Hannah Arendt
THE MOB AND THE ELlTE*
What is more disturbing to our peace of mind than the
unconditional loyalty of members of totalitarian movements and the
popular support of totalitarian regimes, is the unquestionable attrac–
tion these movements exert on the elite, and not only on the mob
elements in society. It would be rash indeed to discount, because of
artistic vagaries or scholarly naivete, the terrifying roster of distin–
guished men whom totalitarianism can count among its sympathizers,
fellow-travelers, and inscribed party members.
This
attraction for the elite
is
as important a clue to the under–
standing of totalitarian movements (though hardly of totalitarian
regimes) as their more obvious connection with the mob.
It
indicates
the specific atmosphere, the general climate
in
which the rise of total–
itarianism takes place. It should be remembered that the leaders of
totalitarian movements and their sympathizers are, so to speak, older
than the masses which they organize so that chronologically speaking
the masses do not have to wait helplessly for the rise of their own
leaders in the midst of a decaying class society, of which they are
the most outstanding product. Those who voluntarily left society be–
fore the "wreckage of classes" had come about, along with the mob,
which was an earlier by-product of the rule of the bourgeoisie, stand
ready to welcome them. The present totalitarian rulers and the leaders
of totalitarian movements still bear the characteristic traits of the
mob, whose psychology and political philosophy is fairly well known;
what
will
happen once the authentic mass man takes over, we do not
know yet, although it may be a fair guess that he will have more in
common with the meticulous, calculated correctness of Rimmler than
*
A section from
The Origins of Totalitarianism,
to be published this winter by
Harcourt Brace.
