Med motståndarnas vapen: Georges Bataille och 1930-talets fascism

Abstract

The following essay aims to investigate the anti-fascist rhetoric put forward by the French librarian, philosopher and writer Georges Bataille, as well as his analysis of fascist politics. During the 1930s he developed an understanding of how and why fascism grew as a political force. In the organization of Contre-attaque (1935–1936) he engaged heavily in finding ways of combating fascism. Interpreting both La structure psychologique du fascisme (1933–1934) and key articles from the journal of Contre-attaque, the essay is structured in two larger sections. The first is a critical reading of the former, focusing on Bataille’s analysis of the fascist capacity for mass mobilization through heterogenous forces. The latter section uses Bitzer’s theory of “the rhetorical situation”, and concerns primarily the politics of Contre-attaque, seen as a reaction against the fascist mobilization in Europe during the 1930s. In this section I analyze Bataille’s key concepts through Bitzer’s methodology combined with historical contextualization. My main argument is that Bataille proposed revolutionary action, based primarily on affective forces, and a partial appropriation of the fascist rhetoric as well as their strategies of mass mobilization. The essay aims for a historically grounded rhetorical analysis on the subject matter, which in some ways has been neglected in the field of intellectual history.