It his Audodifesa, Evola wrote:
The position that I have defended and continue to defend, as
an independent man … should not be called “fascist”, but
traditional and counterrevolutionary. In the same spirit as a Metternich, a
Bismarck, or the great Catholic philosophers of the principles of authority, de
Maistre and Donoso Cortés, I reject all that
which derives, directly or indirectly, from the French Revolution and which, in
my opinion, has as its extreme consequence bolshevism; to which I counterpose
the "world of Tradition." … My principles are only those that,
before the French Revolution, every well-born person considered sane and
normal.
In order for us well-born men to understand
what is sane and normal, we need look no further than such thinkers as the
Spaniard Don Juan Donoso Cortés and the Frenchman Joseph de Maistre. Although
Evola wrote no extended commentary on either of these thinkers, we have his own
testimony that they all share the same spirit. As can be seen in Evola’s
brief review of de Maistre’s “Soirées in St. Petersburg”,
sharing the spirit is not the same thing as agreement on dogma or points of
doctrine. Yet a reading of those philosophers of authority is worth the effort,
if for no other reason than to dispel the persistent impression that Evola
advocated anarchy or some sort of secular antinomianism.
For example, consider these ideas from
Donoso Cortes (all quotes from “Donoso Cortes: Cassandra of the
Age” by R. A. Herrera):
First of all, can this famous imagery from
Donoso eliminate any and all doubts about the shared spirit with Evola?
“[in Defense, lecture 10, Donoso exalts] the strong man who defends truth
even among the ruins.” And we know that Evola read Donoso.
“Donoso predicted the advent of a
debased chattering mass, a humanity leveled beyond discussion.”
“Incapable of grandeur or heroism,
liberalism is the breeding ground of socialism … Both liberalism and
socialism ignore the organic character of society, its historical building up
through sedimentation, and any connection between past and future.”
“What makes all the difference is
ideas, not material force.”
“[The dictator is a strong man who] appears as a
divinity … At his appearance … the tempests are pacified. The
dictator transcends written law and philosophical theory: he is a living
protest against both law and philosophy.”
“Donoso cites Helen, Ulysses’ siren, and other
femmes fatales to prove that classical man regarded woman as the harbinger of
ill fortune and a major obstacle to the performance of great and heroic
deeds.”
“Donoso considers war to be a universal phenomenon
which begins in heaven and ends on earth. War between individuals spreads to
war between nations, between races, and between man and nature. War reflects
the exigencies of human nature. War per se is necessary.”
“When inner restraint disappears, a civilized society
becomes impossible.”
“Imagined paradises generate real hells.”
“Donoso was fascinated by order and hierarchy …
Any disturbance in the spiritual world will unfailingly produce parallel
disturbances in the moral and physical worlds.”
“Socialism is a bizarre hybrid not yet wholly detached
from its Christian origins. It is a semi-Catholicism, a malevolent doppelganger
of Christianity.”
“The age of the masses will be generated by a process
combining galloping democratization, mechanization, and centralization.”
Donoso thought that infallibility is an
essential characteristic of authority. Authority is synonymous with
infallibility. The power to command behavior and impose beliefs is not subject
to error and must not be seen as subject to error. Without the exercise of and
belief in infallible authority, Donoso thought that people and societies would
sink into a morass of confusion, doubt, and error. (Internet Encyclopedia of
Philosophy)
At a time when Europe dominated the world
politically, culturally, and economically and when the percentage of Europeans
in the world population was at its highest, Donoso made this prediction:
“Because it is no longer Christian, Europe will assuredly die. The
greatest catastrophe in all of history is fast approaching. … Europe will
be depopulated and regress to barbarism.”
Even if the cause is rejected, the
prediction is right on target. It is difficult to envision either a reinvigorated
Christianity, or a renaissance of heathen imperialism, as Evola wanted, that will
reverse this trend.