<nettime> Phil Graham on McKenzie Wark (2x)

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1................................

Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 21:06:58 +1000
To: nettime-l@bbs.thing.net
From: Phil Graham <phil.graham@mailbox.uq.edu.au>
Subject: The last radical centre and "the people"

The Nazi party was a "radical centre" party. To me, the "radical centre"
has always reminded me of a washing machine, busily sanitising the same old
costume. They want to get rid of the old ways which are now passing now in
any case because they are already dead. They don't want conflict, they want
consensus. But you can see by their words they have always been good
people, making sure that the interests of the people are served at all
costs, above all else.

		*******

"Those in the Center know our goals: the National Socialist movement has no
desire to join the bourgeois party bosses. We have no intention of ducking
responsibility. We are not purveyors of pathos, as the newspapers like to
say about us. We will accept responsibility only when we can justify it to
the people and the nation. We do not think holy what the Republic thinks
untouchable. The National Socialist movement wants a transformation of
things as they are. We have not come to prop up that which is collapsing,
but to topple it.

The conditions under which we would be willing to use the power we have are
clear. They are clear, proper and precise to anyone who knows us. We are
interested not in the good of our party, but in the good of the German
people. The millions who have voted for us want National Socialism to
determine the fate of the Reich. They have no interest in parliamentary
horse trading, even less that we use our strength to support a collapsing
system. Anyone who wants to govern with us must accept the fact that the
time when one could ignore the interests of the working people is over. We
also refuse absolutely to dicker for party advantage. We will take care of
our party by ourselves. The government should consider only the interests
of the people."

		********

Joseph Goebbels - One hundred and seven --
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/angrif07.htm



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Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 20:52:04 +1000
To: McKenzie Wark <mw35@is6.nyu.edu>, nettime-l@bbs.thing.net
From: Phil Graham <phil.graham@mailbox.uq.edu.au>
Subject: RE: <nettime> The New "Left" - OR why inequality is



How, McKenzie, is "popular desire" any less abstract than "the workers" or
"working people", as you put it? I'll tell you: "popular desire" dies much
more quickly, and so offers many more corpses for the mouth in search of
substance.

The following is from a previous Third Way author of the "left" on the
importance, necessity, and ethics of propaganda; its role in expressing the
desires and will of "the people"; and its relationship to gaining and
maintaining power:

                                         **********

"Propaganda is a means to an end. Its purpose is to lead the people to an
understanding that will allow them to willingly and without internal
resistance devote themselves to the tasks and goals of a superior
leadership. If propaganda is to succeed, it must know what it wants. It
must keep a clear and firm goal in mind, and seek the appropriate means and
methods to reach that goal. Propaganda as such is neither good nor evil.
Its moral value is determined by the the goals it seeks. Propaganda must be
creative. It is by no means a matter for the bureaucracy or official
offices, rather it is a matter of productive fantasy. The genuine
propagandist must be a true artist. He must be a master of the popular
soul, using it as an instrument to express the majesty of a genuine
political will.

[...]

Each situation brings new challenges. And each task requires the support of
the people, which can only be gained by untiring propaganda that brings the
broad masses knowledge and clarity. No area of public life can do without
it. It is the never resting force behind public opinion. It must maintain
an unbroken relationship between leadership and people. Every means of
technology must be put in its service; the goal is to form the mass will
and to give it meaning, purpose and goals that will enable us to learn from
past failures and mistakes and ensure that the lead National Socialist
strength has given us over other nations will never again be lost. May the
bright flame of our enthusiasm never fade. It alone gives light and warmth
to the creative art of modern political propaganda. Its roots are in
  the people. The movement gives it direction and drive. The state can only
provide it with the new, wide-ranging technical means. Only a living
relationship between people, movement and state can guarantee that the
creative art of propaganda, which he have made ourselves the world's
master, will never sink into bureaucracy and official narrow-mindedness.

Creative people made it and put it in the service of our movement. We must
have creative people who can use the means of the state in its service."

Joseph Goebbels at Nuremberg -- 1934
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb59.htm

                                 **********
I'm going to keep posting excerpts to remind Third Way propagandists of
their origins, content, and ethics. Oh ... and their roots.

I, by the way, have never mentioned "the workers" or "the proletariat" or
the "old ways" of anything at all. I despise party politics, political
parties, and especially their bought and paid-for courtesans.

Phil



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