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byAnsgarHillach
*Walter vol.
Benjamin, "Theoriendes deutschenFaschismus,"in hisGesammelteSchriften,
3. Subsequent citations,noted in textas TF, referto theEnglishtranslationwhichfollows.
'Ernst Jiinger,ed., Kriegund Krieger(Berlin, 1930). Subsequentcitations,notedin textas
KuK, referto thisedition.
2Benjamin planned a "Note on the Principleof Expressionand Its ReactionaryFunctions"
forhis essay "The Work of Artin theAge of MechanicalReproduction";see hisGesammelte
Schriften, vol. 1/3(Frankfurtam Main, 1974), p. 1050. It was neverwritten.
99
4Benjamin does not considera possible leadershiprole forthe Social Democrats. Cf. his
"Eduard Fuchs, Collectorand Historian,"New GermanCritique5 (Spring,1975),27-58, as
well as his "Theses on the PhilosophyofHistory,"inIlluminations,ed. Hannah Arendt(New
York, 1969), pp. 253-264.
5The relationshipof Benjamin's ideas to those of Klages requiresfurtherelucidation.Cf.
Gerhard Plumpe's commentsin "Die Entdeckungder Vorwelt.Erlauterungenzu Benjamins
Bachofen Lektuire,"in Text+ Kritik 31/32 (Walter Benjamin), ed. BurkhardtLindner
(Munich, 1971), pp. 19f.
6Ludwig Klages, Ausdrucksbewegung und Gestaltungskraft.Grundlegung der Wissenschaft
vom Ausdruck,ed. Hans EggertSchroder(Munich, 1968), pp. 72f.
what Ernst Robert Curtiuswrote in 1921 in his Maurice Barres and the
IntellectualBasis of FrenchNationalism:"The spiritualworld of Barries
reveals itsinnerlogicmostclearlyin thefactthatitspoliticalwillis ruledby
the same law as its relationshipto art. In art . .. he does not seek formal
beauty, but expressionof spiritualvalues . . , summariesof emotional
turbulencerenderedimage . . . It is also thisneed whichleads him
to politics and determineshis politicalideology.He accordinglysees the
foundationofall politicalactionin a sumofspiritualrealities;thetaskofthe
politicianis to be theintellectualexpressionofthesespiritualgivens.This is
the ego cult [Ichkultus]transferred to politics.Politicsis emotionalenergy,
guided by the will to expression."' Barres also anticipatedthecontentof
nihilism'sarsenalof surrogateconstructs, whichcould fendoffthespiritual
isolation of the frontexperiencewiththe armorof an heroicworldview.
These constructsincludeaestheticisticself-preservation, blood mysticism,
the cult of the earth,of the folkishspirit[Volksgeist]and of the dead and,
finally,a romantic-religious nationalismwhichmanifestedan irrationalism
of the supposed politicaldeed.
For Juinger, who had been raised as a Prussianand had experienceda
crisisin his sense of nationalconsciousnessdue to theWorldWar and the
November Revolution, Barre's became the "example of an unbending
nationalismwhich draws strengthfromdefeat.""? It is characteristic of
Juinger's workbetweenthe wars thatthe subjectivistpresuppositionof his
heroic thought- the frontsoldier's experience of annihilation- is
transformedinto the objectivistaffirmation of a metaphysical-vitalistic
strengthshaped by fate - a strengthwhich in 1930 is grasped as total
mobilization.The soldierhad withstoodthe impendingcollapse by strate-
gies of depersonalization:mysticalsurrenderto the "spiritof war" (or the
"will to destruction," "life") and heroic distancingof oneself from
individuality.In these two forms,objectivityis actuallyonly an impene-
trable subjectivity,a subjectivity thatis actor,audience and stageat once.
For thatreason,thecorresponding metaphysics ofpoliticscan be described
as an aestheticconstruct.Everything exterioris onlythemanifestation and
expression of the essential of
interior, a center of life.Such actual historical
forces as fascism,Bolshevism, Americanism,Zionism and third-world
movementscan thusmake up only"a circleofthemostartificial dialectics"
of progress,whichinsteadshouldbe tracedback to its"elementallevel" -
i.e., the level where it is seen as a formof timelessimpulse.12 "Total
mobilization" occurs on both levels: externally,as the negative of an
individualisticbelief in advancinghistorical"progress";internally, as the
13W.Benjamin,AngelusNovus,p. 265.
25Ibid., p. 165.
260. Spengler,Untergang, vol. 2, p. 523: "To thedegreethatnationscease to be politically
fit,the possibilitiesof theenergeticprivateindividualwho wantsto be politicallycreativeand
who wantspowerat anyprice,growand growsuchthattheimpactofhisappearancedetermines
the fate of whole peoples and cultures.There are no longerany formalpreconditionsthat
eventsmustfollow.In place ofsecuretraditions, whichcannotdo withoutthegeniusbecause it
is itselfcosmicenergyto thehighestpower,thereis now thecoincidenceofgreatmenoffact."
270. Spengler,"Preussentumund Sozialismus,"p. 105.
280. Spengler,"PolitischePflichten derdeutschenJugend,"in PolitischeSchriften, pp. 155f.
The emphasisis Spengler's.
290. Spengler,Untergang,vol. 1, p. 507.
30Prussia,whichalreadyplaysa similarrole in Nietzsche,was in the 19thcenturynotonlya
militarystatewitha highlyefficient government bureaucracy;itwas also unequalledas a school
fortechnicalleadership.Undertherubricofa senseofduty,itbecomesinSpenglera symbolof
the authoritarianstateof the heroic-aristocratic sort.
31Cf. O. Spengler,Der Mensch und die Technik.Beitragzu einerPhilosophiedes Lebens
(Munich, 1931).
320. Spengler,Jahreder Entscheidung, p. 161.
* Intellectualcirclein MunichbeforetheFirstWorldWar.
Amongitsleadingmemberswere
Karl Wolfskehl,AlfredSchulerand Ludwig Klages. (Ed.)
3SW. Benjamin, "Riickblickauf StefanGeorge," in AngelusNovus, p. 476.
36Cf.Michael Winkler,George-Kreis(Stuttgart,1972).
TranslatedbyJeroldWikoffand UlfZimmerman
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