Introduction
Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn (K-L) views the "left" not as a party label, but as a specific structure of the mind. It is a mentality based on a triad: equality, identity, and the total power of the state. This article analyzes how this intertwining of ideas leads to the uniformization of life and, ultimately, to totalitarianism. You will explore the genealogical path of these concepts—from the Hussite Taborites to modern "isms." You will also learn why K-L considered National Socialism a leftist movement and what dangers democracy poses when stripped of liberal restraints.
The Left: The Psychological Structure of the Drive for Oneness
For K-L, the left is an anthropological impulse to abolish differences. Its fuel is resentment—a sense of grievance against hierarchy, talent, or merit. The genealogy of leftism dates back to the 15th-century Taborites and the Jacobins, who destroyed local distinctions under the banner of brotherhood. The author emphasizes that resentment drives modern egalitarian pursuits, turning them into a struggle against every form of excellence.
The crucial distinction is equality of opportunity vs. equality of outcome. While the former expands freedom, the latter seeks a forced leveling of the finish line. In this view, leftism is not an economic program but a psychological need for uniformity that treats diversity as an obstacle to building an ideal society.
Identity: The Foundation of the Project of Total Uniformization
In K-L's thought, identity does not mean individual self-determination, but rather identitarianism—a project of merging the "I" into a collective "we." This mechanism, termed nostrism, leads to the dissolution of the individual into the mass. Anyone who breaks away from the collective becomes an enemy. History shows that this obsession with uniformity leads directly to racism and ethnic cleansing.
The author's most controversial thesis is classifying National Socialism and Fascism as leftist movements. K-L argues that these were plebeian mass movements striving for ethnic uniformity and state omnipotence. Although modern scholarship (e.g., Robert Paxton) places Fascism on the far right, K-L points to their shared leftist denominator: hatred of traditional elites and the cult of the collective "people."
Liberalism: The Art of Restraint Against the Will of the Majority
K-L emphasizes that liberalism is the art of limiting power, while democracy merely answers the question of who rules. Democracy without liberalism becomes pure arithmetic, which is a direct path to the tyranny of the majority over the minority. When the "will of the people" becomes an absolute, pluralism is branded as treason.
The ground for totalitarianism is prepared by relativism. When faith in objective truth vanishes, the state imposes its own ideology as a Religionsersatz—a secular substitute for religion. Ideology then assumes sacred functions, offering the masses a sense of meaning in exchange for total obedience. In this system, the state becomes a providential director of life, controlling the citizen "from the cradle to the grave."
Summary
Is democracy, freed from liberal constraints and immersed in relativism, destined to devour itself? Kuehnelt-Leddihn's thought serves today as a warning against the temptation of uniformity. When equality mutates into an ideology of leveling and identity becomes a uniform, personality vanishes, and diversity becomes a crime.
The question of democracy's future remains open. The answer depends on our ability to maintain a balance between freedom and responsibility and on the strength of institutions protecting the individual from the dictate of the masses. Paradoxically, it is the crisis of traditional values that may be the greatest challenge to the endurance of the free world.
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