Defending Europe Against the Neo-Marxist Hydra

I'm bothered by the term 'nationalism', which has been so misused by both internationalist and nationalist Left-wing parties. Call it the virtue of patriotism, and I agree.

From The European Conservative

By Alexandru-Eduard Nica

Contrary to neo-Marxist rhetoric, nationalism is not about hatred or superiority. When framed within Christian morality, nationalism centers on love.

There is a social and cultural crisis unfolding in European civilization. Our society is now characterized by the dissolution of the natural boundaries and bonds that are necessary for the individual to flourish. Culture has been vulgarized over the last few decades. As author Ben Agger points out, no one reads the classics anymore because they are too difficult. Instead, people are addicted to what he calls ‘instantaneity,’ the pursuit of immediate gratification while reason is put aside. At the same time, ‘correct’ speech is constantly adjusted to avoid giving offense such that it has become incompatible with freedom. This cultural transformation has led to the elevation of victimhood, which requires ‘safe spaces’ to satisfy the appetites of its adherents.

We must be straightforward: all of this is the result of a soft totalitarianism that is being established right under our noses. Almost all conservative thinkers have described what this means. In a nutshell, proponents of neo-Marxism are trying to establish it as the dominant ideology at all costs, even going so far as to deny human nature and sever all ties with the past. History is deemed the enemy of what they call ‘The Great March’ towards a promised utopia.

This is being carried out by the European political establishment, particularly the European Commission, which has become globalist and neo-Marxist. This huge apparatus, located mainly in Brussels and Strasbourg, has managed to polarize and radicalize the masses using a monstrous, but often subtle propaganda machine which politicizes every aspect of daily life in order to integrate it into a utopian agenda. For the sake of ‘fundamental values’ (which, in fact, have nothing to do with the main pillars of European civilization: Greek philosophy, Roman law, and Christianity), we are asked to give up our traditional way of living. 

Europe’s social experiment

Our ruling elites use several strategies to accomplish their aim. As mentioned above, language is reshaped in order to become more ‘inclusive,’ because freedom of speech bothers an increasingly broad range of people. If we speak freely, we risk being publicly shamed for it. Additionally, more radical environmental policies are being promulgated. We are encouraged to eat insects instead of meat, lest we jeopardize the noble goal of saving the planet. At the same time, we are expected to keep ourselves healthy. Quite recently, experimental vaccines were held up as the only solution to the COVID pandemic. In fact, the establishment has gained tremendous leverage over the masses, as many willingly gave up their constitutional rights and freedoms in exchange for a thin sense of security. Ultimately, we will have to save energy, use more blankets instead of central heating, shower together (as Swiss Energy Minister Simonetta Sommaruga suggested), and wipe ourselves with cloth (according to Winfried Kretschmann, minister-president of the State of Baden-Württemberg, Germany).

Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, Gramsci, Gentile, and the like have spawned generations of disciples who apply the strategy of divide and rule more effectively than Niccolo Machiavelli himself. Of course, the Frankfurt School has been a huge help in this process. Initially founded as a school that opposed mainstream thinking of the interwar years, by the late 1960s, it had transformed into a propaganda school and a springboard for cultural Marxism, or Critical Theory, according to the school’s most notable scholars. By subverting concepts such as nation, family, faith, and freedom and ignoring the spiritual dimensions of human nature, they proposed a new world built solely on social constructs, hedonism, cultural dismissal, and hatred for everything that belongs to the past, repeating Karl Marx’s greatest error: neglecting the spiritual aspect of Hegel’s dialectic. This new form of Marxism has quickly taken over cultural and political institutions, as in the deepest Bolshevik dreams of Antonio Gramsci.

Hence, from a psycho-social perspective, ‘woke’ culture and political correctness are deeply rooted in the Frankfurt School, which continues to strongly influence Europe’s trajectory. Today, the West finds itself in an existential crisis. Instead of heading towards Europa Christiana, as imagined by Konrad Adenauer and Robert Schuman, thousands of EU bureaucrats are systematically erasing Europe’s historical, Judeo-Christian roots, imposing a generalized amnesia upon the continent’s nations that spreads over us like a toxic fog. European elites have been successfully converted to a progressivist religion that aims to re-educate the whole continent.

However, I like to argue that history is cyclical. After each reformation, a counter-reformation follows, and after every revolution, there is a restoration. This time, nations must take the initiative and begin a counterattack to fight out of the corner we have been backed into. European nationalism is resurging and has, in certain instances, even come to power. After Hungary and Poland, Sweden and Italy have made an encouraging right turn. One by one, European countries are getting back on track, and prospects are hopeful. In countries that used to be bastions of the Left, such as Sweden, people have started to realize that the promise to create a new world has failed all expectations. Many are beginning to see that conservatism is rooted in reality and operates accordingly. The opposition by national conservatives to a profoundly cultural Marxist Left is a logical, defensible, and justified reaction, like antibodies combating an infection. 

In late 2022, a significant number of sovereigntist political and opinion leaders from all across Europe convened in Bucharest for what proved to be an important international conservative conference. Entitled “That Europe We Believe In,” the event brought together important figures of the Right, from countries such as Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, Poland, Belgium, Finland, Serbia, and Israel. Participants emphasized that the battle for our traditions is, first and foremost, a cultural and political one. They recognized that the prevailing soft but vigorous totalitarianism is an existential threat to the minds and souls of Europe’s future generations. 

However, despite glimmers of hope, our civilization is closer than ever to falling prey to a social experiment summarized by Ursula von der Leyen in an address to the European Parliament, on September 14th, 2022, when she spoke about ‘European sovereignty,’ an artificial and hilarious concept which describes social engineering at its best. How is the EU becoming a social experiment? From a realist perspective, there is simply no such thing as ‘European sovereignty.’ What Mrs. von der Leyen means is more power in the hands of the European Commission, which has already exceeded the powers conferred to it by the Treaty of Lisbon. She wants a handful of bureaucrats who rarely step out of their offices in Brussels to wield authority over hundreds of millions of citizens, even if they have no idea how a village in Eastern Europe looks or what rural life in the Mediterranean is like.

The founding fathers of the EU imagined Europe as a space for freedom and diversity, where nations that are historically and culturally distinct would choose to shake hands for the prosperity of their citizens. The EU is not supposed to be a supranational state, nor a velvet prison filled with denationalized people who live only to work, consume, and pay taxes. It is enough to look at Poland and Hungary to see that any nation which fights for its national sovereignty and for the supremacy of its constitution over the European bureaucracy—opposing chaotic migration, the LGBT agenda, or the obsessive Green Deal—will be labeled ‘illiberal’ and ‘undemocratic.’ 

Nationalism and Nature

In this context, I think it’s important to understand that, no matter how much the globalists mock or hate national identity, it will never become obsolete. Why? Because it is intrinsically linked to human nature and psyche. In order to be functional adults, all of us need psychological stability, cognitive consonance, or whatever other name you want to give it.

What does national identity have to do with psychological stability? Individuals rely on community to shape their identity. National identity, religion, and culture are fundamental to our nature. These pieces are interconnected and, when shared amongst a group of people, form what we call a nation. Thus, national identity is an important factor of existence and stability for each and every one of us.

Hence, the pursuit of national identity and the birth of nationalism have much deeper historical roots than contemporary academia recognizes. While nationalism may be a new concept in the timeline of our existence, national identity is an expression of our human need to belong. Neither nationalism or national identity have appeared by accident. For example, we can find it in the Roman Empire, which believed that Rome had a civilizing role in its relations with the ‘barbarians.’ Historiography—the writing of history—was fully exploited by Roman propaganda, and has remained an important factor of identity and legitimacy for every country henceforward. 

There are other examples in the pre-modern era, such as the Hundred Years’ War or the Spanish Reconquista. Even if it started as a conflict between two monarchs, the Hundred Years’ War quickly turned into a war between two nations. Why? Because people resonated with their kings and heroes. Without an intrinsic national feeling, Jeanne d’Arc or Henry V would have never emerged. After the English longbow had put an end to the supremacy of heavy chivalry at Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, the words ‘longbowman’ and ‘English’ became synonymous, which strengthened English identity during the Middle Ages. At the same time, the lengthy process of the Spanish Reconquista was possible only because national feelings were carved into the Spanish psyche. This is how they managed to finally push the Moors over Tariq’s Rock. Spanish identity continued to grow stronger, as Fernando de Aragon and Isabella de Castilla were victorious in the Reconquista and laid the foundation of the Spanish Monarchy.

One might ask, if nationalism is so essential to the human person and culture, why wasn’t it born until 19th century Romanticism? Indeed, nationalism appeared in Germany as a reaction to the French Revolution and to Enlightenment rationalism. These elements animated Napoleon’s Empire, and so they were perceived as a threat by German intellectuals, who opposed French territorial and intellectual domination. So the Germans counterattacked and Romanticism was born. 

According to this philosophy, influenced in Germany by the ideas of Herder and Fichte, the nation was an expression of organic community, as opposed to the Enlightenment concept of nation as a collection of citizens with equal rights bonded by social contract. Subsequently, the aim of Romanticism was to re-embrace traditions encompassed by a unique spirit, will, or soul, and expressed through language, myths, traditions, and laws.

The 19th century witnessed a powerful return of folk culture and traditions. Along with France and Germany, other nation states were forming: Italy, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, and so on. These peoples began to call for national self-determination. The force of this type of cultural independence was impressive, as it conferred legitimacy upon their political ideals, while also responding to the need for communal identity. Therefore, even if contemporary literature may define it as an ideology, nationalism is not an ideology in and of itself; instead it is the fulfillment of a basic human need.

Of course, the Left rejects the nation state’s organic roots. Their theories are not anchored in historical, cultural, and societal realities, but mainly stem from a post-World War II reinterpretation of Marxism meant to serve as a theoretical base for new social movements.

A Conservative Enlightenment

Perhaps conservatives can begin a new Enlightenment in Europe. Perhaps this time, the light might lead us to strengthen our civilization and culture (as Fichte argued in his Addresses to the German Nation) by returning to our origins, to our Judeo-Christian roots, to God, to family, to nation, truth, and freedom. It may sound paradoxical, but only a conservative revolution, as suggested by Edmund Burke, will put Europe back on track.

Contrary to neo-Marxist rhetoric, nationalism is not about hatred or superiority. When framed within Christian morality, nationalism centers on love. Loving your homeland does not mean that you hate other nations or regard them as inferior. Those are distorted expressions of nationalism that have nothing in common with Christianity, nor with the freedom that the West has traditionally valued. 

We have to say it loud and clear: neo-Marxism is now closer than ever to being actualized in our cultures. Nowadays, the goal of the Left is to brainwash people so that they reshape their nature willingly. The ‘Great March’ will never stop unless we are ready to testify that two and two make four and that leaves are green in summer, as G.K. Chesterton once said. The right fight is now about keeping together all the elements of our core identity. The biggest mistake we can make is to sit on the sidelines quietly, making compromises for the sake of a peace that will never come. The more we bow, the worse it will be. History shows us this. This was the attitude adopted by Neville Chamberlain in 1938 and by the Spanish Right only a few years before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. 

Instead, we can follow the example of Hercules in his battle against the Hydra. If our generation can defend our nations and our heritage, we will defeat the neo-Marxist Hydra. In times of decay, we have to remember that what holds us together is our foundational identity. To paraphrase Robert Schuman, Europe will belong to its nations or it will cease to exis