Page:Minority of One February 1961.pdf/7
suggested by Reich's thoughts and experiments, these four assumptions are going to force them, eventually, into some bridging formulation uniting human psycho-biological functioning with the larger processes of the galaxies. When they do so, it will probably appear that Reich's orgone experiments were not "delusions" at all but pioneering investigations of an unknown phenomenon not perfectly understood by its discoverer.
Even if one rejects the entire edifice of Orgone theory, there remains a long list of important ideas in the Selected Writings -ideas which stand up pretty well on biological and psychological evidence accumulated by Reich from sources "uncontaminated" by Orgone. Among these ideas are:
-Dr. Reich's "character armor" theory, which defines neuroses in terms of armor of in against spontaneous feeling, armor the patient built up as a child because of irrational treatment by his parents, particularly in the sexual area;
-Dr. Reich's "muscular armour" theory, which indicates specifically where in the body lie the blocks which shut off spontaneous feeling and keep the patient "tense" and "anxious." This theory has influenced countless psychiatrists and therapists outside orthodox Reichian circles, and is largely confirmed by such independent research as Grantly Dick-Read's Childbirth Without Fear and Jacobson's Progressive Relaxation;
-Dr. Reich's analysis of the armoring underlying the fascist personality, and his clear warning of the increase of this personality type throughout the modern world;
-Dr. Reich's convincing argument that all revolutions will be betrayed and turn into fascist blood-baths as long as the present sexual taboos continue to force children into "armoring" their personalities. Other psychiatrists have pointed out the harm done to the young mind by our sexual repressions, but only Reich shows-with abundant evidence-the harm done to the body and ethical character of the child, the way in which tension, rigidity, anxiety, fear and hate as chronic body attitudes are conditioned into the young in our society.
-Dr. Reich's theory of "Work Democracy" as the type of society we may someday have, if we can ever have a social revolution that is not led by fascists, communists or other armored personalities.
-Dr. Reich's demonstration that sexual suppression in childhood and adolescence creates "authoritarian submissiveness" and perpetuates irrational social practices and institutions.
Dr. Reich was an embittered man by the me first time his troubles with the FDA began. He had been driven out of Germany, by the Nazis. In Denmark, he was subjected to a campaign of lies by known pro-fascists collaborating with sexual reactionaries. On his arrival in the United States in 1939, some sick-minded individual reported him to the FBI as a communist spy and he was temporarily placed under arrest as an enemy alien. In 1932, he had separated from both orthodox Freudianism and communism.
Dr. Reich's true character is well summed up in the motto he used on all of his books: "Love, work and knowledge are the wellsprings of life. They should also govern it."
Something of Reich's character appears, also, in this anecdote by A. S. Neil: "The child who lives in fear has a life of catching its breath. . . and holding it, and the sign of a well-reared child is his free breathing. I saw Reich one day with a little girl who was not breathing freely, and was looking downcast and unhappy. Reich said: 'Come on, let's play doggies,' and he began to pant like a dog that had been running. The little girl, shy at first, joined in and panted as he did. It was wonderful to see how her face cleared and how she began to laugh." (The reader will understand the technical aspect of this anecdote if he will hold himself tensely for a minute, as if he were going in to be interviewed for a job that he needed desperately, and then make himself pant like a dog. Many of the "muscular armors" Reich discovered can only be seen by a trained anatomist, but the "stiff stomach" he mentions can be noticed by anybody. Look around on the bus tomorrow and notice how many people are holding their bellies in and stifling their breathing. They are doing it today, at the age of 30 or 40 or 50, because they were beaten so often in childhood!)
Reich was persecuted for decades by fascists, authoritarians, communists and sexual puritans. When the FDA began investigating him, he became increasingly paranoiac and refused to cooperate in any way. He was finally sent to jail for contempt of court, and he died there. This article does not endorse the Orgone theory, and it doesn't pretend that Dr. Reich's behavior was highly rational at the end of his life. But it does say emphatically:
Reich's psychology and psychotherapy explain the social insanity and violence all around us better than any other body of theory available, and show a great deal of the way toward a cure; and the Orgone theory grows out of this psychology and psychotherapy so logically, and explains the chaotic state of modern physics so well, while at the same time following the basic trend of what seems the most likely direction in 20th Century science (the Organismic direction), that only blind dogmatism will prevent us from at least giving Orgone a less prejudiced consideration than it has previously received. If Reich was a genius in his early work and paranoiac in his last days, the orgone investigations, coming between these periods, probably contain both genius and madness. Let us try to rescue the genius from the paranoia, for in these crucial days we need every bit of insight into our problems that can be found anywhere.
== An Editor's Confession, Question and... Waste Basket ==
From many quarters I keep getting oditorial advice. Much of it pertains to the degree of anti-Communism that should be reflected in the columns of THE MINORITY OF ONE. Symptomatically, those who most urgently prompt me to strengthen the anti-communist emphasis are not rightist conservatives but so called leftist liberals of all shades. Some of them are political chemists and synthetizers; they know precisely the correct editorial formula and demand a definite balance between the amount of domestic and anti-Soviet criticism this publication should provide. As one of them puts it: "A plague on both houses would be the correct measure."
Usually such advice is accompanied by considerations of reader appeal. I am told that unless the recommended formula is used, TMO will not appeal to many of its potential supporters.
I have dealt with what I consider merited and unmerited criticism of Communism on several occasions: it is not the intention of this piece to add to my arguments on that subject. But the integrity of the synthetic would-be-editors deserves a line or two.
First, I wish to appeal to all such critics of TMO to stop trying to bribe me with "support". Were THE MINORITY OF ONE written or edited in order to obtain support, such advisors would be the last people whose tastes it would attempt to cater to. If already to cater, why not cater to more numerous, influential and financially affluent circles? Why not follow in the footsteps of the thousands of prosperous American newspapers and magazines whose catering efficiency has successfully attracted millions? We will stick to our determination not to turn this publication into a pushcart, not even a liberal or dissentionist pushcart.
Of course, those who demand such overdoses of anti-Communism believe they would constitute a vindication against the damaging accusations of the ever present witch hunters a kind of intellectual sacrificial offering. But in the field of intellect and analysis of public issues we have no sacrificial offerings to surrender.
These intellectual pill peddlers all too often contribute to the witch hunts. First, they create a public atmosphere in which a Communist would have to be a hero ready to be burned on the stake to admit being a Communist. Then, knowing the effectiveness of their ostracism and stigmatization, they start looking for the Communists they forced into hiding. The consequence is a society in which everybody is suspicious of everybody.
The political chemists would do well to ask themselves a very pertinent question before submitting their formulae to us: If I was a Communist-and I do not infer that you are or are not-would I have the integrity, courage and civil responsibility to admit it, to stand up for my views, to advertise and defend them, come what may? This writer has asked himself this question many times and is completely satisfied that he can answer it with an unqualified yes. Unless you too can answer thus, we cannot, with your indulgence, trust your words of advice. It is even conceivable that you ARE a Communist while urging us to embrace one overdose of anti-Communism or another. And so, again with your indulgence, your letter winds up in the waste basket...