“How can people possibly reach the point of shouting: “More taxes! Less bread!” As Reich remarks, the astonishing thing is not that some people steal or that others occasionally go out on strike, but rather that all those who are starving do not steal as a regular practice, and all those who are exploited are not continually out on strike: after centuries of exploitation, why do people still tolerate being humiliated and enslaved, to such a point, indeed, that they actually want humiliation and slavery not only for others but for themselves? Reich is as a thinker at his profoundest when he refuses to accept ignorance or illusion on the part of the masses as an explanation of fascism, and demands an explanation that will take their desires into account, an explanation formulated in terms of desire: no, the masses were not innocent dupes; at a certain point, under a certain set of conditions, they wanted fascism, and it is this perversion of the desire of the masses that needs to be accounted for.” -From D & G’s Anti-Oedipus (pg. 29)
To be honest, while this has always been a section of the Anti-Oedipus that I have assimilated the most (through both original and secondary text (in fact, one my favorite quotes (and I have quoted it often (has been and remains:
“As Reich remarks, the astonishing thing is not that some people steal or that others occasionally go out on strike, but rather that all those who are starving do not steal as a regular practice, and all those who are exploited are not continually out on strike….”
(I now have mixed feelings about it. It is, of course, a concern we all share –that is because people do seem to seek their own oppression. And I cannot speak for people in other advanced nations. But there is a lot here that does not jive with the American experience of emergent fascism –especially as it is coming to a head under Trump. It becomes immediately suspect with:
"How can people possibly reach the point of shouting: “More taxes! Less bread!””
This is by no means the call of the right. In fact, it is the opposite. And I do, without qualification, attribute the American propensity for fascism with the right. While there are fascist impulses in the left (I’ve experienced them in myself as well as others), the left simply does not have the pull with the Capitalistic regime to be as dangerous.
For the right in America, it is more about empowerment through more money in their pocket. It is more about how they could be doing great if it wasn’t for the undesirables: immigrants, welfare mothers, tax and spend liberals, etc., etc… In this sense (and at the risk of making the same mistake as Bill Maher), I would argue that Malcolm X’s house-slave dynamic actually works better in that no tyrant works in a vacuum. What they must do, rather (much as Trump is doing with the military), is create a cushion between themselves and those who will suffer with well compensated acolytes. And this worked as well for Stalin as it did Hitler. I would also note:
“….after centuries of exploitation, why do people still tolerate being humiliated and enslaved, to such a point, indeed, that they actually want humiliation and slavery not only for others but for themselves?”
The problem is that, in America, anyone who has watched the TV show COPS can see that humiliation and slavery are mainly aimed at the undesirable other: in this case, white trash and minorities –or rather non-producer/consumers. We see this at work, as well, in a guy who stood outside a Trump rally and waxed wishfully about the day he could go to the Mexican border, buy a 25$ permit and get 50$ per confirmed kill.
At the same time, I would not totally dismiss D&G’s, as well as Reich’s, deeper and more desire based understanding. It would be hard to maintain that self-interest is purely to blame when you have food stamp recipients in Louisiana expressing nothing but hate for the federal government. But couldn’t we blame that on ignorance and illusion?
The point is not to dismiss D & G’s model of social production and the folly it can lead to. I have every intention of pursuing it further myself. All I am saying is that we have to be a little wary of theoretical overreach and recognize that simpler and more accessible models (such as Malcolm X’s house slave dynamic (are as worthy of consideration, that simply because a conceptual model is more subtle and complex (the radical purely for the sake of the radical (we must accept it as the right explanation.