Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Apoliteic music: Neo-Folk, Martial Industrial and ‘metapolitical fascism’

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 43; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00313220903338990

1461-7331

Антон Шеховцов,

Music History and Culture

ABSTRACT Shekhovtsov suggests that there are two types of radical right-wing music that are cultural reflections of the two different political strategies that fascism was forced to adopt in the 'hostile' conditions of the post-war period. While White Noise music is explicitly designed to inspire racially or politically motivated violence and is seen as part and parcel of the revolutionary ultra-nationalist subculture, he suggests that 'metapolitical fascism' has its own cultural reflection in the domain of sound, namely, apoliteic music. This is a type of music whose ideological message contains obvious or veiled references to the core elements of fascism but is simultaneously detached from any practical attempts to realize these elements through political activity. Apoliteic music neither promotes outright violence nor is publicly related to the activities of radical right-wing political organizations or parties. Nor can it be seen as a means of direct recruitment to any political tendency. Shekhovtsov's article focuses on this type of music, and the thesis is tested by examining bands and artists that work in such musical genres as Neo-Folk and Martial Industrial, whose roots lie in cultural revolutionary and national folk traditions. Keywords: apoliteic musicEurofascismfascismMartial Industrialmetapolitical fascismNeo-Folkracismultra-nationalismWhite Noise Acknowledgements I would like to thank the musicians Ivan Napreenko and Eric Roger, who advised me and commented on a draft of this article. I am also grateful to the anonymous reviewers, as well as to Anna Melyantsev and Vickie Hudson, who were kind enough to proofread. Mistakes, however, are solely my own. Notes 1 Translated and quoted in Britta Sweers, 'The power to influence minds: German folk music during the Nazi era and after', in Annie Janeiro Randall (ed.), Music, Power, and Politics (New York: Routledge 2005), 65–86 (68). 2Folkstorm, Victory or Death (Northampton: Cold Spring Records 2000). The name of the band is a translation of the German Volkssturm, which was the name of the Nazi militia founded by Adolf Hitler in October 1944. 3The Reichsadler (imperial eagle) is a German national insignia. In 1933 the Nazis introduced the image of an eagle atop an oak wreath with a swastika at its centre. 4Totenkopf, 'Can't Be Beaten', on Various Artists, White Pride World Wide III (Stockholm: Nordland Records 1996). 5'White Noise' is the term that has been used for neo-Nazi rock music since the early 1980s. This type of music is explicitly designed to inspire racially or politically motivated violence. 6Death in June, Rose Clouds of Holocaust (London: New European Recordings 1995). The BPjM found that the title song from the album cast doubt on the occurrence of the Holocaust. The lyrics in question are as follows: 'Rose clouds of Holocaust/ Rose clouds of lies/ Rose clouds of bitter/ Bitter, bitter lies'. Although in his explanatory memorandum Douglas Pearce, the man behind Death in June, stated that he '[did] not deny the existence of The Holocaust', the record was banned: posted on the Death in June website, 14 February 2006, at www.deathinjune.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=70 (viewed 8 August 2009). 7After Stuart's death in a car crash in 1993, the network was taken over by Combat 18, a neo-Nazi paramilitary group. See Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity (New York: New York University Press 2002), 195. 8It is important to note that Oi! was originally associated with working-class left-wing populism, but later was taken up by ideologically diverse bands, ranging from anti-fascist and radical left-wing to fascist and racist ones. 9See Nick Lowles and Steve Silver (eds), White Noise: Inside the International Nazi Skinhead Scene (London: Searchlight 1998); John M. Cotter, 'Sounds of hate: White Power rock and roll and the neo-Nazi skinhead subculture', Terrorism and Political Violence, vol. 11, no. 2, 1999, 111–40. Due to the similarity in form and content, the term 'White Noise' is synonymous with the term 'White Power' and they are generally used interchangeably. See also Goodrick-Clarke, Black Sun, ch. 10 ('White Noise and Black Metal'), 193–212; Robert Futrell, Pete Simi and Simon Gottschalk, 'Understanding music in movements: the White Power music scene', Sociological Quarterly, vol. 47, no. 2, 2006, 275–304; and Ugo Corte and Bob Edwards, 'White Power music and the mobilization of racist social movements', Music and Arts in Action (online journal), vol. 1, no. 1, 2008, 4–20, at www.musicandartsinaction.net/index.php/maia/article/view/whitepowermusic/9 (viewed 8 August 2009). 10'88' stands for 'Heil Hitler', as 'H' is the eighth letter in the Latin alphabet, 'NS' is an acronym for National Socialism, and 'RaHoWa' stands for 'racial holy war'. 11On NSBM, see Goodrick-Clarke, Black Sun, 193–212; Justin Massa, 'Unholy alliance: the National Socialist Black Metal underground', in Devin Burghart (ed.), Soundtracks to the White Revolution: White Supremacist Assaults on Youth Subcultures (Chicago: Center for New Community 1999), 49–64; and Keith Kahn-Harris, Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge (Oxford and New York: Berg 2007). 12On Right-Wing Rock in German, see Christian Dornbusch and Jan Raabe, RechtsRock: Bestandsaufnahme und Gegenstrategien (Münster: Unrast 2002); Mahmut Kural, Rechtsrock—Einstiegsdroge in rechtsextremes Gedankengut? (Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag 2007); Bundesministerium des Innern (ed.), Verfassungsschutzbericht 2006 (Berlin: Bundesministerium des Innern 2007); and Georg Brunner, 'Rezeption und Wirkung von Rechtsrock', in BPjM Aktuell, no. 1, 2007, 3–18. 13See Michael Wade, 'Johnny Rebel and the Cajun roots of Right-Wing Rock', Popular Music and Society, vol. 30, no. 4, 2007, 493–512; Thomas Irmer, 'Out with the right! Or, let's not let them in again', trans. from the German by Claudia Wilsch, Theater, vol. 32, no. 3, 2002, 61–7; and Walter Laqueur, Fascism: Past, Present, Future (New York: Oxford University Press 1996), 134. 14BPjM, 'Jugendgefährdung: Lesemedien & Hörmedien', Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien, available on the BPjM website at www.bundespruefstelle.de/bmfsfj/generator/bpjm/Jugendmedienschutz-Medienerziehung/Lese-Hoermedien/jugendgefaehrdung.html (viewed 8 August 2009). Translations, unless otherwise stated, are by the author. 15BPjM, 'Jugendgefährdung: Lesemedien & Hörmedien', Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien, available on the BPjM website at www.bundespruefstelle.de/bmfsfj/generator/bpjm/Jugendmedienschutz-Medienerziehung/Lese-Hoermedien/jugendgefaehrdung.html (viewed 8 August 2009). Translations, unless otherwise stated, are by the author. 16There is a distinction in German law between extremism and radicalism. Criticism of capitalism, and fundamental doubts about the structure of Germany's economic and social order are perceived as radical but not extremist. In its turn, extremism is identified as an attempt to undermine the foundations of the German Basic Law, namely, the liberal democratic order. While extremism—whether right-wing or left-wing—is unlawful in Germany, radical political beliefs have a legitimate place in Germany's pluralistic society. See Heinz Fromm (ed.), Aufgaben, Befugnisse, Grenzen (Cologne: Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit 2002), 25. The distinction between extremism and radicalism can help explain why the BPjM 'extremizes' Rechtsrock. 18Roger Griffin, Modernism and Fascism: The Sense of a Beginning under Mussolini and Hitler (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2007), 181. 17See Roger Griffin (ed.), International Fascism: Theories, Causes and the New Consensus (London: Arnold 1998). 19Roger Griffin, 'Grey cats, blue cows, and wide awake groundhogs: notes towards the development of a "deliberative ethos"', in Roger Griffin, Werner Loh and Andreas Umland (eds), Fascism Past and Present, West and East: An International Debate on Concepts and Cases in the Comparative Study of the Extreme Right (Stuttgart and Hanover: Roger Griffin, Modernism and Fascism: The Sense of a Beginning under Mussolini and Hitler (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2007), 181.em 2006), 428. 20Emilio Gentile, 'Fascism, totalitarianism and political religion: definitions and critical reflections on criticism of an interpretation', Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, vol. 5, no. 3, 2004, 326–75 (338–9). On no account is this an attempt to normalize fascism—whether as a regime or just a movement—or downplay the atrocities committed by fascists in their mission to renew 'the organic national community'. The inhuman terror unleashed by fascism is straightforwardly depicted in—among others—the 1985 Soviet film Idi i smotri (Come and See), which I urge concerned readers to see. 21Roger Griffin, 'From slime mould to rhizome: an introduction to the groupuscular right', Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 37, no. 1, 2003, 38. 22Roger Griffin, 'From slime mould to rhizome: an introduction to the groupuscular right', Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 37, no. 1, 2003, 38. 23Armin Mohler, Die konservative Revolution in Deutschland 1918–1932: Grundriss ihrer Weltanschauungen (Stuttgart: F. Vorwerk 1950). 24Julius Evola, Cavalcare la tigre (Milan: All'insegna del pesce d'oro 1961). All references here are to a later edition: Julius Evola, Cavalcare la tigre: orientamenti esistenziali per un'epoca della dissoluzione (Rome: Edizioni Mediterranee 2004). 25Evola, Cavalcare la tigre, 150–2. The source of the phrase 'aristocrat of the soul' 2003 is the English translation, which also translates l'uomo differenziato literally as 'the differenziated man': Julius Evola, Ride the Tiger: A Survival Manual for the Aristocrats of the Soul, trans. from the Italian by Joscelyn Godwin and Constance Fontana (Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions 2003). 26See Roger Griffin, 'Between metapolitics and apoliteia: the Nouvelle Droite's strategy for conserving the fascist vision in the "interregnum"', Modern & Contemporary France, vol. 8, no. 1, 2000, 35–53. 27On the ENR, see Tamir Bar-On, Where Have All the Fascists Gone? (Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate 2007); Alberto Spektorowski, 'The New Right: ethno-regionalism, ethno-pluralism and the emergence of a neo-fascist "Third Way"', Journal of Political Ideologies, vol. 8, no. 1, 2003, 111–30; Roger Griffin, 'Interregnum or endgame? The radical right in the "post-fascist" era', Journal of Political Ideologies, vol. 5, no. 2, 2000, 163–78; and Griffin, 'Between metapolitics and apoliteia'. 28Spektorowski, 'The New Right', 120. 29Ralph D. Grillo, 'Cultural essentialism and cultural anxiety', Anthropological Theory, vol. 3, no. 2, 2003, 157–73 (163). 30On this new (cultural) racism, see first and foremost Pierre-André Taguieff, 'The new cultural racism in France', Telos, no. 83, 1990, 109–22; Pierre-André Taguieff, 'From race to culture: the New Right's view of European identity', Telos, no. 98–9, 1993–4, 99–125; Etienne Balibar, 'Is there a "new racism"?', in Etienne Balibar and Immanuel Wallerstein, Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous Identities (London and New York: Verso 1991), 17–28. 31Roger Griffin, 'Fascism's new faces (and new facelessness) in the "post-fascist" epoch', in Griffin, Loh and Umland (eds), Fascism Past and Present, 51. 32One should distinguish between common fans who appreciate the actual musical side of the art under scrutiny, while rejecting or simply ignoring its ideological message (if any), and conscientious fans who are drawn both by the art and its ideological message, enthusiastically embraced. 40Jünger, 'Retreat into the forest', 135. Here one may want to consider the possible influence of Martin Heidegger, Holzwege (Woodpaths) (Frankfurt on Main: Klostermann 1950) on the development of Jünger's concept of the Waldgang. On Heidegger, in the context of the current study, see Matthew Feldman, 'Between Geist and Zeitgeist: Martin Heidegger as ideologue of "metapolitical fascism"', Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, vol. 6, no. 2, 2005, 132 (emphasis in the original). This vision of redemptive myth resurfacing in a moment of danger is reminiscent of Walter Benjamin's statement in his 'Theses on the philosophy of history. VI' (unpublished when Jünger was writing) that the truly and, hence, redemptive historical engagement with reality means to 'seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger': Walter Benjamin, 'Theses on the philosophy of history', in Walter Benjamin, Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt, trans. from the German by Harry Zohn (London: Fontana 1992), 247. 33Ernst Jünger, Der Waldgang (Frankfurt on Main: Klostermann 1951). References here are to the abridged English translation: Ernst Jünger, 'Retreat into the forest', Confluence, vol. 3, no. 2, 1954, 127–42 (Confluence was edited in 1954 by its founder Henry Kissinger). 34Evola was an admirer of Jünger, and his reflections on the latter's Der Arbeiter were published as Julius Evola, L' 'Operaio' nel pensiero di Ernst Jünger (Rome: Armando Armando Editore 1960). It is debatable whether Evola's speculations on apoliteia were actually inspired by Jünger's Der Waldgang, but the Italian baron was known for apparently hijacking (plagiarizing?) the ideas of other authors. For example, Evola's 1928 work Imperialismo pagano drew heavily on Reghini's 1914 essay of the same name: Arturo Reghini, 'Imperialismo pagano', Salamandra, no. 14, 1914. A year after Evola had published his Imperialismo pagano, he accused Reghini of being a member of a Masonic lodge (Mussolini dissolved and banned Freemasonry in Italy in 1925), and tried to sue him on those grounds. 35Jünger experienced war firsthand: during the First World War he served in the Imperial German army and returned from the battlefield decorated with the Iron Cross First Class and the Pour le Mérite, which was the highest military order of the German empire. 36Griffin, Modernism and Fascism, 165. 37Jünger, 'Retreat into the forest', 129. For Griffin's extensive use of the metaphor of the Titanic to evoke the modernist sense of a 'new beginning' or Aufbruch in history, see his introduction to Modernism and Fascism. 38Jünger, 'Retreat into the forest', 141. 39Jünger, 'Retreat into the forest', 135. Here one may want to consider the possible influence of Martin Heidegger, Holzwege (Woodpaths) (Frankfurt on Main: Klostermann 1950) on the development of Jünger's concept of the Waldgang. On Heidegger, in the context of the current study, see Matthew Feldman, 'Between Geist and Zeitgeist: Martin Heidegger as ideologue of "metapolitical fascism"', Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, vol. 6, no. 2, 2005, 175–98. 41Jünger, 'Retreat into the forest', 132 (emphasis in the original). 42Again, it should be stressed that I neither equate apoliteic music with Neo-Folk and Martial Industrial nor identify them as 'fascist genres'. 'Metapolitical fascism' and the two genres, as musical styles, do overlap—to a lesser extent in the case of Neo-Folk—but Neo-Folk/Martial Industrial artists can create non-apoliteic art, while 'metapolitical fascists' can find other musical means to communicate their message. 43Evola, Cavalcare la tigre, 139. 44Peter Webb, Exploring the Networked Worlds of Popular Music: Milieu Cultures (London and New York: Routledge 2007), 60; Stéphane François, La Musique europaïenne: ethnographie politique d'une subculture de droite (Paris: Harmattan 2006). 45The history of Industrial music is well described in three non-academic books: Simon Ford, Wreckers of Civilisation: The Story of Coum Transmissions & Throbbing Gristle (London: Black Dog 1999); Vivian Vale and Andrea Juno (eds), Re/Search #6/7: Industrial Culture Handbook (San Francisco: V/Search 1983); and David Keenan, England's Hidden Reverse: Coil, Current 93, Nurse with Wound: A Secret History of the Esoteric Underground (London: SAF Publishing 2003). For a scholarly view of the history of Industrial music, see Karen E. Collins, '"The Future Is Happening Already": Industrial Music, Dystopia and the Aesthetic of the Machine', Ph.D. thesis, University of Liverpool, 2002; and Paul Hegarty, Noise/Music: A History (New York: Continuum 2007). 46Collins, '"The Future Is Happening Already"', 9. 47Luigi Russolo, The Art of Noise (Futurist Manifesto, 1913), trans. from the Italian by Robert Filliou (New York: Ubu Classics 2004), 7. L'Art des bruits was written in the form of a letter to 'Balilla Pratella, great futurist musician'. 48The ideological correlation between Futurism and Fascism is the subject of a thorough analysis in Griffin, Modernism and Fascism. 49Britta Sweers, Electric Folk: The Changing Face of English Traditional Music (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press 2005), 25. 50Kirsten Kearney, 'Constructing the Nation: The Role of the Ballad in Twentieth Century German National Identity with Special Reference to Scotland', Ph.D. thesis, University of Stirling, 2007, 194. On the use of German folk music by the Nazis, see also Sweers, 'The power to influence minds'. 51See Richard Sykes, 'The evolution of Englishness in the English folksong revival, 1890–1914', Folk Music Journal, vol. 6, no. 4, 1993, 446–90; and Georgina Boyes, The Imagined Village: Culture, Ideology, and the English Folk Revival (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press 1993). 52Sweers, 'The power to influence minds', 67. 53Kearney, 'Constructing the Nation', 140. 54Benjamin Thorn, 'Francesco Balilla Pratella (1880–1955)', in Larry Sitsky (ed.), Music of the Twentieth-century Avant-garde: A Biocritical Sourcebook (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 2002), 380. 55See Kevin Wilson and Jan van der Dussen (eds), The History of the Idea of Europe (London and New York: Routledge 1995); and Peter H. Gommers, Europe, What's in a Name (Leuven: Leuven University Press 2001). 56On the Eurofascists' idea of Europe, see Roger Griffin, '"Europe for the Europeans": fascist myths of the European new order 1922–1992', in Roger Griffin, A Fascist Century: Essays by Roger Griffin, ed. Matthew Feldman (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2008), 132–80. 57Malahki Thorn, 'H.E.R.R. interview: hopes die in winter', Heathen Harvest (webzine), 4 March 2005, at www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20050304171250371 (viewed 12 August 2009). On Troy Southgate, see Graham D. Macklin, 'Co-opting the counter culture: Troy Southgate and the National Revolutionary Faction', Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 39, no. 3, 2005, 301–26. Southgate frequently contributes vocals and/or lyrics to various apoliteic bands, including Seelenlicht, Horologium, The Days of the Trumpet Call and Sagittarius. 58Death in June, 'Sons of Europe', on Burial (London: Leprosy Discs 1984). 60Malahki Thorn, 'Von Thronstahl interview: the search for truth', Heathen Harvest (webzine), 7 December 2005, at www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20051207145142661 (viewed 12 August 2009). 59Stéphane François, 'The Euro-Pagan scene: between paganism and radical right', trans. from the French by Ariel Godwin, Journal for the Study of Radicalism, vol. 1, no. 2, 2007, 35–54 (48). Actually, my concept of apoliteic music is very close to François's 'Euro-Pagan' music, characterized by 'praise of an ethnic European paganism, often marked by conservative revolutionary ideas' (37). I don't use François's term (even inevitably redefined) in this article because not all apoliteic musicians and bands are adherents of heathen cults. Some have declared themselves to be Christians, while others are followers of the esoteric teaching of 'integral Traditionalism' or atheists. However, the musical acts mentioned in both articles coincide to a considerable degree. 61Malahki Thorn, 'Wolfsblood interview: spiritual death', Heathen Harvest (webzine), 15 February 2005, at www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story20050215151635652 (viewed 12 August 2009). 62Anton Shekhovtsov, 'Aleksandr Dugin's neo-Eurasianism: the New Right à la Russe', Religion Compass (online journal), vol. 3, no. 4, 2009, 696–716, at www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2009.00158.x (viewed 1 September 2009); Anton Shekhovtsov, 'The palingenetic thrust of Russian neo-Eurasianism: ideas of rebirth in Aleksandr Dugin's worldview', Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, vol. 9, no. 4, 2008, 491–506; Andreas Umland, 'Der "Neoeurasismus" des Aleksandr Dugin. Zur Rolle des integralen Traditionalismus und der Orthodoxie für die russische "Neue Rechte"', in Margarete Jäger and Jürgen Link (eds), Macht—Religion—Politik: Zur Renaissance religiöser Praktiken und Mentalitäten (Münster: Unrast 2006), 141–57. 63See United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (New York: United Nations 2008), 1–2, available on the UN website at www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf (viewed 12 August 2009). 64Balibar, 'Is there a "new racism"?', 22. 65'Toroidh—Europe Is Dead', Compulsion Online, n.d., at www.compulsiononline.com/falbum6.htm (viewed 12 August 2009). 66See Griffin, '"Europe for the Europeans"'. 67Darkwood, In the Fields (Dresden: Heidenvolk 1999). 68Darkwood, Heimat & Jugend (Dresden: Heidenvolk 2000). 69Darkwood, Flammende Welt (Dresden: Heidenvolk 2001). 70Julius Evola, Gli uomini e le rovine (Roma: Edizioni dell'Ascia 1953). 71'Darkwood—interview with Henryk Vogel', Heimdallr (webzine), January 2002, at www.heimdallr.ch/Interviews/2002/darkwoodinterview.html (viewed 12 August 2009). 72Malahki Thorn, 'Darkwood interview: the dusk draws near', Heathen Harvest (webzine), 22 December 2005, at www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20051222124738204 (viewed 12 August 2009) (emphasis added). 73Miguel Do Vale, 'An interview with Ian Read', Heimdallr (webzine), November 2001, at www.heimdallr.ch/Interviews/2001/fire.html (viewed 12 August 2009) (emphasis added). 74Sol Invictus, 'Looking for Europe', on Trees in Winter (London: Tursa 1990). 75Sagittarius, Die Große Marina (Wittenberg: Neo-Form 2005). 76Lady Morphia, Recitals to Renewal (Little Walden, Essex: Surgery 2000). 77Various Artists, Der Waldgänger (Hanover: Thaglasz 2001). 78Thorn, 'Von Thronstahl interview'. 79Von Thronstahl/The Days of the Trumpet Call, Pessoa/Cioran (Sintra: Terra Fria 2004). The Days of the Trumpet Call is a side project of Von Thronstahl member Raymond Plummer. 80Darlene J. Sadlier, An Introduction to Fernando Pessoa: Modernism and the Paradoxes of Authorship (Gainesville: University Press of Florida 1998), 46. 81Darlene J. Sadlier, An Introduction to Fernando Pessoa: Modernism and the Paradoxes of Authorship (Gainesville: University Press of Florida 1998), 151. See also José Barreto, 'Salazar and the New State in the writings of Fernando Pessoa', Portuguese Studies, vol. 24, no. 2, 2008, 168–214; and Jim Hicks, 'The fascist imaginary in Pessoa and Pirandello', Centennial Review, vol. 42, no. 2, 1998, 309–32. 82Marta Petreu, An Infamous Past: E. M. Cioran and the Rise of Fascism in Romania (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee 2005). It should be noted, however, that Cioran later repented his fascist past. 83Various Artists, Codreanu: Eine Erinnerung an den Kampf (Andria, Puglia: Oktagön 2001). 88Death in June, 'Runes and Men', on Brown Book (London: New European Recordings 1987). 84Various Artists, Cavalcare la Tigre (Dresden: Eis und Licht 1998). 85Various Artists, Riefenstahl (Duisberg: Verlag und Agentur Werner Symanek 1996). Verlag und Agentur Werner Symanek (VAWS) is also a publishing house known for producing radical right-wing and 'historical' (revisionist) books. 86Various Artists, Breker (Duisberg: Verlag und Agentur Werner Symanek 2002). Arno Breker was a German sculptor who, according to Alfred Rosenberg, realized in his work the 'mighty momentum and will power' (Wucht und Willenhaftigkeit) of the new era. See Caroline Fetscher, 'Why mention Arno Breker today? The work of the Nazi sculptor is on exhibit', The Atlantic Times, August 2006, available online at www.atlantic-times.com/archive_detail.php?recordID=602 (viewed 13 August 2009). 87Various Artists, Wir Rufen deine Wölfe (St Koloman, Austria: Ahnstern 2007). Friedrich Hielscher was a German poet and philosopher who formulated a mystical concept of the German nation in Das Reich (1931). Although he sympathized with the Nazis in the 1920s, he moved to an explicitly anti-Nazi (though not anti-fascist) position prior to Hitler's 'seizure of power'. 89Belborn, 'Phoenix', on Seelenruhe/Phoenix (London: World Serpent 2000). The English translation is by Belborn. 90'New heroic times ask for new heroic models' (interview with Holger Fiala of Belborn), Letters from the Nuovo Europae, October 2000, previously on the Belborn website at www.belborn.de/INTRODUCTION/INTERVIEWS/DAN/dan.html (no longer available). 91Quoted on Seelenlicht, Gods and Devils (Northampton: Cold Spring 2008). 92Howard Williams, 'Metamorphosis or palingenesis? Political change in Kant', Review of Politics, vol. 63, no. 4, 2001, 693– 722 (700). 93Luftwaffe, 'Kalki's Army', on Trephanus Uhr (Chicago: Lupine Arts 2004). 94Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Hitler's Priestess: Savitri Devi, the Hindu-Aryan Myth, and Neo-Nazism (New York: New York University Press 1998), 124–5. 95Savitri Devi, The Lightning and the Sun (Buffalo, NY: Samisdat 1958), 18. The extended passage is cited on the cover of Turbund Sturmwerk, Turbund Sturmwerk (Leipzig: Loki Foundation 2003). 96'Darkwood: patria e libertà', Darkroom Magazine (webzine), 19 April 2008, at www.darkroom-magazine.it/ita/105/Intervista.php?r=627 (viewed 13 August 2009). 97'Strength through Joy' in German is 'Kraft durch Freude', the name of the Nazis' state-controlled leisure organization. See Shelley Baranowski, Strength through Joy: Consumerism and Mass Tourism in the Third Reich (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press 2004). 98Malahki Thorn, 'Arditi—spirit of sacrifice', Heathen Harvest (webzine), 27 April 2005, at www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20050427093041822 (viewed 13 August 2009). 99H.E.R.R., 'A New Rome', on The Winter of Constantinople (Northampton: Cold Spring 2005). 100Quoted in Klaus Farin, Die Gothics: Interviews, Fotografien (Bad Tölz: Tilsner 2001), 15. 101See interviews with de Benoist and Bouchet in François, La Musique europaïenne. 102For Arcto Promo, see its website at http://retro-future.ru (viewed 14 August 2009). 103For Synthesis, see its website at www.rosenoire.org (viewed 14 August 2009). 104Thorn, 'H.E.R.R. interview'. 105Tony Wakeford, 'A message from Tony', 14 February 2007, available on the Tursa website at www.tursa.com/message.html (viewed 14 August 2009). Nowhere, however, does Wakeford repudiate his homage to Evola (the titles of two Sol Invictus songs, namely 'Against the Modern World' and 'Amongst the Ruins', directly allude to Evola's works Rivolta contro il mondo moderno and Gli uomini e le rovine), or explain why his ongoing musical project L'Orchestre Noir was named after the 1985 documentary film on the Belgian paramilitary extreme right-wing groups Vlaamse Militanten Orde (Flemish Militant Order) and Front de la Jeunesse (Youth Front). See also Stewart Home, 'Danger! Neo-Folk "musician" Tony Wakeford of Sol Invictus is still a fascist creep!', 28 July 2008, available online at www.stewarthomesociety.org/wakeford.html (viewed 14 August 2009). 106'Intervyu s Ritual Front', Mashinnoe otdelenie (webzine), Summer 2003, at http://machine.radionoise.ru/texts/rf.html (viewed 14 August 2009). 107This extract is a small part of an interview that I conducted with Eric Roger via e-mail, 26–31 March 2009. Additional informationNotes on contributorsAnton Shekhovtsov Anton Shekhovtsov is a Ph.D. student in political science at Sevastopol National Technical University in the Ukraine. His thesis is an examination of new radical right-wing parties in Europe. He has published articles in Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, Religion Compass, Russian Review, Politologychnyi visnyk and Naukovyi visnyk 'Gileya'. He is also a co-author of the Russian-language book Radikal'nyi russkii natsionalizm: struktury, idei, litsa (Moscow: Sova 2009) (Radical Russian nationalism: structures, ideas, persons)