Sárospataki Füzetek 1. (1997)

1997 / 2. szám - Dr. Frank Sawyer: The roots of totalitarianism (A totalitarizmus gyökerei)

THE ROOTS OF TOTALITARIANISM

Dr. Frank Sawyer

THE ROOTS OF TOTALITARIANISM

' At the end of our progress we stand where Adam and Eve stood: all we are faced with now is the moral question."

[Max Frisch]

"Fanaticism is the original sin."

[György Pálóczy-Horváth]

"Fanaticism is the original sin." This is written on a statue in the Sárospatak Academy park grounds. György Pálóczy- Horváth was a Hungarian who emigrated to London and worked for the BBC. He arrived in Budapest at the time of the 1956 uprising and found numerous rolls of films which became the major documents shown by the BBC on the 1956 revolt. We understand what he means when he says that fanaticism is the original sin, since fanaticism is closely connected to pride and power. This is at the heart of Genesis 3. It is also at the heart of totalitarianism. Totalitarian temptations may seem primarily political or economic. But there is an underlying psychological dimension as well. If, as psychologists tell us, power and control over others has a strong neurotic dimension, then it follows that dictatorships are actually neurotic systems: they are built on fixations and phobias. This is not merely a matter for speculation, for there are high risks involved if we ignore the causes of tyranny. In the opening words of the Communist Manifesto (1848) Marx and Engels proclaim: "A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of Communism". The words ’spectre’ and ’haunting’ say more to us today than when first written. When ideological dreams become nightmares we know that the psychological dimension is begging for attention and we are sure to find paranoia and schizoid fantasy abounding. But there is more involved than psychology: I shall argue that the psychology of totalitarianism is rooted in a deeper crisis of the soul of society, namely in the crisis of Genesis 3 - the loss of a spiritual foundation.

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