Skip to search.

Breaking News Visit Yahoo! News for the latest.

×Close this window

rouesolaire · rouesolaire@yahoo.fr | Group Member  - Edit Membership Start a Group | My Groups
evola_as_he_is · EVOLA AS HE IS

The Yahoo! Groups Product Blog

Check it out!

Group Information

  • Members: 121
  • Category: Spirituality
  • Founded: Nov 19, 2004
  • Language: English

Yahoo! Groups Tips

Did you know...
Message search is now enhanced, find messages faster. Take it for a spin.

Messages

  Messages Help
Advanced
Mussolini's Intellectuals   Topic List   < Prev Topic  |  Next Topic >
Reply  | 
Mussolini's Intellectuals


Lately, a message has been posted on the forum of the site
www.juliusevola.it by a former student of Piero di Vona, one of the
foremost experts on Evola's work. It attempts to show, on the basis
of the 'Taccuini mussolianini', that Evola's relations with Mussolini
were far closer, both in human and in intellectual terms, than Evola
claimed in his autobiography.

We shall describe some of the contents of this meesage, which show
unequivocally that Gregor's views on Evola and his influence on the
ideology of the Fascist regime are as exaggerated as the views of the
scholars whom he criticises for assuming that Evola was more or less
the 'éminence grise' of Mussolini, and that, in any case, Mussolini
never regarded Evola as an "hysterical fanatic" (would Gregor be kind
enough to give us precise references?).

As this Italian scholar points out, it goes without saying that
Mussolini's judgements on Evola need to be taken cum grano salis.
After all, the Duce is likely never to have forgotten that Evola was
close to anti-Fascist circles in the first years of his political
involvement, the mid-1920s ; in 1930, Evola's paper, 'La Torre',
which had been intended as a political counterpart to 'Krur', was
forced to close down after only a few issues, under the pressure of
the police (contrary to what some people believe, it is the ONLY
publication by Evola which got into trouble with the authorities
under the Fascist regime). Yet, in the light of the "Taccuini", it is
clear that Mussolini didn't wait for Evola to publish 'Sintesi di
dottrina della razza' before taking a deep interest in his racial
theory ; the very first articles by Evola on that subject were
published in 1934 in the papers 'Rassegna Italiana' and 'Corriere
Padano', to which Mussolini said that he attached considerable value.
Pietro Fenili, on the basis of a comparison between the writings of
Evola on race and the successive stands taken by the leader of
Fascism on that matter, was able to hypothesise an actual decisive
influence of Evola on the progressive change in a racist sense of
Mussolini's thought in the course of the thirties :

"In the spring of 1932, during a conversation with Emil Ludwig [...]
Mussolini expressed a negative judgement (about race and racism). In
January 1934 [...] an article by Evola called 'Race and Culture'
was published in the monthly 'La Rassegna Italiana', which was
noticed and appreciated by Mussolini. In January 1937, by which time
Evola had grounds for thinking that Mussolini gave favourable
attention to his writings on racism, the important work 'Il mito del
sangue' was published. In the introduction, Evola gives Mussolini a
lesson which amounts to a masterpiece of ability and of evocative
power : by means of his gift for using words, Evola succeeds in
overturning the negative judgement of Mussolini, according to
which 'race' is a mere feeling, not a reality.

"While pretending to think that 'Mussolini's judgement is perfectly
correct,' Evola goes beyond it, integrating it into the superior and
much more complex reality of the myth : 'This is why the cold,
rationalistic critique of myth yields such meagre results. It will
never reach the deepest core, the final necessity, the fact behind
the feeling, which gives support and force to the myth.' Thus,
Mussolini, without being formally contradicted, is cleverly conveyed
quite unconsciously to the brink of racism.

"As for the myth itself, the definition which Evola gives of it (...)
seems to be deliberately crafted to capture the interest of the
Mussolinian activist : 'By myth, we do not intend a simple fiction,
or an arbitrary product of imagination, but rather an idea which
draws its main persuasive force from non-rational elements, an idea
whose value lies in the evocative force which it condenses, and
therefore in its ultimate capacity for expression in action.' It may
be a mere coincidence, but, a few months after the publication of 'Il
mito del sangue', on the 23th of March 1937, Mussolini, during a
telephone conversation with Giorgio Pini, declared openly : 'As you
know, I am a racist.'

"Mussolini's conversion to racism cannot be attributed to Giulio
Cogni, not only because his 'I valori della stirpe italiana' was
published subsequently to 'Il mito del Sangue' [...] but also because
Mussolini, during that telephone conversation with Pini, said that
some of Cogni's eccentric theories on the love relation were mere
nonsense.

Evola, looking back in 'Il cammino del cinabro' over the
circumstances of the publication of 'Il mito del sangue', recalled
that, among the salient subjects dealt with in that book, he had
presented "The fundamental ideas of Gobineau, Woltmann, Lapouge,
Chamberlain, and various other authors."

It may be a coincidence that, in his conversations with Ludwig,
Mussolini mentioned 'Gobineau, Chamberlain, Woltmann and Lapouge' as
being four authors who had not succeeded in convincing him of the
validity of racist theories.

It is difficult not to infer that Evola's intention was to present
these authors (above all Gobineau) to Mussolini in a perspective
which would interest him far more, even if critically, to overcome
his resistance in this respect.

"(Once the influence of Cogni is excluded), only one person could
have inspired the 'Nordic-Aryan' orientation of that dangerous
document, the 'Manifesto della razza', with his writings."

In the light of these facts, the support given by Mussolini
to 'Sintesi di dottrina della razza', and his intention to make it
the official racial doctrine of Fascism, which Gregor cannot
understand, becomes comprehensible.

Although Evola's activity was followed with much attention by
Mussolini through 1938, the beginning of an initiative directly
concerted with the leader of Fascism seems to date from the following
year. In February 1939, one of Evola's articles reached, through
Mussolini, the official organ of the regime, 'Il popolo d'Italia'.
The article was 'La razza come idea rivoluzionaria', and it is the
only article by Evola ever published in that paper.

In May 1941, a few months before Evola met Mussolini at the Palazzo
Venezia, Alberto Luchini was appointed director of the office of race
of the Ministry of Popular Culture. The minister, Alessandro
Pavolini, was a friend of Luchini and had sympathies for the
positions of Evola and Preziosi. The best conditions were thus
brought together for the group, which defined its area of study
as "esoteric racism". Luchini immediately developed some initiatives,
so that, that same month, Evola left Italy for a series of lectures
in Germany with the support of the Ministry. A few months later,
Evola was paid by the Ministry, while Luchini organised, from
September, a short radio series of conversations on the subject of
anti-Semitism, asking Evola and Preziosi and other figures of their
circle to take part in them.

Finally, Evola was among the very few Italians who were allowed to
welcome Mussolini at Hitler's headquarters in Rastenburg in September
1943, a few days after he was freed by Skorzeny.

Since Gregor is not a dilettante, it can only be assumed that he was
not in possession of these facts when he tried to assess Evola's rôle
in Fascism. His main mistake in this respect may be to rely too much
on the judgements of "the most prominent Fascist intellectuals of the
time".

From 1934 to 1943, that is to say, from that time in Mussolini's life
which was called by Kirpatrick "the peaceful years" to his fall, 12
years during which, from time to time, he confided in a man who was
supposed to contribute to make him go down in history in the most
favourable light, the leader of Fascism was one of the most famous
statesmen in the whole world. If Evola had been what Gregor assumed
he was, it is clear that Mussolini would not have tried to embellish
the nature of his relations with him, would not even have mentioned
his name to de Bergnac in the first place. Great men like to be
surrounded with great men.


--- In evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com, Savitar Devi
<savitar_devi@y...> wrote:
>
>
> By 1925, Evola was attempting to resolve the problems of
philosophical idealism by pursuing epistemological problems into
ontological conclusions that made the "Absolute Individual" –
initially understood as the sensate self – somehow "responsible" for
all "reality". What resulted was a more than quaint "magic idealism" –
part Tantric, part primitive Buddhist, part pre-Christian pagan, and
part medieval alchemy. Ugo Spirito, one of the most prominent Fascist
intellectuals of the time, called it a product of "mania for
originality at whatever cost, a vanity for new formulations, and a
poorly concealed inability to suffer the moral discipline of an
idealism that is adequately understood." He dismissed the young Evola
as a pretentious poseur who had given himself over to a Europeanized
version of Eastern mysticism – a kind of fictive "anti-
intellectualism" that in fact revealed itself as nothing other than
an exotic and stilted intellectualism.
>
>
>
> In effect, for the youthful Evola, Fascism, as it was, had precious
few immediate and evident virtues. Early in 1925, his intention had
been to convey all that by undertaking efforts that were expressly
anti-fascist.
>
>
>
> In retrospect, it appears evident that Evola was never particularly
interested in Fascism, as such. In effect, he actually has no place
in any history of Fascist social and political thought. He is
accorded a place because, years after the passing of fascism,
discussants have chosen to identify him as the "fascist" source of
irrationalism and antihumanism of contemporary "extremism".
>
>
>
> In retrospect, it is clear that Mussolini allowed Evola to continue
a diversionary controversy with the Church in order to drive the
Papacy into the most accommodating arrangement he could. Mussolini
recognized Evola as just that kind of anticlerical "hysterical
fanatic" who could best serve his purpose…Faced by the apparent
threat of a violent anticlerical "fascist" opposition, the Church
concluded its negotiations with Mussolini…In part through his deft
manipulation of Evola, Mussolini had won what was perhaps his single
greatest political success.
>
>
>
> Irrespective of his contribution to Mussolini's purpose, Evola was
never accorded and respect in Fascist intellectual circles. Almost
every Fascist intellectual of the period identified Evola as the
author of "formless and unsophisticated" polemics – the framer of
works "every line" of which "conceals a coarse error" – and
publications that were not serious, meriting only "to be put aside
and thought of no more about."
>
>
>
> The fact is that at the time of the publication of Evola's Sintesi,
the most serious students of raciation and comparative psychology in
Fascist Italy dismissed his ideas as "bizarre…occult anti-scientific
fantasies." Evola had early been identified by Fascist critics as
a "lucid madman", who was not to be taken seriously. Even granted his
tactical utility, it is difficult to entirely understand Mussolini's
readiness to allow the publication of Evola's book in National
Socialist Germany as a rendering of "Fascist" doctrine.
>
>
>
> In retrospect, and considered in context, it appears that Mussolini
used Evola's `Sintesi di dottrina della razza' exclusively in an
attempt to serve Fascism's tactical purposes. Nothing of Evola's
exotic ruminations appeared in any official Fascist doctrinal
pronouncements…As has been indicated, he early decided that Evola was
an hysteric – but that his views might serve to convey, to equally
hysterical fanatics in National Socialist Germany, Fascism's
seriousness of purpose…All that notwithstanding, by 1943 Mussolini's
tactical decision to allow Evola to masquerade as a Fascist
intellectual bore bitter consequences.
>
>
>
> Fascism's unhappy misalliance with National Socialism had
culminated in those tragic consequences – but the way was facilitated
by elevating Julius Evola to the totally unwarranted level of an
intellectual "spokesman" for Fascism…Mussolini's tactical decision to
reduce the ideological distance between Fascist Italy and National
Socialist Germany through the employment of the work of Julius Evola
was paid for at exorbitant cost.
>
>
>
> P 195 - 221
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Enjoy this Diwali with Y! India Click here
>









Sun Nov 6, 2005 1:01 pm

evola_as_he_is
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 | 
Expand Messages Author Sort by Date

Has anyone come across A. J. Gregors' book `Mussolini's Intellectuals'? The portrayal of Evola is this book is quite rancid to say the least… this is a quote...
savitar_devi Offline Send Email Nov 4, 2005
10:00 am

Sure. In the meantime, this is a description of the book : "Fascism has traditionally been characterized as irrational and anti- intellectual, finding...
evola_as_he_is Offline Send Email Nov 4, 2005
10:17 am

... I have not read "Mussolini's Intellectuals" yet, but its author, A. James Gregor (who has been writing studies of Fascism for about forty years now), has ...
Michael Lord
ouro_boros Offline Send Email
Nov 4, 2005
6:19 pm

By 1925, Evola was attempting to resolve the problems of philosophical idealism by pursuing epistemological problems into ontological conclusions that made the...
Savitar Devi
savitar_devi Offline Send Email
Nov 5, 2005
11:15 am

Lately, a message has been posted on the forum of the site www.juliusevola.it by a former student of Piero di Vona, one of the foremost experts on Evola's...
evola_as_he_is Offline Send Email Nov 6, 2005
1:01 pm

Alas, Gregor does provide references to some of his less flattering descriptions. The ‘hysterical fanatic’ slur has two footnotes relating to it – ...
Savitar Devi
savitar_devi Offline Send Email
Nov 7, 2005
9:33 am

Gregor didn't write "Montini recognized Evola as just that kind of anticlerical "hysterical fanatic" who could best serve his purpose...", but "Mussolini...
evola_as_he_is Offline Send Email Nov 7, 2005
11:52 am

But if Evola was universally viewed as a mere pipsqueak, how could he have either put the mighty Vatican on the defensive, or deceived the multitudinous Nazi...
Rowan Berkeley
rowan_berkeley Offline Send Email
Nov 5, 2005
12:51 pm

In the most recent edition of 'Imperialismo pagano' (Edizioni Mediterranee, 2004), De Turris quotes a few excerpts from a text by Yvon de Bergnac called...
evola_as_he_is Offline Send Email Nov 5, 2005
1:55 pm

... Post-modern smugness!...
Pluto Gordon
specialediti... Offline Send Email
Nov 5, 2005
8:13 pm

Note that Mussolini, talking of Evola, call him "il professor Julius Evola". Knowing the aversion of Evola for the academical titles and for the intellectuals...
vandermok
charltonroad36 Offline Send Email
Nov 7, 2005
12:59 pm

Before we get too subtle here, note that Mussolini was a former primary school teacher. ... Evola". Knowing the aversion of Evola for the academical titles and...
evola_as_he_is Offline Send Email Nov 7, 2005
1:12 pm

Copyright © 2012 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Copyright Policy - Guidelines NEW - Help