"Nationalism" and Nationalism Das Tagebuch, 21. September 1929 I. I have been asked to briefly outline my situation and that of my friends in relation to the events of the last weeks and months. Perhaps it is only the magnitude of the antagonism that exists between us that allows me to comply with their request. Therefore I will spare myself the necessary reservations, knowing that attacks from one side and reproaches from the other are inevitable in any case. It is not my intention to evoke sympathy for the concept of nationalism, or as it is usually called in this context, the new nationalism. But a cursory glance at the nature of the concept and the conditions underlying it may help to somewhat streamline the attacks that have so far been made on it in a rather vague and general way. It is not that nationalism wants to avoid such attacks, on the contrary, it wants to be attacked only where it is responsible. In our chaotic times, with few real formations, it does look a bit like socialism, which is easily used as a cheap signboard for very different aspirations. And yet it seems that the chance to encounter true socialism, that irresistible cordiality, is much rarer today than in the heyday of the monastic order, when a strict vow of poverty was the first legitimisation of the struggle to realise a higher kingdom on earth.
"Nationalism" and Nationalism - Ernst Jünger
"Nationalism" and Nationalism - Ernst Jünger
"Nationalism" and Nationalism - Ernst Jünger
"Nationalism" and Nationalism Das Tagebuch, 21. September 1929 I. I have been asked to briefly outline my situation and that of my friends in relation to the events of the last weeks and months. Perhaps it is only the magnitude of the antagonism that exists between us that allows me to comply with their request. Therefore I will spare myself the necessary reservations, knowing that attacks from one side and reproaches from the other are inevitable in any case. It is not my intention to evoke sympathy for the concept of nationalism, or as it is usually called in this context, the new nationalism. But a cursory glance at the nature of the concept and the conditions underlying it may help to somewhat streamline the attacks that have so far been made on it in a rather vague and general way. It is not that nationalism wants to avoid such attacks, on the contrary, it wants to be attacked only where it is responsible. In our chaotic times, with few real formations, it does look a bit like socialism, which is easily used as a cheap signboard for very different aspirations. And yet it seems that the chance to encounter true socialism, that irresistible cordiality, is much rarer today than in the heyday of the monastic order, when a strict vow of poverty was the first legitimisation of the struggle to realise a higher kingdom on earth.