Evola's view of Mussolini.
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Julius Evola's view of Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism was complex, marked by both significant ideological alignment and profound criticism. Evola, judged Mussolini not from a conventional political standpoint but through the lens of his esoteric, anti-modern, and aristocratic worldview.
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Areas of Alignment and Appreciation
1. Anti-Communism and Anti-Liberalism: Evola strongly supported Fascism’s opposition to liberal democracy, materialism, and communism. He saw these as manifestations of the modern "decadence" he despised.
2. Authoritarian Principle: He appreciated the Fascist emphasis on hierarchy, order, and state authority, which resonated with his ideal of a "Traditional" society governed by a spiritual elite.
3. Nationalism and Roman Symbolism: Evola valued Fascism's attempt to reconnect Italy with its imperial Roman past, though he believed this was often superficial.
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Core Criticisms and Disdain
Evola's primary critique was that Fascism was not radical or traditional enough. He considered it a compromised, modern mass movement, falling short of his reactionary ideal.
1. A "Bourgeois" and Popular Movement: Evola scorned Fascism as a movement of the petty bourgeoisie and the masses, lacking a true aristocratic or spiritual foundation. He saw it as fueled more by nationalist sentiment and emotion than by a transcendent, metaphysical principle.
2. Lack of True Spiritual Hierarchy: For Evola, the ultimate authority should derive from a sacred, supra-human source (the "Traditional" king or priestly elite). He viewed Mussolini’s state as essentially secular, statist, and voluntaristic, not rooted in genuine metaphysical order.
3. Insufficiently Anti-Christian: While Mussolini made peace with the Vatican (Lateran Pacts), Evola, saw Catholicism as a spiritually egalitarian "slave religion" that had destroyed Europe's true Indo-European heritage. He believed Fascism should restore a pre-Christian, Roman-style "spiritual race."
4. Racial Issues: Evola was deeply involved in racial theory, but his concept was primarily spiritual and metaphysical ("the race of the soul and spirit"). He found the biological, Nazi-influenced racial laws adopted by Mussolini to be a vulgar, materialist distortion. He outlined this in his book *Synthesis of the Doctrine of Race* (1941), which attempted to provide a "spiritual" basis for racism that appealed to Mussolini.
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Summary
In essence, Evola viewed Mussolini as a potentially useful but deeply flawed figure. He saw in Fascism a partial and imperfect step toward a Traditional order, but one that was ultimately corrupted by populism, modernity, and a lack of genuine spiritual rigor. Evola’s stance was that of a radical reactionary purist who judged all 20th-century political movements—including fascism—and found them wanting when measured against his idealized vision of a pre-modern hierarchical civilization.
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I was listening to Bronze Age Pervert, and I was thinking about how little these plebs understand Tradition. Everything is on the physical, only on what is superficial. From the Make America Great Again movement, to the Groypers, in fact to every supremacist movement, everything sucks.
