On Fascism, Nazism And Stalinism

   "Side by side with the development of the positive aspects of the matriarchal complex we find, in the European development, the persistence of, or even further, regression to its negative aspects -- the fixation to blood and soil.  Man -- freed from the traditional bonds of the medieval community, afraid of the new freedom which transformed him into an isolated atom -- escaped into a new idolatry of blood and soil, of which nationalism and racism are the two most evident expressions.  Along with the progressive development, which is a blending of the positive aspect of both patriarchal and matriarchal spirit, went the development of the negative aspects of both principles: the worship of the state, blended with the idolatry of the race or nation.  Fascism, Nazism and Stalinism, are the most dramatic manifestations of this blend of state and clan worship, both principles embodied in the figure of a 'Fuehrer.' These totalitarianisms are by no means the only manifestations of an incestuous fixation in our time. … Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity. 'Patriotism' is its cult."  -  Erich Fromm