SEX-POL Essays 1929-1934 - I • A- Essays 1929-1934 ' i hem Reich Edited by Lee Baxonda II Introduction by Bertell Oilman Translated by Anna Bostock, Tom DuBose and Lee Baxandall Vintage Books (!) New York A Division of Random House _ I~ I Vintage Books Edition 1972 Copyright© 1966, 1971, 1972 by Lee Baxandall All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Reich, Wilhelm, 1897-1957· Sex-pol; essays, 1929-1934 Includes bibliographical references Sex (Psychology)-Addresses, essays, lectures Alienation (Social psychology)-Addresses, essays, lectures Communism and society-Addresses, essays, lectures I Title [BF692.R35 1972b] 301.41 ISBN Q-394-71791-o (pbk) 72-5322 Manufactured in the United States of America by American Book-Stratford Press, Inc i Foreword "Love first really teaches man to believe in the objective world outside him· self [It] not only makes man a!l object, but the object a man!" -Karl Marx, THE HOLY FAMILY Wilhelm Reich died in I 57 at the age of sixty He was in the Lewisburg federal penitentiary He had been jailed as a result of charges brought by the U.S Food and Drug Administration, which had also impounded or burned Reich's books He seemed at the time an improbable candidate for the wave of enthusiasm which his works have since caused world-wide An ignominious death was but the ultimate humiliation for a man who had only wanted to relieve mankind of some of its miseries-and whose transgression was that he tirelessly and utterly without compromise pursued that goal wherever it might lead Reich's truth-seeking and courage led him, while still in medical school, to the still-experimental and then-suspect discipline of psychoanalysis He became a major pupil of Freud And almost as early, these same qualities led to an interest in the ideas of Marx and of socialism and communism For once a pathway forward was indicated he stepped immediately onto it The logic of Reich's personal decisions was utterly impersonal in this sense That he might encounter disapproval and even great hardships from any quarter whatever could not deter him from bringing his life wholeheartedly into line with his thought The same disregard for opportunism led to Reich's expulsion from the Communist Party in 1933, and from the International Psychoanalytical Association in I 934· v Foreword ¥i - Thus Reich was cut off (and in one sense, he cut himself off) at the peak of his work from his professional and political • colleagues of long standing That this severance from the psychoanalytical and socialist movements was not to be irrevocable, however, should have been evident even in the mid-1930s from the obvious fact that both movements were in profound crisis and the expulsions of Reich were one (very significant) token of these crises His principled and polite but unbending critiques of his co-workers-especially of those Creons who represented the administrative wisdom of the two institutionalizations of basically revolutionary conce-ptions, and of those who bowed to the Creons-were more than they could tolerate But during the 1960s in the New Left youth movements the antagonist of Creon, Antigone, was reborn And with this development the fallen but hardly decomposed figure of Wilhelm Reich has risen again, borne into view by the fresh generation of radical youth-whose own limitations of courage and vision, we should add, remain to be demonstrated The careful Creons whose concern is to preserve the status quo of psychoanalysis or of the political left are undoubtedly apprehensive that this troublesome specter is once more abroad From the Antigones of the same world, however, a fraternal response awaits The integration of Reich's work with that of his peers and successors, and into the structures of our own lives and organizations and thought, is a process that can be said to have begun but has no ending in prospect The introductory essay which follows is remarkably concise and totalizing and suggestive It provides, I believe, a notable contribution to the interpretation equally of Reich and of Marx The discriminations offered by Bertell Oilman should enter the mainstream of our discussions As concerns the texts in this volume: they are the first straightforward, unrevised English translations of any of the writings of Wilhelm Reich from his Marxist years~ This statement may come as a surprise and shock The reader may be familiar with such English-language titles as The lW.ass Psychology of Fascis1n and The Sexual Revolution-weren't • Index Materialism and Empirio-Criticism (Lenin), I4 Matriarchal society (sexual economy), I04-I62 adolescents, I I I-I I7 children, I05-I I I dowry custom, I39, I4I-I55 economic and sexual contradictions, I34-I62 emerging patriarchy and, I34-I4I exploitation and ideology·, I55-I62 festivities, I I 7-1 I marriage rites, 141-I46 neuroses, perversions and, I26-I34 "only lawful" marriage, I46I55 orgastic potency, I I-I 26 transformation process, I4I Mechanisti': materialism, I I-I2, 27 Metaphysical idealism, 27 Morgan, Lewis, xxii, g6 97, I02, 103, 14I, I7I, I74, I77, I79-I8o, I83-I98, 204, 205-206,225,228,230 Morgan-Engels theory, 183-I98, 225 aborigine matrimonial classes and, I92-I98 on exogamy, I 5-2 I marriage dowry in gentile society, I go- I summary of findings, I 84I89 Motherhood, ideology of, 305 Miiller-Lyer, Franz, I02, I77, 179 374 N Narcissism, I7, 35 Nashe Slovo (newspaper), 324 Natural selection, theory of, 2I5-2I6 Nazi Party, 288, 298, 300, 305, 306-307, 324 attitude toward women, 305309 labor propaganda, I 0-3 I I, 3I2 I934 purge, 336 Negereros (Bryk), 168 Nelson, Edward W., I Neu Beginnen (brochure), 285 Neuro-Psychological Institute (Moscow), IOI New Left, vi Object love, 35 Objectivity, psychological activity and, I2-I3 Oedipus complex, 26, 46-48, I, 82, 222 in development of individual, 4Q-4I Malinowski on, "On the Method and Tasks of an Analytical Social Psychology" (Fromm), 6566 Orgastic impotence, xvi Orgastic potency, defined, xvi Orgastic potency, primitive peoples, I2I-I26 - • I Index Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State (Engels), xxi, 96, I7I, I92,204,227,228,231232 p I Papen, Franz von, 348-349 Parell, Ernst, 277-278 Parental bondage, 297-299 Patriarch~! family, formation of, 177-I82 Pieck, Wilhelm, 350 Platonic idealism, reaction to, II-I2 Pleasure principle, 18-19, 4I concrete contents of, 20 Pod Znameniem Marxisma (journal), 84 Potempa case, 323 Powell, E A., I4 Primal parricide, Freudian hypothesis on, 218-225 Primitive communism, 135, I36, 17D-I82, 186 Bachofen theory and, 184I85 formation of patriarchal family group, 177-182 marriage dowry (transition to the commodity), 175177 Morgan-Engels theory, 183I98 mother-right, father-right, 170-175 Projection, concept of, 25 Psyche, dialectical development, 27-49 375 Psychoanalysis dialectical materialism and, 3-74 religion and, 2-8 sociology and, 49-58 theory of instincts, 14-20 unconscious and repression doctrine, 1-26 in U.S.S.R., 56, 76-88 See also Dialectical materialism, psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytical Association (Moscow), 87 Psychology of Socialism, The (Man), 81 Puberty rites, I68-170 R Rank, Otto, 55 Rational phenomena, 43-45 meaning of, 43 relationship between irrational and, 43-44 Recurrence, concept of, 4I-42 Radek, Karl, 77 Ratzel, Friedrich, 19 I Reality principle, I 9-20 Reiche, Reimut, xxv Reik, Theodor, I Religion, 82-83 politicizing youth sexuality and, 256 Repression, xv, xix, 51, 84 civilization and, 94-97 ego,30-33 meaning of, 22 and the unconscious, I -26 See also Sexual morality, imposition of Revolution of I9I8 (Germany), 8I Revolution of I9I9 (Germany), 295-296 Revolutionary feeling, folk songs and dances as, 34o-34 I Revolutionary leadership, class consciousness and, 3 2358 meaning of, 358 the party, masses and, 3 2335 See also Masses, the, how to develop Revolutionary politics, the bourgeois and, 32o-33 I German Communist Party, 328-330 inter-party politics, 33o-33 I Litvinov, 324-327 politics as fetish, 2o-3 24 schema for, 327-328 Roehm, Ernst, 307, 36 Roheim, Geza, I72, I73, I74I75, I83, I86, 2I2, 2I9, 220 s Sadism, 22, 42, I3 I Salkind, 230 Sanderson, I Sapir, 6o, 6I, 62, 8I, 84 Sartre, Jean Paul, xxiii Scheler, Max, Schleicher, Kurt von, 336 Schmidt, R., I02, 239 Schmidt, Vera, 87 Schopenhauer, Arthur, 24 Scientific work, revolutionary, 34I-346 Second International, 280, 285 Self-preservation instinct, 16, 23,3I,39,43,45,4u aggressive instinct and, I sexual instinct, and, I Semashko, N A., 77 Sexual Advice Bureau for Industrial and Office Workers (Vienna), 87 Sexual alienation, theory of, XV-XIX Sexual economy gratification of needs, I242 historical summary, 22623I inner dualism of urges, 34 matriarchal society, I04-I62 in primitive societies, 29 problem of, 226-249 production and reproduction, 242-249 and scientific discipline, I3 and social reality, 23 I-242 U.S.S.R., 29, 98 99, I I' I02,2I6 Sexual instinct, I 6- I hunger and, I6, 23 self-preservation and, I6-I7 Sexual morality, double standard of, so Sexual morality, imposition of, 9D-249 antisexual morality, I62-I70 clan division and incest taboo, I98-225 matriarchal society (sexual economy), I04-I62 Morgan-Engels theory and, I83-I98 Index ! l Sexual morality (Cont.) primitive communism and, I7o-I82 problems of sexual economy, 226-249 production and reproduction, 242-249 Sexuality of youth, politicizing, 252-274 Social Democratic Party, 329330,333,336,337,346, 348,349 Social reality, gratification of needsand,21I-242 Socialist Society for Sexual Advice and Sexual Research, xiii Socialist Workers' Party, 280 Sociology, psychoanalysis and, 49-58 development and significance, 49-53 future under socialism, s6, 57-58 historical research, 59-7 oedipus complex, 4o-4 I position in society of today, 53-56 Stalin, Joseph, 325 Stalinism, vii Stekel, Wilhelm, 55 Studies in Ancient History (MacLennan), I 85 Subjective factor, 278 meaning of, 232 Sublimation, theory of, 22, 4243,46,77,8I, 235 Superego, 23,24,25-26,39,70 distinction between id, ego and,22 I - 377 Suppression, motive force of, 23 Symbolism, 43, 83-84 T Tacitus (historian), I89 Thalheimer, IO, I4 Third International, 280, 285, 335 Thyssen, Fritz, 1o T orgler, Ernst, 29 Totem and Taboo (Freud), 48, 8I,96,2I8 Trotsky, Leon, 280, 324 u Unconscious, doctrine of, I26,84 meaning of, 21-22 repression and, I -26 Under the Banner of Marxism (journal), 3, 6, IO, I4, 2I, 59,60,6I, 64,342 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), 56, 76-88, IOO campaign against psychoanalysis, I -84, 85 civil war ( 1919-I922), 79 Five Year Plan, 79-80, 293, 356 marriages in, 303-304 psychoanalysis in, 76-88 sexual economy, 29, 98-99, 101, I02, 2I6 United States Food and Drug Administration, v L Index v Vanguard, concept of, 284-286 Viennese Psychoanalytic Society, xii Virginity, xxv-xxvi Vogel, 19o-191 w Wilhelm II, Emperor, 79 Wittfogel, Karl A., 8, Women class consciousness and, 303310 Nazi policy toward, 305-309 Women's liberation movement, XI 378 Women's rights movem.ent, 304306 World War I, 79 Wright,Purthur, 185 y Young Communist League (YLC), 257, 263, 265266 Youth sexuality, politicizing, 252-74 z Zeppelins, dreams of, 22 Zetkin, Clara, 55 ABOUT THE EDITOR LEE BAXANDALL was an editor of Studies on the Left, the pioneering historical and theoretical journal of the New Left He has written theater scripts and poems, and translated Bertolt Brecht and Peter Weiss Born and raised in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, he now lives in New York City He was New York reviewer for Encore and is a contributing editor for Performance magazine, and has published essays and reviews in many other periodicals, including The Drama Review, Partisan Review, Les temps modernes, The Radical Therapist, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, The Nation and Liberation He compiled and edited the books Marxism and Aesthetics: A Bibliography and Radical Perspectives in the Arts · , I BERTELL OLLMAN, who wrote the introduction, is a professor in the Department of Politics at New York University and recently published a book, Alienation: Marx's Conception of Man in Capitalist Society In 97 he was· a senior research fellow at the Research Institute on Communist Affairs and a visiting professor in the Department of Sociology, both at Columbia University Mr Ollman is a long-time student of psychoanalysis and is currently working on several books on Marx's method and the Marxist theory of class consciousness I , I"" , '' · • I ' ·.\ ', ft.:'• l ~- I [ II I_ ~- • , · I - i' , ~· rsycno1ogy This volume contains the first complete translations of Wilhelm Reich's writings from his Marxist period Reich, who died in 1957, had a career with a single goal: to find ways of relieving human suffering And the same curiosity and courage that led him from medical school to ioin the early pioneers of Freudian psychoanalysis, and then to some of the most controversial work of this cent~ry-his development of the theory of the orgone-led him also, at one period of his life, to become a radical socialist The renewed interest in Reich's Marxist writings, and particularly in his notions about sexual and political liberation, follows the radical critiques of Herbert Marcuse, Frantz Fanon and Paul Goodman, the political protest movements of students and minorities in the 1960's, and the various movements toward personal liberation in the present decade "Because his theories clearly anticipated the prac~ice of the New left, Reich has re-emerged as an influential thinker on politics and psychology Battling for sexual freedom, women's liberation and youth culture, he is a striking contemporary figure." -John Gabree Fusion magazine _ -:"I A Vintage Book 394-71791-0 ·~ ... Publication Data Reich, Wilhelm, 1897-1957· Sex- pol; essays, 1929- 1934 Includes bibliographical references Sex (Psychology)-Addresses, essays, lectures Alienation (Social psychology)-Addresses, essays,. .. SEX- POL Essays 1929- 1934 - I • A- Essays 1929- 1934 ' i hem Reich Edited by Lee Baxonda II Introduction by Bertell Oilman Translated by Anna Bostock, Tom DuBose and Lee Baxandall... bourgeois sexual morality); The Imposition of Sexual Morality, I932 (a study of the origins of sexual repression); The Sexual Struggle of Youth, I932 (a popularistic attempt to link the sexual interests