A noted Swiss psychiatrist likens mod-

ern dictatorships to primitive tribes.

The Psychology
of Dictatorship
An Interview with D R . C . G . JUNG

From the Observer, London Independent

Conservative Sunday Newspaper

[Professor C. G. Jung, famous crosses the boundary of the City of

Swiss
psychologist, has been studying London, for instance.
the
modern tribes and tribal rulers There are people who grow impa-
of
Europe and America. Some time tient of such customs. That is wrong.
ago
he lived for many months with a They are healthy, because they are
primi-
tive African tribe. Since good for the unconscious. When the
then he has
believed even more strongly old tribal institutionsthe former
in the exist-
ence of tribal habits and small duchies and princedoms of Ger-
institutions
among civilized nations. many and Italyare broken up, then
Recently he lectured in London to comes the upheaval, before a new
doctors on ' Psychology and National tribal order is created. It is always the
Problems.' He told them, in effect, never same. The tribe has its personal ruler.
to forget the tribe. When I asked him how He surrounds himself with his own
his study of human psychology explained particular followers, who become an
the dictatorships and democracies of oligarchy. Then the 'State' takes his
today, he spoke at once of the tribe. place.
A CORRESPONDENT o f t h e Observer] The State is a ghost, a mirror-reflex
of the personal ruler. The ghost-
H ITLER, Mussolini, Stalin, yes, State creates its own oligarchy. Cap-
and Roosevelt, they are tribal italism is an oligarchy. The American
rulers. England and Switzerland are trusts were an oligarchy. But there is
still tribal. They preserve their local always the struggle against the oli-
differences and distinctions. You have garchy. The people look to their State
your Welsh, Irish, Scottish. You ob- to give them more wages, higher
serve your ancient tribal customs standards of living. The State can
the ceremony with which the Lord only do so by dissipating energy, by
Mayor greets the King when he tapping resources.

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 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DICTATORSHIP
And so the time comes when the
State must make fake money. First
it is called 'inflation.' Then, because
that is unpopular, 'devaluation.' Now
they are calling it 'dilution.' But it is
all the same thingfake money. Thus
you have insecurity. Savings become
illusory. Since nature is aristocratic,
the valuable part of the population is
reduced to the level of misery.
Communistic or Socialistic democ-
racy is an upheaval of the unfit
against attempts at order. Consider
the stay-in strikes in France, the
former Socialistic upheavals in Ger-
many and Italy. This state of disorder
called democratic freedom or liberal-
ism brings its own reactionsenforced
order. Inasmuch as the European
nations are incapable of living in a
chronic state of disorder, they will
make attempts at enforced order, or
Fascism.
Russia is the typical oligarchy, as it
always was. The Communist Party is
a privileged ruling caste. They are
working toward the same thing in
Germany. The S.S. men are being
transformed into a caste of knights
ruling sixty million natives. So you
see, the tribal boundaries may be ex-
tended, the smaller tribes may be
transformed into a nation, but the
tribal idea remains. The dictatorships
of Germany, Russia, and Italy may
not be the best form of government,
but they are the only possible form of
government at the moment.
I have just come from America,
where I saw Roosevelt. Make no mis-
take, he is a forcea man of superior
and impenetrable mind, but perfectly
ruthless, a highly versatile mind which
you cannot foresee. He has the most
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[341]
amazing power complex, the Musso-
lini substance, the stuff of a dictator
absolutely.
There are two kinds of dictators
the chieftain type and the medicine
man type. Hitler is the latter. He is a
medium. German policy is not made;
it is revealed through Hitler. He is the
mouthpiece of the gods as of old. He
says the word which expresses every-
body's resentment.
I remember a medicine man in
Africa who said to me almost with
tears in his eyes: 'We have no dreams
any more since the British are in the
country.' When I asked him why, he
answered: 'The District Commis-
sioner knows everything.'
' Mussolini, Stalin, and Roosevelt
rule like that, but in Germany they
still have 'dreams.' You remember the
story of how, when Hitler was being
pressed by other Powers not to with-
draw Germany from the League of
Nations, he shut himself away for
three days, and. then simply said,
without explanation: 'Germany must
withdraw!' That is rule by revelation.
Hence the sensitiveness of Germans
to criticism or abuse of their leader. It
is blasphemy to them, for Hitler is
the Sybil, the Delphic oracle.
After the dictators? Oligarchy in
some form. A decent oligarchycall
it aristocracy if you likeis the most
ideal form of government. It depends
on the quality of a nation whether
they evolve a decent oligarchy or not.
I am not sure that Russia will, but
Germany and Italy have a chance.
Without the aristocratic ideal there
is no stability. You in England owe it
to the 'gentleman' that you possess
the world.
 An Englishman's story of Spain in the
agony of her fratricidal civil war.

Militiaman

By ROBERT WESTERBY

From the Left Review,

London Marxist Monthly

I T WAS hardly light when the cor-
poral came for them. The ground was
misty and dim. The stones, in the
half-light, seemed flat and without
weight. Behind them the prison was
silent, as if it, too, were waiting for
death. Somewhere inside a voice cried
out wildly. It echoed strangely, sound-
ing far off, and tailed away, making
the silence more quiet, the air more
still. '
Felipe raised his eyes and stared
dully around him. There was some-
thing wrong. Although the corporal
had the whole thirty of them outside
there seemed to be a delay no one
understood.
Quickly the light grew better, until
in what seemed only an instant the
rising plain with the stiffly pleated
mountains beyond it sprang into view.
The mountains looked blue in the dis-
tance, with small clusters of trees
lying at their feet. Hungrily Felipe
looked at them. Behind them was his
home.
An officer of the Spanish Legion
came from the prison, buttoning up
his tunic. He was small and sallow,
but with a sort of swaggering smart-
ness about him. His torn uniform was
neatly made, tight in at the waist,
his cap set at a rakish angle. He turned
and faced the silent line of men, smil-
ing with shut lips, his small dark eyes
very bright. One of the buttons on his
tunic was hanging only by a single
thread, and trembled as he moved.
Felipe watched it, fascinated. It
seemed odd that the thread did not
break. If the officer were to lift his
arm,so,he would brush the button
off like a fly.
'How many are there?' the officer
said, shouting, as if to keep up his
courage.
The corporal saluted. 'Thirty, senor
capitan,' he said.
'I'll use the new gun,' the officer
said, and called loudly over his shoul-
der. The loose button on his tunic
swung and jerked madly as he fumbled
with his belt:
The corporal looked puzzled.

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