The Phantasmatic Core of Fascism : Psychoanalytic Theories of Antisemitism and Group Aggression Amongst the ‘Political Freudians’

This is a sel -a chi ed e sion o an o iginal a icle. This e sion may di e om he o iginal in pagina ion and ypog aphic de ails. Au ho (s): Ti le: Yea : Ve sion: Copy igh : Righ s: Righ s u l: Please ci e he o iginal e sion: CC BY 4.0 h ps://c ea i ecommons.o g/licenses/by/4.0/ The Phan asma ic Co e o Fascism : Psychoanaly ic Theo ies o An isemi ism and G oup Agg ession Amongs he ‘Poli ical F eudians’ © Au ho , 2022 Published e sion Zolkos, Magdalena Zolkos, M. (2022). The Phan asma ic Co e o Fascism : Psychoanaly ic Theo ies o An isemi ism and G oup Agg ession Amongs he ‘Poli ical F eudians’. Redesc ip ions, 25(1), 49-64. h ps://doi.o g/10.33134/ ds.367 2022 CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Magdalena Zolkos Associa e P o esso , Depa men o Social Sciences and Philosophy, Uni e si y o Jy äskylä, FI [email p o ec ed] KEYWORDS: Psychoanaly ic heo y o ascism; Ge man ascism; an isemi ism; he social unconscious; O o Fenichel; E ns Simmel; Rudol Loewens ein; Sigmund F eud TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Zolkos, Magdalena. 2022. “The Phan asma ic Co e o Fascism: Psychoanaly ic Theo ies o An isemi ism and G oup Agg ession Amongs he ‘Poli ical F eudians’.” Redesc ip ions: Poli ical Though , Concep ual His o y and Feminis Theo y 25(1), 49–64. DOI: h ps://doi. o g/10.33134/ ds.367 The Phan asma ic Co e o Fascism: Psychoanaly ic Theo ies o An isemi ism and G oup Agg ession Amongs he ‘Poli ical F eudians’ MAGDALENA ZOLKOS RESEARCH ABSTRACT The pe iod p eda ing and o e lapping wi h Wo ld Wa II saw psychoanaly ic au ho s espond o he au ho i a ian and ascis de elopmen s in Eu ope h ough schola ly and analy ical w i ings. These au ho s, some imes e e enced as ‘poli ical F eudians’, we e in e es ed in b inging psychoanalysis in a dialogue wi h p og essi e social and pedagogical mo emen s o hei imes, ocusing hei c i ique on he pe secu o y, elimina o y and pu i ica o y an asies, which hey saw as anima ing he ascis ic mo emen s in Eu ope. This a icle analyses selec ed ex s by O o Fenichel, E ns Simmel and Rudol Loewens ein and a gues ha hese au ho s asked abou he poli ical and e hical s akes o he ascis cons uc ions o i s ideal subjec ; one ha was a mou ed agains he h ea s o dispossession pe pe ua ed by acialized mino i ies. In di e en ways, hese hinke s showed ha p ojec ion, pa anoia, scapegoa ing and ego- eg ession became ope a i e as g oup phenomena a ha his o ical momen . By engaging wi h hese ex s, i becomes possible o no only unde s and be e he his o y o how he c i ical psychoanaly ic heo ising de eloped a he backd op o wa - ime Eu opean his o y, bu also o conside he con ibu ion ha concep s o desi e, i a ionali y, an asy and a ec make o he s udies o ascism, his o ically, and pe haps oday. 50Zolkos Redesc ip ions: Poli ical Though , Concep ual His o y and Feminis Theo y DOI: 10.33134/ ds.367 I—INTRODUCTION The his o ical de elopmen o wen ie h-cen u y Eu opean ascism and he o ma ion o F eudian psychoanalysis no only had o e lapping ch onologies, bu bo h ha e been discussed by schola ship as esponses o he c isis o Eu opean mode ni y, and in pa icula he way i was p ecipi a ed and cas in o elie h ough he e en s and consequences o Wo ld Wa I (see Ku zweil 1984; Fo es e 2009; Roseman 2011). Hannah A end in Be ween Pas and Fu u e (1961) desc ibed his c isis as a b eakdown o h ee Wes e n pa adigms o social and poli ical li e, which, as she a gued, we e closely used in G eek and La in an iqui ies: adi ion, eligion and au ho i y. She u he a gues ha in Wes e n mode ni y, hese pa adigms ha e no me ely been weakened, bu ha e become inaccessible as amewo ks o public li e and collec i e expe ience (c . A end 1961: 95–96). This opening ema k is no mean o con la e psychoanalysis and ascism in any way,1 bu , a he , o ou line hei his o ical, cul u al and poli ical backd op as a momen o c isis ha magni ied, in Je Malpas’ wo ds, ‘ he ho i yingly con adic o y aspec s o human exis ence […] an almos comple e loss o ai h in p og ess’ (2006: 276). Taking his poin as an opening in o a discussion o selec ed psychoanaly ic c i iques and in e p e a ions o Ge man ascism in he 1930s and 1940s, I sugges ha he his o ical momen immedia ely p eda ing and o e lapping wi h Wo ld Wa II saw psychoanaly ic au ho s espond o he au ho i a ian and ascis de elopmen s in Eu ope h ough schola ly and analy ical w i ings. These au ho s a e some imes e e enced as ‘second gene a ion’ o F eudian psychoanalys s, many o whom we e in e es ed in b inging psychoanalysis in a dialogue wi h p og essi e social and pedagogical mo emen s o hei imes. Some imes called ‘poli ical F eudians’ (see Jacoby 1983), he g oup included, amongs o he s, Wilhelm Reich, O o Fenichel, E ns Simmel, Sieg ied Be n eld and F ances De i. They asse ed F eudian psychoanalysis as a heo y o mode n socie y and o he social (and no solely a clinical inqui y in o he indi idual psyche). While his had al eady been appa en wi h F eud, he psychoanaly ic au ho s o he p e-wa pe iod ocused hei c i ique on Eu opean ascism, and on he pe secu o y, elimina o y and pu i ica o y an asies, which hey saw as anima ing he ascis ic mo emen s. This a icle con ibu es o he schola ship on psychoanaly ic c i iques o ascism in wo ways. Fi s , i d aws a en ion o he di e si y and he e ogenei y o he discu si e ield o med by hese esponses, some o which, o men ion only one elemen , adop ed a Ma xis iew, while o he s ollowed a dis inc ly libe al (and an i-Ma xis ) o ien a ion. Second, i emphasizes he his o ical impo ance o he c i ical insigh s o he au ho s ha insis ed ha ascism occupied a Thei emphasis on s igma izing and ex e mina o y impulses wi hin ascism pu in a di e en ligh he ques ion o mino i y popula ions, and ha o agg essi e d i es. Finally, he a gumen ha hese w i ings o e a unique c i ical insigh in o he his o y o ascis popula mo emen s and poli ical ideology is mean o add ess a ela i e lack o a en ion o F eudian psychoanalysis in con empo a y schola ship on ascism (excep ions include Damousi and Plo kin 2012; Pick 2012). P o iding a uni o m de ini ion and cha ac e iza ion o ascism has been no o iously di icul o his o ians and poli ical heo is s alike (c . G i in 1991; O well 1944; Shen ield 2004). Ci cum en ing hese di icul ies, his a icle ocuses on hose 1 The e is an ex ensi e academic li e a u e on ins i u ionalized psychoanalysis’ coexis ence wi h au ho i a ian go e nmen s. Fo discussions o Nazi Ge many, see Goggin and Goggin (2001), Rickels (2002), F osh (2005), Peglau (2013). 51Zolkos Redesc ip ions: Poli ical Though , Concep ual His o y and Feminis Theo y DOI: 10.33134/ ds.367 aspec s o Ge man ascism ha we e conside ed pi o al by he public in ellec uals associa ed wi h F eudian psychoanalysis as clinicians and heo is s in he 1930s and 1940s. Cha ac e is ic o hei in e p e a ions was a endency o ead ascism as he unleashing o iolen i a ional o ces amongs he ‘masses’. In his book on F eud as a poli ical hinke , Eli Za e sky names amongs hese i a ional o ces ‘g oup pa anoia, he ole o p ojec ion in jus i ying agg ession, [and] he u ile longing o leade ship’ (2015: 2). The ques ion o psychoanalysis’ heo e ical esponses o ascism co e s schola ship on he psycho-social appeal o dic a o ial con ol and leade ship, on he unconscious a ec and he massi ica ion o mode n socie y and on he subjec i e g a i ica ion de i ed om a ‘ acially uni ied and hie a chical o ganized socie y’ (Saxena 2015: 43; see also Payne 2003, 2014; F osh 2005; Rus in 2016; Jay 2019). The ocus he e is on h ee ex s: ‘Psychoanalysis o An isemi ism’ by Fenichel (1940), ‘An i-Semi ism and Mass Psychopa hology’ by Simmel (1946), and Ch is ians and Jews by Loewens ein (1951). I is impo an o no e ha in all h ee cases, he objec i e has been o in es iga e ascism’s de elopmen h ough he p ism o he heo y o he unconscious, a he han c i ically engage wi h F eudian psychoanalysis as such, by aking as hei oci F eud’s ex s on ci iliza ion, g oup psychology, Jewishness and an isemi ism (see F eud 1953 [1930]; 1955 [1922]; 1964 [1939]). Because his essay seeks o unpack he concep ual nexus o ascism and an isemi ism, i omi s o he ex s p oduced in ha pe iod by he ‘poli ical F eudians’, no ably he wo k o Wilhelm Reich (which has seen a e i al o in e es in he ecen yea s). Reich’s The Mass Psychology o Fascism (2013 [1946], which analyses he e ec s o sexual ep ession and pa ia chal amily on he eme gence o au ho i a ian mo emen s and s a e s uc u es, i is only pa en he ically in e es ed in mode n igu a ions o Jewishness and hei impo ance o Ge man ascism.2 In his book on he ‘poli ical F eudians’ Jacoby d aws a en ion o he o me s uden s o F eud (o o F eud’s immedia e collabo a o s) who we e a ilia ed wi h he Be lin Psychoanaly ic Socie y and who we e commi ed o explo ing p og essi e socio- poli ical implica ions o psychoanalysis (see also S eine 2020). In pa icula , hei social, clinical and schola ly nexus o psychoanalysis and Ma xism, as exempli ied by ac i i ies unde aken in 1920s and 1930s, aimed a making analysis accessible o and popula ized amongs he wo king classes ( o de ails, see Goggin & Goggin 2001; Dan o 2005; F osh 2005; Maka i 2008). Fenichel, Simmel and Loewens ein came om secula ized and assimila ed Ge man-speaking Jewish amilies. They we e all educa ed as medical doc o s, and, ei he be o e o du ing he wa , emig a ed om Eu ope o he USA (Fishe 2004; Za e sky 2005). Fenichel and Simmel ( he ‘poli ical F eudians’ sensu s ic o) di e ed om Loewens ein in hei Ma xis adical iews, as well as in heo e ical-psychoanaly ic app oach (G eenson 1966; Peck 1966). The essay ‘Psychoanalysis o An isemi ism’ was w i en by Fenichel as a p esen a ion o a Zionis P ague o ganiza ion in 1930s, and i e lec s, and pe haps o eshadows, he p o essional and pe sonal di icul ies aced by Fenichel a e Na ional Socialis s came o powe in Ge many (see S eine 2020: 193). S ephen F osh (2005: 63–90) has 2 Thinke s associa ed wi h he F ank u School a e also excluded om his analysis. I should be no ed ha bo h Fenichel and Simmel collabo a ed wi h Ado no, Ho kheime , and Ma cuse du ing he pe iod o he ins i u e’s émig é pe iod, and ha hei collabo a ion included esea ch on disc imina ion (see Ho kheime 1948). O he s wo king on ascism and an isemi ism om psycho-social pe spec i es in ha pe iod we e Be line (1946), O (1946), B enne (1948). 52Zolkos Redesc ip ions: Poli ical Though , Concep ual His o y and Feminis Theo y DOI: 10.33134/ ds.367 w i en pe suasi ely abou he de as a ing e ec s o Nazism on Jewish and socialis psychoanalys s in Ge many, including a g oup o clinicians and social e o mis s ha collabo a ed wi hin he amewo k o Fenichel’s Kinde semina in Be lin (Goggin & Goggin 2001: 53–65; Za e sky 2005: 217–248; Maka i 2008). Many o hem we e o ced in o exile; Fenichel mig a ed o No way and Czechoslo akia, and subsequen ly o he USA, whe e his p eca ious legal and p o essional s a us esul ed in wha is equen ly desc ibed as a ‘ empe ing’ o his Ma xis iews (Dan o 2005: 266; Pick 2012: 21). Fenichel co espondence wi h his closes collabo a o s and iends in Rundb ie e, o he ‘ci cula le e s’, o e s a poignan es imony o hese ha dships (Gi o d 1985; Ha is & B ock 1991). E ns Simmel’s w i ings on ascism conce ned, in Dan o’s wo ds, ‘ he win p edicamen s o men al illness and s uc u al opp ession’ (2009: 337). In Be lin, and a e his mig a ion o he USA in Los Angeles, Simmel was equally commi ed o social ac i ism and clinical wo k. His 1932 a icle ‘Na ionalsozialismus und Volksgesundhei ’ combines his poli ical in e es s wi h clinical expe ise in o de o sc u inize he psychic appeal o iolence and wa in he con ex o mass psychology. In ‘Na ionalsozialismus und Volksgesundhei ’, Simmel used he e m ‘mu de ous d i es’, which he la e de eloped in ‘An i-Semi ism and Mass Psychopa hology’ (1989; see also Pick 2012: 88–89). ‘An i-Semi ism and Mass Psychopa hology’ was i s p esen ed a he Psychia ic Symposium on An isemi ism in San F ancisco in 1944, which was also a o um o collabo a ion be ween he ‘poli ical F eudians’ and membe s o he F ank u School (Jacoby 1983: 64). Rudol Loewens ein di e ed in his heo e ical, analy ic and poli ical o ien a ion om Fenichel and Simmel pe spec i es. This is pa ly due o his ego psychology app oach (Maka i 2008), and pa ly o his libe al poli ical iews, and he b oadly humanis ic aming o he book, Ch is ians and Jews, which ends wi h a call o g ea e eligious ole ance and ecumenical collabo a ion in o de o elimina e he ‘an i-Jewish bias’ ha , as Loewens ein a gued, con inued in Eu ope a e 1945 (see Ages 1973; Os ow 2018). Loewens ein was a s uden and ansla o o F eud in o F ench, who mo ed o Pa is in 1925, be o e emig a ing o he USA in 1942. In F ance, Loewens ein played a key ole in he o ma ion o F ench psychoanalysis and was an analys o Jacques Lacan. In he USA, he es ablished a collabo a ion wi h Heinz Ha mann and E ns K is and became one o he ounding igu es o he psychoanaly ic school o ego psychology (see Roudinesco 1990). II—OTTO FENICHEL: ANTISEMITISM AS DEFLECTION FROM POLITICAL ACTION AND AS ANACHRONISM O o Fenichel’s analysis o Ge man ascism in his essay on ‘Psychoanalysis o An isemi ism’ (1940) is amed by a dual objec i e o ep esen ing social phenomena as mo e han simply an agg ega e o indi idual dynamics o he psyche and o his o icizing wha Fenichel saw as a dis inc i ely mode n cha ac e o Nazi an isemi ism. Fenichel hus explici ly se he aim o he ex o shed ligh on ‘ he cu en and ex e nal s imulan ’ (1940: 25) o he p oli e a ion o he an isemi ic iews and sen imen s in Ge many and Aus ia in 1930s. Fenichel hus zoomed on o he ques ion o inc eased public openness and ecep i i y o p opagandis ic exclusiona y discou ses, which he loca ed a ‘ he speci ic his o ical conjunc u es [o ] he poli ical and economic con ex ’ (Fishe 2004: 60). 53Zolkos Redesc ip ions: Poli ical Though , Concep ual His o y and Feminis Theo y DOI: 10.33134/ ds.367 In Fenichel’s Ma xis -psychoanaly ic pe spec i e, he on-going ac ics o ac i a ing and magni ying collec i e animosi y o he wo king-classes owa ds he Jewish mino i y g oups by ascis leade s canno be educed o p ocesses o ‘mass-sugges ion’ o o a ional calcula ions o socio-economic gains (1940, 25). Ra he , he psychoanaly ic p ism b ings oge he wi hin he ub ic o an isemi ism elemen s o ideology, social mo emen and poli ical media ion o he unconscious (c . Kla e 2020). Since he nine een h cen u y an isemi ism had se ed as an e ec i e ac ic o e-di ec ing and de lec ing e olu iona y a ec s and ene gies, o Fenichel i hus bound wi h he his o ical eme gence o he poli ically conscious wo king classes. Cons uing Jews as objec s o hos ili y and disgus ‘ esol ed’ and channelled elsewhe e he psychic ensions o he p ole a ia .3 In his accoun , he wo king classes we e posi ioned in a dual and pa adoxical ela ion o poli ical au ho i y: hey simul aneously sough o ebel agains hose who held powe and desi ed o obey. As a ‘condensa ion o [ hese] mos con adic o y endencies’, an isemi ism channelled he p ole a ian u ge o ‘ ebel […] agains he au ho i ies’, as well as o e ed an oppo uni y o a ‘c uel supp ession and punishmen o his ins inc ual ebellion, […] di ec ed agains onesel ’ (Fennichel 1940, 31). The e is hus a link be ween he mass an isemi ic sen imen s and he ea and e o expe ienced by he subjec a hei own ‘ ebellious d i es’ (Be gmann 1988: 13; see also Falk 2008). While no ably in a la e edi ion o his ex , Fenichel downplayed he no ion o an isemi ism as a coun e - e olu iona y de lec ion (likely in o de o dis ance his own posi ion om Wilhelm Reich ollowing Reich’s con lic wi h bo h he socialis g oups and he psychoanalys s), he ne e heless con inued o gi e a en ion o he poli ical mechanisms o mino i y popula ions scapegoa ing h ough an isemi ism, whe eby he uling classes we e able o ‘load hei sins on o he Jews’ (1940: 26). ‘Psychoanalysis o An isemi ism’ a icula es he nexus o a Ma xis eading o his o y and he psychoanaly ic concep o he d i e. Fenichel’s iew on an isemi ism is ha he igu a ion o Jewish o he ness has p oduced exclusiona y discu si e and ma e ial e ec s as ega ds land owne ship and indus ial p oduc ion (1940: 28). Ha is & B ock (1991) no es he e a simila i y be ween Fenichel’s poin and he language used by he pionee ing Eu opean Zionis s in he ea ly wen ie h cen u y; i is also known ha Fenichel was a eade and an admi e o A nold Zweig (see Zweig 1921, 1988 [1922]). ‘Psychoanalysis o An isemi ism’ also clea ly echoes Leo Pinske ’s c i ique o he Jewish o he ing by Eu opean socie ies in his 1882 Au o-Emancipa ion (see Ba le 2005).4 A he same ime, Fenichel complica es he Ma xis in e p e a ion o Jewish o he ing by means class subo dina ion when he pai s i wi h he psychoanaly ic no ion o he ‘unconscious oo ’ o Jewish ha ed, which F eud ou lined in Ci iliza ion and I s Discon en s (1955 [1922]) and in Moses and Mono heism (1964 [1939]). F eud posi ed a symbolic link be ween he cas a ion complex and he associa ion o Jews wi h he ea s o ma e ial dispossession (c . F osh 2005: 39–40). Poin ing ou he linguis ic (me onymic) shi om he Jewish ci cumcision o he h ea ening igu e o a cas a ing s ange , F eud a gued unde pinning he social mechanisms o Jewish o he ing and exclusion mode n amongs Eu opean socie ies was he ea o a iolen ‘cu ’ o be execu ed by he mino i y popula ions upon he subjec (1955 [1922]: 36). 3 Fo non-psychoanaly ic in e p e a ions o an isemi ism as a ‘de lec ion’ o he wo king-class see Haushee (1936) and Alexande (1987). 4 Pinske w i es, o example: ‘ o he li ing he Jew is a co pse, o he na i e a o eigne , o he homes eade a ag an , o he p op ie a y a begga , o he poo an exploi e and a millionai e, o he pa io a man wi hou a coun y’ (1906: 6). 54Zolkos Redesc ip ions: Poli ical Though , Concep ual His o y and Feminis Theo y DOI: 10.33134/ ds.367 This ‘cu ’ ook di e en discu si e o ms—dispossession o economic asse s, cul u al co up ion o de ilemen o ‘ acial pu i y’—bu i s phan asma ic co e was he loss o p ecious p ope ies o he subjec (c . Jon e-Pace 2001: 107; Falk 2008: 67). The o iginali y o Fenichel’s in e en ion comes o he o e, in my iew, in he discussion o wha he calls ‘Jewish anach onism’, and by which Fenichel unde s ood he social cons uc ions o mino i y, and he ole ha hese cons uc ions had played his o ically in he de elopmen o Eu opean ascism. Fenichel sugges ed ha he Eu opean Jewish popula ions we e cons ued as ha ing e ained and ende ed isible o hei hos socie ies ce ain cha ac e is ics and ‘peculia i ies’, which hese socie ies had elega ed o he pas in e ec o he ci ilizing p ocess (c . F eud 1953 [1930]). Using he e m o ‘a chaic o eignness’ (o he Eu opean Jews), Fenichel pos ula ed a kind o ‘plu al empo ali y’ ha eme ged his o ically om he con inued p esence o wha majo i y socie ies saw as hei ‘inchoa e pas ’—a ace and a e u n o wha is belie ed o ha e disappea ed (1940: 29). As such, he a gumen was ha o he mode n Eu opean socie ies he Jewish popula ions and o he mino i y g oups iden i ied by e hnici y came o signi y ‘[ he] old p ime al powe s wi h which one had, onesel , los ouch’ (1940: 31). They we e associa ed wi h ‘magical hinking’—a sho hand o o he ing pe cep ions o Jewish ‘unin elligible language’ and hei ‘ununde s andable God’—which he mode n socie ies we e o abandon in hei pu po ed emb ace o a ionali y and secula ism. The mino i y igu e became synonymous wi h uncanny con en s ‘no only because hey [ he majo i y popula ions] canno unde s and [ he Jew] and he e o e can imagine all so s o sins in him, bu s ill mo e so because hey can unde s and him e y well somewhe e in he dep hs […]’ (1940: 31). In his a he c ea i e ake on he F eudian no ion o he e u n o he ep essed, Fenichel a gues ha ‘ he [ epudia ed] ins inc s […] come back o hem in hese incomp ehensible people who li e as s ange s in hei mids ’ (1940: 32). By depic ing he Jew as bo h a neighbou ‘in he mids ’ and a bea e o unassimilable s angeness, Fenichel shed ligh on an isemi ism as a de lec ion o he wo king classes om ans o ma ional and esu gen poli ical p ojec s and as a social p ojec ion ope a ing as a ‘weapon in class-wa a e’ (1940: 39). While he a emp a b inging oge he psychoanaly ic insigh in o he dynamics o o he ing o mino i y g oups wi h Ma xis no ion o his o y as class an agonism ul ima ely ‘ oubled’ Ma x’s concep ion o an isemi ism, Fenichel u ged his con empo a y eade s o conside he unconscious a ec s as a psycho- social sca olding o Eu opean ascism. III—ERNST SIMMEL: ANTISEMITISM ‘PASSES OVER HUMANITY’ E ns Simmel’s c i ique o ascism un olds h ough wo ajec o ies o F eud’s psychoanaly ic heo y: i s , he analysis o he dis o ions in psychic li e whe eby he subjec e e s o in an ile s ages o ego de elopmen and, second, he analysis o he mode n elemen in g oup o ma ions. Simmel’s essay ‘An i-Semi ism and Mass Psychopa hology’ was i s published in he Ge man Ma xis jou nal De sozialis ische A z in 1932 and was subsequen ly e ised and e-published in English a decade la e . Simmel buil in i on he idea ha F eud de eloped in Ci iliza ion and i s Discon en s ha ci iliza ion [Kul u ] is a se o dynamic p ocesses ha socie y ‘passes h ough’ as (i ) h ough phases o s ages. Key o his c i ical heo y o mode ni y—c i ical in he sense ha i ques ions discou ses p esen ing mode ni y as an unambi alen achie emen o ‘p og ess’—is ha in na a ing ci iliza ion F eud employs he li e a y de ice o analogy, si ua ing he cul u al p ocess in ela ion o his heo y o he libidinal s ages 55Zolkos Redesc ip ions: Poli ical Though , Concep ual His o y and Feminis Theo y DOI: 10.33134/ ds.367 o cha ac e de elopmen as a kind o ‘model’ o a ‘ igu e’ o a icula ing he o me (c .1953 [1930]: 96). The language used bo h in heo izing he libidinal de elopmen and ci iliza ion is ha o ‘passage’ o ‘passing’: jus as sexual o ganiza ion ‘passes h ough’ [du chläu ] di e en de elopmen al phases, ci iliza ion is desc ibed o ‘pass o e ’ [abläu ] socie y (1953 [1905]: 151; 2002; c . 1953 [1930]: 96–97). Wha is well known abou F eud’s wo k on libido and ci iliza ion alike is ha a hand is no an image o unobs uc ed passage o a linea p og ession— he subjec can be ‘blocked’ o ‘s uck’ a di e en libidinal phases and anach onism abound in mode n socie ies. Simmel’s ex s ollows closely F eud’s analogous igu a ion o he indi idual psyche and mode n socie y as a s aged ‘mo emen ’ and uses he language o ‘passage’, which disappea ed in Joan Ri ie e’s ansla ion o Ci iliza ion and I s Discon en s (she ansla es ablau en ea u es as ‘unde going’; see F eud 1953 [1930]).5 The s a ing poin o Simmel’s ex was simila o Fenichel’s ‘Psychoanalysis o An isemi ism’: employing he F eudian concep s o he ‘ci ilizing p ocess’ in connec ion wi h he sociological Ma xis analysis o mode n an isemi ism. Bu he subsequen di ec ion o Simmel’s a gumen is di e en as ‘An i-Semi ism and Mass Psychopa hology’ p esen s an isemi ism as a ci iliza ional ‘by-p oduc ’ o an unsuccess ul ‘passing h ough’ a he han he subjec ’s eg ession o base eelings as a wi hd awal om, o suspension o , he ci ilizing p ocess. Tha a gumen hinges on Simmel’s use o he language o ‘passing o e ’ o ‘passing h ough’ om Ci iliza ion and i s Discon en s in ela ion o he Eu opean his o y o an isemi ism wi h he e ec o complica ing he idea o a a ional mode n subjec , who shapes his o y consciously and au onomously. As such, he p oli e a ion o an isemi ic iews and a i udes in 1930s Ge many—an isemi ism conno es he e bo h ascis ic social mo emen s and an a ec i e eme gence—assumes a na ional subjec shaped by a ‘by-p oduc ’ o ci iliza ion (1946: 66). Impo an ly, his is no o sugges a de e minis iew o his o y whe eby he subjec is absol ed o esponsibili y. By linking ascism and he a ec i e concen a ion o ea and ha ed (in ela ion o he Jewish popula ions), Simmel iden i ies he ‘p ima y ic ions’ o ci iliza ion a wo k in Eu opean his o y and highligh s he ension be ween he desi e o eedom and g oup demands o con o mi y. No unlike Fenichel in ‘Psychoanalysis o An isemi ism’, Simmel sees he ideas abou an isemi ism as ideology o as an economic discou se o ma e ial p o i abili y as an insu icien explana ion o he his o ical alignmen o ascism and an isemi ism in 1930s Ge many. Ra he , he poin s o elemen s ha (acco ding o Simmel) ha e been missing om sociological analyses o an isemi ism, namely phan asy and a ec . As such, o Simmel, mode n an isemi ism has a ipa i e genealogy. I is indi idual because i ma ks a subjec i e e ea o a s a e domina ed by ego-p ese a i e ins inc s and ha e; i is collec i e inso a as i is accompanied by he subjec ’s subme sion 5 I should be no ed ha Ri ie e downplays he ich causa i e and agen ial associa ions o F eud’s ci ilizing imagina y as she in e s he subjec and objec o he sen ence ‘[die] Kul u en wichlung e schein uns als ein eigena ige P ozess, de übe die Menschei abläu ’ (‘[ he] de elopmen o ci iliza ion appea s o us as a peculia p ocess which mankind unde goes’, 1953 [1930]: 96). Ri ie e also ansla es he Ge man e b ‘ablau en’ as ‘unde go’, a he han ‘pass’; he la e would ende isible he connec ion be ween F eud’s no ion o ci ilizing p ocess and he idea ha human sexuali y me amo phoses and consolida es by mo ing h ough phases o s ages (a connec ion ha Simmel ecognizes). Da id McLin ock’s mo e ecen ansla ion is lexically and g amma ically close o he o iginal: ‘[ he] e olu ion o cul u e seems o us a peculia kind o p ocess passing o e humani y’. The concep o subjec i e, a ec i e and idea ional ‘passing’ in F eud is in my iew dese ing o mo e schola ly a en ion; I ha e iden i ied only wo sho discussions: in B ennan’s heo y o a ec i e ansmission (2004) and in Wegman’s wo k on psychoanalysis and cogni i e psychology (2013). 56Zolkos Redesc ip ions: Poli ical Though , Concep ual His o y and Feminis Theo y DOI: 10.33134/ ds.367 wi hin he psycho-social dynamics o a mass, and i is also symp oma ic o he ‘dis u bance o in e ac ion’ be ween he indi idual and socie y (1946: 34). Whe eas a he collec i e le el, an isemi ism co esponds o wha Gus a e Le Bon called ‘c owd- mindedness’ o mode n indi iduals (2006 [1896]), a he le el o indi idual psyche, i exempli ies he b oade disc imina o y and agg essi e endencies ha mani es in mode n socie y. Simmel calls i an ‘in an ile eg ession’ o he o al s age (1946: 33), which in psychoanaly ic heo y is associa ed wi h he desi e o iolen inco po a ion o he o he (bi ing, de ou ing, e c.). This ‘pa hological symp om o ma ion’ enables he e u n o he subjuga ed, ep essed and sublima ed agg essi e ins inc s (Simmel 1946: 33). By placing Eu opean ascism a he in e s ices o he esea ch in o mode n mass psychology and he psychoanaly ic discou se o ego eg ession, Simmel depic s ha he nexus o ascism and an i-Semi ism as a psycho-social shi om he ‘inne ego-supe ego con lic ’ o he ‘ou e ego-objec con lic ’ (1946: 52). In esul , he ex ca e ully aces he quo idian and socially no malized exp essions o an isemi ism, including p ejudicial o s e eo yping language, which o Simmel is con inuous wi h ac s o iolence. Whe he ‘idea ional agg ession’, o wha Simmel also calls ‘a pog om o wo ds’, u ns in o ‘physical agg ession’, o ‘a pog om o ac ions’, is a ma e o powe cons ella ions, and no wo dis inc phenomena (1946: 52). Simmel’s ex shows ha he psychoanaly ic engagemen s wi h ascism by he ‘poli ical F eudians’ we e no educible o ques ions o indi idual psyche bu we e wo ks o poli ical c i ique and se ious a emp s a g appling wi h ascism as a mass phenomenon. A guing agains he psychoanaly ic in e p e a ions o he ascis ic subjec as neu o ic, Simmel pos ula es ins ead ha , in con as o su e ing o neu o ics, ascis s a e no displaying signs o social maladap a ion. On he con a y, Simmel desc ibes hem as s ikingly ‘no mal’ and ‘well-adap ed’ and displaying a ema kable capaci y o, as he pu s i , ‘go on abou [ hei li es]’ (36). One way o in e p e ing ha pa o Simmel’s a gumen is as an ea ly con ibu ion o he his o ical and philosophic deba es abou ascism ha ook on he ques ion o au ho i a ian o ascis ic ‘pe sonali y’, as e idenced in he wo k o Ado no on au ho i a ian pe sonali y, o by A end ’s po ayal o Eichmann’s ‘banali y’ and o dina iness (1963), o , mo e ecen ly, by Goldhagen’s hesis abou he pe asi eness o elimina ionis an asies wi hin b oad segmen s o Ge man wa - ime popula ions (1996). Simmel s essed ha pa icipa ion in o ganized an i-Jewish ac i i ies and pe secu ions equi ed, in his wo ds, a ‘b eak wi h eali y’, whe eby he ego came o in e p e he social wo ld h ough ‘ he i a ional image y o his unconscious’ (1946: 42). Ra he han g oup neu osis, hen, a hand was a phenomenon o mass psychosis o collec i e delusion. Inso a as such ‘delusion’ eeds on he lack o knowledge (scien i ic o social), mode n and ea lie (p emode n) an isemi isms a e alike in one key aspec – he mechanism o p ojec ion. While he ecu ing epidemics in medie al Eu ope had uelled allega ions o Jewish culpabili y (‘well-poisoning’, e c.), he nine een h and wen ie h cen u y pog oms es on he social po ayal o Jews as culp i s o economic c ises and paupe iza ion. The Jew has become an in e nally con adic o y igu a ion, which success ully was mobilized in he p ojec ions o Eu opean Jews as bo h exploi a i e capi alis bene ac o s and ideologues and as commi ed communis s wi h no espec o p i a e p ope y o land owne ship o he Ge man a me . This mode o o he ing was no neu o ic, bu psycho ic, as one o he ea u es o psychosis a e i a ionali y and delusion p e ailing o e eali y. Howe e , Simmel also s essed ha he ascis ic subjec did no su e om psychosis clinically, bu by way o hei abso p ion in o a ‘mass’. 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