“The narcissistic gain provided by fascist propaganda is obvious. It suggests continuously and sometimes in rather devious ways, that the follower, simply through belonging to the in-group, is better, higher and purer than those who are excluded. At the same time, any kind of critique or self-awareness is resented as narcissistic loss and elicits rage.” – Theodor Adorno.
The reason that I felt the need to post this is rather simple and stems from direct and personal experience. Adorno, drawing heavily from Freud, is describing fascistic mentality. What I fear is that this mentality is more pervasive and more widespread, not merely contained within the fascist elements of society. From my own experience of particular left-wing parties, such as the SWP, there is definitely fascistic tendencies within their own membership base. This sort of claim is constantly countered by their membership, as they state their involvement in broad coalitions and alliances, and also allowing various groups to be present at SWP events, such as Marxism.
However, this outward expression of openness and cooperation does not seem to be shared by prominent members of the party. Faced with criticisms of the SWP’s internal organisation and methodology concerning political affairs, members have, in the past, reacted with considerable outrage in the face of this narcissistic loss. I do not make the claim that this is characteristic of the SWP alone, for it is present in many so-called left-wing groups and groups that are not explicitly political in nature. My issue is that a group that is supposedly aware of fascism on an intellectual level should understand that the fight against fascism starts within their own organisation.
I have experienced much in my time spent amongst the left-wing organisations local to my area, the most prominent being the SWP. What I have realised from extended exposure to their ideas is that a great many of the party members do not seem to understand, or fully grasp, what fascism means, and how cognitive modalities common within fascist movements can also infect the left. I feel that there has been no sufficient scrutiny of fascism from the contemporary left, as many seem to see it as a phenomenon only attributable to the Right and the police (or anyone else who is in a position of authority for that matter). I would be a fool to suggest that the left is made up of racial supremacists fighting for a revolution to bring about corporatism, however I feel that I am accurate in my assertion that left-wing parties often bear the fascist trademarks fanaticism; an inclination to white (or red)-wash history; the inability or reluctance to self-criticise; centralising and anti-democratic tendencies; scapegoating and binaristic exclusionism. This is not an exhaustive list of what I consider fascistic about certain left-wing organisations, but they are features I have noticed through interaction with a number of them. These features not only shape the organisation, but shape the membership, resulting in programmed individuals that tow the party line at the expense of their own political autonomy.
Furthermore, I must highlight that I have been talking about the left as if it is a cohesive whole. This is far from the truth. Many who are familiar with the left within Britain understand that it now lies shattered and weak. There are countless parties, some that are radically different from one another, and others that have negligible differences but egos too big to see past them. The narcissism of many of these groups has hindered the development of a cohesive left, and has resulted in warring factions that ridicule, mock and compete with eachother. I have witnessed the childlike scoffing at smaller movements by members of bigger movements- a disconcerting example of exentuated phallogocentricism- and have heard countless accounts of why certain movements are the better ones, and why the other movement is silly and worthless.
When the left was decimated, we were left with debris, isolated blocks that once could build a cohesive whole. Perhaps the whole was never fully realised, but we now have the hindsight and experience to begin again. The narcissistic tendency and fascist modalities need to be challenged in order to destabilise the boundaries that stand between leftist movements, boundaries that are reflective in strength to the class boundaries we seek to overcome. The left must become cohesive and unified, not narcissistic and closed. We must strive to build a movement that is forever self-critical, challenging centralising tendencies and fascistic modalities. The over-active egos that form isolated selves within the left need to be rooted out, we must embody the rhizome, individual but linked inextricably to the whole. As long as our movements are distorted by the narcissistic elements outlined, we will forever be in danger of succumbing to fascism and becoming further isolated and useless. To avoid the rubbish heap of history we must radically rethink what it means to be ‘left’ and what it means to organise. Let us move together towards this lest we be subsumed into the forever expanding mists of humanity’s obscure past. There is still nothing to lose but our chains. We have a world to win.
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