The Psychoanalysis of Racism, Revolution and Nationalism

Koenigsberg examines the idea of the nation as a sacred object saturating our day-to-day reality. Through analysis of the writings of Hitler, Lenin, Sri Aurobindo and others, Koenigsberg articulates core fantasies underlying the ideology of nationalism. What racists and revolutionaries have in common is belief that a particular class of people constitutes a "disease" within the body politic--that must be "removed" if the nation is to survive. In the final chapter, Koenigsberg examines the dynamics of totalitarianism--an extreme form of nationalism promising omnipotence through identification with a "great human community." Refusing to abandon the dream of omnipotence, radical nationalists, racists and revolutionaries are willing to sacrifice freedom and individuality. Table of Contents I. The Country, the Mother and Infantile Narcissism 1. Introduction 2. The Country as Suffering Mother 3. The Country as Omnipotent Mother 4. The Country as a Projection of Infantile Narcissism II. The Country as a Living Organism 1. Racism and Revolution as a Wish to Eliminate the "Disease" from Within the Body of the Nation 2. The Disease Within the Nation as a Projection of Malignant Internal Objects III. Revolution as a Struggle against Passivity 1. The Struggle Against Passivity: Hitler 2. The Struggle Against Passivity: Lenin 3. The Struggle Against Passivity: Aurobindo IV. The Social Psychology of Nationalism 1. The "National Community" 2. Totalitarianism 3. The Renunciation of Personal Gratification in the Name of a Devotion to the Collectivity