on those fatal days of August the entire old world began to collapse. The fact that thenations and their leaders were unable to prevent such a terrible conflict from occurring isconclusive proof that the social conflicts, the whole tendency of world economics of the time andthe social structure of the nations, were no longer powerful enough to guarantee a clearly definedpeace policy. On the contrary, so much attention had to be given to chaotic mass movements ofthe lower strata, to political passions and to economic interests, that the helm often slipped out ofthe hands of the statesmen and the world lurched towards a collision from which it began torecover only many years afterwards, after heroic forces had been spent and enormous sacrificeshad been made.It is natural that this recovery of the common mind, this criticism of the past and present, werebound to manifest themselves first in those countries where military and political defeat made the******ebook converter DEMO Watermarks*******problems much more evident than in the states which, at least for the time being, could live onthe fruits of their war victories. All the fermenting processes, widely different in nature, whichoccurred in Russia, Hungary, Germany and Turkey, appear to every intelligent observer of worldpolitics as unmistakable signs of the collapse of the old order already mentioned and to an effortto create a new world, in some way or another. This is not so much due to the logical recognitionof what is suitable or not, but to an inner change of character which, turning towards the presentas well as towards the past, declared: "This cannot continue any longer."This inner resolution is of greater importance than anything else and cannot be eliminated byany argument. These new mental attitudes of nations, be they in one direction or in the other, arethe decisive reason for construction or destruction, as the case may be. The centre of gravity ofour present movement in world politics results from the juxtaposition and force of these variousmental energies.We National Socialists see in a well-defined attitude of mind that also which we call "worldphilosophy" (Weltanschauung). This word, the precise translation of which into other languagesis most difficult, signifies in the first place exactly what it states: a particular way of viewing theworld, i.e. a clearly comprehensible inner attitude of soul, mind and character towards outerthings. An attitude which decides on "yea" or "nay", which, if it is the voice of millions, shapesthe mode of living, the structure of the state, the duties and privileges of a race or a people. Thisattitude is therefore the essential fundamental and decisive factor. If it permeates all the variousspheres of life, then we can speak of a united and uniform nation; then we can say that state,people and "world philosophy" have become merged into one. Of course, this happens only onvery rare occasions. Most nations under the influence of racial characteristics and political eventsare affected by diverging currents in the various spheres of life, which frequently give rise tomost serious conflicts within the nation."World Philosophy" is therefore not equivalent to Religion, but it can include the latter. A"world philosophy" can be given a special character by religion, or by a science; it can be shapedby the artistic or cultural qualities of a nation. If the "world philosophy" of a people is reallydeep and genuine, it will include and characterize everything. On the other hand, it is spaciousenough to include the most widely different mental and spiritual temperaments.The attitude of various nations and of eminent persons towards questions related to worldphilosophy, be they of a religious, scientific or cultural nature, has been an importantcontributing factor in determining not only the intellectual but also the political life of nationsthrough all the centuries of the past, and I am of the opinion that the question what effect onforeign politics during the great epochs of history world philosophy has had, is one of the mostinteresting problems of world history. I doubt, indeed, whether this question has so far formedthe subject of sufficiently deep study, although it should appeal not only to the research scholarbut also to every statesman.May I be permitted to quote some examples in order to demonstrate how decisively a political"world philosophy" may affect the development of history for centuries and millenniums?When the Christian religion spread from the Mediterranean over the European Continent andone Germanic tribe after another became Christian, it was found that almost all of them did notaccept the Roman Catholic dogma but became Arians, i.e. followers of Arius, whose conceptionof the person and divine position of the founder of Christianity differed materially from that ofthe Roman Catholic Church. Only one important tribe became Roman Catholic, on account of its******ebook converter DEMO Watermarks*******leader's convenience, namely the Franconians. These Franconians, however, were also thestrongest tribe from a military point of view and had not moved very far away from their originalhome, like the East-Germans, and thus old Rome was associated with a hard young will-powerwhich henceforth was turned towards the East. This will-power was victorious both in a militaryand world-philosophical. Arius of Alexandria (died A.D. 336) taught that Christ was not God butcreated by him. His doctrine was banned by the Council of Nicaea and thus Europe did notbecome Arian as seemed likely at first, but Roman Catholic. Here we have, then, a victory of oneidea over the other, accompanied by immeasurable consequences from the point of view ofworld history. If the other, Arian, tribes had vanquished the Franconians, Europe would havetaken an entirely different spiritual aspect and the whole Protestant movement whichmaterialized later would not have made its appearance; at least not in the same form.A second example showing how a "world philosophy" based on religion imposed its will onwhole nations, is provided by Islam. This belief united countless Bedouin tribes who, strong intheir faith, conquered the whole Northern part of Africa and invaded Southern Europe. Althoughrepulsed by the Europeans who fought for their independence, the Mahomedan religion hasimprinted its mark on a considerable part of the inhabited earth: from Gibraltar across Africa,Palestine and so on as far as India. Political movements and bitter feuds, continuing to thepresent day, show how a given "world philosophy" acts as a continuous driving force,compelling all the nations who are under its sway to propagate and defend their particular "world philosophy", their mode of living, their conception of government, their culture.After the Universal Church had remained victorious for many centuries, violent revoltsagainst it broke out in many parts of Europe. These evoked from the people protests which shookthe world and were based upon a common ideology. For centuries the fight of the variousProtestant peoples against the Universal Church and its military representations raged overEurope. But in the midst of this struggle the European collective mind turned in an entirely newdirection in a most characteristic way: from being an essentially religious or dogmatic struggle,the controversy became national. The protection of a national structure will displace ethicalvalues, even if their representatives are of the highest order. Perhaps the best example of thisturning towards a new epoch is the case of Cardinal Richelieu. He saw in himself the leadingminister of Louis XIII and the successor of Louis XI, in carrying out the plan of a nationalunification which the latter had conceived; on the other hand, he was a bishop and later acardinal of the Roman church. At the Court of Paris the Roman Catholic influence held sway andwas represented primarily by the Spanish party. The policy of Rome undoubtedly favoured Spainand the Hapsburgs, and the completion of the Hispano-Hapsburgian victory over France wouldcertainly have resulted in a purely Catholic supremacy in Europe for a long time to come. ButRichelieu, although he demanded freedom for the Roman Church in all his pacts with hisProtestant allies, transferred his support to the other side and did his utmost to mobilize the worldagainst the Hapsburgs, and to break the power of Spain, neutralizing at the same time thetemporal power of the Pope. Against all the papal friends at the French Court he enacted all themeasures for consolidating the supremacy of France; in order to ensure its independence heannihilated the Protestants in his own country but formed alliances with Gustavus Adolphus andwith Bernhard, Duke of Weimar. He even ordered the French guns to fire on the Papal soldiers. Ithink these shots, fired against Rome's army by order of a Roman cardinal, symbolize theturning of Europe to a new attitude which, since then, has never ceased to be present in the life ofour Continent.******ebook converter DEMO Watermarks*******In the nineteenth century this attitude underwent a change towards a new form of EuropeanNationalism. Everywhere in the world the national idea was the liberating thought of life. Proofof this is found in many writings of the time, and in the persons of Washington, Bolivar andGaribaldi. At the same time, however, science and commerce assumed an ever-increasingimportance and Walter Rathenau's saying: "Fate is decided by Economics" became the"Leitmotiv" of the elaboration of most social problems. Another important factor was thepopulation figure of the several states, which caused them to seek markets for products and rawmaterial supply anywhere in the world. This attitude was sponsored and propagated principallyby a people spread all over the globe. It was advocated that a "World Republic" should be aimedat, and that the previously existing National-economic systems were to be replaced by a so-calledworld-economic system, preferably under a central control.It is true that at the turn of the century there were some national states of a military-politicalcharacter, but considered from an economic point of view there existed an almost hopelessconfusion of many different economic groups, commercial and industrial trusts, and internationalbanks, which opposed one another and the success or failure of which were bound to affect somany people that the national policy was forced to subordinate itself to these private interestsand recognize them for the greater part as of national importance.As a protest against the social effects of this purely economic system in every way, millionsof people arose and listened to the doctrines preaching social freedom by means of a movementembracing all the nations, i.e., the Marxist-Communist International. All these currents andtendencies, which were continuously complicated and increased by new side issues, broughtabout an obstruction at the end of the Nineteenth Century and it can safely be said that FriedrichNietzsche has been the most sensitive seismograph of these tremors which shook the wholeworld. He did not indulge in a sentimental philosophy but experienced a foreboding of the eventsto come, which were to affect hundreds of millions of people.The realization that the social fabric would collapse into Nihilism under the impact of bothcivic and Marxist forces, and at the same time the hope that from this catastrophe would arise astrong race, characterize his aphorisms and all his writings. At the same time men like Paul deLagarde and Richard Wagner felt that the world was drawing to its end and that a new world wasto be born. In Russia, Dostoyevsky painted in sombre hues the end of Russia. And while thefeeling of extreme insecurity became universal, these ideas, lacking any shape, found acceptancein the capitals of all nations. Russia fell, and those tendencies came into power whichDostoyevsky predicted in his "The Brothers Karamazov" and "Demons". Communism wasvictorious in Russia against all social theories, not through a proletarian mass organization of thetowns, but by the fact that a will which had been broken already came under the influence of astrong- willed non-European character.If we survey these various world-philosophies, which often seem to oppose each other indeadly antagonism, we find that they all have one feature in common. They all arise from a welldefined doctrine, whether the latter be of a religious, a scientific, or a social-ethical nature. Onthese doctrines or confessions of faith they build a programme, gather together all those whobelieve in this programme, and endeavour with all the political and military forces at theirdisposal to carry out this doctrinal programme.Speaking generically and politically, this attitude is related to what may be called"universality". This universality exists, no matter whether an individual is appointed as suprememaster from whom a world-movement receives its laws, or whether it is founded on abstract******ebook converter DEMO Watermarks*******society or on any particular theory. Indeed the past fifteen centuries of European history showthat all nations move somewhere within such a universally conceived "world philosophy" andthat all the great struggles between nations followed their course within a doctrine which had auniversal character. This doctrine was characterized by religious universality in the RomanCatholic "world philosophy"; and the same characteristic existed in the Protestant dogma,although in a different form and in spite of individualistic results; in the system of Liberalism wefind a social-ethical universality, such as was preached during the French revolution; and it was aNihilistic universality which characterized the offshoot of the Marxist movement, WorldCommunism, which no longer recognized nationalities and states, but only a Union of SocialistSoviet Republics, to which at any time other Soviet Republics would be added.The decisive and radical world-philosophical change, as we see it today, consists in our firmconviction that the coming struggle will no longer have the same character as before and thatnational struggles will not be fought within any given "world philosophy" of a universalistickind, but that these struggles will be fought out within a nationalistic "world-philosophy". Inother words: the tendencies which formerly were purely statal, become wider and are consideredfrom a world-philosophical angle, developing into a decisive factor in regulating life in its widestconcept. At the beginning of our present era the rule of a universal church was the highestreligious and political element. When the first revolt occurred, two religious confessions opposedeach other. At a later stage of this struggle these principal factors were transferred from thereligious to the statal-political arena, which at first took the form of monarchy and finally that ofa republican idea.At the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century we find that the classidea stood highest in the minds of millions of people. And each of these different factors formedthe fundamental political principle of one of the various parties, particularly in Germany. Theprincipal factor of the middle ages was represented by the Centre Party; the dynastic idea by theformer Conservative groups; the economic idea amalgamated with the republican idea by thedemocratic party; and the class idea by the Marxist groups. In opposition to all these groupsexisting in Germany, the National Socialist Movement proclaimed a new, and yet old, principalfactor, namely—the ideal of national honour.All the struggles of the last fourteen years, until 1933, have been fought under this banner. If,however, it assumed a mystical strength, this was only possible because a great nation, consciousof its honour, had suffered a collapse, after which only one decision remained to be taken. Eitherthe old political groups had to be tolerated still further as representing the old- worldphilosophies, or a new political philosophy based on new principles had to be created as afoundation of the German people's life. I need not point out that the idea of National Honour isnot a novel idea which arose suddenly; indeed, ever since a German people existed, its whole artand literature revolved around it. The "Hildebrand Epos", the "Nibelungenlied" and the "GudrunSaga" prove this, and so does the whole of German heroic music. Besides this, this idea was atthe root of the legal codes of the old German "Saxon Laws" and the "Civic Law" (Stadterecht)which for many peoples became the foundation of many factors which ultimately producedunification. Nor is it necessary for me to emphasize that what I am saying here is not intended asa reference to, or a criticism of, other nations.My sole aim is to explain what has happened here in Germany, and to show that we are notdealing in this instance with one out of many revolutions but that the decisive revolution inGerman history had begun: a revolution which did not begin suddenly but one whose principles******ebook converter DEMO Watermarks*******can be found in the German Peasant Wars, in the legal enactments of the old "Free Cities", inFrederic the Great, in the Leaders of the German Wars of Liberation of 1813, and in the greatthinkers at the turning-point from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century.And may I be permitted to declare here, that this fervent German Nationalism is indeed not amenace to the legitimate nationalism of other peoples, but that on the contrary it is precisely thisGerman Nationalism which, by its spiritual superiority over all other issues can alone give theguarantee for that just balance for which the whole world is longing. The Authoritarian State,based today on the National Socialist Movement, is in a position to eliminate an unjustifiablecultural propaganda amongst people of other races, as well as a lawless economic expansionwhich otherwise might well lead the German Nation from economic conflicts to political strifewith other nations.German Nationalism, a "world-philosophy" based on race and soil, is not a dogma related touniversality; neither its premises nor its conclusions include the presumption that it shouldinfluence other and therefore different nations and races. On the other hand, we think that ourphilosophy constitutes also a return to a reverent admiration of Nature and its laws. The NationalSocialist "world-philosophy" therefore means to us a deliberate turning away from those formsof national life which do not give due importance to the characteristics of the various peoples andraces; a discarding of those cultural-scientific doctrines which claim to apply to all nationsequally; and finally we look upon it as an attempt to achieve a higher and at the same time deeperconsciousness of our own driving forces in these same spheres. Our new "world-philosophy", farfrom despising others, is an essential element in bringing about a reciprocal genuine respectbetween nations and cultures.For this reason, for example, the National Socialist Movement has the greatest respect for anentirely different race and statal constitution, both having their own peculiar characteristics. Inthe two great nations of the Far East we see structures which have been built on their ownfoundations. To us Japan, the history of which goes back for thousands of years, is admirable inits religious expression, in its subordination to state authority and its devotion to nationalinterests. The Chinese nation has also developed from one form of "world philosophy",economics and social ethics, which, although it seems broken up today, may yet revive. And weshall watch this attempt to reorganize with the same interest and respect that we give to all thenoble ambitions of other nations.It is typical that the era of a practically uncontrolled expansion of many nations all over theglobe led to a conflict and to the realization of the fact that after this period of economicexpansion, a period of contraction has set in. In this every nation will find its true form. That thisstruggle exists in all nations without exception is demonstrated by violent clashes of a social orworld-philosophical nature the whole world over. They prove the existence of an almostuniversal lack of faith and show that the actions of nations are not governed ultimately by a welldefined idea, but that a number of different systems are fighting for supremacy without comingto a lasting decision.If we interpret the signs and tokens of contemporary politics rightly, it seems that the mentalstruggle of all nations centres on the desire to replace all the systems which are waging anindecisive war by a particular one of these systems, or by an entirely new one which surpassesthem all.Germany may well provide one instance in this world struggle—and not necessarily an******ebook converter DEMO Watermarks*******exemplary instance — for strengthening the possibility that a so-called "fateful" development isnot by any means bound to end in Communism, but that a determination born of a strongcharacter can overcome the outlived mode of thought that is no longer in keeping with presentday conditions. The free and secret plebiscite in the Saar has shown the whole world how deeplythe new conception of life has permeated the entire German nation in spite of all the opposingcurrents, which were allowed to exert their influence without any hindrance. We ourselves, atleast, are convinced that the German system, in that it prevents any private political or privateeconomic interests from gaining power, is alone capable of defining for the German Reich thoselimitations which are essential in the vital interests not only of Germany but also of other States.This makes it possible, for the first time in many long years, to differentiate between privateinterests, be they never so strong, and the vital interests of the nation as a whole. At the sametime, however, we have the possibility of a stable foreign policy which we conceive to be of sucha nature that the natural driving forces connected with the life of the various nations can nolonger be directed arbitrarily against each other, but will stand back to back both in the interestsof the individual nations and in those of an organic collaboration of all nations. In this complexof great Powers it will then become possible for numerically smaller nations to be no longer theinstrument of narrow egoism but units endowed with equal rights in the organic activitiesbetween Great Powers. May I add that when speaking of "small nations", I allude only to theirarea and population and do not wish to minimize in any way their intellectual and culturalimportance.Thus the National Socialist "world philosophy" and the re-birth of the national ideal give riseto a new conception of State and national economy; a new well-regulated state control of theindividual which alone can produce real freedom, in clear contrast to misuse by individualswhich, in the absence of control, affected many spheres of life, poisoned and corrupted thefeelings and thoughts of whole nations, to the disadvantage not of the corruptors but of thenations.The establishment of accord between the various forms of life, agreements between anauthoritative State regulating all branches of national activity and other States, and between thegroups ("komplexe") of States thus formed and other units determined by political, racial andgeographical factors—in contrast with the haphazard elements which characterized thenineteenth century—all this constitutes the decisive change of our present era. And NationalSocialism is prepared to serve these purposes in the interests of all nations. Thus we find that thenew "world-philosophy" has a decisive shaping influence on political thought and ultimately oneconomic and foreign political activity.We believe that the considerations submitted in this short summary are worth closer studyfrom the angle of their possible practical applications and effects; bearing in mind the words of aGerman who fought for freedom a century ago: "Respect the fatherland of others, but love yourown".