Leftism: from de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Marcuse

635 Pages·1974·4.76 MB·English

by  Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

LEFTISM
From de Sade and Marx
to Hitler and Marcuse
ERIK VON KUEHNELT-LEDDIHN
RLINGTON HOUSE·PUBLISHERS
NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK
To the Noble Memory of Armand Tuffin, Marquis de la Rouërie
Courageous Fighter for Liberty
Ardent Admirer of America
Bitter Foe of the Jacobins
Friend of George Washington
Member of the Order of the Cincinnati
Copyright© 1974 Arlington House
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the
publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in connection with a review.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Erik Maria, Ritter von, 1909– Leftism: from de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Marcuse.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Liberalism—History. 2. Democracy—History. 3. Conservation—History. 4. Political science—
History. I. Title.
JC571.K79 320.5′1′09 73-78656
ISBN 0-87000-143-4
Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Part I. The Leftist Mind
1. Identity and Diversity
2. Equality and Liberty
3. Democracy and Liberalism
4. Right and Left
Part II. Leftism In History
5. The Historic Origins of Leftism
6. Nascent America
7. The French Revolution
8. From Democracy to Romantic Socialism
9. From Romantic to Scientific and International Socialism
10. From Socialism to Communism
11. From Marxism to Fascist Nationalism
12. National Socialism and Socialist Racism
Part III. Liberalism
13. Real Liberalism
14. False Liberalism
Part IV. The Left and U.S. Foreign Policy
15. The American Left and World War I
16. Leftism Goes from War to War
17. Another Leftist War
Part V. Leftism Today
18. Anticolonialism
19. The New Left
20. Conservatives and Liberals
21. The Outlook
Right and Left in State, Society, Church, Economy and Daily Life
Appendix
Notes
Index to Text and Notes
Preface
The author of this tome thinks that he owes it to his readers to declare his
baggage, to say a few words about the purpose of this book as well as about
himself.
I am an Austrian with a rather varied background and a good share of
unusual experiences. Born in 1909 as the son of a scientist (radium and X-ray)
who died as a victim of his research work, I traveled quite a bit as a young boy
and acquired a knowledge of several tongues. Today I read twenty languages
with widely varying skill and speak eight. At the age of sixteen I was the Vienna
correspondent of the Spectator (London), a distinguished weekly founded by
Addison and Steele. Engaged in the study of law and Eastern European history at
Vienna University at the age of eighteen, I transferred a year later to the
University of Budapest (M.A. in Economics, Doctorate in Political Science).
Subsequently I embarked on the study of theology in Vienna, but went to
England in 1935 to become Master at Beaumont College and thereafter professor
at the Georgetown Graduate School of Foreign Service from 1937 to 1938. I was
appointed head of the History Department in St. Peter’s College, Jersey City
(1938-1943) and lecturer in Japanese at Fordham University. Until 1947 I taught
at Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia. These studies and appointments were
interspersed with extensive travels and research projects, including the USSR as
early as 1930–1931.
During my years in America I traveled in every state: Only southeastern
Oregon and northern Michigan alone are still my “blank spots.” In 1947 I
returned to Europe and settled in the Tyrol, halfway between Paris and Vienna,
and between Rome and Berlin, convinced that I had to choose between teaching
and research. From 1949 onward I revisited the United States on annual lecture
tours. Since 1957 I have traveled every year either around the world or south of
the Equator.
One of my ambitions is to know the world; another one is to do research in
arbitrarily chosen domains serving the coordination of the various branches of
the humanities: theology, political science, psychology, sociology, human
geography, history, ethnology, philosophy, art. I have a real horror of one-sided,
permanent specialization. I am also active as a novelist and painter. My books,
essays, and articles have been published on five continents and in twenty-one
countries.
Introduction
So much about myself. The purpose of this book is to show the character of
leftism and to what extent and in what way the vast majority of the leftist
ideologies now dominating or threatening most of the modern world are
competitors rather than enemies. This, we think, is an important distinction. Shoe
factory A is a competitor of shoe factory B, but a movement promoting the
abolition of footwear for the sake of health is the enemy of both.
In the political field today this distinction, unfortunately, is less obvious and
largely obscured by a confusion in semantics. This particular situation is bad
enough in Europe, but it is even worse in the United States. This state of affairs,
in turn, has adversely influenced the foreign policy of the United States which in
the past and in the present not only has been determined by what—really or only
seemingly—is America’s self-interest, but also by ideological prejudices. Very
often these ideological convictions coloring the outlook, the aims, the policies of
those Americans responsible for the course of foreign affairs (not only
Presidents, cabinet members, or congressmen, but also professors, radio
commentators and journalists), have actually run counter to America’s best
interest as well as to the very interest of mankind.
There is no reason to believe that ideologies—i.e., coherent political-social
philosophies, with or without a religious background—have come into play in
America only during this century when America was engaged in two crusades
under two Democratic administrations. Nor do we subscribe to the opinion so