The mass psychology of fascism7/1/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Suppression of the natural sexuality in the child, particularly of its genital sexuality, makes the child apprehensive, shy, obedient, afraid of authority, good and adjusted in the authoritarian sense it paralyzes the rebellious forces because any rebellion is laden with anxiety it produces, by inhibiting sexual curiosity and sexual thinking in the child, a general inhibition of thinking and of critical faculties. This influenced the irrationality of the people, Reich would argue. Fear of revolt, as well as fear of sexuality, were thus "anchored" in the character of the masses. Hence, in the adult, rebellious and sexual impulses caused anxiety. As a child, a member of the proletariat had learned from his or her parents to suppress sexual desire. Reich argued that the reason Nazism was chosen over fascism was sexual repression. In it, he calls Bolshevism "red fascism" and groups it in the same category as Nazism, and this led to him being kicked out of the Communist Party. The question at the heart of Reich's book was this: Why did the masses turn to authoritarianism which is clearly against their interests? Reich set out to analyze "the economic and ideological structure of German society between 19" in this book. ![]()
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