Gregor Anthony James - National Socialism And Race

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Wade Hampton III
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Gregor Anthony James - National Socialism And Race

Post by Wade Hampton III » Mon Jan 20, 2014 10:12 pm

This piece, published in 1958, was an early
contribution by an academic now accredited
as a significant author upon the subject of
fascism. This essay does not discuss certain
peculiar German Nazi race doctrines which
survived into the war period and which
conditioned the movement for eastern
expansion. The present text however has
advantages in unravelling the official
'positions' of Nazism at various points.
Enough time has elapsed since the cessation
of hostilities against Germany to permit the
inspection of one of the theoretical components
of the National Socialist Movement; the element
which, of all the heterogeneous elements, made
National Socialism what it was: the theory of race.

http://www.balderexlibris.com/index.php ... m-and-race

An inquiry of this nature can either, like
almost all previous criticisms, muster external
objections from anthropological, sociological
and historical sources against what are conceived
(often incorrectly) to be critical facets of the
National Socialist theory on race; (1) or it can
venture upon an immanent criticism; that is, it
can pursue the inquiries of National Socialist
theoreticians themselves, trying to understand the
theory of race as it was, as it came to be, rather
than as one conceives it to have been. The latter
course, the course chosen for this exposition, has
much to recommend it. One does not dissipate one's
energies harassing a straw man. The National Socialist
theory of race was dynamic, ever-changing. This, indeed,
must be the case with any theory which even pretends
to be scientific. Furthermore, it is necessary to
distinguish between the bona fide subject of inquiry
and existing misconceptions. One need not resort to
external sources to refute aspects of the theory which
were rejected in the course of its development by
National Socialist theoreticians themselves. No theory,
whether scientific, ethical or metaphysical, develops
in a vacuum. It would be incredibly naïve to believe
that any of these disciplines develops independently
of the social milieu in which it arose. In order,
therefore, to understand the nature and evolution
of National Socialist speculations on race one would
have to be conversant with the prevailing psychological,
economic, scientific and social (cultural and political)
forces prevalent throughout the period. Even were I
fully informed as to these conditions, which I am not,
space would not permit the introduction of such data
into an essay of its length. What I shall attempt to do,
however, is to indicate, in passing, the most compelling
forces, tactical and theoretical, which, it seems, in
general directed the rapid growth and transformation
of the National Socialist theory of race. ...






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