I have continued to contemplate your elucidation of the Spanish Civil War and its elemental foreshadowing of elements of America’s current cold civil war as viewed through the lens of the following lines,
“Reduced to a “political religion,” Passmore states, fascism may be traced to the “radical sects of the Reformation or even the classical world.” These radical sects “prefigured the intolerant, illiberal, messianic mind-set of some fascists.”
Immediately this brings to mind the Reformer John Calvin and his unique blend of the religious and political. Curiously enough from my perspective the reformation era created what I think was probably the most important splitting of epistemological consciousness to date at that time in history, with the fruits of its birth only now just becoming clear and obvious for all who have eyes to see and ears to hear; while those who claim to possess such attributes are in reality deaf and blind to the actuality of reality. The enlightenment was a child of this epistemological split, whereas its sibling remained mired in its transcendentally confined mind-knowledge, relying upon interpreters of interpretations of interpreters of interpretations of interpreters and so on and so one ad infinitum, while the younger sibling explored beyond the confines of theology, philosophy, ideologies, and grew into reality unleashed from the moorings and trappings of transcendentalism.
Once again you have penned an excellent essay filled with worthy details and interesting points of observation.
I especially enjoyed reading the following lines, as they resonated well with me on many fronts:
"As historian Kevin Passmore writes, the rise in Europe of the socio-political reaction now referred to as the Radical Right, a precedent both of fascism and Nazism, occurred in a matrix of influences that was much more a synergy of sources and conditions than a family of direct causes.
Reduced to a “political religion,” Passmore states, fascism may be traced to the “radical sects of the Reformation or even the classical world.” These radical sects “prefigured the intolerant, illiberal, messianic mind-set of some fascists.”"
This one line " a matrix of influences that was much more a synergy of sources and conditions than a family of direct causes" fits so well as a description of the underlying synergies that have been building up and driving the currents of the cold civil war between Trumpian and Democratic alliances.
Now having read this essay and realizing how so little I know about Franco and Spain's recent modern history I will have to finally take some time this summer to read a copy I have of 'Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany, and World War II' written by Stanley G. Payne, Yale University Press, 2008.
OK, be careful. Much better to read Paul Preston's "The Spanish Holocaust." Stanley Payne (and his colleague Palacios who write together sometimes) are HUGE apologists for Franco. One of the reasons Preston wrote Holocaust was to counter the fawning "Franco: A Biography" that Payne and Palacios wrote trying to save their earlier research. The problem is that everything written before 2004 -- and the scholars who starred before 2004 -- is based on Franco's incredible all-suffocating propaganda. And everything Payne and Palacios wrote (and are still writing) is a massive denial of the truth. The three I find most trustworthy now are Passmore, Helen Graham, and Paul Preston. When "Franco" came out, Helen Graham took to the London Times and EVISCERATED Payne and Palacios for the incredible lying they did in an academic arena. So, I don't read anything they write, and Preston covers it anyhow. It's a shame. And not every scholar holds to previous opinion when previous "fact" turns out to have been a lie. ... For example, the main curator of the works of Heidegger turned on a dime and recanted every exonration he'd ever written of Heidegger's Nazi period when he was allowed to finally read and publish the Black Notebooks -- which Heidegger made sure were NOT published before ALL his philosophy was published. The Black Notebooks prove that Heidegger was a LIFELONG Nazi, not a long-reformed Nazi who was just misguided in his youth. He wasn't. Even while he was the lover of Hannah Arendt, he was lying to her. Grrrrrrr. Anyhow, more on this later, but everything people thought they knew about Franco before 2004 was a bald-faced black lie enforced by "disappearing people" and murdering people and torturing people. This guy is a monster. The only reason he didn't top Hitler in butchery is that he didn't trust either Hitler or Mussolini enough to get involved in THEIR problems. And this is after Hitler and Mussolini armed him and airlifted his whole army from Africa to Spain. Hitler called Franco the toughest negotiator he has ever seen. He was Ruthless. ... P.S. That Payne wrote the 2008 book and Yale took it shows you how entrenched this problem with Franco is. It's a travesty. I am so enjoying conversing with you.
Thank you so very much for informing me of these matters. Most of what I have in my collection is from reliable writers, but this particular title was given to me by someone who did not really have any true understanding of good academic work. And as I mentioned Spain and Franco are unknown topics for me.
I have continued to contemplate your elucidation of the Spanish Civil War and its elemental foreshadowing of elements of America’s current cold civil war as viewed through the lens of the following lines,
“Reduced to a “political religion,” Passmore states, fascism may be traced to the “radical sects of the Reformation or even the classical world.” These radical sects “prefigured the intolerant, illiberal, messianic mind-set of some fascists.”
Immediately this brings to mind the Reformer John Calvin and his unique blend of the religious and political. Curiously enough from my perspective the reformation era created what I think was probably the most important splitting of epistemological consciousness to date at that time in history, with the fruits of its birth only now just becoming clear and obvious for all who have eyes to see and ears to hear; while those who claim to possess such attributes are in reality deaf and blind to the actuality of reality. The enlightenment was a child of this epistemological split, whereas its sibling remained mired in its transcendentally confined mind-knowledge, relying upon interpreters of interpretations of interpreters of interpretations of interpreters and so on and so one ad infinitum, while the younger sibling explored beyond the confines of theology, philosophy, ideologies, and grew into reality unleashed from the moorings and trappings of transcendentalism.
Once again you have penned an excellent essay filled with worthy details and interesting points of observation.
I especially enjoyed reading the following lines, as they resonated well with me on many fronts:
"As historian Kevin Passmore writes, the rise in Europe of the socio-political reaction now referred to as the Radical Right, a precedent both of fascism and Nazism, occurred in a matrix of influences that was much more a synergy of sources and conditions than a family of direct causes.
Reduced to a “political religion,” Passmore states, fascism may be traced to the “radical sects of the Reformation or even the classical world.” These radical sects “prefigured the intolerant, illiberal, messianic mind-set of some fascists.”"
This one line " a matrix of influences that was much more a synergy of sources and conditions than a family of direct causes" fits so well as a description of the underlying synergies that have been building up and driving the currents of the cold civil war between Trumpian and Democratic alliances.
Now having read this essay and realizing how so little I know about Franco and Spain's recent modern history I will have to finally take some time this summer to read a copy I have of 'Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany, and World War II' written by Stanley G. Payne, Yale University Press, 2008.
OK, be careful. Much better to read Paul Preston's "The Spanish Holocaust." Stanley Payne (and his colleague Palacios who write together sometimes) are HUGE apologists for Franco. One of the reasons Preston wrote Holocaust was to counter the fawning "Franco: A Biography" that Payne and Palacios wrote trying to save their earlier research. The problem is that everything written before 2004 -- and the scholars who starred before 2004 -- is based on Franco's incredible all-suffocating propaganda. And everything Payne and Palacios wrote (and are still writing) is a massive denial of the truth. The three I find most trustworthy now are Passmore, Helen Graham, and Paul Preston. When "Franco" came out, Helen Graham took to the London Times and EVISCERATED Payne and Palacios for the incredible lying they did in an academic arena. So, I don't read anything they write, and Preston covers it anyhow. It's a shame. And not every scholar holds to previous opinion when previous "fact" turns out to have been a lie. ... For example, the main curator of the works of Heidegger turned on a dime and recanted every exonration he'd ever written of Heidegger's Nazi period when he was allowed to finally read and publish the Black Notebooks -- which Heidegger made sure were NOT published before ALL his philosophy was published. The Black Notebooks prove that Heidegger was a LIFELONG Nazi, not a long-reformed Nazi who was just misguided in his youth. He wasn't. Even while he was the lover of Hannah Arendt, he was lying to her. Grrrrrrr. Anyhow, more on this later, but everything people thought they knew about Franco before 2004 was a bald-faced black lie enforced by "disappearing people" and murdering people and torturing people. This guy is a monster. The only reason he didn't top Hitler in butchery is that he didn't trust either Hitler or Mussolini enough to get involved in THEIR problems. And this is after Hitler and Mussolini armed him and airlifted his whole army from Africa to Spain. Hitler called Franco the toughest negotiator he has ever seen. He was Ruthless. ... P.S. That Payne wrote the 2008 book and Yale took it shows you how entrenched this problem with Franco is. It's a travesty. I am so enjoying conversing with you.
Thank you so very much for informing me of these matters. Most of what I have in my collection is from reliable writers, but this particular title was given to me by someone who did not really have any true understanding of good academic work. And as I mentioned Spain and Franco are unknown topics for me.
I had no idea... Thanks for this spellbinding summary!
Terrific essay, Morgaan -- thank you!