The Mass Psychology of Fascism

When I first read Reich I wondered why he wasn't taught or even mentioned in the course of my undergrad studies. This book is without doubt one of the most illuminating books written on the human proclivity for succumbing to (and even openly embracing) fascism (whether it is related to the overtly fascist bent of the global corporate-industrial-complex or microcosmically, the subtle fascism deployed on us by our peers).

Reich shows us why we are afraid of ourselves and our innate abilities for self governance. His ideas are based on empirical research he conducted through the various mass sexual and mental health organizations he helped found in pre WWII Europe. This research was responsible for his being dismissed from Freud's Psychoanalytic Society (for apparently heralding communist ideas) AND being dismissed from the Communist Party (for using psychology to critique the state of the Communist Party).

Reich fled to Scandinavia at the outset of WWII before eventually finding safe sanctuary in the United States. Sadly his ideas were even too "dangerous" for our own government who imprisoned him due to his violation of an obscure FDA Labeling Law and ordered his publications and research to be burned.

However, access to his work has steadily increased since the 1970s through reprints and releases of archived research materials and the research of other scientists who have continued in his footsteps (eg Alexander Janov and Primal Scream Therapy.) I hope having this book in EPUB format will further help disseminate Reich's beautiful, elegant and ultimately useful ideas on why the human animal continues to live in such apparent unbalance with itself and it's environment.

This book is copyrighted (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 1980.) I derived this EPUB from a PDF posted on this site. I am proud to present it here as I believe it is a good introduction to the ideas of one of the most misunderstood and overlooked scientists of the 20th Century. And I hope it sparks curiosity regarding the rest of his oeuvre.

LINK

SJC