Preface

Preface

This book deals with some peculiarities common to all massmovements, be they religious movements, social s or nationalistmovements. It does not maintain that all movements are identical, but that theyshare certain essential characteristics which give them a family likeness.

All mass movements generate in their adherents a readiness todie and a proclivity for united action; all of them, irrespective of thedoctrine they preach and the program they project, breed fanaticism,enthusiasm, fervent hope, hatred and intolerance; all of them are capable ofreleasing a powerful flow of activity in certain departments of life; all ofthem demand blind faith and singlehearted allegiance.

All movements, however different in doctrine and aspiration,draw their early adherents from the same types of humanity; they all appeal tothe same types of mind.

Though there are obvious differences between the fanaticalChristian, the fanatical Mohammedan, the fanatical nationalist, the fanaticalCommunist and the fanatical Nazi, it is yet true that the fanaticism whichanimates them may be viewed and treated as one. The same is true of the forcewhich drives them on to expansion and world dominion. There is a certain uniformityin all types of dedication, of faith, of pursuit of power, of unity and ofself-sacrifice. There are vast differences in the contents of holy causes anddoctrines, but a certain uniformity in the factors which make them effective.He who, like Pascal, finds precise reasons for the effectiveness of Christiandoctrine has also found the reasons for the effectiveness of Communist, Naziand nationalist doctrine. However different the holy causes people die for,they perhaps die basically for the same thing.

This book concerns itself chiefly with the active, revivalistphase of mass movements. This phase is dominated by the true believer—the manof fanatical faith who is ready to sacrifice his life for a holy cause—and anattempt is made to trace his genesis and outline his nature. As an aid in thiseffort, use is made of a working hypothesis. Starting out from the fact thatthe frustrated1predominate among the early adherents of all massmovements and that they usually join of their own accord, it is assumed: 1）that frustration of itself, without any proselytizing prompting from theoutside, can generate most of the peculiar characteristics of the truebeliever; 2） that an effective technique of conversion consists basically inthe inculcation and fixation of proclivities and responses indigenous to thefrustrated mind.

To test the validity of these assumptions, it was necessary toinquire into the ills that afflict the frustrated, how they react against them,the degree to which these reactions correspond to the responses of the truebeliever, and, finally, the manner in which these reactions can facilitate therise and spread of a mass movement. It was also necessary to examine thepractices of contemporary movements, where successful techniques of conversionhad been perfected and applied, in order to discover whether they corroboratethe view that a proselytizing mass movement deliberately fosters in itsadherents a frustrated state of mind, and that it automatically advances itsinterest when it seconds the propensities of the frustrated.

It is necessary for most of us these days to have some insightinto the motives and responses of the true believer. For though ours is agodless age, it is the very opposite of irreligious. The true believer iseverywhere on the march, and both by converting and antagonizing he is shapingthe world in his own image. And whether we are to line up with him or againsthim, it is well that we should know all we can concerning his nature andpotentialities.

It is perhaps not superfluous to add a word of caution. Whenwe speak of the family likeness of mass movements, we use the word “family” ina taxonomical sense. The tomato and the nightshade are of the same family, theSolanaceae. Though the one is nutritious and the other poisonous, they havemany morphological, anatomical and physiological traits in common so that eventhe non-botanist senses a family likeness. The assumption that mass movementshave many traits in common does not imply that all movements are equally beneficentor poisonous. The book passes no judgments, and expresses no preferences. Itmerely tries to explain; and the explanations—all of them theories—are in thenature of suggestions and arguments even when they are stated in what seems acategorical tone. I can do no better than quote Montaigne: “All I say is by wayof discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if itwere my due to be believed.”