Re: Fascism and "Irrationality"

[Justin Schwartz <jschwart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 11 Jan 1996, Louis N Proyect wrote:

> Louis: I strongly recommend Arno Mayer's "Why the Heavens did not Darken"
> for an explanation of the Nazi extermination policy. He attributes it
> mainly to the paroxysm set in motion by defeats on the eastern front. The
> genocide was not "cost-effective" in any sense of the word. The sort

I too recommend the book, although I cannot subscribe to M's main thesis,
that the "Judeaocide"--as he calls it--was a sort of afterthought, not
integral to the Nazi's plans from the start.

I also agree with Leo that rationality is a set of complex notions. I hope
my recent post on this starts to make clear some additional ways in which
it is complex. My point about Nazi craziness was directed against simple
economic explanations of the sort posted on the list, that the point og
the holocaust was to exploit the Jews and create surplus value.

--Justin






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