Imperium: The Philosophy of History and Politics
Author | Francis Parker Yockey |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Philosophy of history Political philosophy |
Publication date | 1948 |
Publication place | Ireland |
Imperium: The Philosophy of History and Politics is a 1948 book by
Influences
Yockey adopted the ideas of German philosopher of history Oswald Spengler in Imperium,[citation needed] although Yockey's explicit antisemitism differentiated him from Spengler.[6] Spengler's The Decline of the West was the most important single source.[9] Yockey's views on the role of the state drew from the Friend–Enemy Thesis of Nazi political theorist Carl Schmitt (whom Yockey has been accused of plagiarizing).[10][11] Yockey heavily drew on the great man theory of Thomas Carlyle, seeing the creative ability of heroic individuals as a vehicle for progress.[12]
Summary
Following Spengler, Yockey identified eight "high cultures" in world history, which he saw as spiritual
Yockey wrote that the fulfillment of the Western high culture was threatened by "cultural pathology", including what he claimed were interrelated sicknesses of "culture-parasitism", "culture-retardation" and "culture-distortion".[17] He alleged that Jews were most harmful to the West because he saw them as aggravating its organic "culture-crisis", which he associated with the rise of materialism and rationalism since 1750.[18][5][19] He wrote that America was more susceptible to "culture-distortion" than any other Western nation because, he argued, America as a colonial offshoot of Western culture was founded on an ideology of rationalism and materialism, lacking the spiritual depth of Europe.[20]
Believing that each life phase of high culture has its unique "
Publication
Yockey wrote Imperium at an inn in Brittas Bay, Ireland.[5] The book spanned 600 pages in two volumes.[23] In Yockey's pseudonym, Ulick Varange, Ulick was meant to be a Danish-Irish name, and Varange was a reference to Norsemen.[24]
Yockey invited the British fascist Oswald Mosley to publish Imperium in his name, but Mosley refused.[25] Publication was financed by the Mosleyites Guy Chesham, Peter Huxley-Blythe and Yockey's mistress Baroness Alice von Pflugl.[26][8] A thousand copies of the first volume, and 200 copies of the second volume, were printed in London by Westropa Press.[8]
The American far-right activist and antisemite Willis Carto acquired the rights to Imperium from Westropa in 1948.[27][2] The 1962 edition, published after Yockey's suicide in jail in 1960, included an introduction by Carto,[2] along with Revilo P. Oliver's positive review.[28][third-party source needed]
Reception
Imperium has been called one of the most influential antisemitic books since Hitler's
The book's ideology was adopted by Willis Carto for the National Youth Alliance and some members of groups such as the Liberty Lobby (founded by Carto) and the American Independent Party.[31] Liberty Lobby and its spinoffs promoted Imperium as the Mein Kampf of postwar Nazism.[23] The book was also sold for several years through the catalog of David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard.[32]
References
- ^ Potok, Mark (2018-08-22). "To Russia With Love: Why Southern U.S. Extremists Are Mad About Vladimir Putin". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2022-04-24.: "In 1948, an American ideologue named Francis Parker Yockey wrote a book promoting pan-European fascism that saw the Soviet Union as less of a threat to Europe than the United States was. By the late 1950s, Yockey was suggesting the USSR could help "free" Europe from U.S. domination, according to Shekhovstov’s new book, Russia and the Western Far Right."
- ^ a b c d Mostrom, Anthony (2020-08-08). "America's "Mein Kampf": Francis Parker Yockey and "Imperium"". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
- ^ Goodrick-Clarke 2002, pp. 75.
- ISBN 978-0-7425-0340-3.
- ^ a b c d e Goodrick-Clarke 2002, pp. 76.
- ^ a b c d Lee 2000, p. 96.
- ^ a b Mostrom, Anthony (2017-05-13). "The Fascist and the Preacher: Gerald L. K. Smith and Francis Parker Yockey in Cold War–Era Los Angeles". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
- ^ )
- ^ Mulhall 2020, pp. 110
- OCLC 38884251.
- ISBN 9780429840258. p. 111
- ^ Rose 2021, p. 67-79.
- ^ a b Gardell 2003, pp. 51.
- ^ a b Goodrick-Clarke 2002, pp. 260.
- ISBN 9780300263084. p. 67-79
- ^ Maibaum 2003, pp. 15.
- ^ Gardell 2003, p. 169.
- ^ Gardell 2003, pp. 51–52, 170.
- ^ Coogan, Kevin (2019). 'Lost Imperium? Yockey: 20 years later.' Review of Yockey: A Fascist Odyssey by Kerry Bolton (PDF). Lobster Magazine. p. 6.
- ^ Goodrick-Clarke 2002, pp. 260–261.
- OCLC 1086431548.
- ^ OCLC 624337327.
- ^ a b Lee 2000, pp. 94, 157.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-57859-174-9.
- OCLC 1129451450.
- ^ Goodrick-Clarke 2002, pp. 77: "In 1949 Yockey's Mosleyite circle included Guy Chesham, Peter Huxley-Blythe and Baroness von Pflugl, who financed the publication of Imperium."
- ISBN 978-1-134-23181-2.
- ^ Oliver, Revilo P. (1962). "Revilo P. Oliver › Introduction to Imperium". Noontide Press. Archived from the original on 21 November 2018. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
- ^ Goodrick-Clarke 2002, pp. 5, 74, 76, 216, 221, 223, 226, 261.
- ISBN 978-0-7425-0340-3.
- ^ Maibaum 2003, pp. 17
- ^ "John William King Quotes Francis Parker Yockey in Statement About Hate Crime". Southern Poverty Law Center. June 13, 2000. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
Sources
- Varange, Ulick (1948). Imperium: The Philosophy of History and Politics. Westropa Press.
- Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas (2002). Black sun : Aryan cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the politics of identity. New York: New York University Press. OCLC 52467699.
- Gardell, Mattiass W. (2003). Gods of Blood : The Pagan Revival and White Separatism. Duke University Press Books.
- Maibaum, Matthew W. (2003). "F.P. Yockey's "Imperium", Patterns of Prejudice, 7:2, 14-18". Patterns of Prejudice. 7 (2). Routledge: 14–18. .