The Psychology of Nazidom

...Appeasement, indulgence, benevolence, he points out, only encourage the paranoic trends...

...The diseased group as well as the diseased individual should be subjected to conditions under which they cannot do any harm...

...Replied Steinbeck...

...By rooting out fascism and establishing democracy, the efeated peoples would be given the passer to shorten the eried of probation and to lessen the dissmtrttei that pring from the corruptions of fascism and the devests-ions of wsr...

...Their deeds were certainly as atrocious as these of oar pap|lti«pmeaa, Thit is true with regard to their hehaWer pot oaly towards ether nations but else towards group*in their own countries...

...To the paranoic every one fa) aa enemy, whose only purpose is to subdue or to annihilate him...

...Towards other nations, Germany as a whole behaves as a dangerous paranoic towards hi* victims...

...J. Do not be confused by the President's democratic professions of faith: they have always been eloquent and I nm sure they have always been sincere...

...Paranoid characters, in Western civilization, are forced to build up their own groups —strange Sects, followers of Astrology and Spiritualism, and political Shirt-movements with their special rituals and observances...

...Nor do they mean, as our government appears to believe, that any sort of government will serve for the purposes of international collaboration and pacification, provided that our erstwhile enemies exclude the less gentlemenly fascists and maintain internal law and order...

...The world's diversity aad richness— all the potentialities of hnman intercourse , —are devoured, as it were, by the eae scheme of subjugation...

...and they should have a single aim: the continued liquidation of fascism and the steady establishment of democratic processes of government and democratic processes of education: in other words, the creation of a regime favorable-to peace, justice, end freedom...

...The eleventh hour has come in the United States' foreign policy: s time to make oar deeds square with ear professions, a time to show the world that we are fighting side by side with the nations attacked by the Axis powers, not just to protect oar bodies or oar property, bet to make real aad meaningful to she whole world those fundamental rights aad duties by which democracy, and democracy alone, can build the new City of Man...

...Hull's testy dis-like of criticism, the effect of an uneasy conscience...

...decisive' groups in Germany showed striking paranoid features.' In other countries paranoid-tending persons are held in less responsible positions or are induced to assert and expand those of their psychological attitudes which are unaffected by paranoia...

...But if one were to try to make his simple propositions worksUe, one would have to analyse the economic aad social conditions which made for Paranoic leadership in Germany—one would have to study why the non-Paranoic group*, which after all had their opportunities mare than once, were defeated aad rendered impotent one weald have to know what the numerical relation-shins between the social forces ia Germany really are...

...Furthermore, in the ' advice which Briekner gives tor the post-war period, be seems to stress the fact that the therapeutic value of his theory is inconsiderable...

...It points to the madness in Do—ins tion and Subjugation, and more generally to any social system a* far st at toad* to nee men only a* mean* and never as am...

...He asserts himself ia a sauet aggressive wsy...

...Hence the terms we should use to follow up unconditional surrender must be definite and explicit...

...isan advantage of the Administration's mistakes: we , peak only on behalf of the very principles by which the administration itself professes to be guided: we apeak trr the .dead, so that they may not nave died in vain, and re speak for the living, and the unborn, so that they may ave a better prospect of inheriting a peaceful and co-perative social order than did those of us who took part i the first World War...

...they seem to be derived from plain common sense...

...Briekner thinks that he is able to solve them by applying psychiatric and Morolpgic concepts to Germany's past and actual conduct...

...Same were inclined to believe it true af the store politicalteed British soldier (rather than the pta-ep-giri conscious U. S. dough boy...

...Let as sappeae that the barbarians aad the aborigine, had produced expert psychiatrists weald they net have been justified hi calling these ruth lew eeeojserors cases af pay eh sum T The utterances cf each aggressor nations ware neither more human nor mare reasonable hi a true sense than Brickner's quotations from German authors...

...By demanding an unconditional surrender we do two important things: we humiliate the fascist governments more completely than we dared humiliate the Central Powers at the end of the last war, and thereby remove their last vestige of glory...

...In abort, psychiatry would have to tilt ever into political science and the expert science aad the expert psychiatrist weald have to fellow hia coarse ss a layman...

...Brickner's description of these mechanisms is so conceived as to fit perfectly the events which led to the failure of Mr...

...In order to prove his thesis of the existence of group paranoia, be exhibits selections from anthropological monographs and from the writings of chauvinistic Germans...

...But in analyzing the behavior of nations, aggression and its concomitant psychological manifestations may be considered as evidence of an inferior ability to adjust only ta so far as a world-wide tonal enriranenemt eon be defined and enforced...

...Yoa are defending aomethiag...

...Bkhard Brickner's book* is intended as a doctor's contribution to these probl*fetftl.»War...

...On these matters it would be a gross betrayal of democracy to trust to the false principles of national sovereignty and self-determination: the whole world is concerned in the establishment of the conditions for a just peace, and specious distinctions between internal and external affairs cannot possibly be maintained...

...Since 1 had the honor of suggesting these terms in THE New Leader, long before the United States entered the war, I still believe in their wisdom...

...It is precisely at this point that the weakness of our Administration's present policy becomes patent, and its unfor. pirate gift for compromises and appeasements may become disastrous...

...Naturally he is not a mental case, but according to Brickner's explanation, it is certainly possible that the majority of the individuals in a Paranoid group are not psychotic...

...inform the Axis peoples that at firm they ' mast bear the full weight ef eccaaattoa aad reparation...

...The simplest explanation for this series of mistakes is the tendency of elderly men to think ta terms af familiar past experiences...

...In Germany, on the contrary, "the whole arsenal of paranoid gratifications is part and parcel of every-dy life, as well as high political, academic, and military life" (140...

...Bet there are each men sad sack groups aad all of as must face them as realistically aa yam face your enemy...

...To come home to worry about the future is asking a little toe much of a fighting man . . . [Bat] you and ll,*ce,oM ether peristal ia the Army have available the eae thing ear government responds to...

...According to his dispatches from London, the American soldier haa to fact been seriously concerned with the kind af war h*s fighting the kind of peaee that has to be made if he aad his sons are not going to go "over there" again, the kind of working America he's going to return to...

...Let us fight for a democratic rie-iry throughout the world...

...The ultimate means to wfaict the desperate individual Paranoic quite mglseally resorts is murder: the ulti- ' mate nseam of a paranoic nation is aggression aunt war...

...in fact all groups which were unprotected and unable to defend themselves when they came into any conflict with the more powerful were subdued and in some eases anaihilstod, Briekner <wouid then hove to term almost all great aad highly respected nations glaring cases of group Paranoia...

...They become, so to speak, isolated in society, Just as in the individual paranoic trends are isolated by the successful psychiatrist in order to allow the "clean areas" of his mind to remain uncontaminated...

...Why don't yoa say: 'What are yea doing, not ta terms of gelded oratory hot la exact terms of money and treaty aad organization sad personnel*' "Why don't yoa say: 'We are earning home aad we are much store than harass., Oh...

...This exoneration of the Italian and presumably the German people is a piece of unqualified wishful thinking: it forgets the long period of education and indoctrination that separates the youth of fascism from...

...On the existence and stamina of this non-paranoid group in Germany hangs the future of the world" (305...

...Wiolno'istji...

...Our failure to do so betrays s lack of understanding of the counter-revolution of oar times...

...But at the same time we shield make plain that they have a real ehaaee to improve their coadittoa tfr then- own efforts: far We efcaofi pledge ourselves to ' lift the burdens of their defeat for every additional installment of democracy they effect v...

...DRICKNER'S*style is lucid...

...Lord Vansittart the other day made an excellent remark about aw American foreign policy: he repeated the Vie-' tortaa motto see ¦miltatii, that one should begin it the' way one expected to go on...

...But the W*™ W Anyone with the slightest political acumen could have pointed out the sf™1*^"^0 *rtlptK IXlariiet that it does not deserve in a less dangerous situation: hence the pre-e»r meat of a nation that is in serious military jeopardy, as ours was immediately after Pearl Harbor, is entitled to a lornemramcr uu»__^__„„ j •writer, for one, has published no criticism of American diplomatic policy since December 14, 1*41...

...thk *§ »Mt * tWW » -em ___, tum±ikm 1 Fascists: in particular to those who have grimly borne the brunt of the battle, on frwT7 front • __, tmm verv moment of our widening military mexxm^itb****** _*T_t Srf But the work of the anti-fascist forces will be in vain unless our military victory is sealed by >jg^^.fgg...

...fey: certainly the public explanations given by the President and the State Department add only to the underlying mystery—even when they show, as in Mr...

...Roosevelt aad hia advisers grew up ia a world of national states, aad they still continue to act as if our enemies were simply national organizations called Germany or Italy, aad net an international entity, Fascism, which has its sympathisers sad fellow-travelers still actively st work even ta the democracies...

...even the memories of a more democratic government...

...A quick victory and aa "easy" settlement are no substitutes for s lasting victory aad s democratic settlement...

...Jjr'lft now Germany has been an excellent ^^**dHig ground for Paranoia...

...The more our enemies ding, on the other rand, to the immediate past, the less opportunity should hey be given to escape the inevitable punishment of their iwn original misdeeds and their own present stubbornness: loverty, starvation, misery, degrade tkm, and isolation rom the society of their peers...

...Since, in the aver-JWindiridual, traces of all kinds of character T**Ctnres can be found, certain social condi-*¦»nay be able to b#ing psychopathic spells f «* fore in individuals in whom they would *W otherwise remained completely hidden...

...Perhaps...

...Today, he feels he mast speak out With victory to sight, Lewis Mumford believes we sre not prepared for the difficult job af securing that victory...

...Whatever rational course the prospective victim may take, whether he gives proof of his good will or refutes the paranoic's allegations, is doomed to failure...

...But to imagine that Fascism was the work of a handful of corrupt men, to imagine that it can be merely voted out of power, is to mistake wishes for facts...

...The category of Paranoia, crude as it is with regard to the complicated problems of today's international situation, may toad to the core of many intriguing social phenomena...

...Why don't yea got eat a sheet ef paper and write your questions...

...If ear Cenatituttaa ta not just words, yoa are the government sad, cynical as semes af ear politicians may be...

...Once Again: Fascism Is the Enemy...

...Long' before' Hitler, both the prominent figures suid' the...

...He is convinced that Dmists...

...Those of us who have supported the present adminis-ration on its major domestic as well as its foreign policies ow have a special right to have our criticisms patiently onsidered by the Government we address...

...No compromise with anti-democratic forces is possible...

...Perhaps...

...If, instead, we fellow the administration's present declared policy of easing the coalitions of life for the Fascist masses without bringing tome their responsibility for fascism and without foster-rig the processes of democratic self-government, we shall epeat all the mistakes made by the Allied governments t the end of the last war—and we shall thus cushion the '. ¦ eat of smother Hindenburg and prepare the triumph Of nother Hitler...

...Therefore, the medical expert takes the l&Ai hot in order to point to the manifold Jjeds, findings, and theories of psychiatry, mhh might be integrated with those of other •helplines in an adequate explanation of present-¦n¦Story—but in order to give his own solu-*j unbiased by any specialized knowledge, of Mors alien to medicine...

...historians, and other experts, who have so far treated the J*Ba»a enigma, "have been handicapped by j** ef specialized knowledge of human behav-W...

...What ,, makes its present errors really grave is that they are so majestically consistent: our government has followed the line of covert appeasement ever since the Fall of France to 1940, when its recognition of the veteran defeatist, Petain, amounted to outright support...

...If our foreign policy is based upon a desire for a quick success, with a minimum of policing and actve political responsibility, then fascism may survive by having a greater capacity to hold on in defeat than we have in victory...

...Don't be afraid to throw yoar weight around...

...Our political failure to expleit the downfall of Mussolini points to a rad.cal defect in «»_**!^?1?ZZ3Z-tkTt date from June...

...The main traits of this national Paranoid character Briekner describes as the need to dominate, suspiciousness (the "persecution-complex") , the enormous sense of one's own importance, the readiness to reinterrupt past events so as to make them fit into one's own self-centered and strictly logical system, and, finally, the abn a mal tendency to project one's own wrath end guilt on any person with whom one happens to be in contact...

...But unconditional surrender means plainly only one thing: It means that the enemy should lay down no conditions...

...to absolve the conquered peoples of their share in fascism...

...And even then he would find it difficult to adapt a psychiatric concept, such as Paranoia, to historical problems...

...Whose " Unconditional Surrender...

...has refrataed from writing oa the question of foreign policy since December 14...

...by exposing the enemy completely to our mercy, we multiply the effect of every act of generosity or charity we may exhibit, since none of these acts is part of the bargain...

...1940...

...IS GERMANY INCURABLE...

...a religion of negation and nihilism that has many natural allies in a distintegratng culture...

...Be shows hoar not only the individuals tending to Paranoia are completely infected under the impact of paranoic influences in society, but even the victims and opponents are hypnotised and driven ia the same direction...

...aim — to est Kant's expression...

...So far as we can see, the main and almost only cause which Briekner offers as an explanation for this state of affairs is his contention "that German leaders manifest'and have manifested for a considerable time recognizably paranoid thinking" (90...

...The terms "unconditional surrender" do not mean an unconditional surrender of democracy...

...A study into its historical causes and ramificationi would be a tempting task for the convinced layman, the philosopher...

...The truth is Just the opposite: a peace,that is founded on mere expediency and that has no other object than the physical termination of hostilities, will result in the sacrifice of countless more lives than one which is driven home to a just conclusion: not merely will it make a mockery of the lives already sacrificed, but it must result in such shoddy, half-hearted arrangements, that it will in the end merely light the fires of further wars, more brutal, more devastating, more life-destroying than the present one...

...By Richard M. Briekner, Lippineott...

...A series of Standards of international conduct, in terms of which a national maladjustment might be understood, haa ta fact never existed, aad will never exist so long as adjustment in international affairs depones oa irrational factors...

...the forerunner of > further disintegrations, • further appeasements, aad -further wars...

...It expresses the common inhibition among the learned that the expert most speak very plainly and repeat statements several times so as to be understood by the layman...

...Nevertheless, it is quite obvious that the book does not answer the question expressed in its title...

...This reached its first disastrous culmination in the deal with Darlen-r-a Mow to democracy that still vitiates France's efforts to form a unified fighting force: and the same .policy has come forth once more hi Italy...

...Mum ford's key criticism is that we are fighting Germany and Italy, but not an anti-fascist war...

...Unless the American rovernment proceeds to the demolition of fascism '-with firmer principles and more democratic con vie-i tions than it has yet shown, the victory of the United ¦¦¦¦ Nations will be a negative one: a weak and partial ,. victory that will give our enemies the opportunity (hey need to change their political dress without changing their political direction...

...Precisely this happened in Germany at the end of the last war...

...maladjustment of an individual to his environment...

...ad-tell Utilitarianism...

...With regard to Germany this can be achieved by complete disarmament Furthermore, post-war policy should make a decent living available for the conquered and then try to work with that part of the German population which is predominantly non-paranoid...

...The outcome caa only be new wars and conflict...

...Where most or all of these symptoms occur, the psychiatrist speaks of a Paranoic character...

...TTHE immediate application of these criticisms should be * plain...

...Aa a result, he feels that he can only subdue or annihilate the enemy fat turn...

...There is, for instance, the cold economic subject who views the whole world only in its relation to the interests of his Business or Industry —who cannot even conceive of any other action than that by which he expands his economic power...

...m By Lewis Mum ford erflE war has now reached a stage where the military victory of the United Nation, seems astwred...

...I do not pretend fully to understand this pol...

...The paranoid features are made preponderant in the individuals by the specific """dfthr— of the respective social structures...

...and to promise them, without any democratic stipulations, that we will cheerfully stand by whilst they put in power any government they may choose, provided alone that it is not the one that led them into the war...

...I know that when the lak comes up and when the fighters bob ap at yoa, yea And it hard to conceive men and groups of men who could ase this thing ta their own eauta...

...It is an absurd contradiction to use 'force to defeat fascism and not to use pressure and persuasion to make democracy universally victorious...

...His recommendations are of a very general political nature...

...lastot an ft being whet yoa thought ft was...

...In bis world, there is only one kind of human relatione: domination...

...But „. a bland willingness to deal with the jackal successors of . fascism, and even with the more mangy original lions, * like Franco, has governed our relations with Spain and France...

...The news-phatsgrapher * maaaged to candid-catch a British Tommy, under a 8th Army lorry, hiding from the noon-day ana ta North Africa's battto-deaerts —and reading a copy of a book called "Plans for a Poet-War World...

...On the contrary: the nature of the new government makes all the difference in the world...

...rjj*e psychopathic trends, "psychoses-in-¦Watere'' (52), may not develop to a harmful IJ^ferous intensity during the entire lives w.me individuals who display them...

...1*41, s week after Peart Harbor...

...and at the same time we prevent ourselves from being denounced as promise-breakers and betrayers, because of our possible failure to fulfill this or that condition...

...W* should immediate...

...Along with our government's emphasis on defunct nationalist unities rather than on the realities of fascist internationalism goes still another misconception, which is doubly regrettable because it repeats the mistake Wood-row Wilson made during the last war: an effort on our part to separate the fascist peoples from their rulers...

...Aggreeatoa has very eftoa exprsasit a fall grasp ef reality...

...Paranoia may be the treacherous image of "Reason" with all its- unffinehing conclusiveness and inflexible alternative...

...JJr...

...wheat yoa really threw yoar weight yoa are the government, aad yea caa make the peace yea want if yea knew year power and you never relax...

...The Paranoic either suspects » trap or becomes convinced of the weakness of that particular opponent...

...and unless our present policy changes, it is sure to happen again, not once but twice too often...

...Chamberlain's policies...

...Some of the most inspiring parts of the book are the pages in which Briekner takes ever the old concept of "contagion" once applied in s similar connection by Tarda...

...German f**o>'*was so constructed that it encouraged and even rewarded paranoid thinking...

...Near it should he eery obvious that liajsjJIPdfl we have worked on just the opposite principle in dealing with fascism, compromising ta advance with the forces that are opposing us, and excusing ear lack of democratic lWaiiaw by pretending that glib compromise will save American lives...

...John Steinbeck Writes te an American Soldier" "T*HE picture looked too good to be true...

...Ton are fighting to be at peace...

...It seems to us that the concept of Paranoia can be more helpful to the historian aad the sociologist than many other psychological categories...

...These professions, however, are subject to grave erosion by actions i |hst contradict them and thwart them: actions which be-¦ pan in the breaking of our Treaty with Republican Spain through our refusal to send munitions to its duly elected government to quell the fascist uprising...

...Since the most advanced Greek philosophers pretended that the people, whom their own group subjugated a* slaves, were, born aa such, since the Latin language even refused them the honor of speaking of them an human beings, suae* Roman agricultural slaves aad...

...to the conquest of cotaaies aad uvea whole continents by Chriettaa peonies ta modem times...

...and what is worse, it fails to bring home to the defeated peoples any sense of their own guilt in the expansion of fascism, or any need for a fundamental change of heart and a change of political direction...

...By being lenient to the upple heirs of fascism, and by failing to throw the weight if our own prestige and power on the side of democracy, re would fatally bring upon ourselves aad our children i punishment that will be as terrible aa our own self-etrayaL • • • f*HE policy of stipulating democracy as the price of * accommodation and cooperation is a rational policy for iquidating fascism, and it is the only one that will work ¦ ver a long period of years...

...We are actu-ted by no desire for office and by no desire to take par...

...y- * • • 1 |kI0 one would be entitled to criticize the Administration t-AJ tkm on its handling of Mussolini's deposal alone...

...If it is true that the behavior of the oppressors, as viewed by the oppressed, has shown at least s majority of the character traits which Briekner lists as Paranoi, wc stay team study under this category—not the international behavior of national groups hilt the impulsions toward Paranoia given by certain economic ami social condition, sad frpzssrd ia the behavior of individuals toward each other Indeed the development towards Rationality ia modern history haa favored certain character structures which Briekner terms as Paranoid...

...Since a present-day psychiatrist can never know whether or net a case of paranoia is curable, the analogy between German political cfmstructions and that illness does not allow of gay plausible prognosis...

...Fascism is s doctrine, a faith, a religion: above all a militant religion...

...Bat correspondent John Steinbeck has been entering s dissenting opinion...

...The theoretical considerations which Brickner's book motivates go far beyond his earn intentions...

...Ia Wsstonh ervlllxa-tioa there hi a whale eaeceeatoa effjuagraa-sive wars from the conquest ef the Petepoe-nesiaa Peataeela ay the aU On she, who need to hold all other pesetas ia runt imps as "barbarian...

...Likewise do not be confused by the stem, uncompromising slogan we have announced to the enemy: Unconditional Surrender...

...What can w< dogfter this war to remove the causes for similar ones in the future...

...Jisa WeTmenW that were responsible, in the tret place, for the success ef United Nations, and in particular the United States, are ready to undermine their cause by a resort to tnose > » recOR8tituting a world order...

...Some were taclined to smile st the symbolism of the picture as a calculated set-up...

...Here Brickner's idea* sftoJJd be expanded by an analysis of the ps ye housing influence of Terror in its manifold appearances...

...I T is just this„ paradoxical consequence which * reveals the merits of Brickner's hook...

...and let us make sure that we o not barter away the principles we are fighting for in rder to win the fight on easier terms, only to find that « have forfeited not alone honor, but lasting peace...

...and when its open ..disdain for the De Gaulle movement threw into confusion and discouragement the democratic forces that survived i ta France...

...In order to weigh the effectiveness of our official democratic faith we must examine the conditions the President has recently laid down for dealing with our enemies when they accept defeat...

...Hence the extirpation of Fascism is a matter that calls for both patience and principle...

...For Terror, both as an actuality and as • potentiality, has been the keynote of the main chapters of history...

...He believed that the crucial military situation forbade criticism af governmental policies...

...Our government must demand a change of heart, a change of method, a change of purpose—not just a change of names and personalities...

...who has been in 14 missions over enemy territory, aad who was also troubled about Peace 4 the Poet-War World...

...In dealing with fascism, we should lay down hard conditions aad hold to them: net attempt to slide over the dimeulties of the transition for the sake of s premature and therefore illusory peace...

...y ¦¦¦<¦-¦-,---Now once more the time has come to speak: we ¦-——— b^-'are eteee to the eleventh hear...

...However, ft** latter find themselves exposed to condi-*•» particularly in line with their own trends, *V «*y turn into acute cases of the illness to they were susceptible...

...Lewis Maatfone, noted social critic aad pubta-ist...

...j Thie term refers not only to the psy-*aais, hi which the ties of s patient with' ]J**U ere severed altogether, bat also to •, y characteristics of the disease, which, "•ugh they exist in some individuals, do ijjtprevent some adjustment to reality...

...This week Steinbeck replied to aa anxious inquiry from aa Air Corps I leatwsaal...

...Psychologically, we do even more...

...and many peraonrfhave done no...

...In the latter case, he will raise his demands, and if they are met, raise them again and again until the ap-peaser will be unable to fulfill them...

...He is unable to react in any other way but the one which is dictated by bis own material interests...

...This slogan is no substitute for a positive policy on the part of the victors: it does not mean that we have no obligation to follow up our first formidable condition, with a series of other concrete conditions, designed to 'make a just and stable international order come into exist: once with the greatest facility and the greatest speed...

...318 page...

...Usually psychological illness can be diagnosed by evidence of...

...He is completely dominated by the one aim to increase his power and "by 'definition incapable of satisfaction in any triumph" (22) because it only doubles bis responsibilities and his ambitions...

...much mere important—we are voters.' Then why don't yoa slip that letter into aa envelope aad write 'Free' across the stamping place and sead it te year Congressman or yew Senator...

...Ja reality, Brickner's theory .refers to • *ne Das'c concept: the medical "diag-'w"a.*f Paranoia...

...The process of establishing a peaceful world will be hindered, not helped, if we do not bring home to the fascist nations the full extent of their crimes against humanity: if for the sake of a quick armistice and the appearance of a peaceful settlement, we allow so much of the fascist tissue to remain in these conquered countries that, like tonsils that have been removed by a blundering surgeon, fascism will grow back again and become an eten more virulent point ef iafectkn...

...For the surest way to usher in s tidal wave of poet-war reaction will be to offer the world, net aa unachieved ideal, like Wilson, but an achieved betrayal of the ideal: that way lies s cynicism aad a despair that wiU drive the whole world far into the Dark Ages...

...If enough of yes de that yea will get action aad information, becaase while, perish the thought, a Congressman sometimes forgets heroes, he very rarely forgets voted...