North American New Right 1

by Greg Johnson

  192 Carl Schmitt, Political Romanticism, trans. Guy Oakes (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1985).—trans.

  193 Carl Schmitt, Die Diktatur: Von den Anfängen des modernen Souveränitätsgedankens bis zum proletarischen Klassenkampf [The Dictator: From the Origins of Modern Theories of Sovereignty to Proletarian Class Struggle] (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1921)—trans.

  194 In his Preface to the French edition of The Concept of the Political: Carl Schmitt, La notion de politique (Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1972).

  195 Carl Schmitt, The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy, trans. Ellen Kennedy (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1986). See also Carl Schmitt, Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Theory of Sovereignty [1922], trans. George Schwab (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1986)—trans.

  196 Carl Schmitt, Theory of the Partisan: Intermediate Commentary on the Concept of the Political, trans. G. L. Ulmen (New York: Telos Press, 2007)—trans.

  197 Cf. The Concept of the Political, 53–54—trans.

  198 Carl Schmitt, Legality and Legitimacy, trans. Jeffrey Seitzer (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2004)—trans.

  199 Staat, Bewegung, Volk: Die Dreigleiderung der politischen Einheit [State, Movement, People: The Three Organs of Political Unity] (Hamburg: Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt, 1934)—trans. It concerns a series of studies on one-party states, primarily Marxist, that appeared in 1932.

  200 Carl Schmitt, The Nomos of the Earth in the International Law of Jus Publicum Europaeum, trans. G. L. Ulmen (New York: Telos Press, 2006)—trans.

  201 Cf. “The Era of Neutralizations and Depoliticizations” (1929), trans. Matthias Konzett and John P. McCormick, Telos no. 96 (Summer 1993)—trans.

  202 http://www.dominiquevenner.fr/#/la-bible-des-europeens/3228811

  203 François Jullien, interview with Thierry Marchaisse, Penser d’un dehors (la Chine). Entretiens d’Extrême-Occident (Paris: Le Seuil, 2000), 47. Philosopher and sinologist François Jullien is professor at the University of Paris-7. He is member of the Academic Institute of France and director of the Institute of Contemporary Thought. In order to discover the authentic nature of European thought, he compared it with something completely different, that of China, which had developed in an autonomous way, without any connection with the Indo-European languages.

  204 Jacqueline de Romilly, Homère (Paris: PUF, 1985).

  205 The BNF exposition “Homère. Sur les traces d’Ulysse” [Homer: On the Trail of Ulysses] was accompanied by an excellent catalog published by Seuil, realized by its three organizers, Olivier Estiez, Mathilde Jamain, and Patrick Morantin.

  206 No French translation is really satisfactory. To soak up the Iliad, one should refer to the translation of Paul Mazon (Gallimard, Folio Traditional), to which the Preface of P. Vidal-Naquet adds nothing. For the Odyssey, one should especially refer to the poetic translation of Philippe Jaccottet (La Découverte, 1982; Poche, 2004). The Bouquin collection, Homère. L’Iliade et l’Odyssée [Homer: the Iliad and the Odyssey], translated by Louis Bardollet, includes a useful critical apparatus. One can also profit from the essay by Jacqueline de Romilly, Hector (Éditions de Fallois, Livre de Poche, 1997). One should also consult Marcel Conche, Essais sur Homère (PUF, 1999). Finally, see Dominique Venner, Histoire et traditions des Européens [History and Traditions of Europe] (Le Rocher, 2004), chs. 4–6.

  207 The neologism “Borean” has a broader sense than “Indo-European,” which is a linguistic category. It refers to the Greek myth of Hyperborean origins.

  208 One thinks of the famous interpretations of the tidal waves that destroyed Lisbon in 1755, inspired by what the Bible says of Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed, it is said, because of the immorality of their inhabitants . . .

  209 http://guillaumefayearchive.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/mars-et-hephaistos-le-retour-de-lhistorie/

  210 http://euro-a-synergies.hautetfort.com/archive/2008/07/21/

  defis-postmodernes-entre-faust-et-narcisse.html

  211 Benjamin Nelson, On the Roads to Modernity: Conscience, Science, and Civilizations (Totowa, N.J.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1981).

  212 Jean-François Revel, Histoire de la pensée occidentale [History of Western Thought], vol. 2, La philosophie pendant la science (XVe, XVIe et XVIIe siècles) [Philosophy and Science (15th-, 16th-, and 17th-Centuries)] (Paris: Stock, 1970). Cf. also the masterwork of Alexandre Koyré, From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1957).

  213 Cf. Julien Freund, Max Weber (Paris: PUF, 1969).

  214 Paul-Henri Michel, La cosmologie de Giordano Bruno [The Cosmology of Giordano Bruno] (Paris: Hermann, 1962).

  215 Cf. essentially: Werner Sombart, Le Bourgeois. Contribution à l’histoire morale et intellectuelle de l’homme économique moderne [The Bourgeois: Contribution to the Moral and Intellectual History of Modern Economic Man] (Paris: Payot, 1966).

  216 Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, trans. Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984).

  217 Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, The Dialectic of Enlightenment, trans. Edmund Jephcott (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002). Cf. also Pierre Zima, L’École de Francfort. Dialectique de la particularité [The Frankfurt School: Dialectic of Particularity] (Paris: Éditions Universitaires, 1974). Michel Crozon, “Interroger Horkheimer” [“Interrogating Horkheimer”] and Arno Victor Nielsen, “Adorno, le travail artistique de la raison” [“Adorno: The Artistic Work of Reason”], Esprit, May 1978.

  218 Cf. chiefly Michel Maffesoli, L’ombre de Dionysos: Contribution à une sociologie de l’orgie [The Shadow of Dionysus: Contribution to a Sociology of the Orgy] (Méridiens, 1982). Pierre Brader, “Michel Maffesoli: saluons le grand retour de Dionysos” [Michel Maffesoli: Let us Greet the Great return of Dionysos], Magazine-Hebdo, no. 54 (September 21, 1984).

  219 Cf. Gerd Bergfleth et al., Zur Kritik der Palavernden Aufklärung [Towards a Critique of Palavering Enlightenment] (Munich: Matthes & Seitz, 1984). In this remarkable little anthology, Bergfleth published four texts deadly to the “moderno-Frankfurtist” routine: (1) “Zehn Thesen zur Vernunftkritik” [“Ten Theses on the Critique of Reason”]; (2) “Der geschundene Marsyas” [“The Abuse of Marsyas”]; (3) “Über linke Ironie” [“On Leftist Irony”]; (4) “Die zynische Aufklärung” [“The Cynical Enlightenment”]. Cf. also R. Steuckers, “G. Bergfleth: enfant terrible de la scène philosophique allemande” [“G. Bergfleth: enfant terrible of the German philosophical scene”], Vouloir, no. 27 (March 1986). In the same issue, see also M. Kamp, “Bergfleth: critique de la raison palabrante” [“Bergfleth: Critique of Palavering Reason”] and “Une apologie de la révolte contre les programmes insipides de la révolution conformiste” [“An Apology for the Revolt against the Insipid Programs of the Conformist Revolution”]. See also M. Froissard, “Révolte, irrationnel, cosmicité et . . . pseudo-antisémitisme,” [“Revolt, irrationality, cosmicity and . . . pseudo-anti-semitism”], Vouloir nos. 40–42 (July–August 1987).

  220 Guillaume Faye, Europe et Modernité [Europe and Modernity] (Méry/Liège: Eurograf, 1985).

  221 On the theological foundation of the doctrine of the “invisible hand” see Hans Albert, “Modell-Platonismus. Der neoklassische Stil des ökonomischen Denkens in kritischer Beleuchtung” [“Model Platonism: The Neoclassical Style of Economic Thought in Critical Elucidation”], in Ernst Topitsch, ed., Logik der Sozialwissenschaften [Logic of Social Science] (Cologne/Berlin: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1971).

  222 There is abundant French literature on Georges Sorel. Nevertheless, it is deplorable that a biography and analysis as valuable as Michael Freund’s has not been translated: Michael Freund, Georges Sorel, Der revolutionäre Konservatismus [Georges Sorel: Revolutionary Conservatism] (Frankfurt am Main.: Vittorio Klostermann, 1972).

  223 Cf. G. Locchi, “Histoire et société: critique de Lévi-Strauss” [“History and Society: Critique of Lévi-Strauss”], Nouvelle École, no. 17 (March
1972), and “L’histoire” [“History”], Nouvelle École, nos. 27–28 (January 1976).

  224 Cf. G. Locchi, “L’idée de la musique’ et le temps de l’histoire” [“The ‘Idea of Music’ and the Times of History”], Nouvelle École, no. 30 (November 1978), and Vincent Samson, “Musique, métaphysique et destin” [“Music, Metaphysics, and Destiny”], Orientations, no. 9 (September 1987).

  225 Cf. Helmut Pfotenhauer, Die Kunst als Physiologie: Nietzsches äesthetische Theorie und literarische Produktion [Art as Physiology: Nietzsche’s Aesthetic Theory and Literary Production] (Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 1985). Cf. on Pfotenhauer’s book: Robert Steuckers, “Regards nouveaux sur Nietzsche” [“New Views of Nietzsche”], Orientations, no. 9.

  226 Biotechnology and the most recent biocybernetic innovations, when applied to the operation of human society, fundamentally call into question the mechanistic theoretical foundations of the “Grand Narrative” of the Enlightenment. Less rigid, more flexible laws, because adapted to the deep drives of human psychology and physiology, would restore a dynamism to our societies and put them in tune with technological innovations. The Grand Narrative—which is always around, in spite of its anachronism—blocks the evolution of our societies; Habermas’ thought, which categorically refuses to fall in step with the epistemological discoveries of Konrad Lorenz, for example, illustrates perfectly the genuinely reactionary rigidity of the neo-Enlightenment in its Frankfurtist and current neo-liberal derivations. To understand the shift that is taking place regardless of the liberal-Frankfurtist reaction, see the work of the German bio-cybernetician Frederic Vester: (1) Unsere Welt—ein vernetztes System [Our World—A Networked System], dtv, no. 10118, 2nd ed. (Munich, 1983) and (2) Neuland des Denkens. Vom technokratischen zum kybernetischen Zeitalter [New World of Thinking: From the Technocratic to the Cybernetic Age] (Stuttgart: DVA, 1980). The restoration of holist (ganzheitlich) social thought by modern biology is discussed, most notably, in Gilbert Probst, Selbst-Organisation, Ordnungsprozesse in sozialen Systemen aus ganzheitlicher Sicht [Self-Organization: Order Processes in Social Systems in Holistic Perspective] (Berlin: Paul Parey, 1987).

  227 G. Locchi, “L’idée de la musique et le temps de l’histoire” [“The Idea of Music and Historical Time”].

  228 To tackle the question of the literary modernism in the 19th century, see: Malcolm Bradbury, James McFarlane, eds., Modernism 1890–1930 (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976).

  229 Cf. Paul Raabe, ed., Expressionismus. Der Kampf um eine literarische Bewegung [Expressionism: The Struggle of a Literary Movement] (Zurich: Arche, 1987)—a useful anthology of the principal expressionist manifestos.

  230 Armin Mohler, La Révolution Conservatrice en Allemagne, 1918–1932 [The Conservative Revolution in Germany, 1918–1932] (Puiseaux: Pardès, 1993). See mainly text A3 entitled “Leitbilder” (“Guiding Ideas”).

  231 Cf. Gérard Raulet, “Mantism and the Post-Modern Conditions” and Claude Karnoouh, “The Lost Paradise of Regionalism: The Crisis of Post-Modernity in France,” Telos, no. 67 (March 1986).

  232 Cf. Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West, 2 vols., trans. Charles Francis Atkinson (New York: Knopf, 1926) for the definition of the “ahistorical peasant” see vol. 2. Cf. Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, trans. Willard R. Trask (San Diego: Harcourt, 1959). For the place of this vision of the “peasant” in the contemporary controversy regarding neo-paganism, see: Richard Faber, “Einleitung: ‘Pagan’ und Neo-Paganismus. Versuch einer Begriffsklärung” [“Introduction: ‘Pagan’ and Neo-Paganism: Essay in Disambiguation”], in Richard Faber and Renate Schlesier, Die Restauration der Götter: Antike Religion und Neo-Paganismus [The Restoration of the Gods: Ancient Religion and Neo-Paganism] (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 1986), 10–25. This text was reviewed in French by Robert Steuckers, “Le paganisme vu de Berlin” [“Paganism as Seen in Berlin”], Vouloir, nos. 28–29, April 1986, 5–7.

  233 On the question of the “line” in Jünger and Heidegger, cf. W. Kaempfer, Ernst Jünger, Sammlung Metzler, Band 201 (Stuttgart, Metzler, 1981), 119–29. Cf also J. Evola, “Devant le ‘mur du temps’” [“Before the ‘Wall of Time’”] in Explorations: Hommes et problems [Explorations: Men and Problems], trans. Philippe Baillet (Puiseaux: Pardès, 1989), 183–94. Let us take this opportunity to recall that, contrary to the generally accepted idea, Heidegger does not reject technology in a reactionary manner, nor does he regard it as dangerous in itself. The danger is due to the failure to think of the mystery of its essence, preventing man from returning to a more originary unconcealment and from hearing the call of a more primordial truth. If the age of technology seems to be the final form of the Oblivion of Being, where the anxiety suitable to thought appears as an absence of anxiety in the securing and the objectification of being, it is also from this extreme danger that the possibility of another beginning is thinkable once the metaphysics of subjectivity is completed.

  234 To assess the importance of Leibniz in the development of German organic thought, cf. F. M. Barnard, Herder’s Social and Political Thought: From Enlightenment to Nationalism (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965), 10–12.

  235 The classic among classics in the condemnation of “irrationalism” is the summa of György Lukács, The Destruction of Reason, 2 vols. (1954). This book aims to be a kind of Discourse on Method for the dialectic of Enlightenment vs. Counter-Enlightenment, rationalism vs. irrationalism. Through a technique of amalgamation that bears a passing resemblance to a Stalinist pamphlet, broad sectors of German and European culture, from Schelling to neo-Thomism, are blamed for having prepared and supported the Nazi phenomenon. It is a paranoiac vision of culture.

  236 To understand the fundamental irrationality of Sartre’s Communism, one should read Thomas Molnar, Sartre, philosophie de la contestation (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1969). In English: Sartre: Ideologue of Our Time (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1968).

  237 Cf. R.-M. Alberes, Jean-Paul Sartre (Paris: Éditions Universitaires, 1964), 54–71.

  238 In France, the polemic aiming at a final rejection of the anti-humanism of ’68 and its Nietzschean, Marxist, and Heideggerian philosophical foundations is found in Luc Ferry and Alain Renaut, French Philosophy of the Sixties: An Essay on Anti-Humanism, trans. Mary H. S. Cattani (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1990) and its appendix, ’68–’86. Itinéraires de l’individu [’68–’86: Routes of the Individual] (Paris: Gallimard, 1987). Contrary to the theses defended in first of these two works, Guy Hocquenghem in Lettre ouverte à ceux qui sont passés du col Mao au Rotary Club [Open Letter to Those Went from Mao Jackets to the Rotary Club] (Paris: Albin Michel, 1986) deplored the assimilation of the hyper-politicism of the generation of 1968 into the contemporary neo-liberal wave. From a definitely polemical point of view and with the aim of restoring debate, such as it is, in the field of philosophical abstraction, one should read Eddy Borms, Humanisme—kritiek in het hedendaagse Franse denken [Humanism: Critique in Contemporary French Thought] (Nijmegen: SUN, 1986).

  239 Jean Cau, the former secretary of Jean-Paul Sartre, now classified as a polemist of the “Right,” who delights in challenging the manias and obsessions of intellectual conformists, did not hesitate to pay homage to Che Guevara and to devote a book to him. The “radicals” of the bourgeois accused him of “body snatching”! Cau’s rigid Right-wing admirers did not appreciate his message either. For them, the Nicaraguan Sandinistas, who nevertheless admired Abel Bonnard and the American “fascist” Lawrence Dennis, are emanations of the Evil One.

  240 Cf. A. Vergez, Marcuse (Paris: PUF, 1970).

  241 Julien Freund, Qu’est-ce que la politique? [What is Politics?] (Paris: Seuil, 1967). Cf. Guillaume Faye, “La problématique moderne de la raison ou la querelle de la rationalité” [“The Modern Problem of Reason or the Quarrel of Rationality”], Nouvelle École, no. 41, November 1984.

  242 G. Lipovetsky, L’ère du vide: Essais sur l’individualisme contemporain [The Era of the Vacuum: Essays on cont
emporary individualism] (Paris: Gallimard, 1983). Shortly after this essay was written, Gilles Lipovetsky published a second book that reinforced its viewpoint: L’Empire de l’éphémère: La mode et son destin dans les sociétés modernes (Paris: Gallimard, 1987); in English: The Empire of Fashion: Dressing Modern Democracy, trans. Catherine Porter (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univeristy Press, 1994). Almost simultaneously François-Bernard Huyghe and Pierre Barbès protested against this “narcissistic” option in La soft-idéologie [The Soft Ideology] (Paris: Laffont, 1987). Needless to say, my views are close to those of the last two writers.

  243 Cf. Laurent Joffrin, La gauche en voie de disparition: Comment changer sans trahir? [The Left in the Process of Disappearance: How to Change without Betrayal?] (Paris: Seuil, 1984).

  244 Cf. Furio Colombo, Il dio d’America: Religione, ribellione e nuova destra [The God of America: Religion, Rebellion, and the New Right] (Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori, 1983).

  245 ∗ Réfléchir & Agir, no. 21, Fall 2005, 44–47.

  246 C. Bourseiller, Extrême-droite. L’enquête (F. Bourrin, 1991), 114.

  247 Ibid.

  248 L’Organisation armée secrète, the Secret Army Organization—the French resistance to the decolonization of Algeria—Ed.

  249 Nation-Belgique, no. 59, September 1, 1961.

  250 J. Thiriart, La Grande Nation. L’Europe unitaire de Dublin à Bucarest (1965), 9.

  251 Notes by C. Mutti on G. Freda, “La désintégration du système” [“The Disintegration of the System”], supplement to Totalité, no. 9 (1980).

  252 Conscience Européenne, no. 8, July 1984.

  253 Ibid.

  254 J. Thiriart, “L’Europe jusqu’à Vladivostok,” in Nationalisme & République, no. 9, September 1992.

  255 This is Kevin MacDonald’s Foreword to Taking Our Own Side.

  256 Noël Coward, The Noël Coward Diaries, ed. Graham Payn and Sheridan Morley (New York: Da Capo, 2000).

  257 Alisdair Clarke, “Paris Shockwaves” at Aryan Futurism http://aryanfuturism.blogspot.com/2006/08/paris-shockwaves.html