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and the cult that developed in Bayreuth was truly a herald of
volkisch
and Hitlerian ideas. Once Nietzsche had thrown off the romanticism of
his early days, his devastating critique of Wagner-prophetic in many
ways of what was to come-revealed with what penetrating insight he
saw through its dangerous illusions. National Socialism could plausibly
derive inspiration from Wagner but it could only use Nietzsche by fun–
damentally twisting his philosophy.
What then of Nietzsche's "immoralism" and rejection of traditional
Judeo-Christian values?
It
could be argued that what he most detested
in Christianity derived from what he simplistically interpreted as the
Judaic triumph over so-called "noble values." Indeed, it was in this
sense that anti-Christian and
volkisch
anti-Semites did exploit Niet–
zsche's writings. But Nietzsche in his own lifetime vehemently opposed
both the Christian and anti-Christian varieties of anti-Semitism which,
along with biological racism, formed the ideological basis for the Nazi
"final solution." Moreover, his loathing of the Wagnerians suggests how
far removed he would have been from any modern political religion like
National Socialism with its Fuhrer-cult based on blind, uncritical obe–
dience, herd-mentality, and the ressentiment of the masses.
Furthermore, Nietzsche's relentless questioning of all dogmas, sys–
tems, and established values was hardly the basis on which fascist, Nazi,
or Communist totalitarian regimes consolidated their support. On the
contrary, such regimes, however radical their intentions, were quick to
repress all independent criticism, appealed to conventional morality and
incited nationalist feelings in order to broaden their following. Niet–
zsche's intellectual honesty, not to mention his love of ambiguity and
paradox, was totally removed from such manipulations which he would
surely have abhorred.
However, Jacques Derrida, the French philosopher and deconstruc–
tionist, reminds us of a pertinent point which perhaps only the coming
century will be able to resolve. "The future of the Nietzsche text is not
closed. But if, within the still open contours of an era, the only politics
calling itself-proclaiming itself-Nietzschean will have been a Nazi
one, then it is necessarily significant and must be questioned in all con–
sequences. "
Nietzsche was a radical, iconoclastic thinker, parts of whose legacy
were annexed with disconcerting ease by the Nazis and fascists. Yet they
also appealed to an astonishing range of artistic movements, ideologies,
and avant-garde intellectuals far from removed from fascism. There is
no need to idealize him or sentimentalize his personal tragedy, nor
would it be right to sterilize his thought in ways that would render him
