Restless

 

On Pages 145 and 146 of his book, The True Believer, Eric Hoffer discusses how dangerous it is to a mass movement if its fanatic-leader cannot settle down. I quote Hoffer and then comment on his content.

 

Hoffe (H after this): “                              112

 

The danger of the fanatic to the development of a movement is that he cannot settle down. Once victory has been won and the new order begins to crystallize, the fanatic becomes an element of strain and disruption. The taste for strong feeling drives him on to search for mysteries yet to be revealed and secret doors yet to be opened. He keeps groping for extremes. Thus on the morrow of victory most mass movements find themselves in the grips of dissension. The ardor which yesterday found an outlet in a life-and-death struggle with external enemies now vents itself in violent disputes and clash of factions. Hatred has become a habit. With no more outside enemies to destroy, the fanatics make enemies of one another. Hitler—himself a fanatic—could diagnose with precision the state of mind of the fanatics who plotted against him within the ranks of the National Socialist party. In his order to the newly appointed chief of the SA after the purge of Rohm in 1934 he speaks of those who will not settle down: ‘ . . . without realizing it, (they) have found in nihilism their ultimate confession of faith . . . their unrest and disquietude can find satisfaction only in some conspiratorial activity of the mind, in perpetually plotting the disintegration of whatever the set-up of the moment happens to be.’ As often was the case with Hitler, his accusations against antagonists (inside and outside the Reich) were a self-revelation. He, too, particularly in his last days, found in nihilism his ‘ultimate philosophy and valediction.’

 

If allowed to have their way, the fanatics may split a movement in schisms and heresies which threaten its existence. Even when the fanatics do not breed dissension, they can still wreck the movement by driving it to attempt the impossible. Only the entrance of a practical man of action can save the achievements of the movement.”

 

My response: Fanatics are addicted to nihilism, and they will destroy what they have built just for something to do, and for the joy of doing so.